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Supermarket Bans Jedi Knight
The employees at Tesco seem to be immune to mind tricks, and have kicked out the founder of the International Church of Jediism. Daniel Jones, 23, who founded the religion based on the Star Wars movies, was asked to leave because his robes were against store rules which forbid the wearing of 'hoodies' in their premises. "I told them it was a requirement of my religion but they just sniggered and ordered me to leave," he told The Daily Telegraph newspaper. "I walked past a Muslim lady in a veil. Surely the same rules should apply to everyone." It's exactly this kind of stuff that turns young Jedis to the dark side.
They ban hoodies?
When you're not looking, this sig is in Latin.
If Scientology, another "religion" based on a science fiction book, was in a similar position, they would sue the pants off of everyone and win. I'm not saying I believe Jediism, Haruhism, or the Church of Oprah; I agree with his sentiment that smaller religions should have fair treatment.
I know you can answer Jedi on a census in some countries apparently the UK is one of them, but I don't know if it is given all of the recognition of other religions. It could I suppose if the wikipedia numbers are accurate than that would count in many countries. Otherwise if it has such protections than this company has probably just ran afoul of the law and this young Jedi will be getting some cash out of it.
"Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda and Luke Skywalker all appeared hoodless without ever going over to the Dark Side and we are only aware of the Emperor as one who never removed his hood.
was said instead as "Many muslim women have appeared Burqa-less, so why can't she?" they would get the pants sued off them.
"If Jedi walk around our stores with their hoods on, they'll miss lots of special offers."
What is more if they said: "If women walk around our store with their burqas on, they'll miss lots of special offers", i'm pretty sure there would be outcry for a boycott, because of perceived insensitivity.
He may be a Jedi, but he has a point. Equality my arse.
You should try asking them for money, otherwise you'll never be recognized as a legitimate religion.
Dude seems wise beyond his years. The same rules should apply to everyone regardless of religion. Chances are no matter what you believe, there is someone out there that views it as a ridiculous fairytale.
It seems his force is not strong enough.
just call the racism card and they will be all too happy to let you in
This is not the store you want to shop at... Let's move along.
just when I thought I was a huge geek, I find out that people worship star wars. god,finally, I feel better about my own level of geekiness.
The employees at Tesco seem to be immune to mind tricks,
Well, duh. No mind, no tricks. ^^
Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
I thought they were talking about the game. For a minute, I was worried.
Discrimination laws only seem to be applicable to "minorities" (in quotes because they aren't always really in the minority). If you are a white guy of European ancestry with your own church then you are pretty much on your own because you don't have lobbyist groups and mouthpieces on CNN fighting for your cause. Noone is looking out for you. Equality is only for groups who can get on the news. Now, given that this is news, this guy might actually effect some change in the policies of this particular supermarket. Personally, I think if they don't allow hoodies and that is what you wear you ought to go to a different supermarket because they don't deserve your money, the article indicates that the jedi in question plans to do just that. Also, raising a stink about it and getting on the news is another way to force them to change by affecting their bottom line. Kudos to this guy, I may not agree with the teachings of the Jedi church but at least they seem to know how to handle adversity.
I'm not in the KKK or anything so please just take this for the observation that it is. I am for equal treatment of everyone.
his heart must not be *truly* Klingon.
fired again??? LOL
While I am a Star Wars Fan (starting with Episode 4 mostly), own THE TALL Skywalker, Lea, and Chewbacca dolls, and a Gen X-er, My big concern is how few in these posts seem to think this is crazy. Why don't we all start by saying that Jedi's came from the imagination of George Lucas! Then we can talk abut religion. Besides, isn't there some kind of waiting period for new religions, like 400 years or something?
A Jedi craves not these things...
"Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand." - Mark Twain
A Tesco spokesman said: "Jedi are very welcome to shop in our stores although we would ask them to remove their hoods. If Jedi walk around our stores with their hoods on, they'll miss lots of special offers."
See? The employees were simply trying to help him save money. This was all blown way out of proportion. </sarcasm>
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20090918_11_A11_Apopul517991
A Muslim getting preferential treatment over a non-Muslim in the UK? I'm sure that's never, ever happened before.
Maybe he can help the Jedis get some air time.
If the hoodie was a requirement of another religion based on pop-culture, I don't think he would have had a problem.
He should realize that scofflaws believe that hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for good blaster at your side.
If he were a trouble causing hoodie wearer, he'd have a gun, not a light saber!
Don't kid yourself. It's the size of the regexp AND how you use it that counts.
I know I'm going to get modded into oblivion for this but here goes anyway...
