The culture of fear that exists in the West is incredibly unhealthy. Sure the world is always changing, but to think that times past were a golden era is a tad dillusional. Our awareness has increased, through our exposure to mass media forums and the surplus of information that's available. We also have more freedoms, and less safety nets. But how many of us that post here are truly under threat in our daily lives? Despite that agressive tendancies in humans are innate we live in a time where most societies have been passified through social conditioning. As for someone's prior comments on the world not being the same for them after 9/11, well that to me is just plain ignorant. The USA takes the moral highground as the 'land of the free', but through its policy of 'manifest destiny' throughout the C20th has done very little to create freedom and peace in the world. For once (and as terribly tragic and horrific as it was) American blood was spilled on American soil. This experience of terror was not knew to the world, or at least to those countries who did not have the means to stand up to such military strength (first atomic bomb dropped on Japan, Vietnam blitz with 90% fatalities being civilian deaths). The realisation just came a bit closer to home during the attacks on the West. This 'culture of fear' is successful in pacifying and controlling the masses, and inhibits our voice on things we should have an opinion on. We feel as though without the protection of the state in which we live we would loose the peace and security they provide for us, which moves us to give them license to use a monopoly of force as they see fit. The more I think about it, the more I realise I will not be controlled by this intense fear culture that has consumed so many, as this is where the problem lies. froglett
Posts by Frog
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16Are You Still Stuck In The Moral Panic trap?
by Englishman injust curious..now that you're an exjw, do you think that the world is a good place or an evil place to be?.
or are you screwed up about asylum seekers and other perceived threats to your security?.
i tend to always err towards optimism generally.
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Frog
I LUV people:-)) well most people that is...I shribble up and die if I don't have people contact for a day or so. I'm pretty much a moderate extraverte, so spending time with people, especially those who stimulate creative conversation is the best way to recharge my batteries. When I was a dub I was incredibly timid and reserved, but mainly on account of the tremendous amount I wanted to say, but couldn't on account of sensorship and repression...<--people are great! froglett
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8
Handling atrocities.
by Daunt inas we all know one of the main reasons why the org has so much control over its members is because of it's use of fear.
today a co was doing the usual craptacular talk about "the scene of this world is changing".
of course talking about different atrocities people of the world (meaning whoevers not a witness does all these things and are not better than them) do.
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Frog
don't have enough time to make a significant comment, but mostly my sentiments exactly on the culture of fear on the org used to justify their fantasies, and the moral paradox of violence in this world, against the prediction of upcoming mass slaughter which brings great shouts of joy from those in the org???...froglett
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Do elders/PO's really care?
by buffalosrfree inin 2003 a elder who happens to be the p.o.
of my wife's congregation visited me, a real nice guy, but i knew he had gotten the letter from the borg.
anyway like i said a nice guy he promised to call again real soon that was prior to the memorial of 2003, well the memorialo of 2005 has come and gone and he still hasn't come back to visit.
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Frog
Impossible to generalise of course about the personality traits of all elders, as each have their own motivations for becoming one. Some of course over time become jaded, and perhaps feel trapped in this profession...others are in it for the status...and others are in it genuinely because they believe it's their calling and they can make a contribution. I have met a few very genuine (although perhaps a little misguided) elders in my time, I have met several more of whom I have very little kindness to attribute...
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109
Evidence for evolution, Installment 5: Lake Tanganyika, etc
by seattleniceguy inhey gang!
i apologize for my absence of a few weeks.
i have been very busy with work lately, and i hate to write something that i haven't been able to research properly, so i haven't posted anything in this series for three weeks now.
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Frog
These fish need high alkaline water, seems like they cannot survive in other places
...of course!
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109
Evidence for evolution, Installment 5: Lake Tanganyika, etc
by seattleniceguy inhey gang!
i apologize for my absence of a few weeks.
i have been very busy with work lately, and i hate to write something that i haven't been able to research properly, so i haven't posted anything in this series for three weeks now.
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Frog
Hey there SNG, thanks for the pretty fish pictures:-). I was curious to know if saltwater tests have been done on these fish... http://www.holysmoke.org/sdhok/cichlids.htm says that "saltwater usually kills them" and that they have evolved in "lakes and rivers where water quality is constantly changing". I can't help but raise an elementary pro-evolution argument, but if a world flood did occur all freshwater lakes would have become polluted by saltwater right? How is it that we in fact have freshwater fish then? I've heard of seemingly spontaneous generation of fish from eggs taken up into the sky, and coming back down again as fish, but if they were saltwater fish how would they have survived in freshwater?
The said flood having occurred over a 12month period would not have provided sufficient time for freshwater fish to adapt to salty conditions. If say a world flood did occur though, is it possible that a freshwater lake of great depth may have become only minimally polluted by salt? At what depth does the Malawian Cichlids generally swim? I read somewhere that they don't thrive in aquariums (?). As a matter of survival, could the Cichlids have made their decent downwards, adjusting to the pressure as they went? (much in the same way that humans gradually adjust to the air quality when mountain climbing). Could their decent to lower depths explain why they may not have lingered on the now salty surface, and swum away elsewhere?
Of the 'doesn't know much about fishes class' froglett...post script: many thanks for another thoroughly researched topic:-))
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25
Although a JW, I never wanted to marry a JW
by JH ini remember when i joined the jw's about 18 years ago, i was single just like today, and i never really wanted to marry a jw.
i would have liked to get married, but not with a jw.
i believed in their religion, but that was the spiritual side of me.
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Frog
Tooshe' Rat...I was exactly the same, at the time when I was in the faith I was to a degree convinced in the doctrine, but was never attracted to witness men, and the idea of marrying one never camed naturally to me...so I guess that's why I didn't, and was always getting myself into trouble!
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Frog
SBS World News - Foreign Correspondent - Catalyst - Andrew Denton/Enough Rope - all seriously old lady type TV on world affairs...none of this drab sensationalist reality tv baloney! froglett
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62
HURRY ,HURRY ,YOU GOT TO SEE THIS,,,,,,,,,
by kls ini knew i would get you to look.
congratulations to me.
congratulations to me.
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Frog
What percentage of those dear monkey bum (hehe) do you think were spent chasing rat & orange fat cat around the board tormenting eachother?!
Congrats, you must be completely stoked...I'm only about 5000 off myself!!
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Thoughts on Reading CoC
by love2Bworldly ini am reading crisis of conscience and am wondering what goes through people's minds when they read it, i am on about page 115. i find it slow reading because of the way it is written.
even though i have been out of the org for going on 20 years, i am a little shocked at some of the stuff i'm reading and i feel like it shouldn't shock me.
i remember when i was a jw, how the governing body was put on a pedestal; everyone assumes they spend all their time studying and praying over matters from a scriptural standpoint.
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Frog
My copy of CoC is in the mail, can't wait to get into it! thanks for the early reviews, now I'm chomping at the bit frog