Saga How did the Jedi view everyone else ?

I've been thinking about this recently. People keep talking about the Jedi as if they're the 'good guys' etc.

But the PT shows us a rather more complex view I think. They want to be peacekeepers , but they also want to take charge.

But how do they view the people? The Republic fell apart because people didn't agree, and they are the vast majority. I think we sometimes forget that.

 

I think the best insight we get comes from the scene where the leading council members discuss removing Chancellor Palpatine from office. They state their intentions to use dictatorial means to reinstate a senate that they approve. The Jedi are basically supportive of the status quo even if they think politicians are corrupt.

They would agree with the liberal motto “(bourgeois) democracy is the worst form of government except every other tried”. Which is ultimately the big ideological limitation of the series and George Lucas, that in the end the story comes full circle, the republic can become an empire again. Basically, the Jedi support the class that rules the republic, not the people

 

Well Mace says it explicitly - they will have to remove Palpatine from office.
But broader than that - they're involved in the politics, embedded in the establishment, the council has their temple on Coruscant at the top of big tower.

 

Maybe it's the way Hayden delivers the "Jedi business go back to your drinks" line but it sounds a bit dismissive and not that much different from how a stormtrooper would talk to people lol.

 

He doesn’t have time to use his nice voice on an important mission

 

The Jedi are the good guys but they been too laid back and let the goverment become corrupt. The Jedi veiwed the people of the Galaxy all as part of the force and part of a system.

 

The Jedi Order during the prequels serves at the behest of Galactic Senate of the Republic. They uphold the Republic, and don't tend to step out of its jurisdiction. At the very least, not as much as they should.
The sentients of the galaxy all have a place in the Force, and the Jedi see them as part of the Republic (or those who are not).

 

The Jedi are unique individuals. I'm sure each one has a uniquely individual view of everyone else.

Ideally, part of that view should be that everyone else is a living being with their own roles and places in the Force and the universe.

 

Ideally, I'd say the Jedi have a similar viewpoint to Superman, in his most classic sense. The Jedi have powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men, and they offer people their help in a selfless way, without thought of reward. They look at people as those who should have the chance to lead happy and productive lives, with them (the Jedi) there to keep them safe. Qui-Gon provides a good example of this in TPM. He's concerned about the stability of the Republic, but he's also concerned that some slave woman in the Outer Rim will be alright when he leaves, and that a bumbling non-human won't be unjustly punished. The Jedi care about everybody, or they should.
The problem is that such a view can change to one of a more controlling nature, where the Jedi decide not just to help people, but decide how they should live or be led. This is shown in ROTS. They start to ignore the laws that, normally, they'd expect others to follow, as they are supposed to follow, too. They make judgments that aren't theirs to make (like when a war is over, or when a political leader must go, or who gets to run things afterwards) and no doubt expect people to allow it. After all, if the Jedi say it's for their own good, who's going to argue? This seems to indicate something of a disconnect between the Jedi and those they serve, with the former not fully understanding how the latter feel and react. This may be a factor in how quickly the galaxy seemed to accept the Imperial story of the Jedi as rebellious fakers trying to take over without the consent of the governed. That's not accurate, but the Jedi attitude provides the basis for the inaccuracy. And this attitude is shown when the Jedi seem to just consider Palpatine simply corrupt, before Ani brings up the notion that he's a Sith Lord.
I guess it's somewhere between a Jedi telling people, "You are my responsibility," and "I am your servant." Not an easy position to be in, as we saw in the PT.

 

Input, but not a final decision. By that reckoning, Patton and/or MacArthur would be deciding when we'd beaten the Axis, rather than President Truman. In any case, they weren't offering an opinion. They unilaterally decided the war was over, the emergency had passed, and Palpatine must resign immediately. Those are all political decisions for the Senate, not military and/or security matters for the Jedi.
Again, this ties into the notion that they were condescending to the people and the government. "We know what's best, so we'll do as we see fit, so just sit back and let us handle it. Don't ask questions."

 

There's a difference between protesting and making one's views known and barging into a president's office and saying, "I say the war is over, so stop the fighting NOW. Or else." And the definition of "just war" has been debated for a very long time.
In any case, the Jedi can't expect people to follow the law if they've decided to dispense with it. If they want the law changed, they should talk to the Senate or run for office themselves. But, at that moment, they weren't taking down a Sith Lord; they were overthrowing a government and thinking everyone will be OK with it on their say so. That shows a fundamental change in their attitude towards those they served.
I feel like I'm going off-topic here. My apologies.

 

Hey, I've said my piece. I'll just settle back and let someone else give their opinion.

 

No problem. It happens.

 

With hate in their hearts.

 

I think there is a pretty broad spectrum. I think someone like Qui Gon clearly wants the Jedi to be more active outside the Republic and has a lot of respect for everyone even Jar Jar (he chose to help him, and in a way that paid off later in TPM, although it hurt in the longer run thanks to Palpy). However someone Like Ki Adi Mundi or Windu seems more arrogant and an example of the fall of the jedi order from Yoda's heyday to now

 

The Jedi don't want to take over. Mace says that if Palpatine won't adhere to his constitutional oath to resume negotiations and bring an end to the war and give up Emergency Powers, then he needs to be removed from office. Once he learns that he is Darth Sidious, Mace realizes the whole thing was a set up. The Chancellor is a war criminal and needs to be arrested ASAFP.

 

A really good book to get Jedi insight on the larger galaxy and sentients is Master and Apprentice by Claudia Gray:

“Whoever wrote the Jedi Code, thought Qui-Gon Jinn, never had to deal with the Hutts.”

“People are more than their worst act. And they are also more than the worst thing ever done to them.”

“The man has a soul, Qui-Gon thought. But he makes her carry it.”

“There was no Jedi so wise that he could not be undone by his own assumptions.”

Just a sampling of quotes (goodreads) that give you a taste for what Jedi think of others.

 

Are those all Qui Gon?