by InquiryMan 8 Replies latest jw friends
Has anyone in the UK seen this programme
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00p4dyl
Unfortunately, non-UK residents are not able to watch this transmission on internet...Is there anyone who might see it who would download it somehow and download it and share it.
If anyone has seen it, how was it?
I guess the Watchtower society is not too happy about this...
Thanks for the info on this,
'Me gan, Let Me Grow Up':
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00p4dyl/Megan_Let_Me_Grow_Up/
I have just watched it, the family might not be JW's after that!
The congregation: Kingdom Hall, Bushmead Road, Eaton Socon, Cambs, PE19 8BT
must be spitting feathers!
A JW daughter with a punch-bag fixed to the wall next to her bed, who is a black belt in Tai Kwon Do.
She says she is Gay and wants to be a man. Some of the mothers language certainly didn't appear JW like!
In UK I have downloaded it, but think it is only playable for a certain period of time on BBC i-player.
fokyc
Just watched he programme. I think the local elders will have much to ponder. The young girl in the film was bullied badly at school and was home schooled. She is a black belt in marshall arts and is gay. If the commentator had not stated that her parents were witnesses there ws little in the film to suggest that they were. There were no shots of family worship, field service or kingdom hall attendance but there were some things under the surface that witnesses would pick up on. Megans issues and reticence to be part of the outside world seemed to stem more from the bullying she experienced rather than the religion of her parents.
Her parents seemed to actively encourage her to move away from the religion and what would be considered acceptable by the congregation.
Megan was not just home schooled, she had no friends at all, no witness friends, no friends from marshall arts, no old friends from school and no pen pals. Even in the organisation that is bizarre.
It seemed to me that this wasn't just about Megan growing up and experiencing more freedom, this was about her parents accepting that the religon they followed was not going to be the religon their daughter followed and how they prepared her to have a new life. They allowed her to pursue outside interests and make friends within these groups. They encouraged her to socialise with others outside the organisation. It is unclear how seriously the parents took their religion, they were described as strict JWs but they were not devout. Jackie the mum read a passage of scripture from a Gideon Bible in the hotel room about modesty just before sending her daughter to a disco but she did so not in a serious let us pray together mode but in a here's a funny thing I found in this book mode.
There is little for the organisation to dislike in terms of bad press, the parents were reasonable and accepting of their daughters choices and supportive of her new life. They didn't come across as religious zealots struggling with a moral dilema. There was no talk of disfellowshipping although it was suspicious that they had been out of touch with her cousin for 4 years. There was nothing that would make people think witness parents were controlling and emotionally crippled. Staunch witnesses would say that on the evidence these people were not spiritually strong anyway.
I think good for them their love for their child was paramount and did provide a useful perspective. So many people leave the organisation still clinging to what they have lost and feeling bitter. Megan showed that if an emotionally damaged girl could go out and start afresh making new friends, with no look back then so can we all.
I've just watched it. Sorry I haven't got a clue how to download it so you can watch.
I wouldn't say the parents are as strict JW as the review makes out though - basically they pulled their daughter out of school because she was being bullied - hence the homeschooling. They also sent her to Tae Kwondo so she could learn to defend herself, although she has kept with that beyond the basics and is now a black-belt medal winner, fully supported by her 'strict JW' parents! - I thought martial arts were out of bounds to JWs?
Basically, I don't think the programme topic really had that much to do directly with JWs - it was more about over-protective parents who have to allow their daughter the freedom to grow up.
Very interesting input... I got news of the programme by means of a short twitter message.
good, then that the programme seemed to be much more balanced than the impression I got... And as I suspected, the parents not heavily involved in JWism. They did not look that way either, especielly the children....
Anyway, I hope Megan will get a happy life and that her problems will be resolved.
Watching it at the moment! Maybe they're in one of those "liberal" congregations in England where they can do martial arts. You know the kind - where the elders say its ok to come on boards like this one!
Scots please show the way to one of those congregations - I'm fed up with the koolaid ones I have been attending all my life.
I think a lot of it was semi "dramatised"
The girl supposedly had a panic attack in her hotel room, and had to run into the bathroom.
Microphones had been put in there so she and her friend could talk into them
"are you okay?"
"I'll be alright" in loud whispers. The crew must have been tipped off this was going to happen.
Martial arts are OUT to witlesses. If the girl is mixed up you only need to look at the parents to see why.
The little boy was bawled out for pretending to shoot a gun, but they send the girl to learn how to beat the stuffing out of other human beings.
If everybody thinks Megan is a freak, as she claimed how come she got on so well socially with the girls she was partying with. She would be a nut job even without the witchtower. Ill bet the congregation has little to do with that family because they are "weak".
I cannot condemn them because they were about as devoted to the JW religion as any other rebel or apostate on this board.
How many of us could show our own lives and then expect the viewers to believe that we are true believing witlesses??
It was a programme about a screwed up family who happened to claim a certain faith. You will find catholic, mormon, sikh and muslim families every bit as warped as this one and worse.
Did anbody else notice that the mother was holding up a Gideons Bible she had read from?
HB
cantleave - I was referring to an old poster who would keep going on about how she told the elders she posted on here and that they were ok with it. She was a complete fantasist.
In a way I can understand the programme. I was in a similar situation growing up and was around her age. I had no witness friends either and it was very difficult.
However, i don't for one second believe that the parents were active witnesses.
