Just last night at the TMS&SM, I was looking around and reflecting that everyone there was either deeply stupid, or pretended to be. There are many, many stupid Witnesses. And the ones that aren't stupid find it convenient for many reasons to act like everyone else.
Could we have stumbled onto the reason behind the higher education thing ?
by Forscher 37 Replies latest jw friends
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Finally-Free
Depending on who you talked to, maybe they didn't want to converse with other JWs, so kept the conversation banal?
I often wondered if JWs had interests outside of cult activities and were just hesitant to talk about them, thinking that talking about these things might bring the wrath of the elders upon them. The cult must come first, right?
W
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daystar
And the ones that aren't stupid find it convenient for many reasons to act like everyone else.
I don't think I'd quite call it "convenience". The WBTS teaches JWs to be "sheep" and to not be individualistic and to strictly tow the party line, to follow. Critical thinking, creativity, individual achievement are severely repressed and this is all reinforced by the entire culture.
I can recall a few times when I would make comments at the bookstudy that were not just read out of the book, or general JWisms, and for the most part they were met with dead stares and smiles, but no real understanding.
So, for my part it wasn't so much "convenient" as it was seemingly useless to do otherwise.
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under_believer
I see you point, of course. It was that very phenomenon that made me stop commenting in the first place. When I really put work into my comments, they essentially went in one ear and out the other. Pearls, swine, etc, though ostensibly "putting things in your own words" is what they want out of you. And sitting there simply regurgitating exactly what is written down in the paragraph, or relating some recent salient experience, is a non-starter for me.
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IW
I think the Watchtower's turn around on higher education is just another in their long list of ridiculous turn arounds which are, of course, due to their extreme cluelessness and lack of simple common sense! They don't know what they're doing or how to do it so they end up giving everything a try!
They're like a man on a sinking boat too busy plugging up the holes to notice that his rudder is broken and the waves are driving him towards the rocks. Oh well...the Governing Body deserves what they get.
IW
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sass_my_frass
I didn't know many intelligent JWs, and they were all a threat to my family in that if I had the conversation that I wanted to have with any of them (it starts with 'now c'mon, do you really believe this crap?') they'd have had the leaven removed from the congregation years ago.
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nomoreTRUTHplz
As for other witnesses I don't know their reasons for not holding conversation, but when I still went to meetings I didn't talk much because A: these people really don't care and B: fear of mentioning something like a good movie I just saw and uh oh...it's rated R.
As far as "some" ( this is my personal experience in my congregation, so please don't attack me for generalizing) not being very smart, I often thought this of the ones I knew. We had this one elder ( the one who seemed to care the most and was educated) who would often ask his own impromptu questions which were always met with blank stares followed by answers that completely missed the mark. This always drove me crazy, but I figure it's due to the fact that they are so brainwashed to only give the answers pulled directly from the paragraph that they could no longer think for themselves. Maybe it wasn't so much that they weren't smart as it was that they were just used to giving robotic answers.
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SirNose586
Sorry to resurrect the thread, but this one's a keeper. So many premium comments. Mary knocked it way out of the park.
Truthseeker...
I too have timed the conversations of JW's - if you can get 3 minutes out of them before they get that glazed look, you've done pretty well.
Most dubs can't manage 60 seconds and then you catch them looking around the hall for someone else.
WOW! Strange how habits can travel over time and space!! I thought I was the only one who noticed that!
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ESTEE
Once a person goes to University and learns to use their power of reason
and use their free will,
well . . .
the brainwash just stops making any sense whatsoever.
ESTEE
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5go
As for other witnesses I don't know their reasons for not holding conversation, but when I still went to meetings I didn't talk much because A: these people really don't care and B: fear of mentioning something like a good movie I just saw and uh oh...it's rated R.
Bingo Same here!
What is the point your supposed to talk about spiritualy upbuilding things only all the time any thing else is frowned on. Seeing as nothing is of any relivance is spiritualy upbuilding to a JW. What is the point trying to say anything other than HI, OK, or BYE!