Wishing you a speedy recovery from Seattle.
seattleniceguy
JoinedPosts by seattleniceguy
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606
This is about out beloved Dansk
by mouthy inhow sorry i was to hear from dansk-he is going through a very difficult time.. i would like all prayers, thoughts, please keep this in mind ____ for me!!!!.
the sad news he has cancer.it is lymphoma!!!
they are waiting on the results of the biopsy before determining treatment..... he didnt want me to say anything at first- as he feels you all have your own problems & he didnt want to upset anyone-because he says "they are dear friends".
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33
Put on your copywriter hats...it's ad time!!
by seattleniceguy inokay, so i've been trying to figure out what i can do to help jws out.
obviously, no one can force someone to think, but sometimes a thought-provoking question can get the gears turning.
so i hit upon this idea of placing ads in a weekly newspaper here in seattle.
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seattleniceguy
Thanks for your comments, Corvin. Yeah, I guess some of those are kind of far out. It's tough, because I feel like I want to avoid being too forward. I like the idea of using terminology that has special significance for JWs.
GentlyFeral, those are excellent.
Wasa, that's one reason I'm trying to have these read in a more neutral tone.
Abaddon, that's a good one too.
SNG
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33
Put on your copywriter hats...it's ad time!!
by seattleniceguy inokay, so i've been trying to figure out what i can do to help jws out.
obviously, no one can force someone to think, but sometimes a thought-provoking question can get the gears turning.
so i hit upon this idea of placing ads in a weekly newspaper here in seattle.
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seattleniceguy
Bebu,
Thanks for the emperor metaphor. I like it.
Onintwo,
I like the shirt allegory. I've found the concept of true choice to be difficult to get across to Witnesses, since they are convinced that they make all their own decisions. Your illustration is illuminating.
Nice avatar, too! :)
SNG
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33
Put on your copywriter hats...it's ad time!!
by seattleniceguy inokay, so i've been trying to figure out what i can do to help jws out.
obviously, no one can force someone to think, but sometimes a thought-provoking question can get the gears turning.
so i hit upon this idea of placing ads in a weekly newspaper here in seattle.
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seattleniceguy
Thought of another couple I like:
-------------------------------------------------------
If a person disagrees with the President,
is she disloyal or self-centered?
Is it possible to disagree conscientiously?-------------------------------------------------------
What do you think when organizations
respond to detractors
by name-calling and insults?Mum, thanks for the post. Yes, I do believe that these ads could definitely be beneficial to people besides JWs. Taking off the header and having just a bare message there would be very interesting indeed. It may make some of the more JW-specific messages lose their meaning, but it has the advantage of appearing much more harmless to Witnesses.
I'd like to hear more discussion on this. What do you all think?
SNG
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33
Put on your copywriter hats...it's ad time!!
by seattleniceguy inokay, so i've been trying to figure out what i can do to help jws out.
obviously, no one can force someone to think, but sometimes a thought-provoking question can get the gears turning.
so i hit upon this idea of placing ads in a weekly newspaper here in seattle.
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seattleniceguy
Great ideas from everyone so far.
I appreciated the points about a web address. This is a difficult issue. As scotsman notes, a link to an obviously "apostate" site like freeminds.org will shoot up a red flag for every neuron in our hapless JW reader's brain. Linking to a more neutral site would be good, of course, and linking to a site in my control would allow some metrics gathering, which of course would be incredibly interesting.
An email address would be nice because my eventual goal is to have a conversation, and it would also provide feedback on the effectiveness of the campaign. A disadvantage would be that I would surely receive a lot of unwanted mail and trolls as well.
I keep coming back to a simple message, with no URL, because of its unadorned simplicity. The statement it makes is, "Look, I'm not trying to get you to come to my site, or give me money, or do anything else. I just want you to think." The anonymity of the statement gives it more power - as if a message from the Universe, rather than some person or organization. I think this effect is magnified when the message takes a neutral, or even warm, tone.
On the content of the messages, I like Six's idea of speaking past the Witnesses, intending to be overheard by them. But it feels a little mean-spirited. And I am also concerned that the editors of the paper may put the kibosh on an ad campaign that so explicitly targets a religion. I think the more ambiguous form of messages - messages that may not be understood by non-Witnesses - is less likely to offend the editors and readers at large.
Here are a few more ideas I've been considering:
--------------------------------------JWs
How would you react
if you learned you were wrong?--------------------------------------
JWs
What is conditional love?
Is it harmful or helpful?--------------------------------------
JWs
What is intellectual honesty?
Are you honest in your interaction with the universe?--------------------------------------
JWs
In what ways has the growth of the human spirit
been helped or hindered by religion?--------------------------------------
JWs
What does internal uneasiness
mean for your mental health?--------------------------------------
JWs
In what ways is the phenomenon of doubt
important to human survival and health?
Why is doubt sometimes cast in a negative light?--------------------------------------
JWs
Do you see what is there?
Or what you have been told is there?
How can you determine which is true of you?--------------------------------------
JWs
What does it mean to directly
experience the universe?
Why would one want to do so?--------------------------------------
JWs
How does one's culture influence
the way one understands the world?--------------------------------------
JWs
Do you believe that access to information
is helpful or harmful?--------------------------------------
JWs
Do you know what ad hominem means?
