Read a story of child neglect and abuse among JWs in S. Africa that was sent to me. (page 4)

Broken Promises

Sizemik,

Why are you trying to defend an article that cannot be defended?

james_woods

My simple question: What actual good does it do to promote this kind of sensationalistic information?

And I must ask again: What good does this do anybody?

sizemik

Why are you trying to defend an article that cannot be defended?

LOL . . . I'm not intimidated by the "heavyweights" here. Neither am I emboldened by having their agreement. If you read their comments, they're as ignorant on the subject as you are . . . some criticism is levelled at Barb for her first line, which merely reveals that she too is better informed. The rest is simply objecting to the style and content without any regard for the facts pertaining to it.

The article may well be presented with a style that doesn't sit well with the XJW community. But surprising as it may be . . . it's not carefully tailored to suit the JWN XJW community . . . it's for a different audience and posted here to inform. That gives you two choices . . . either find out the facts for yourself . . . or carry on with your uninformed drivel.

Steve2 responded by out-sensationalising the sensational with his emotive response. If you can't see the irony, hypocrisy and lazy-assed elements of that . . . I don't give a shit quite frankly.

talesin

@ Barbara Anderson

Thank you for posting this story. It's all too familiar and shows that the abuse is, indeed, happening world wide.

tal

sizemik

@james_woods . . .

What Wha Happened said above expresses exactly what I thought when I first read it.

The answer to your question is in the question.

The writers email has been posted and highlighted . . . why not direct your concerns to him?

flipper

BARBARA- Thanks for posting this information. How disgusting. Although all too typical of abuses that not only go on in Africa from elders but in the U.S. and other more so-called " developed " countries.

Let's see if I got this straight. One elder whose daughters claimed fondled them , openly masturbated in front of them - only got support from his fellow elders and the daughters got called rebels and threatened with being DFEd for reporting it to his fellow elders ? Yet he was finally DFed when he went running around naked in a park ? They should have done him a service and had him SHOT after running around naked in the park. Forget DFing. Jesus. The absurd rules and regulations that go unchecked in the WT organization are insane and criminal. this thread proves it

steve2

Steve2 responded by out-sensationalising the sensational with his emotive response. If you can't see the irony, hypocrisy and lazy-assed elements of that . . . I don't give a shit quite frankly.

I had wondered in passing how long it would take Sizemilk to return to further comments about me. He does give a shit - just like a bad-tempered dog who refuses to relinquish tha darn bone. Wow! He has been in contact with the author. Ipso facto, it makes us lazy by contrast. Contacting a writer is a valid way of extending the discussion. Whether it establishes veracity is another matter. But, in expresing my opinion - and it is an opinion - I try to remain open to other points of view. Besides, if a view is distributed on this forum, why shouldn't we be free to express views about it on this forum. Presumably the author knew his story was on this forum? He's welcome here too. I'm all for people hunting down sources of news- whether it makes them entitled to then mouth off about others being lazy, I'm not so sure.

I notice that several posters here expressed misgivings about the man's story - and that may well have peeved Sizemilk so he did what others have done on this forum rom time to time: Tried to accuse those posters of not believing that sexual abuse is a problem among the witnesses etc. As I responded earlier, that is mischievous.

As a man who was sexually abused as a child by a member of another religious group, I take seriously the topic. Where I differ is when it apears as though a spokesperson makes sweeping claims about almost every other apsect of life in the kingdom halls and states that it is worse than in other groups. That gets to me probably because I was abused not by any JWs but by a respected pillar of the Salvation Army. But, of course, I acknowledge that it happens among the JWs.

talesin

Barbara Anderson's opinion is enough to 'establish veracity' in my eyes.

Perhaps you should take a look at HER credentials, and you may agree that if she is presenting something, it is more likely to be true than not.

tal

wha happened?

Because she is Barbara Anderson anything like this is bound to be over scrutinized. That's obvious and why not. If it's true it will eventually stand up, but dismissing any criticism simpy because she is Barbara Anderson, well thats just naive.

talesin

I honestly don't get the critiques, wha. It is a different culture, and many of us are reading things into it, knowing nothing of SA. That's one thing that troubles me about the vehement criticism and skepticism in this thread.

I understood about the exclamation marks, but we do not speak the same lingo as SA, and these people are reaching out for help, and the stories mirror so many I have heard here. That, along with Ms. Anderson's 'somewhat' endorsement, leads me to be far less cynical and reluctant to jump on the 'trashing this man's testimony' bandwagon.

There's a lot of that going on this week; it seems to be some sort of malaise that is affecting the board.

I am far from naive, trust me on that one. My abuse was NOT related to the JW, though I was a born-in. My family has a lot more to answer for than the usual JW stuff.

I appreciate your comment.

tal

Read a story of child neglect and abuse among JWs in S. Africa that was sent to me.

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