by honorsthesis 85 Replies latest watchtower bible
@TEC
I am looking for those who were once of the mind of a JW, and then who for one reason or another left the organization. You would not of necessarily had to of been baptized. I was not baptized until I was 20 years old, but that does not mean my mind was already not trained to think like a JW. If you were never full 'engrossed' in the religion, no I think it would be best if you did not participate. Thank you for your inquiry.
***concerning the word "defected" <---I do not even see how this an issue.
I think many of you are confusing the term "defected" for "defective"...which is entirely different. This is not my mistake, it is yours.
Merriam-Webster: Defect: to forsake one cause, party, or nation for another often because of a change in ideology
Not to make a mountain out of a molehill but... what you have cited is the definition of the verb to defect. Can it be used as an adjective as you have done with "defected JWs"? I don't know, it doesn't sound right to me. Maybe someone with better language skills can adjudicate. I am pretty sure that phrase is not used in the academic literature on Jehovah's Witnesses however, and you have not cited any examples. Andrew Holden, James Penton, Rodney Stark and others use the noun defectors fairly frequently, which seems to be the correct usage.
A google search for "defected JWs/Jehovah's Witnesses" only brought up this page.
A search for "defected members" brought up another thread you apparently started where some are more interested in the word "fabricated" than "defected":
A simple cursory search yields James Beckford's, "The Trumpet of Prophecy", as well as cited by "An Introduction to Research and Analysis of Jehovah's Witnesses: A View from the Watchtower" by Carolyn R. Wah used the phrases "defected [Jehovah's] Witnesses".
Let's put this topic to rest since it has everything to do with syntax and nothing to do with my research :)
slimboyfat...."Defected" as a verb or predicate adjective is commonly used in academic literature on JWs. The usage here as a noun modifier that seems less common. But there really isn't a difference in meaning between the two, just usage. I think the term is a little less neutral than it might seem at first. It is less value-laden than "apostate" but it contains within it a concept of desertion and agency in such desertion, that does not represent the experience of ex-JWs who either did not "defect" of their own accord or who are no longer JWs for reasons other than dissent. Maybe "former JWs" is more adequate as a general term, but that's just my opinion.
honorsthesis....You should know that this particular forum has seen quite a few frauds and hoaxes in the past, and so the skepticism you are encountering is reflexive of that history. You should not take offensive, but rather understand that this comes with the territory.
Wouldn't it be easier if honors guy pm'd BOTR his real name so that she can verify with the University whether this guy is true or not?
Broken Promises....He's already given his real name in the OP (Brett W. | B. Wager), with the same email you find on various University of Florida websites (e.g. re his membership in the University of Florida College Republicans or as a justice in University of Florida Student Traffic Court). You can email him at that address to verify for yourself.
I think it is not difficult to have a university email address. A prof. supervising researching should not mind fielding a simple question as to veracity that would take less than one minute.
I will not perish b/c I participated in the survey. The warning about the Internet is to myself. I can't see using a loaded word when a neutral one accurately describes the matter. In order to defect, I owed some allegiance in the first place. The matter is strange. If I want purity, I should stay off the internet.
@Leolaia
Your basic objective analysis and simple online research is refreshing! In addition, I am not a frequent visitor to this site and am unaware of common "hoaxes" and such. I do not know what the purpose in such would be.
@Band
If obtaining a university email is so readily accessible and easily attained, please obtain a @yale.edu and email me! Otherwise your proposition is hollow.
You still do not seem to fully comprehend why I am not entertaining your request. Allow me to elucidate. It is the principle of the matter, and more pragmatically the lack of interest I have in utilizing your services as an interviewee. I will not succomb to your request simply to "prove" myself to you. I have no such invested interest in doing so. You may be successful in bullying others to get your way, but you will reap no such benefit with this party.
I am telephoning the University of Florida political science department tomorrow. Hopefully, I will need to apologize. It makes sense that you remain a Witness, despite mocking the religion. Are you upset b/c of people criticized your methods, which you never addressed, or people think you are a scam? Your methodology would not stand up to certain standards. I can get a Yale edu to use on the internet if I know anyone of thousands upon thousands of students, faculty and workers at Yale University.
You don't have a Yale.edu. Your edu is from Univ of Fla. Should I elucidate?
I truly hope I will need to apologize. Enough was raised by other posters to raise tangible questions. Raising a question or concern is not condemning someone or a competent tribunal finding. People have a right to say to others here, "it sounds strange." "I have doubts."
You keep pursuing the issue. Maybe you are who you say who you are. I can't imagine the Witnesses allowing you the freedom you experience here. If I were in college and a PhD in political science critiqued my thesis, I would be elated. I would send a thank you note and run with the concepts listed. Once you are out of Yale Law School, you will likely need expert witnesses. Perhaps then you will appreciate the market value of such advice. Though I will quote one of my mom's favorite sayings, "Youth is wasted on the young." I believe it is G.B.Shaw.
I went and did the survey...nothing in it can identify anyone!
If you would like to participate in the survey, please email me: [email protected]
or PM me.
honourthesis I have done the survey and as crazyblondeb says nothing in the survey can identify anyone.
Many on this board identify Jehovahs witnesses with extreme right wing fundamentalism.
