Hi, boys and girls! And all you wicked, naughty apostates out there! I am new here. Have been lurking for several weeks and posted once on Freewilly's excellent thread about witnessing for newbies. Have formerly been a participant on a few other boards, but this one seems to be the General Motors of XJW discussion forums. (Oops, maybe that should have been Toyota.)
Brief introduction. Was an anti-war activist and back to the earth stoned-out hippie when I first met the witnesses in 1973. Got sucked in with the paradise earth and "we don’t go to war" teachings. Spent my entire adult life in endless circles in the fog, abused psychologically over and over by a number of men in "spiritually appointed positions" until I finally found my way out of the maze in 2003. That’s right, 30 years. Actually stopped attending the KH in Feb of 2001. My wife finally stopped in April 2005, when we almost broke up after 32 years of marriage. Was an elder for 14 years and regular pioneer for 5 of those years. (Quiet pause to allow for applause and hushed "oohs" and "ahhs".) I know, it’s all BS now.
I’d like to get some reaction to an idea. I know there have been some "demonstrations" organized by XJWs at Brooklyn and other branches over the years. I also know that this sort of one-time, overt protest is counterproductive from the standpoint of hoping to positively affect active witnesses, since they are indoctrinated that any who have left the org are to be expected to manifest such "unchristian" and "worldly" conduct.
I also know that the Viet Nam War was brought to an end largely as a consequence of a very well orchestrated and persistent effort to gain public attention through mass events that the media could not ignore. The current anti-war machine (re: Iraq) has proven ineffective to date due to the fact that it is made up of many splinter groups without a concise, unified message that is delivered persistently through media events.
What would you think about XJWs organizing (ooooo, did I say that word?) internationally in order to accomplish the same sort of goal of gaining the media’s attention to broadcast, in a civilized way, the outrageous methods used by the Watchtower to abscond with peoples’ lives, as well as their gross hypocrises? We should certainly have the numbers to mount an effective campaign, if we were willing to do that. But surely there are only a small fraction of us XJWs out there in the world who are visiting this board. And basically only from the English-speaking world. Could there be an effort to unite all of us that can be reached and establish a regular mode of recognized communication to discuss which actions we feel would be effective?
For instance, a rally could be held in Brooklyn. We would need to obtain a license to conduct a public demonstration. (Do you have a lisonse for zat meenkey?) Can you imagine the impact of 30 or 40 thousand people descending upon Brooklyn with a simple, concise message. Individuals could be assigned as media liaisons (Can you say News Service?) to deliver that four or five sentence message consistently and persistently. Similar demonstrations could be organized (oh, God, there’s that damned word again) at other major branch offices around the world.
Finally, on a local level, in areas where there are enough willing XJWs, demonstrations could be held at individual Kingdom Halls or Assembly Halls. Of course, everything would have to be quite legal. We don’t want anyone getting arrested. Can you imagine 20 of us walking into a Kingdom Hall for the Sunday meeting, not being disruptive, being quiet and respectful, but wearing Tee Shirts with a large image of the UN building, with the caption across the front "Read the Watchtower", or "Watchtower Agrees to support the UN charter from 1991 – 2001." We could filter in, not sitting together, but "mixing in" with the active witnesses. The back of our tee shirts could say, "Witness for 10 years", or "Former elder, 1983-1990", or whatever would apply to convey that we are legitimate former members. Then, after about 15 or 20 minutes (while the elders are busily conferencing in the library, consulting their elders’ manual as to what to do), we could just as quietly get up and leave. That way, before they come to agreement on how we should be handled, we are already gone. We could then do "return visits" on an erratic, unpredictable schedule. We could "vacation demonstrate" in areas where there are only a few XJWs in order to support them. You can probably come up with better ideas than mine. But just brainstorming this stuff, for me is pretty fun - and cathartic.
Would it be immoral to attend a meeting and conduct a silent protest with message tee shirts? The witnesses regularly go to peoples’ private homes with a message that condemns their religion and their approach to life as ungodly. Wasn’t it our dollars and sweat and hard work that helped to build those Kingdom Halls? Did we not devote many years of our lives to that organization? Who could legitimately step up and say we have no right to be there?
As we know, our former "brothers" and "sisters" are generally nice people, just like us. But their minds are locked into this Matrix-like "permafrost" (I know, I need a brain scrub) that is extremely hard to penetrate. Shock and awe tactics just might cause a few to wonder – Why are these people so highly motivated? What is their real message? Why are so many former members wanting to try and communicate with me?
OK, now you can all label me as insane. But, heck, I can’t help it. I’m an activist. When I see grave injustice, which is what’s being done to these people, it’s impossible to remain silent. I can’t wait to hear your comments.
You can call me Uncle Lenny.
