by Nathan Natas 70 Replies latest jw experiences
I could put this allegation in front of people that I work with, all hard working, decent, technical sorts of people and every one of them would blow this off as some kind of nut case. Whoever instigated this public display did no service to the woman or the cause.
Whoever believes that lawyers won't sue when there aren't facts to support the lawsuit is kidding themselves. Happens all the time.
(deleted)
sKally
Edited by - sf on 8 October 2002 19:34:22
I cannot express the grief I feel in hearing of these shocking allegations.
This should be on all the news stations. Did I miss the headlines? Admittedly, I have been juggling work, the recent sudden death of a very close family member, horrible grief and trying to help the family tend to the affairs such as funeral and other responsibilities.
As a result, this has struck me hard. I get feelings of panic at the very thought of entering a Kingdom Hall and will no longer attend until this is resolved. That is why I need to know if there is any real substance to these horrific allegations.
I never wanted the GB brought down on false allegations, and need to know if this is the honest to God truth. If so then it should hit the media as the most shocking religious scandal of modern times, making Tammy and Jim Bakker look like two British girl scouts who embezzled summer camp contributions by comparison (grinning).
This is extremely serious, and I sincerely hope Simon and his assistants are on full alert to prevent grandstanding, sensationalism and outright slander from overtaking this forum. The truth is what we all need right now, backed with solid evidence or very strong circumstantial evidence at the very least.
Derrick
I just noticed this thread, the smart part of me is saying to just let it go, the caring part is typing this out (the caring part always gets me in trouble). I'm going to make a comment that any one of you can take it or leave it. If it comes back to bite me in the ass then so be it.
I know Pat personally, I live a few miles from her. There is more to Pat and her story than she wishes to explain right now. That is her business and for reasons that I completely understand she said what she said "at the time" for a good reason. IN TIME that will be understood.
Pat does not wish to share everything that is going on with her life right now, I understand why and I respect it. Many may disagree but she owes none of us anything. It might make our lives a little easier to know everything but this is her life and she has the right to do with it as she feels is right for her, she has at least earned that. Her explanations directed or misdirected by her lawyer is between the two of them. She made some of her story public to help others, not just herself! She is an incredibly shy and private person and I know it took a tremendous amount of courage for her to go to NY and make that statement.
As with any members and victims in the Silent Lambs issue their emotions run high, that is understandable and very normal to expect. If you want perfect legal timing and carefully crafted statements you might look at a less emotional issue. The Watchtower expects it's followers who are victims of rape to scream,....well,..... here's the screaming you assholes. I have yet to hear a carefully crafted and legally perfect scream in my life. It is driven by pure emotion, not logical and thought out vocabulary.
Pat has and still is going through things that most of us could not come close to handling, including myself. If she wishes to explain someday that is her business. I, like some of you, thought she was a nut when I first met her, I do understand your thoughts about that. When and if she decides to let more of her story out, then you can pass judgment if you still so desire.
In time you will all know if she wishes it to be told. Until then, PLEASE let the woman be. Black Man mentioned that Pat may have "ISSUES" and I can tell you, she does, you nailed it on the head pal. As for now, they are her issues and she is doing what she can to deal with them.
HS,
I could not agree with you more in regard to your last statement about prayer. That's me, that is you, I personally don't believe in prayer. Prepared statements sound exactly like that, a prepared statement. We have all heard hundreds of them before, not many of them hold any water to me. Carefully stated and most of the time third party crafted statements come off as someone is trying to hide or sell something. Statements from the heart whether they are professional sounding or not mean more to me than prepackaged lines of advertising copy. Just wait until the good old WT comes up with their prepackaged, third party written, legal committee leap frog statement in response to Pat's comments. I'm sure they are all sitting around sipping scotch and scratching their balls as they are bouncing ideas off the wall to come up with it.
Pat does and has a very deep belief in her personal spirituality. None of us have to agree with her praying to respect it as he chosen way to deal with life. At one time, we all thought it was the answer to many things. Some of us feel different now, some of us don't.
This post is made with all the respect I can give to all of you as well as Pat.
Take care,
Dave
Great Post Dave (seven006)!
Edited by - UnDisfellowshipped on 8 October 2002 22:36:54
seven006,
Thanks for the post. One thing that I've come to pretty much count on is that Silentlambs is usually a tad bit ahead on the curve than a lot of these here posters.
oh yeah.....remember all the "Dateline" naysayers.
This should be on all the news stations. People everywhere should be told of the terrible things that the organization is allowing or promoting and how it affects their members.
Dave
Thanks for your post to the board. I feel honored that I got to meet Pat at the March, we stayed at the same hotel. It was a major thing for her to get up there and tell a part of her story. I too was abused in the same way (SRA) and it was very healing for me to see her strength. Please tell her that Kelley says hello and I'm thinking of her. I am so tired of the different ones having doubt about this kind of abuse. I do understand why there is so much talk about it, because it is so unbelievable to think that these things can really happen, but the fact is that they do. I have met other besides Pat that were abused like this. I was so impressed how together Pat appeared for all that she has been through. I might add to the others to that not all of the memories that I have were surpressed and there are ways of proving SRA recovered abuse. I knew a woman that had remembered through therpay an event were she had a nail hammerd into her side. She did have a scar there but they went a step further and did a scan of her side and when they did they did in fact find a nail. They did surgery and removed it. My point is that until proven gulity you assume that a victim is a victim. If you can say that the customer is always right then why can't we say the victim is always right until proven other wise? Terrible things do happen to people. Once again please tell Pat that there are ones backing her even if she doesn't know it. I'm proud of her and it isn't for anyone to judge another person or their attorney for what they deem appropiate for their case or not. And the thing about Bill he already knew of the certain ones that were going to be speaking and what they were going to say. I big hand to Bill too, he is a wonderful man to be helping all of us. Ok that was my 2 cents, lol.
Kelley
Oklahoma
Unless I read this "transcript" wrong I do not see where this woman made the accusations as they were expressed in earlier post. In my mind, if I read this "trascript" correctly, this woman was missquoted in post that were made right after the march. That is a darn shame, if I read this correctly. Why don't you silent lambs guys SLOW DOWN and get your sotries correct before making any public declarations? This mimics what Bill Bowen seems to have done with the alledged words of Ray Franze.....
