Last night I watched a show that, I thought, really shows the attitude of JWs towards the rest of the world. It was extremely enlightening and I hope it opened alot of peoples eyes that think JWs are just nice Christian people, but are not a cult. It was a show on "E" that is called "Opening Act".
On this particular episode, the description of which can be found here http://www.eonline.com/news/328353/american-idol-producer-nigel-lythgoe-on-the-hunt-for-new-opening-act, Von Smith is featured who was raised as a Jehovah's Witness. He describes how strict the religion was and how he felt so controlled that by age 15, he decided that he did not want to be a Witness anymore.
The interesting thing is that his mother (a VERY devout JW) allowed herself to be on camera and interviewed. The producers of the show saw a video on youtube by Von Smith and decided to choose him to open for Lady Gaga. They ambush him at the airport where he flew in to visit his JW mother.
During his preperation for the show he describes his childhood and how his mother constantly discouraged him from pursuing his dreams of becoming a singer. She did not want him to become part of the world. He has an extremely difficult time rehearsing because of his issues with his mother. Still, he wants her to be part of the biggest opportunity of his life.
The Lady Gaga show that he is to perform at is in Australia. So Nigel Lythgoe offers him 2 first class plan tickets...one for him...and one for his mother. This sends Von Smith into a bit of a panic. He knows his mothers feelings towards his pursuits, yet he wants her to be a part of his life. He calls his mother and basically begs her to come with him to watch him perform. His mother flatly refuses. She states that she did some research on Lady Gaga and was disgusted by what she saw. She said that she would not be a part of it.
Von tells this to Nigel, and he says that he is very sure that he can convince his mom to go. I thought, "Boy...people really don't understand JWs." Nigel calls his mother and tells her that she doesn't have to meet Gaga, she doesn't even have to be in the environment, but it mean the world to her son if she would just attend and show her support. She tells Nigel that her faith will not allow it and she will not support her son. Nigel is literally disgusted. He says, "When I had these sorts of opportunity, I was blessed to have my mother present and supportive. I cannot understand this, and I am literally disgusted." He actually hangs up on her.
Von Smith gets to Australia, does a killer job in performing and the show ends.
I was so blown away by the episode. I thought that it did a fantastic job in portraying JWs feelings towards the world and how they view it. The overall feel that I got from Von Smiths mother was that she was afraid of what people would think if she went. What would the elders think of her attending a Lady Gaga concert with her ex-JW son? I was shocked that she allowed herself on camera, but I'm so thankful that she did. It went a long way in showing people a tiny glimpse into JW life.
If anyone can find a link to the full episode, that would be fantastic. Here is the commercial for it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Q7ideSuEtI
Also here is a link where they discuss the show. I haven't watched this one yet, but I'm not sure how deep they get into the JW thing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYawDxZFNZI
Has anyone seen this episode?