The Reaction to the Big News at Work Today

by Gretchen956 20 Replies latest watchtower scandals

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  Gretchen956

  I work at the Department of Health here in Washington State. I took two copies of Barbara's initial post (infomercial) regarding the news and the links. What I got were people highly skeptical of the voracity, and highly suspicious of the University that published it (Baptist so therefore not really credible in the subject of law). One comment was, "if a child is hurt by their policies it's one thing, but I have a hard time feeling sorry for an adult that would go to a church for medical advice." I know that was pretty cold, but I'm writing it down as it was stated to me.

  I did explain the cult/brainwashing angle, and immediately they said, well I work with so-and-so and they don't seem to be a drone, they seem pretty intelligent.

  My disappointment personally is that there are so many ways for the WTS to attack the veracity of this piece. One, the person that wrote it is an ex-JW who's mother died due to this policy. Hardly a neutral party and they will have a field day with that in court or in the media. The other as stated above, we who work in public health know that a conservative university should be careful before casting stones in a glass house. They misrepresent facts all the time with regards to abstinence, safe sex, and stem cells, etc.

  However, despite my doubts, I did run this by some people that I respect, and you see how they felt about it.

  I will say good luck to all that think there is mileage to be made somehow. I do believe if it gets some people out of that hurtful and horrible organization then it will have been a worthwhile article. I just don't think it's big based on non-witness professional reaction (at least from those in a public health policy perspective).

  Sherry
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  Mysterious

  All very valid points Sherry. As much as we would like to see the watchtower go down I dont think it's good to pin too much hope on one specific thing. It's a long fight that will be won by continued efforts not in one fell swoop. And it becomes easy for us to overlook flaws in exposes simply because we want them to be true, we want them to work, and we know that deep down they are espousing our own views.
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  lonelysheep

  but I have a hard time feeling sorry for an adult that would go to a church for medical advice."

  From the outside, that statment makes complete sense.

  Kind of makes me feel dumb, but as we know, it's amazing what brainwashing can do.
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  Finally-Free

  Most non JWs don't give a shit about JWs one way or the other. If they have something against JWs it's usually regarding their position on blood transfusions, particularly when children are at risk. I think we'll have to put the emphasis on the risk to children when presenting this 'big news'.

  W
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  steve2

  Second-rate and a Baptist journal - hardly at the forefront of academia and the law. Yawn. The article will not be taken seriously in law circles - besides there is always a counter response to research on points of law that have not yet been tested.
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  bebu

  Interesting comments, especially since the university is Southern Baptist... I think many people would expect a religious university to not point out any potential vulnerabilities that religions have in regard to the law. Her essay kind of works against expectations, I would think.

  Once there is a case that demonstrates whether those precedents are relevent to the WTS, then I think those folks will be glad to get more info. I don't blame them for feeling cautious.

  bebu
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  AuldSoul

  Well, the opinions of an attorney for Jehovah's Witnesses has been published in the same Journal. To me that sort of indicates that the Journal itself is not baised with regard to what it allows to be published.

  AuldSoul
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  Elsewhere

  The response I got at work was a look of great surprise. They were very surprised that the WTS was caught in such a blatant lie.

  One went on to say that the name "Watchtower" has always made her uneasy... she said the name reminded her of the big tower from Lord of the Rings that had the big eye to watch everyone.
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  Simon

  How many people who have not been affected by the WTS are going to ever have any interest in it?

  At best the WTS is a joke and is of zero interest to the general populace.
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  Maryjane

  Interesting. You know I was thinking too, how much weight does the signed blood card have? That might overrule any "tort of misrepresentation" since the JW signs it in accordance with Acts 15:28,29 and not in accordance with the [dis]information in the blood brochure. The JW's presents misrepresenations in MUCH of their printed materials. Quoting things out of context, using dubious sources, etc, yet the average JW is either unaware of these misrepresentations or doesn't care. The excerpts Barbara posted did allude to other areas of misrepresentation tho...such as their recruitment methods. They may be more likely to "hang" on something like that.