Commie Chris

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Posts by Commie Chris

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  44

  Monomaniacal Ex-JWs?

  by dunsscot in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  its been a while since i read stephen r. covey's _the 7 habits of highly effective people_ and i do not feel like looking up the section i am getting ready to mention.

  but i think i recall covey talking about the unhealthy habit of becoming overly engrossed in one activity or pursuit.. it seems that there are individuals using this medium of communication whose life's aim is to "help" jws out of the "borg" or 'bring down the tower.

  if it tricks your trigger, i guess there is nothing anyone can do to prevent you from "helping" jws out of the "borg.

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  Commie Chris

  Duns: your response to my post about social ecology confirms what is evidently the view of many on this Board: Your knowledge of philosophy does not extend to anything pratical, despite your pretentions to rationality. I am busy with work and don't have time now to respond in detail, but I'll get back to you. It won't be hard.

  For now let me say that I did not "exhalt creation" - I advocated examining all of nature in order to understand the place of humanity within the global eco-system and better understand human nature (yes, I believe there is such a thing as human nature and we do not need to resort to mysticism, god or metaphysics to understand it).

  Further, social ecology by no means vitiates the qualitative differences between humanity and other species. It is patently obvious that mankind has evolved mental capacities far beyond any other species, but social ecology rejects the simplistic idea that this implies a "superiority" of man over the rest of nature. Social ecology recognizes the fact that nature is full of qualitative differences, but that this diversity naturally gives rise to unity in diversity, not to hierarchies such as have been developed in the comparatively recent history of humanity.

  Finally, dialectical processes are evident throughout nature, and in a "normal" relationship between man and nature. It is quite accurate to speak of nature "intending" certain things, including for humanity although not in the metaphysical sense that you imply. I'll expand on that later.

  Please help yourself to a free piece of pie on the way out.
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  40

  To Joelbear With Love

  by Maximus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  joel, i want you to know i can think of no other poster who shows as much humanity, as much compassion and insight as you, particularly when it comes to the human condition.. thank you for sharing yourself and your journey so openly; i'm grateful for that.

  you obviously have picked up many helpful tools in your recovery toolkit, and when you not only share them with us but show how to use them, how they can benefit us, we are the richer.. i need not say more, than that you are loved very much.. maximus.

  who once in a while learns from joel a leeeetle more than he needed to, but what else is new?

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  Commie Chris

  Joel, you are a prince. That post seems typical of you and clearly shows to relative newcomers like me exactly why everyone here loves you.
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  44

  Monomaniacal Ex-JWs?

  by dunsscot in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  its been a while since i read stephen r. covey's _the 7 habits of highly effective people_ and i do not feel like looking up the section i am getting ready to mention.

  but i think i recall covey talking about the unhealthy habit of becoming overly engrossed in one activity or pursuit.. it seems that there are individuals using this medium of communication whose life's aim is to "help" jws out of the "borg" or 'bring down the tower.

  if it tricks your trigger, i guess there is nothing anyone can do to prevent you from "helping" jws out of the "borg.

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  Commie Chris

  I did not advocate an anthropocentric ethic, moral relativism, or simply arbitrarily devising one’s own life purpose or philosophy, did I? The ecology of freedom, or social ecology, is based on the scientific method. It looks for meaning and order in the natural world, of which humanity is very much a part, and always has been. Social ecology properly stresses the unique place of the human species in the planetary eco-system - it is irrational to simply assume that humans are not as much a part of nature as every other natural thing. The ecology of freedom is grounded in evolutionary theory and critiques the destructive effects of the artificial development of hierarchies in human society. By creating hierarchies, the evolution of human society has become radically out of synch with nature, and humanity has suffered as a result. According to social ecology, the idea that our fellow humans, or the natural world, can “belong” to certain classes of people, and therefore can be exploited by them, is a gross perversion of the non-hierarchical unity in diversity found in nature. In other words, it is contrary to nature, of which we humans are a part, and therefore, not surprisingly, gives rise to all sorts of societal and personal dysfunction. It is not difficult to see how an ethic emerges from this analysis. If we want to be fully functioning, healthy beings, in the way nature intended us to be, we must strive towards a free, non-hierarchical society, in harmony with nature. I find that this is a good starting point for an ethical system which is both rational and very functional and personally fulfilling.

  I’m off to bed now. I have a job.
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  44

  Monomaniacal Ex-JWs?

  by dunsscot in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  its been a while since i read stephen r. covey's _the 7 habits of highly effective people_ and i do not feel like looking up the section i am getting ready to mention.

  but i think i recall covey talking about the unhealthy habit of becoming overly engrossed in one activity or pursuit.. it seems that there are individuals using this medium of communication whose life's aim is to "help" jws out of the "borg" or 'bring down the tower.

  if it tricks your trigger, i guess there is nothing anyone can do to prevent you from "helping" jws out of the "borg.

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  Commie Chris

  It may well be that some here are preoccupied with “rescuing” others from the Borg. If you are familiar with the characteristics of adult children of alcoholics, there are some interesting parallels here. Membership in a cult seems to have a lot in common with addictions to alcohol and drugs, and it is not surprising that many who were raised in cult households have similar characteristics to those raised in alcoholic households, including feeling a need to “rescue” others. But this is clearly a generalization. Most people on this Board are evidently sober in every sense of the word and want to use their experience as former JWs to help those who have more dire needs than “merely” escaping a cult. Maximus and Silentlambs, for example, are clearly very dedicated to helping people who have very, very serious needs. Morevover, they appear to be succeeding.

