American Jedi Page #8

---

insulting us, it feels like

Darth Vader is about to kill us.

But we just let it go,

and then we're okay.

- When you get into the

emotional aspect itself,

when you really start

digging deep into

why do I feel the way I

feel about certain things,

these feelings have

meaning, and they have

purpose, and they

came from somewhere.

And that somewhere

comes from inside you.

And digging through

to find out where

they come through,

we set up infinite

roadblocks of

self-denial, and delusion,

and outright lying to ourselves.

We need to work through that.

And going through

that means you have

to face things that those lies,

delusions, and misconceptions

are protecting you from.

They were established to protect

you from some form of pain.

Well now, if you

really wanna come

out the other end, it's

time to own up to that pain.

(gavel pounds)

(dramatic ambient music)

- That's cool.

- You want to see a weapon

I can wield, it's this.

It's not that.

- Here's a weapon, there you go.

That's a weapon.

- I'll frikkin' shanks somebody.

That's my new toy.

- This is your new toy?

- Yeah.

- This is cute, I like this.

- Yeah.

(gentle ambient music)

- Hey Ross, we're

talking about Bruce Lee,

and his aspirin-heroin incident?

- It wasn't heroin,

you're an idiot.

- Everyone knows that Bruce Lee

died of a smack heroin overdose.

- The only one who you

should be smacked is Mike.

- Here, I'll be like Ross.

(group laughs)

- Well that's true of all

sort of religious texts,

not that I'm gonna call

Star Wars a religious text.

That makes me uncomfortable.

- It's an inspired text.

- Inspired text, see yes.

(speaking inaudibly)

(gentle rock music)

- I'm gonna go vape,

and drunk journal.

Don't wait up for me.

'Sup?

(lightsaber swooshes)

- The final trial

that they would go

through is to meet

with those who

have previously been

knighted, and discuss

with them what makes

them think they should

have the title, Jedi.

- When people come to

the Jedi community,

it's not about who they

are when they join us,

it's about who

they aspire to be.

- And we're gonna

ask some very deep,

probing, internal questions.

And we wanna see

what's their reaction.

I want everybody to get

to speak their fair piece.

And let this person

express themselves.

It's never such a

clear cut thing.

It's not like anybody

has midichlorians,

to make things

raise off the table.

If somebody does that, I'm

definitely promoting 'em.

We're not concerned

whether they know

what color underpants Luke

Skywalker wore in episode three.

We're not asking crazy

questions like that.

We're asking them very

personal questions

about themselves, what have

they done in their lives.

What are the things that they've

done that they regret?

What are the things that

they should've done?

How are they making up for

something they did wrong?

Every person's different.

And it's actually

tougher for this group,

because we know them.

It'd be one thing if I've

never met this person.

But everybody who's going

up is somebody I know.

- Hannigan certainly

thrives on controversy.

He brings a lot of

issues to the table,

that we'll have to deal with.

- When I first met this guy,

I was gonna jack him up.

His mouth is pretty

big, and he says

things that will

get him in trouble.

Before we even said hey,

I was gonna lay him out,

I was gonna deck him.

- The person who is

sponsoring Michael,

I would like them

to tell us why you

have nominated him

for knighthood.

- I'm Andy Spaulding.

I've been a long term

member of the community.

I nominated Hannigan,

because he has

also been a long term

member of the community.

In previous years, he

came to a gathering,

and we had a previous

history before that.

And that previous

history was going

to lead to physical

confrontation.

He swallowed his pride,

and he apologized before.

And that started our terms.

Our terms.

- At this time I would

like to allow Michael

to speak for

himself, as to why he

wishes to become a Jedi Knight.

- Was I a hellion in the

beginning, I certainly was.

Did I rattle cages,

I certainly did.

Have I not cared about

the community, no.

If I did not care

about the community

I would've said, f***

the community years ago,

when I was Bannigan

Hannigan, from every

damn website that

we could imagine.

- You do have a

long, checkered past.

- [Hannigan] Certainly do.

- Why do you want this?

- To be honest, the

questions they asked

me up there was what

happened in the past,

what's going to go

on in the future,

am I gonna raise

some hell again.

Did I do some sh*t

to rattle cages, yes.

What was the big

thing I was known for?

Get off your ass

and do something.

Don't just sit there

on your keyboard,

looking at ones, and zeroes,

do something about it.

Get into martial arts,

get into fitness.

Do something.

- It's 11:
45, we're waiting

for the Jedi council

to call us in.

- I'm tired because

I've been waiting

for like three hours.

Are you kidding me?

- [Interviewer]

What about Perris?

- Perris is somebody that I

met, through the gathering,

she has a certain

presence about her.

One would not say a

princess, like Cinderella.

But more like the

one from Shrek.

So she's like this princess who

likes to kick people's butts.

(laughs)

- I think for Perris,

the interesting question

will be just, why

the move over from

one Jedi order to

another, essentially.

Explain that whole

process, why did it happen?

- She is not online

a lot, and not

dealing with us

online a lot, and so

many of us don't

know her that well.

- It'll be interesting to see

if she can take

those experiences,

and be able to

translate that into how

she's moving forward,

and her vision.

10 years in the community,

and still doing things.

Already has plans

in the works for

some great organizational work,

work within the

community for girls.

Just a lot of projects in hand.

Knocked out her Jedi academics,

Temple of the Jedi

Order, rocked it.

Blah-blah-blibbity-bli.

- Without repeating

what he said, per se,

we want you to give

us as much supporting

information as to

why you would like

to become a knight

in our organization.

- It's a piece of

my spiritual soul.

And, while I'm not

in it for the titles,

or for the recognition, to me,

being a recognized knight,

within the community,

being a knight, within

the physical community,

it's a pretty big deal, and now

I can go out, and

out into the world,

and say, Jedi Knight, it's

gonna have a lot of substance.

You know, Jediism is a pretty

heavily male-dominated,

and sometimes that

soft feminine,

that motherly kindness,

it gets swallowed up.

- Awhile back, I recall a

radio interview with you.

In which you said if

you were attacked,

by an attacker, you would

not defend yourself.

- At the time,

when it was asked,

I was still a United

States Marine.

I was physically,

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes