Hello,
Trying to quantify a persons personality by their posts on an XJW discussion Board, or any other Board for that matter is a fatally flawed methodology. It is rather like speaking to somebody on the telephone and trying to guess their physical appearance from their voice, invariably the reality is vastly different from the imagination.
For example, AlanF and I have had numerous discussion Board posts, email messages and telephone calls between us over two years and when we first met in a hotel foyer we both stood around for quite some while looking for each other. We both came to understand that we were looking for homely looking people and were stunned by how handsome and debonair we were in reality…. It is not sensible to judge a personality by a post and that is why we should always recognize that this is just a discussion Board and not take ourselves, or others too seriously. To do so could be damaging to our emotional well-being.
I have read TJ’s posts over two years and frequently commended him for his creative writing style in certain threads. However, his general style in dealing with issues I have often found to be pedantic, contradictory, contentious, and with a penchant to automatically defer to his own viewpoints without needed self-examination. I suspect that I am not the only person that has found this to be so.
Now, does this mean that I dislike TJ and think that he is not a wonderful, kind and charming person? Absolutely not. I am quite sure that TJ shows every one of those endearing qualities and many more and that in person we would have much in common and even become good and loyal friends. This however has little to do with the concepts of a discussion board. We only have a persons posts to deal with and by definition we cannot always grapple with the motivation behind them.
For example, a ‘troll’ might arrive on the Board full of malevolent mischief with the obvious intent of causing trouble. One might ask, why does this person *need* to do what they are doing? In reality it could be that this person is deeply disturbed, a sad person in need of attention, perhaps abused, or crying out for help. Does this mean that we need to tolerate their posts? Of course not, but in real life we might feel so badly for this person that our desire would be to spend time with this person and try to help them through their issues.
So it is with posters whose posts on a discussion board deserve to be challenged. One should be able to challenge a persons posting style without having to apologize for doing so. I have noticed that sometimes people cry persecution because they find their posts attacked by numerous people on one thread. This is rather like the WTS claiming Satan is persecuting them when actually they are drawing attention to themselves by their flawed theological policies. If we find our posts on one thread being attacked by four or five people, each with the same criticism, it would be foolish of us not to stand back and think about what we are saying and whether in fact we have not explained ourselves carefully, or our thinking is flawed. Stubbornness is no substitute for critical thinking.
When TJ posts well. I will commend him. When he does not I will challenge him. I expect the same criteria to be used in my own posts.
Best regards to all - HS