  Others on this Board also have ideas to offer which can help those who have honestly come to the conclusion they no longer believe in god to find a purpose to their life. For example, I have briefly outlined the philosophy of social ecology in a previous post. Many others have also described the beliefs which have given their lives purpose, without a need for god. The idea that without god there is no morality or purpose to life, and we are doomed to lives of hedonic utility is, IMHO, just plain silly Duns. This is worth further discussion, if you are up to it.
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  1

  To silentlambs

  by Commie Chris in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  bill: i am prepared to send the news release to major media in the toronto area, but we need your phone #, and that of jeff anderson, to put on the bottom of the release as contact numbers.

  the draft release which you posted has incomplete numbers.

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  Commie Chris

  Bill: I am prepared to send the news release to major media in the Toronto area, but we need your phone #, and that of Jeff Anderson, to put on the bottom of the release as contact numbers. The draft release which you posted has incomplete numbers.
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  40

  To Joelbear With Love

  by Maximus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  joel, i want you to know i can think of no other poster who shows as much humanity, as much compassion and insight as you, particularly when it comes to the human condition.. thank you for sharing yourself and your journey so openly; i'm grateful for that.

  you obviously have picked up many helpful tools in your recovery toolkit, and when you not only share them with us but show how to use them, how they can benefit us, we are the richer.. i need not say more, than that you are loved very much.. maximus.

  who once in a while learns from joel a leeeetle more than he needed to, but what else is new?

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  Commie Chris

  Joel: I am quite new here. I don't know you, and I don't think you and I have ever posted in response to each other, but I have read some of your posts. I just wanted to say that you strike me as a very honest, decent man - someone I would like to have as a friend.
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  22

  A Tasty Lil Bit O' Gossip.

  by Englishman in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  here's a picture of the late sir john fieldhouse during his time as an admiral in the royal navy.

  he later became first sea lord and was in charge of operations during the falklands war when england and argentina slugged it out in the south atlantic back in '82.

  his wife shown here is lady fieldhouse - known to her friends as midge - who is a very active jehovahs witness residing in lee on solent, near portsmouth.

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  Commie Chris

  Expatbrit: I'll look forward to it!
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  22

  A Tasty Lil Bit O' Gossip.

  by Englishman in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  here's a picture of the late sir john fieldhouse during his time as an admiral in the royal navy.

  he later became first sea lord and was in charge of operations during the falklands war when england and argentina slugged it out in the south atlantic back in '82.

  his wife shown here is lady fieldhouse - known to her friends as midge - who is a very active jehovahs witness residing in lee on solent, near portsmouth.

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  Commie Chris

  The Falklands (Malvinas to the Argentines) are an economically and strategically irrelevant cluster of rocks off the south-east coast of Argentina. At the time of the war, there were about 2,000 people living there - mostly English sheep farmers. The war was about 2 very unpopular governments (Thatcher in the UK, the military dictatorship in Argentina) each provoking a war in order to whip up patriotic fervor - a time tested tool for scummy politicians - in order to save their own political careers. The build up to the war shows each side clearly wanting a war for no reason other than politics. There are no “good guys” in this war. The Brits won the war, so Thatcher regained her popularity and won re-election, at the cost of hundreds of lives. The Argentine generals gambled on saving their careers, and lost. The U.S. and France profited by selling weapons to both sides, as usual. That’s it.
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  22

  A Tasty Lil Bit O' Gossip.

  by Englishman in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  here's a picture of the late sir john fieldhouse during his time as an admiral in the royal navy.

  he later became first sea lord and was in charge of operations during the falklands war when england and argentina slugged it out in the south atlantic back in '82.

  his wife shown here is lady fieldhouse - known to her friends as midge - who is a very active jehovahs witness residing in lee on solent, near portsmouth.

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  Commie Chris

  What a pleasant looking war criminal.
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  94

  Meet Silentlambs In Person!

  by silentlambs in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  i am going to be at a trial in ritzville, washington.

  the town is about an hour southwest from spokane, wa.

  i will be there on august 14th, which will be on a tuesday.

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  Commie Chris

  I’m troubled by this thread. Many people are demanding the release of information concerning the perpetrator and other victims, and calling for a public display of support for Erica at the upcoming trial of her abuser. I’m sure everyone who is making these demands has nothing but the best intentions, and believe that the release of this information and a public display of support may be in the best interests of the victim in this case, or may help to protect other potential victims. You should bear in mind, however, that victims of sexual abuse often do not want this information about their abuse made available to the public. They are often fragile, troubled people struggling with complex and difficult issues of misplaced shame as a result of the trauma of their abuse. In Canada, the courts often ban any publication of the details in abuse cases, including the identity of the abuser. This is done not to protect the abuser, but to protect the identities of the victims. Often the victims can easily be identified if the identity of the abuser is known. In this case, it may well be that Erica and the other victims support the release of information, but do we know that? Do you know whether she wants a large, public display of support at the trial? If not, I would urge Silent Lambs (Bill), if he has not already done so, to contact Erica or her lawyer to find out how much information she is comfortable with releasing and whether she wants a public display of support.