Ancient History???

Does it bother anyone else that in the OT people don't know about the Force or even seem to remember the Jedi? I mean, several times people refer to it as an "ancient" religion, or in Han Solo's case, doesn't even believe it exists. But all the while, the Jedi Knights were only wiped out within the 20-25 year period between Ep3 & Ep4!!! Did they forget so quickly?? I don't know how old Han is exactly, but I know that he was at least in his teens during Ep3, and that guy on the Death Star, the one whos lack of faith disturbes Vader, must have known of the Force as well as everyone else!!! I don't know, is it just me? Thoughts?

Throughout the trilogy, the only citizenry we see in day-to-day life are the miserable dregs in Mos Eisley, and they're not exactly the types to be sitting around discussing the geopolitical climate. As for the chokee and Han, they were just doubters; Han was a hardened space pirate who pretty much summed up his philosophy to Obi-Wan during Luke's training session. I think the chokee just didn't know Vader could do that trick, or else he wouldn't have started running his mouth.

Since the Empire has such a tyrannical stranglehold on the galaxy anyway, it's not as though public discourse about the Force or the Jedi are going to be welcomed. There were stormtroopers patrolling even the remotest space rocks; any disapproved speech would have been dealt with severely.

Heck, Tarkin destroyed Alderaan, a fully functional planet with substantial resources and populace, just because Leia wasn't cooperating. I would have hated to be part of an Imperial garrison on that planet:

"Hey, what's new, Tom?"

"Oh, nothing much Captain...we got a communique' this morning from the new space station."

"Hmm...arriving in four hours, will blow up the planet to prove a point."

"That's interesting...HUHHH????"

The Emperor probably deleted all historical files about the jedi and taught false things in schools. So, in a way, the naysayers about the force are like the people who say that the Holocaust never happened.

Dont we do the same thing in everyday life...
if something tragic happened 5 years ago, we
forget about it unless it has a significant importance
to us individually.....

But i to thought of the samething when i was watching
ANH, when ObiWan pulled out the lightsaber and the
people in the cantina acted as though Ben pulled out
some foreign weapon they had never seen before...

I am sure if the Stormtrooper taped into their recall
after taking the report from the bar owner, they would've
remembered "Clone Wars, Lightsaber....hey a Jedi"