Average citizen's perception of the Force...what happens between OT and PT

In the OT we see many people who are old enough to be around during the PT, and they seem to regard the Force as some myth, or "simple tricks and nonsense".
Motti and Tarkin are well old enough to remember the heyday of the Republic and the Jedi, yet Motti makes reference to "that ancient religion". To me, something should be more than 10 or 20 years old to be regarded as "ancient".
In the PT Jedi are regarded by most as great warriors, and everyone knows that there really is a "force" that they can use for knowledge, defense, and in some cases power.
What happens to convince everyone in the galaxy that the Jedi are just tricksters and fakes, and makes everyone stop believing in the Force?

 

In the period before and during most of the PT the Jedi are a strong power. But as we know they are killed by the empire. To accomplish something like that I guess Palpatine has to convince the citizens that killing Jedi is a just thing to do. He could do it by saying the Jedi have abused their power. He could perhaps argue that the talk about the Force is a way for the Jedi to hide their true purpose: hold power over the galaxy.

Hmm, I am very tired right now so I'm not sure I'm getting my point across. I'll try to restate it later if I can .

 

I think the use of the Jedi in AotC begins to but doubt in people's mind about the ability of the Jedi to keep the peace.

The Republic is technically being protected by a bunch of people in robes who are practicing an ancient craft. When their vision is "clouded," and the become unusable, someone is going to want to stop funding them and fund their own army of protectors.

 

The Force...if it is percieved as a Diety, failed to protect its own disciples. People probably most likely lost faith in it like so many ancient civilizations lost faith in their Gods.

 

You also have to wonder just how many "average citizens" have ever actually seen a Jedi. I'm sure they might have heard about them, but over time they would have forgotten.

In the OT, I never got the feeling that the Jedi were considered some sort of "outlawed" organization, just one that's use has long been replaced by the military.

 

Loki,

I also feel Motti's reference to the force as an "ancient religion" just means that it was practiced for a very long time, not that he was refering to how long it has been SINCE the Jedi have practiced it regularly.

 

I agree with GrandAdmiralJello on this, the Jedi are more like the CIA or FBI in the PT. "Average" citizens hear about them somewhat but do not encounter them often. So as time goes on and the Jedi are almost completely wiped out and possibly blamed for the Clone Wars, all the "average" citizen can go on is what they hear about the Jedi. So after about 20 years of their almost non-existence I'm sure citizens of a GFFA would have a certain viewpoint about the Jedi and the Force. And from what they have heard/seen over the last twenty years would probably led them have negative feelings about Jedi and/or think it was a bunch of crap because they had failed to protect the Republic and started the Galaxy's first full-scale war since the formation of the Republic.

 

I also don't get the feeling that everyone has high praise for them to begin with. Remember the Dug in the flying car on Coruscant that veers off course when the assasin droid with Obi_wan clinging to it flys in front of it? The Dug comments "Jedi Poodoo" while waiving his fist at Obi!

 

The Jedi are probably also seen as quite aloof by the majority of people. They spend most of their time either in the temple or out on missions - I can't imagine they'd spend a lot of effort on PR. So it wouldn't be hard to imagine most average citizens looking at them and thinking that, with all their force talents, the Jedi thought they were better than people without access to the Force. Which, in a lot of cases, may also have been true.

So even before the demise of the Republic, the Jedi were most likely not all that popular. So add in all the propoganda against them that would have come from the Empire, by the time of the OT, the Jedi would have been despised.

 

While I would not use the opinion of a high ranking Imperial officer (as a measure of public opinion for the jedi) my guess would be that palpatine has to do something to discredit the jedi in the eyes of the general public.

Jedi Buisness, go back to your drinks
Now here's an example of jedi interaction with the general population. On a busy planet like Coruscant, they could be a regular sight...but on a remote world like Tatooine, the mere sight of a lightsaber was enough to draw "Imperial entanglments" Notice how nobody in the Mos Eisley Cantina made a big fuss over the sight of a lightsaber weilding jedi. Many people probably figured being around someone like that, with Imperial Stormtroopers nearby...was a quick way to get one's self killed!

 

Dont forget that in AotC, its the clonetroopers that save the day. To the people of the PT, such as Tarkin, that is what they saw. That the Jedi couldnt hack the pressure, and the Clones were the big saviour.

And that is what we see carried through to the OT. That the Jedi werent a big deal. They may have a bit of mystical mumbo jumbo, but they surely werent anything that could win a war.

 

Also don't forget that for all their power they were killed by droids in Geonosis and couldn't give them clarivoidance enough to learn of Dooku's treason and Palps being a Sith!.

So the average Joe from the street will think, they are some fancy mediocre peacekeepers!