Jedi Mind Trick, and of course I can be trusted not to use the power for selfish ends.
No, everything that happens after will be for The Greater Good
Jedi Mind Trick. While I’d never use it for evil, per say, I definitely would be using it to better my own life. The first thing that comes to mind is “You will hire me…you will give me flex-time…youwill install a free soda fountain in the staff room”
I can not be trusted to use the Jedi trick at all. But, I wouldn’t even try. Why?
Because if you have the power to make it happen then you’ve probably paid off everyone I’ll ever meet for the next six months to pretend that my Mind Trick was working. Then, just when I’m about to do something big, you pull the rug out from under me then I look like an ass.
If I were in it for the yuks, I’d just repeatedly drop you toward the lava, save you at the last second, and repeat until bored.
Wait–that won’t work. The convection would kill you ere long. Okay, change lava pit to shark tank.
I could be trusted to not be actively malicious with it, but I’m afraid I’d quite soon become the Queen of making Bureaucrats Dance.
Jedi mind powers, and of course I’ll use them for my own benefit. I’m not an evil person and I wouldn’t murder anyone or cause mass chaos, but I’m sure as hell gonna get ahead.
ETA: As an added bit of discussion, I should point out that my impression of the Jedi mind trick - or “Force Persuasion,” as it’s called in games - is that you can’t really use it as a sort of mind control device. It is more a way to distract people or to convince them to do things they might have at least considered doing anyway, proportional to the person’s degree of interest in the issue and their strength of will. You could not Force Persuade someone to do something they certainly would never ever do. I could not convince a bank manager to simply give me a million dollars in cash of the bank’s money. I could convince a skeptical loan officer to give me a legitimate $1 million loan when he might have been leaning towards not giving it to me. I could not convince an NBC exec I’d never met to give me a $5 million TV series deal; I could convince a talent scout to give me an audition I otherwise wouldn’t have gotten. I could not convince my boss to triple my salary and let me work one day a month; I could convince him that I’m such a valuable employee I should get a 10% raise and another week’s vacation, and that he doesn’t nee fot discipline me over the thing where I wasn’t wearing any pants, 'cause I’m such a good guy.
I’d disagree. Many of the uses we see are making people actively act against their own interests - soldiers searching for a fugitive, a major-domo screening his (psychopathic homicidal) boss’ visitors, a drug salesman. You’re arguing all those have hidden motivations to want to fail at what they’re doing?
The main thing I am interested in is the mental powers. And in one episode of Star Trek, Spock was actually able to essentially do the Jedi Mind Trick, albeit silently. Sure, it was with an easily manipulated subject, but the Jedi Mind Trick only works on people with low willpower, so that’s about the same.
As for whether I will abuse it, that depends on what abuse means. I will indeed use my powers to change people’s free will, and some consider that evil. I might, in time, think I know so much better than everyone else that I wind up using it for some selfish reasons, rationalizing to myself that it’s for their own good, too. But I will not actively hurt anyone.
And you are in fact quite evil, tempting me with the best food in the world when I am no longer allowed to eat gluten. Damn you, Rhymer!
I voted for Jedi mind powers, and I voted between “I cannot be trusted with them at all” and “I could probably be trusted”. Because I probably would use it for personal gain…but not entirely, and I could never be truly evil.
The belief that one could never be truly evil is exactly the attitude that leads to being truly evil.
Note that in each case,
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Obi-Wan wasn’t telling the soldiers to stop following orders; he just told a grunt “these aren’t the droids you’re looking for.” Nope, buddy, not these ones. Must be in another speeder. Nothing to see her, don’t worry about us. He is not making the soldier want to fail; he’s telling him he isn’t failing by looking at these particular, nondescript droids. It’s an act of distraction; that British magician guy can do the same thing just by talking to people. Darren Brown? That guy. He doesn’t even need the Jedi mind trick.
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In the case of the Twi’lek Luke got by, he clearly fooled the guy pretty bad, but note how he finishes his routine… “You serve your master well. You will be rewarded.” It’s clear he needs to reassure the weak-minded fool that it’s okay to let him by or else the spell might be broken.
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In the case of the “death stick” guy, maybe he legiitmately IS a weak-willed doofus who Obi-Wan sensed was willing to realize he was doing the wrong thing.
It’s not wholly consistent (after all, they’re willing to make characters totally immune to it whenever it suits the purpose of the script, like Jabba or Watto) but if it was a magic key to anyone’s mind, you’d see it more. “Stop shooting at me. Shoot your compatriots. Serve the Alliance.” The universe would be divided into people who could be Force-persuaded and people who could not. There’d be no greater power.
For a fictional account of a really powerful mind control ability read Stephen King’s “Firestarter,” in which the little girl’s father actually CAN control a person’s mind to a terrifying degree - though it’s slowly killing him, and can have horrible consequences for the victim that cause them to lose their sanity over time. The effect there is instant, irrestitible, and seemingly limitless; he orders a man to think he is blind and he’s struck blind. He tells a man “that gun is much too hot to hold” and the man’s brain is so convinced it is so that his hand blisters. THAT power would be scary, even if it didn’t cause brain tumors.
[QUOTE=Skald the Rhymer]
[clueless literalist]
Trusted not to abuse them for your own profit, merriment, or other selfish designs, of course.
[/clueless literalist]
[/QUOTE]
I totally trust myself to use them as I think best. 
BTW, is this all the Jedi powers, or just the mind trick stuff? When I answered the poll I was reading it as all the Jedi powers, which would be a lot better than the Vulcan stuff, but if you only get the mind trick stuff I’m not as sure. Give me all the powers and then feel free to try and drop me in the lava, however. 
Just the mind trick stuff. Evil!Skald has after all threatened every Doper except for Anaamika, Oakminister, and probably Chronos* with murder at one time or another, and some of y’all hold grudges.
*I would have to check the records.
This, for these reasons.
The Jedi Mind Trick only works on slow or low willed individuals. I can’t really see much use for it besides maybe getting a discount, random mischief, or some minor illegal activities. In the films, it only worked against the storm troopers. The other time it was used was against Wado (spelling?) and it didn’t work. I just can’t see much legitimate use for it other than selfish reasons, and since I’m not actively rebelling and needing to hide from authorities, I don’t have much interest in it.
I do think the Vulcan Mind Meld would have a lot more legitimate uses. Obviously, Spock and other Vulcans use it to help people multiple times through the various series. If one were to be michievious, it would also serve more purpose than just getting away with it too. It just seems all around more useful.
Hey, multiple voting. I win it all! Mwahahahahaha!
I checked all of them.
It looked like fun.
:: sets naked-image library to “Nancy Grace,” aims naked-image-telepathic-beamer at Bosda, fires ::
Whichever one helps me achieve my ultimate fantasy, naked sorority girl pillow fight in the girls’ locker room filled with tapioca pudding* and also there’s sandwiches**, thats the one I pick.
no offense to bread pudding. After all, I made that exact recipe** a day before reading this!
The girls make the sandwiches** right before the pillow fight.
***And by “exact recipe”, I mean, I looked at it, decided to make bread pudding, but winged it, cause I’m that awesome.
****The girls also make the tapioca pudding. Naked.