This is a fake religion. It's like members of the Church of the Subgenius, or the Church of the Matrix (god forbid) crying foul for discrimination. Do these "Jedi" believe in God, a supernatural entity, or some other higher power? Sounds like it, but believing in a god does not a religion make. The accoutrements of their "religion" are straight out of the Star Wars franchise, and it's not too difficult to see why this store isn't buying what the guy in the article was selling. Here's a pro tip for those Jedi that read slashdot: If you want to be taken seriously vis a vis your belief in a life force that permeates the universe, don't hitch your wagon to a pop science fiction movie.
By the by - the reason this is different from Scientology is because Scientology is a cult. They don't tend to gain membership just from selling people a line of B.S. but rather through indoctrination. They've gained religious status as an organized religion through intimidation and litigation, but having a shit load of money doesn't make them any less of a cult.
Call me in a couple of hundred years if the Church of Jedi is still around. Otherwise, this is a non-story.
"It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once." -David Hume
...on star wars stuff in his life
Why doesn't he just present proof of his mitocloridian count?
Don't blame me, I voted for Cthulhu.
The leader of the Jedi is no mere Knight.
---- Liquid was a patriot ----
According to a TESCO spokesman from TFA: "If Jedi walk around our stores with their hoods on, they'll miss lots of special offers." Now obviously if they are really Jedi then they can "sense" all of their surroundings using the force (hood or no hood). In fact, they should know about the discounts before they are even put on the shelves by looking into the future.
Jediism is no more a religion than $cientology.
It's a religion based around marekting, money, publicity, money, movies, and money.
This asshat is a nut. Plain and simple. If Jediism is a religion, then any clown can start a 'religion'. Someone who just likes to make other peoples' lives harder can start a 'religion' and just use it so they can invoke 'religious discrimination' whenever they encounter someone who isn't stupid enough to fall for the ploy.
Knowing Google's lust for data collection, the Soviet Union is still alive and well inside the psyche of Sergey Brin....
they just sniggered and ordered me to leave
He's not going to win any friends with racist comments like that...
So, shiks can have their knives, but jedis can't have a hood?
Between the following:
Jedi
Hindu
Buddhist
Muslim
Jew
Christian/NonDenominational
Catholic
CowboyNealophite?
But robbing the store . . you weren't!
Best getting about your business . . you should be!
(David Bowman, EVA near HUGE Monolithic Win-PC in orbit around Jupiter) "My God - its full of Malware!"
I wonder if you were a Naturist, and you asked,"If I take off my Hood and cloak, may I enter?"
(David Bowman, EVA near HUGE Monolithic Win-PC in orbit around Jupiter) "My God - its full of Malware!"
Their lack of faith is disturbing
I can see it now, a big Jedi crime wave! We must take action against the Jedi who have no respect for the rule of the senate and continue to cause problems in the outer rim!
Open Source: Eroding the Digital Divide
Til this movie comes out:
http://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/themenwhostareatgoats/
I have an O.B.E and earned it honestly. I might get a K.C.B eventually, but it is not high up on my agenda. Prince Charles gave it to me and I was really pleased to meet Philip Mountbatten as well at Buckingham Palace. Becoming a Knight is like a Jedi. You have to understand wisdom and excel where others cannot. You have to stand up and be counted, you need to keep integrity alive, you need to love people, but most of all you need to believe in yourself and the fact you can have a positive impact on other people's lives. Being unselfish is how I earned my O.B.E.
All cows eat grass!
Baha'i
Perhaps none of you have ever had the, um, "joy" of working in mass retail, but there's an entire class of rule that covers this: "shit we kmake up on the spot to kick people out who we find creepy, annoying, stupid, or otherwise undesirable." It's a shitty, asinine thing to do, and that's why management loves it. You basically find some halfway plausible reason to say "get out" and then stick to it no matter what anybody says or does.
My guess is that they couldn't have cared less about the hood, and that they were just creeped out by this guy and couldn't handle it. Turns out that a lot of norms just can't handle people who dress or look or act differently from themselves, and rather than keep this to themselves or simply ignore it they feel the need to lash out. I'd also point out that many abnorms have an equally shitty reaction to the habits or opinions of norms, and willfully refuse to respect the people around them who aren't interested in their quirk by forcing it upon everyone they encounter.
Anyway, I don't know how this guy was actually behaving in the store, but if he was annoying people this was to be expected, and even if he was being completely reasonable I am unsurprised that retail managers would kick a guy out simply for wearing a robe in their store and weirding them out.
Try not to take me more seriously than I take myself.
These aren't the criminals you're looking for.