I used to post on this site a few years back but after moving on personally and being shunned by my only remaining family member for the last 4-5 years I the J.W's became just background noise to me. Yet yesterday something happened that brought back to me the degree of control this cult has over it's members. A new Wall Mart recently opened in my little mountain town here in northern Georgia, U.S. As i headed across the parking lot on my way into the store the heat was intense, wit a humidity factor of around 90%. My shirt was already sticking to my back and you could have fried an egg on the pavement. Then I noticed something I've never seen before. Two people, an elderly man and I presume his wife were sitting in front of the building entrance directly exposed to the full effect of the sun as it baked the bone white, newly laid cement sidewalk area in front of the store. Behind them was nothing but cinder blocks reflecting the heat outward onto this poor couple. Beside them was a 5-6 foot tall magazine rack filled with J.W. literature. I actually felt sorry for them and was about to say something when a family group in front of me with about 4 teenage children in tow walked up to the couple and loudly proclaimed that they were all brothers and sisters too and how nice it was to see them out spreading the good news of the kingdom. I just walked on past and into the cool of the air conditioning. I did ask to speak to the manager though and politely exclaimed that having J.W's lingering at the store entrance was not what I wanted to see and told her a short bit of my personal history with the group and how they destroyed my family. She just said that she couldn't turn away any religious group that wanted to give away literature. It was store policy. I was nice about everything, but did explain that the J.W's were a cult and perhaps not the best thing to be seen outside advancing their cause. On another note. At this same store a couple of weeks ago a elderly Wall Mart greeter was fired for telling the customers to have a blessed day at they left the store. The public outrage at this forced the store to rehire him and allow him to continue to say have a blessed day. Soon afterwards the newspaper here ran a full page story on the event, T-shirts were printed up saying have a blessed day and the man was a guest of the Georgia legislature where he was introduced by the right wing governor. Needless to say, they got lots of publicity about the event and made themselves look good for their republican voting followers while passing laws given to them by lobbyists restricting the rights of the working poor and those on food stamps. Georgia also did not expand Medicare leaving 175,000 people without health care. The governor then tried to pass a bill restricting emergency room access for the poor when hospitals complained that they were losing money. But hey, let a cult advertise at Wall Mart, and have a Blessed Day!
Just a short observation on self inflicted misery.
by Human Being 22 Replies latest jw experiences
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GrreatTeacher
Why would they not just open an umbrella over their heads? Or put up one of those EZ Up canopies? Even the Girl Scouts selling cookies are smart enough to do that!
It doesn't take long to get dehydrated in that kind of heat, especially if you're elderly.
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Xanthippe
I suppose if you're following a god who allows his son to be tortured to death to save mankind, doing things like exposing your elderly members to heat stroke is inevitable. -
oppostate
It was good you spoke to the manager.
I would have told the manager how it was quite dangerous to have elderly people be out there in the heat in full sun and whether they wanted to have an ambulance show up because one of them collapsed.
Then I'd hint that if she wasn't concerned I'd be thinking of calling the police about it and how inhumane it was for an organization to send elderly folks out in the heat.
Also say I might just call the Walmart Branch office so could I please have her name and store number?
The JW's do this kind of stuff because the Org encourages it. Shame on those hierarchs that sit in air-conditioned offices at Bethel, I'd like to see one of them out in that hellish heat.
Then I'd buy two bottles of cold water and bring them out to the elderly couple.
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GrreatTeacher
Good point on the liability issue. WT has done a good job on insulating themselves from liability on behalf of the publishers, but if one of them does have a medical emergency and an ambulance gets called to the front entrance of Walmart, would Walmart have any liability? I think it would, at the very least, be a PR issue. -
Gulf Coaster
Yes, I think by allowing that sort of activity on their property, Walmart would be liable if anything happened, so a lawsuit against them could very well work. It is self-inflicted stupidity but a lot of that often wins in the court these days. -
Crazyguy
Grreat-teacher, that's funny put up an umbrella or tent, that would take money and you know that they don't have any of that.. -
GrreatTeacher
Yes, crazyguy, but you know they were able to come up with the fifty or hundred dollars to purchase their witnessing cart / apathy trolley! -
Splash
Plus the $20 every month to bethel, to get the latest magazine posters for the trolley. -
steve2
I couldn't tell from the OP whose self-inflicted misery was being discussed: The elderly JW couple who were uncomplainingly exposing themselves to the fierce rays of the sun or you being confronted with the sight of that couple and needing to express an official complaint. Are you for real complaining about them going about their lawful work? They didn't accost you, did they?
As for the liability issue mentioned by another poster, well that's creative thinking: Have the officials considered the legal implications of having citizens exposed to the sun on their premise? Well, what happens now when people suffer from heat stroke by staying out in the sun voluntarily in contrast to being a paid employee made to stand in the sun? Would there be a difference? I'd say you could argue there would be. But that's got little to do with whether or not JWs should be there in the first place trying to sell their wares.