My own personal thought... NO.
I have long felt the desire to actually DO something real, something meaningful in the 'fight', so i do understand the urge to unite, to collectivly battle the WT. I once thought of doing several things publicly myself. Then i realized i did not have credibility. I was not prepared to put my name and face to my message at that time (nor am i now but for far different reasons than back then) and felt that my journey from the WT was not noble either. (by noble i mean learning TTATT and escaping as opposed to getting DF for adultery then learning TTATT)
As i watched the AAWA fiasco unfold two things became apparent to my mind...1) they had no credibility just as i have none and, 2) just because the desire is there to do something doesn't mean one should.
In my short time here, i have seen all the good websites, read all the good blogs, watched many youtubes and read many accounts of peoples lives. I have been amazed at the battles being waged by a variety of people, all in their own way and methods and the WT having to take notice, of courts of the land/s hearing the things the WT wants kept secret.
I do not see any good in 'organization' of anything in this regard. Why is there a need to unite efforts?
The Watchtower will not be brought to its knees by activists, it will not change because a band of 10,000 former members take action. It is the Watchtower, no different to any other crappy religion/ corporation. What will and is hurting the Watchtower is the public learning about them. What will hurt and is happening is them losing their youth. They dont need us to do that, they are doing that by themselves. For that matter, governments are starting to do a pretty good job of seeing the dirty WT laundry too, thanks to who? Privateers, not some united front.
Do those exiting need support? Yes indeed they do, just as i needed it these past 3 years.
And where did i find it? Right here, on an open forum of thousands of people with thousands of ideas, journeys and personalities. And probably thousands of agenda's as well. And this site is a portal to dozens of other sites that have proved helpful in their chosen endeavors. Do all these websites need to be organized? Do all the different private efforts need to be organized? To be discussed for their own merits before they do something?
Personally i don't think so. As one poster has suggested, school counsellors need to be told about the WT. Yes they do, and mind you, those at my daughters school are under no illusions about the JWs thankyou to me, but does there need to be an organized information drive? Does anything need to be 'organized'? ''Beware of organization''!
Personally i just think more good will be done, is already being done, by many many people without any co-ordination by anyone at all.
This brings my thinking back to credibility and purpose...
Yes, some sort of organization may be credible (AAWA didn't have it to lose in the first place) but purpose? Just because something can be done, does not mean it should be done. What ever gets proposed or done I hope will be done well...
And I am sure something will be organized because there are plenty of people just itching to do something. Anyway Terry, like you say. discuss, and this is just one persons thought, I am not moaning and winging.
I am not sitting here moaning and complaining, and i hope I dont get lumped into the "wingers who do nothing'' camp, because i am neither. I am doing stuff my way in my time and nobody here knows even 1/1oth of what it is. It is not big, it is not public and the watchtower wont lose any sleep over it either, but it will do some good for some. It does not need a group to vett it, nor decide what should be said nor to whom it should be directed.
I am wary, (and surely others are as well) even sceptical of plans to 'bring down the WT', plans to do this or that. Lots of examples on here of people making great noises about the surprising thing they are about to do, how in one year the WT will fall etc etc. Much trumpeting by AAWA and a characture of what it will accomplish
so to those who will, please be careful
Well, thats my 10c worth, for what it is worth.
Oz
