I don't think they were trying to drum up persecution in Denmark. I think they were just being dumb and arrogant and it did backfire on them.
WTS in trouble in Denmark
by zed is dead 36 Replies latest jw friends
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Hortensia
I hope the xjws in Denmark follow through on this opportunity
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Julia Orwell
I think that because they are allowed to say that sort of stuff in America because of whichever amendment rights, they just assume it's ok to say in other countries. I'm currently trying to see if it crosses the boundary of Australian hate speech laws.
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slimboyfat
Excellent, they've been arrogant and dumb indeed. Time for chickens to come home to roost.
Id like to see them try to spin that story to the faithful. How can they claim persecution for being censured for hate speech?
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steve2
I don't think they're trying to be contentious. It's practically the same convention message given in the US and Danish hate-speech laws are more explicit about what constitutes unlawful speech.
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Vidiot
rebel8 - "srsly, that makes them sound like the Westboro people."
Helll, Westboro Baptist Church probably wishes it could play in the WTS's league..
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Dagney
You know, the WTBS has been saying crap like that since the beginning. However, the world has become more PC, and the WT keeps thinking they are Jesus and can call a group "vipers" and worse. I think JW's have heard it for so long, the words go in one ear and out the other...but the message remains..."shun the enemy."
Thanks Denmark for taking a stand. I knew I liked you too.
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steve2
Dagney - you're absolutely right. Indeed, I'd say that the vituperative critical spirit reached its peak during Rutherford's day (Russell by contrast was a pussy cat ).
Over more recent decades the publications have toned done the more saliva-inducing hate-filled diatribes against the churches of Christendom (Catholics can breathe a sigh of relief - if they even cared). I don't think it was so much due to PC pressure but more a case of knowing they risked looking rabid and unhinged by ranting on about all that's evil and sinister in the world.
It is telling that nowadays they save their glistening vats of venom for assailing the reputations of former members. That said, when you compare what the current organization says about apostates, you'd instantly see how tame it is compared to the extremely personal vindictive statements made by the self-named 'Judge' in the 1930s. I think in a couple of cases ex-witnesses took matters to court and won. Heard of Olin Moyle?
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Band on the Run
the use of the word "defector" for apostate, heretic, or former member sums it up. It sounds exciting and romantic. I recall Nureyev and Barishnikov's defections. Well, not Nureyev but I did read several bios with accounts of his defection.
Perhaps the use of such language shows how effective apostates are.
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Vidiot
steve2 - "Over more recent decades the publications have toned done the more saliva-inducing hate-filled diatribes against the churches of Christendom... I don't think it was so much due to PC pressure but more a case of knowing they risked looking rabid and unhinged..."
Yeah, they definately wanted respectability for a while, there.
Authoritarian leaders still need an existential Enemy to focus the rank-and-file's hostility towards, though; and castaways and walkaways were just too easy a target to pass up.
A stopgap measure at best, though; the latest stuff coming out of WTHQ makes them sound even more rabid and unhinged than before, especially thanks to Youtube. They're still small potatoes, but any worldlies who see them say "WTF???" more than ever before.
Band on the Run - "Perhaps the use of such language shows how effective apostates are."
Oh, there's no "perhaps" about it; these days, the undercurrent of desperation in the rhetoric is almost palpable.