"Jedi" doesn't matter a lot
Mar. 9th, 2011 01:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jackI don't know this for sure, it's just my guess, but it seems likely to me that:
(1) People who check Jedi on the census are commonly (though not always) non-religious, or not especially observant
(2) The census people know this
In which case, I expect them to have a pretty good idea of the breakdown of the country whether people write-in Jedi or not. Apparently some people take it very seriously, and think you absolutely have to follow this silly meme. And some people take it very seriously, and think it's totally disrespectful to do so. But to me it seems like the meme's a bit dated, was funny at the time, and is still a bit funny and practically an anglophone tradition, so it really doesn't matter much.
If they had check boxes which gave a creditable attempt to distinguish between "atheist", "agnostic", "non-religious", etc, etc, then I'd assume they were trying to compile exact demographics for those[1]. But it seems (am I right?) they mainly care about named, widespread religions -- and everyone else.
[1] Eg. you can be atheist or agnostic, but it doesn't try to categorise people who might be one or the other, or both, or who are atheist but also follow a religion, supernatural or not. If they actually cared, it would as bad or worse as the problems with the "gender" box.
(1) People who check Jedi on the census are commonly (though not always) non-religious, or not especially observant
(2) The census people know this
In which case, I expect them to have a pretty good idea of the breakdown of the country whether people write-in Jedi or not. Apparently some people take it very seriously, and think you absolutely have to follow this silly meme. And some people take it very seriously, and think it's totally disrespectful to do so. But to me it seems like the meme's a bit dated, was funny at the time, and is still a bit funny and practically an anglophone tradition, so it really doesn't matter much.
If they had check boxes which gave a creditable attempt to distinguish between "atheist", "agnostic", "non-religious", etc, etc, then I'd assume they were trying to compile exact demographics for those[1]. But it seems (am I right?) they mainly care about named, widespread religions -- and everyone else.
[1] Eg. you can be atheist or agnostic, but it doesn't try to categorise people who might be one or the other, or both, or who are atheist but also follow a religion, supernatural or not. If they actually cared, it would as bad or worse as the problems with the "gender" box.
no subject
Date: 2011-03-10 01:48 am (UTC)If I had gotten the long form I would probably have left it blank. If I had wanted to put something to indicate I was a non-standard option, I really might have put "jedi". Rationale: It indicates that the standard mainstream religions do not encompass everyone, while still indicating a spiritual viewpoint that I find mostly acceptable, and because of the joke-y meme idea it will not likely cause my neighbors to become violent toward me. I would not have answered with my actual religious/spiritual beliefs described in any sort of specificity or detail.
I consider myself "publicly atheist" in that, that is the image I want to present to the world. Privately I'm not at all sure why people who are depressed and atheist don't just kill themselves; I lived through being depressed, so I must believe in something. Here on DW I am openly non-atheist. I am always devoutly non-Christian. Jedi would actually have served me pretty well if it was a real option. heh.
no subject
Date: 2011-03-10 09:24 am (UTC)(no subject)
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