This probably sounds uppity. I'm saying it anyhow (page 2)

stillin

GND you 're right. I once had a long discussion with a very well-versed Catholic. I thought I'd demolish him. Wrong!

A man has to know his limitations.

I think we need to separate things that are down to education, like grammar, from things that are down to intelligence, like being able to discern lies, put forward a cohesive argument and do so in an approachable and friendly way.

No one should feel they are less worthy just because they haven't invested in the ponzi-scheme that is often the education system.

Intelligence and humanity trumps that.

the girl next door

I just had two JW women come to my door 30 minutes ago. I’m in a new place and this is the first time they have called.

I looked at them and felt extremely exhausted how much effort it would take to wake them from their vacuous state.

I’ve debated bands of elders and COs and agro elderettes at my door many times.

But today I didn’t have the energy for it. I felt it useless. Drones. Zombies. Vacuous.

All I could muster was I am disfellowshipped, I am an apostate in your eyes, please mark my house as a do not call.

Then I felt guilty. I just dismissed those young minds assuming their intelligence couldn’t keep up.

In reality I was just tired and lazy.

So I saw this thread and had already formed an opinion based on my deplorable behavior.

Its hard to stay on the A game.

Still Totally ADD

I am a person with only high school education with several learning disability. The only reading material in our house when growing up was Wt. and Awake. Any extra insight into the world came only from the TV. Finally leaving at the age of 56 I was free to seek other forms of reading material. I read and I read learning many things I did not know. I was able to take a year of education and volunteer work to become a Penn State Master Gardener. This and finding a group of people who became my friends who all went to and taught in college as a career further my appreciation for learning as well my self esteem increased.

I will never go to college but I have learned I will never stop learning for the rest of my life. The importance of good friends is crucial. Unlike the Borg my new friends have shown interest in me for who I am not because they are required to. Are we more intelligent than others who are still trapped in the cult? No but we are free to express our minds, free to live our lives as we want, free to learn what we are interested in, not what some old City boy wants us to learn and most important we are able to find our authentic personality. Cult's are made to keep people ignorant and that ignorance makes people look less intelligent. This is about as smart as I can get. Lol Still Totally ADD

Wasanelder Once

My dad never got passed third grade but he saw through the Watchtower bull crap. Its not about education, its about whether or not we allow ourselves to be mesmerized by our desire to appear intelligent.

Finkelstein

I still hold that if a person is mentally balanced without any serious personal trauma in their lives with a reasonable amount of modern education, they probably would never end up a JWS.

Some of that repressed intellect might be a result of people reading the WTS literature which has been dumb down to a level children can read and comprehend ..

Diogenesister

Wow ADD you are a master gardener?? That is very impressive! Its not at all easy to achive. It must be at least equivelent to a phd.

Edited to say @Girl next door please dont stress, unlike jws we are all allowed to have 'off' days without having "blood on our hands" as that awful antony morris 3rd put it so cruelly, recently.

scratchme1010

There seems to be, on average, a higher level of intelligence here than there is at the Kingdom Hall.

I respectfully disagree, 100%. Intelligence has absolutely nothing to do with brainwashing. There are many JWs who are very intelligent.

I've said this many times, and I will say it again. One thing is what a person knows and their capacity to think, and a different one is what the person feels.

There's this constant insistence in this forum on looking at the JW experience as an intellectual one. The WT has done quite a number on people, that is, if no one notices or refuses to talk about the real things behind skills and knowledge. It's not about intelligence, its not about learning, it's not about analyzing information.

Phizzy

Intelligence is a difficult thing to measure, even to define IMO.

The level of education within JW Org is naturally low, they discourage education as much as possible, already educated people are less likely to convert.

What we are missing here is that the attachment that keeps them in, whatever their level of intelligence, is an emotional one.

Hence they can swallow any change in Doctrine, and any lie they are fed. It is similar to people who stay in a family relationship they really should exit, facts and intellect have nothing to do with it, emotion binds them.

Fred Franztone

There are quite a few Christians here, so I'm not sure if I agree

This probably sounds uppity. I'm saying it anyhow