Why it is unacceptable in logic?--------------------------------------
JWs
Why are name-calling and labeling
unacceptable in logic?--------------------------------------
JWs
Socrates states that the only true knowledge
is recognizing that we know nothing.
Do you agree with this sentiment?
Why or why not?--------------------------------------
JWs
What do you believe is the import of the famous words,
"Know Thyself"
?--------------------------------------
JWs
What do you think Shakespeare meant by the words,
"To thine own self be true"
?--------------------------------------
JWs
On balance, is the world a better or a worse place
than it was 100 years ago? 500 years ago? 2000 years ago?--------------------------------------
JWs
Which would you prefer to live in:
Israel, 10th century BC
or
United States, 21st century AD
?--------------------------------------
JWs
Do you believe it would be refreshing to
live under the Mosaic Law?
Why or why not?That's the kind of tone I'm going for. Not mean, not "stick-it-to-'em," just thought provoking. I guess I hope that I'd be able to be able to get a few Witnesses interested so that they keep reading and thinking, and not get scared off. Perhaps one theme that could help would be to include quotes from important thinkers, so as to encourage Witnesses to read outside books.
Anyway, sorry for the long post. Please keep discussing this.
One other thing: a few people have mentioned wanting to chip in. If you are interested in supporting the effort, I could set up a PayPal account and we could try seeing how that goes...
SNG
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33
Put on your copywriter hats...it's ad time!!
by seattleniceguy inokay, so i've been trying to figure out what i can do to help jws out.
obviously, no one can force someone to think, but sometimes a thought-provoking question can get the gears turning.
so i hit upon this idea of placing ads in a weekly newspaper here in seattle.
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seattleniceguy
Okay, so I've been trying to figure out what I can do to help JWs out. Obviously, no one can force someone to think, but sometimes a thought-provoking question can get the gears turning. So I hit upon this idea of placing ads in a weekly newspaper here in Seattle. The back page is kind of a bulletin board, with random, unclassified ads. You can purchase a large one for only 22 bucks. I like the idea of this paper because the only Witnesses that would be reading it would be pretty liberal, and it seems that they stand a better chance of waking up.
I want to place ads that are thought-provoking, but not heavy-handed. Rather than coming out with something like "You protect pedophiles!", I would be thinking more along the lines of a question like, "What is unconditional love? Why is it important?"
I want the ads to contain a lot of whitespace. Maybe something like this:
JWs
Is it honest to avoid information
that challenges your beliefs?I want to start each ad with the initials as above because for Witnesses, those initials stand out from a page like the word sex. For me, it would have been virtually impossible for me to see the back cover of a paper like this and not notice something like that.
So here's the call to action: Help me come up with candidates for my ads. I'm thinking of placing one every couple weeks. Very short, as the example above. I might add an email address at the end, like [email protected], but I wonder if perhaps that will dilute the quality of the message.
What are your thoughts?
SNG
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45
Do you think people are amazed you left?
by Sassy inwhether you have been disfellowshipped, or disasociated yourself or just slowly are fading or inactive... .
or even are still there at the hall attending due to family.. .
do you think that when you were at your 'strongest as a believer' that anyone would have guessed how you feel about the wts now?.
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seattleniceguy
I know I shocked everyone. I was Mr. Model Witness, and I changed my mind overnight. I think they feel like they can explain away the fade (e.g., "Well, you know, honey, he had been 'spiritually weak' for some time."), but when someone is just go-go-go-go-STOP overnight, it rattles them a bit.
SNG
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12
OK, I found a reason to vote for Kerry.
by JeffT inor maybe two reasons.
shoot, link didn't work.
go to yahoo news and check out the photo section.
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seattleniceguy
Geez, Richie, nice propaganda. That stuff's as bad as the Watchtower.
SNG
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10
Truman show as metaphor for JWism?
by seattleniceguy ini saw the truman show when it first came out in 1998, and was impressed by the movie, and also a bit unnerved.
however, i just read the screenplay, and i have to tell you, it is incredible.
for me, this is one of the most incredible stories i have seen or read.
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seattleniceguy
Hello all,
I saw The Truman Show when it first came out in 1998, and was impressed by the movie, and also a bit unnerved. I think somewhere inside I understood what the underlying message was and how it related to me, but I was not consciously able to benefit from it in that way at the time. However, I just read the screenplay, and I have to tell you, it is incredible.
I wonder if the writer, Andrew Niccol, hasn't had some experience with high-control groups - perhaps even the JWs? - because almost every page of the screenplay details some aspect of control via doubt, fear, and intimidation, so much as to be eerily similar to what we've all experienced. And Truman's process of coming to grips with reality is absolutely everything that I experienced. Incredible. Really, really incredible. This is the type of story that I would like to write. It tells such deep truths without being heavy-handed about them. It conveys such heavy subject matter without becoming overly dark. For me, this is one of the most incredible stories I have seen or read.
Read the screenplay here:
http://www.screenplays-online.de/screenplay/78?PHPSESSID=642ec9b9a32df07653f50dc824a82540Any thoughts?
SNG
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Needing a name for a band
by Pleasuredome ini've recently joined a band, playing synth.
our music is going to be depeche mode style.
we need a name and i just can't think of one.
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