Thoughts on Leah Remini JW A&E special ...
by _Morpheus 138 Replies latest members private
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TJ Curioso
Thanks!!!
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Simon
Simon, im curious what exoeriances you saw depicted that were extreme or outside if the normal jw experience? The only one i saw was the woman who gave her child up for adoption after being df’d. That was unusual but all the rest seemed a little too normal.
That one too. But the family that was moving round the country 3 times per year that had 2 suicides. It's really tragic, but I don't think it's exactly typical of most JWs experience - the family seemed a little extreme in their behavior (the parents) and there wasn't a clear direct link to the WTS as the cause of the suicides that I could see as they happened after people left and making a link between boxing (was it?) would be just as valid. I just found the story came out in pieces and wasn't quite clear.
All the experiences obviously have to be compelling and 'sensational' in a way to compete with the Scientologist experiences that they show has focused on. I'm not sure the WTS is really "Scientology with 8 million members" as they tried to claim.
I bet you can find Roman Catholic families that are extreme in their behavior, strictness and worship but it would be equally unrepresentative of the typical follower.
It probably didn't help that between segments there were ad trailers for another programme about some other cult that looked really up there in the bat-shit-crazy stakes.
Again, I'm not saying the programme was bad or the stories weren't true, compelling or heart-breaking, but I think we need to be balanced in apportioning blame for what are sometimes family issues and people need to take personal responsibility for their part in it.
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truth_b_known
I recorded the show and still need to watch it. Here is my question -
What reactions have you seen or heard about from both active Witnesses and people who never had anything to do with the Witnesses?
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dubstepped
I'm not sure how you can just say that these were family issues when those families were so often following direction from the cult.
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Simon
What reactions have you seen or heard about from both active Witnesses and people who never had anything to do with the Witnesses?
I think it's probably a little soon to hear those - it was only on late last night and it's now early morning.
Maybe people who go to work may hear some opinions about it from people who know of their JW connection or past and let us know.
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dubstepped
People I know watched and texted me that were never JWs and they were blown away by all of it. They had no idea.
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Simon
I'm not sure how you can just say that these were family issues when those families were so often following direction from the cult.
It seemed some of their parents were not quite balanced and while it's easy to blame that entirely on the religion, it could well be that they would be extreme in how they followed any group and if it wasn't JWs it would be something else.
I think it's easy to blame the WTS for the beliefs but when parents are teaching their children that they should refuse blood or should shun them if they left they (the parents) have to take some responsibility for what subsequently happens when things go wrong, don't they? They shouldn't just get to point all the blame at someone else even though some of the blame lies with them.
In the same way that we don't just blame the anti-vaxxers for people who don't vaccinate their children - surely we also blame the parents for blindly following stupid ideas and beliefs and for any possible subsequent harm caused to their children as a result?
And again, there were no solutions offered. All these terrible things - what do people think the solution is? What should happen? What should we do about it? The reality is that nothing can or should happen beyond existing laws being enforced when they are transgressed - people following stupid ideas are a consequence of having freedom to make poor choices but those freedoms are more valuable than any imaginary protection that would happen if they were removed.
The options are to have the government or parents responsible for how they raise their children. Most people would prefer the parents have the choice but it's inevitable that some will make poor ones, follow fools or be extreme in their outlook whether that is religious belief, politics or health and wellness related. We just need to remember that the extremes are not the typical.
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OrphanCrow
Simon: It seemed some of their parents were not quite balanced...
It seemed that the parents were/are typical JWs. Nothing that they did was surprising or off the wall for JWs. You may get away with that comment if you were speaking about JWs from Alberta...but this show wasn't about extreme JWs - it described average, typical JW behaviour.
The religion is unbalanced and it is irrational to expect that JW parents are balanced and rational, regardless if they would be the same in another group or not. This show wasn't about another group - it was about JWs.
It is impossible to assign normalcy to people who are true believer JWs and all the apologetic in the world will not cover up the religion's responsibility in creating the situations that were described on camera.
The situations and people were typical...nothing out of the ordinary for JWs.
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breakfast of champions
It seemed some of their parents were not quite balanced. . .
There is no such thing as a "balanced" JW parent, if they are parenting according to the society's rules. Minimally, JW parents MUST:
- constantly pummel into their child's mind that Armageddon is nigh, and the threat of death at god's hand is very real
- constantly pummel into their child's mind that non-JWs are evil and satanic, no matter how good they appear
- strictly shun DF'd children
- fight against doctors who prescribe blood products to save their children's lives.
This is RADICAL, UNBALANCED behavior that the society DEMANDS of parents, basically under the threat of death at Armageddon and/or the threat of losing all of one's family.