And Here's To You, MRS. ANDERSON...

by AMNESIAN 25 Replies latest jw friends

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  Nanoprobe

  What a lovely tribute!
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  hawkaw

  hmmm ........... I wonder what "littlebit" has to say about all this.

  hmmm ......

  Good post Am.

  hawk

  p.s. - I am glad you guys connected!
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  freeman

  Very nice tribute, well stated!

  Freeman
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  teejay

  AMNESIAN,

  Your description of watchtower life for the average woman sounds like a walking nightmare. This reminds me of FBI agent Colleen Rowley who recently blew the whistle on some of her superiors and even some at headquarters. The depth of honor such ones must have!

  In several ways their stories compare. For example, neither wanted or cared for the limelight. They simply saw a serious and ongoing problem that needed to be fixed. And like Colleen, Barbara must have surely been afraid of the price she would pay.

  Unlike Barbara, though, Colleen's actions were haled as one of the most outstanding acts by anyone since 9/11. Powerful men in Washington stepped to her side, assuring her and the public that there would be no repercussions against the one many praised as "a patriotic American." Sadly, that is where their stories are no longer similar.

  It's pathetic that no right-hearted man, willing to risk it all, stepped up to support her. Yet again, those the wt says are destined for destruction have shown a superiority of character to that of god's "chosen mouthpiece."
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  abbagail

  Nothing but a pure Masterpiece, Amnesian! Humorous, contemporary, well-placed and to-the-point-scriptures (that SHOULD stab the GB all over with many pains!), superfine arguments, and well-deserved accolation for Barbara Anderson! Darn good writing! I wish I had an email list for the 6-million current JWs, as I'd send this around to them all!

  Can we quote your post in emails to the media?

  I wish the Andersons would post us a note to let us know how they are faring and feeling. I can't imagine what it must have been like for her -- or for her hubbie now that he has been booted also. Like Amazing said, I surely hope Dateline will do a follow-up. I didn't realize they cut portions about Barb out of their first JW airing. Wouldn't it be great to see an entire hour just about what SHE came to know and how/when and then what occurred thereafter, i.e., what she did/thought/felt/suffered, etc.

  Don't we have any filmmakers in the xJW world? Somebody needs to get the cameras rolling to document these people's stories. Maybe someone will write a book for/about their experience. It should be PRESERVED for all time to come.

  As far as the JW women and their JW and/or elder hubbies as described by Amnesian... during my JW years I always hoped for/prayed for a "spiritual" JW hubbie, but it never happened. I see now that was a BLESSING IN DISGUISE.

  Thanks again for the great post!
  Grits
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  AMNESIAN

  I feel certain that each of your enthusiastic cheers means a lot to Barb and Joe and, even, to many of us reading them who aren't Barbara or Joe .

  TJ, you wrote:

  This reminds me of FBI agent Colleen Rowley who recently blew the whistle on some of her superiors and even some at headquarters.

  I was riveted to this story when it was carried prominently in the news and, like you, immediately thought of Barb's incredible undertaking. And, to be honest, even of my own personal whistleblowing odessey---against men at organization levels one through three down (DO, CO, local) from the Bethel heavies Barb confronted and certainly on a matter of much less importance to the worldwide association-- that wound up reaping nothing of benefit for anyone and, ultimately, costing me extensively. I found myself, at times, cheering out loud for Agent Rowley and for the Bureau's [at least, public] response to her actions.

  The depth of honor such ones must have!

  I couldn't agree more!

  GRITS,---love the handle!--- you wrote:

  I wish the Andersons would post us a note to let us know how they are faring and feeling. I can't imagine what it must have been like for her -- or for her hubbie now that he has been booted also.

  This is obviously a difficult time for these two people who, like so many of us here, made their life's goals that of serving Jehovah and the organization we sincerely believed he was using on earth. And yet...yet, my sense is that Barb is doing much better, in many ways, in her emotional adjustment to post-cult life than the only person to which I am qualified to compare her---myself. Granted my exit has been much more recent than hers, but, still, I have been through nothing that compares to the trauma she and her family have had to and are still enduring, and I continue to struggle to some extent. They appear to me to be faring wonderfully under the circumstances. Of course, it has to be a tremendous assist to each of them to have the other on the same page.

  Barbara Anderson impresses me mightily as a woman with her head screwed on securely and straight ahead with her heart's convictions firmly fixed. Clearly, the WTS could not have drawn a more devastatingly inaccurate conclusion when "reading" her "quiet and mild" and discreet manner as merely another one of their typical JW drones---the plodding, dim-witted man who'd say or do nothing whatever to derail his blistering corporate career hurtling him toward his dream of cracking the upper echelons of organizational power and authority... Watchtower Study Overseer and the "Consider the Daily Text" part on the Special Assembly Day program; or the simpering, self-doubting woman persuaded to disdain her own personhood and that her one and only purpose of value in the eyes of God and to the world is to join the large army of peddlers pushing the good snooze.

  And that, for me folks, has got to be the sweetest of all ironies in connection with this WTS bust. (I cannot but believe, despite the fact that so much WT strategy is being feverishly devoted to discrediting them, that there are some extremely nervous heavies in Brooklyn who fear desperately what may still be in store as a result of their very loose-lipped association with Barb and Joe Anderson for all these many years!)

  Anyway, in direct response to your comment, I don't wish to "run ahead" here, but I am given to understand that we are to be gifted with some valuable firsthand input in the not-too-distant future.

  Like Amazing said, I surely hope Dateline will do a follow-up. I didn't realize they cut portions about Barb out of their first JW airing. Wouldn't it be great to see an entire hour just about what SHE came to know and how/when and then what occurred thereafter, i.e., what she did/thought/felt/suffered, etc.

  Yes, this would appear, imo, to be one area in which Barb is very disappointed, i.e., the much more damaging material that was left on Dateline's cutting room floor. While I agree this is terribly frustrating, I doubt it is lost forever. Time will tell. A program such as Dateline airing anything so powerful regarding a religion with such relatively few members as JWs is miraculous in itself. Who can say what other "miracles" will not occur?

  There's not much I know for sure anymore, but one thing I do is that the leadership in New York will never, ever again rest as smugly confident of their [perceived] impenetrable omnipotence as they were able to in poor Ray Franz's days, days before cyber and digital technology in the hands of men and women of conscience able and willing to employ it to benevolent end.

  Thanks again for your bon mots!

  AMNESIAN

  Edited by - AMNESIAN on 1 August 2002 1:49:48