by Inquisitor 10 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
If you were in some public area and you discovered JW publications, what would you do?
(1) Would you snatch the publications away and bin them (censorship)?
or
(2) Would you write the URL for JWD and silentlambs in the publication (counter-witness)?
INQ
Throw them in the nearest trashcan.
Bin them - on the chance that someone could be duped by reading them. No guarantee that anyone would look up the URL, or even have access to a computer. Come to think of it, that is probably where the growth will come from - people without access to computers.
(Brill, Bizzy Bee, brill!)
I would place one of these in them.
I see your point, Inquisitor. Are we denying others the right to read what they wish by removing the WTs?
It's a tricky question, but since the information is already in the public domain and the magazines were put there by an individual without legal sanction, I think what happens to them after is not a matter of censorship.
If we went into a library and took a JW book out and destroyed it, that would be censorship because it would be infringing on the public's right to have access to that book. There's no existing right (that I know of) that publications placed in a public area on the whim of an individual must remain accessible to the public.
Hello fullofdoubt and BizzyBee,
Have either of you ever had any misgivings about dumping publications into the bin? I mean, if you think of it, one could draw a comparison between this action and the way the WTS restricts the R&F from reading certain material. I do not mean to judge. I too have dumped "literature" into the bin, but I have had moments of self-doubt. Have you?
Hi inbyathread
By writing something in the publications, the counter-message is less likely to slip out of the mag, IMHO anyway. Of course that is not the only way to counter-witness.
INQ
Have either of you ever had any misgivings about dumping publications into the bin? I mean, if you think of it, one could draw a comparison between this action and the way the WTS restricts the R&F from reading certain material.
Good question, Inq. I consider myself a moral, ethical and honest person. Looking deep into my heart, I find no qualms about actively participating in the downfall of the WTS, wherever possible. If I stand for anything, I stand for what I believe to be the truth. I never felt this certain, even as a JW, about what the truth is in this case.
Dumping 'spiritual pornography' is not censorship. There are many avenues for those interested to learn what JWs believe, God help them. Closing down one avenue is a mere gesture.
Have either of you ever had any misgivings about dumping publications into the bin? I mean, if you think of it, one could draw a comparison between this action and the way the WTS restricts the R&F from reading certain material. I do not mean to judge. I too have dumped "literature" into the bin, but I have had moments of self-doubt. Have you?
Hi Inquisitor,
I work in the admin section of a local hospital, and a jw works in the same area as me. She brings the mags in, and puts copies in all the waiting rooms. I follow her around, and dump them in the trash. The way I see it, she is leaving those mags for whoever wants to take them, and whoever does take them is entitled to do as they see fit with them. I see fit to bin them, and I never feel any doubt about the rightness of what I am doing.
The way I see it, I am protecting the patients from being exposed to an evil, manipulative organisation that would ruin their lives if it were given chance. I am certain that, in disposing ot these mags, I am not denying them of anything that will be in ant way beneficial to them.
Well a few months ago I ran across a tract. I binned it.
Looking back, I wish I would have just used a pen and wrote on top of it something along the lines of "this religion is responsible for the deaths of many people due to their erroneous policies forbidding blood and for their past policy forbidding organ transplants... let the reader beware"
Dear parakeet
Good point you've raised: a legal perspective of things. You said: "the magazines were put there by an individual without legal sanction, I think what happens to them after is not a matter of censorship."
Hmmm... what if the mags were placed there by a Witness who had obtained permission to do so? Would that be legal sanction? And if so, would it then be unethical to remove the publications?
INQ
