In 1990, I read a book by a futurist named George Gilder called Life After Television - The Coming Transformation of Media and American Life. This was before the Internet was easily accessible (the Gopher and WAIS days, pre Mosaic and Netscape). In it, he argued that the few content providers that had until then held the American media market captive were about to give way to a vast diversity of content. This was because that content was going to be easier and less expensive to produce and distribute. As he put it – “Television is not vulgar because people are vulgar – it is vulgar because people are similar in their prurient interests and sharply differentiated in their civilized concerns. All of world industry is moving increasingly towards more segmented markets. But, in a broadcast medium, such a move would be commercial disaster.” I think he foresaw niche markets – along the lines of the History Channel, or maybe channel for people who enjoy quilting, for example. But I wonder if he could have guessed how extremely granular special interest content and target audiences would become? I think a website that studies cats that look like Hitler is a great example of that extreme. I would love to show him this website and get his opinion.
grey matters
JoinedPosts by grey matters
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23
The irritating slant to almost everything negative I have seen on Witnesses
by free2beme inwhen i left the witnesses, a person from work gave me a video about the witnesses that his church uses.
i thought it would be interesting, so i set down and watched it.
what i found was another example of one church taking about another, to then counter with points that support their way of thinking.
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grey matters
Some of the weirdest stuff I read is not "anti-witness" literature, but the old Watchtower teachings themselves. Most recently, I have been reading about Russell's fascination with Egyptian pyramids and their measurements and how he thought that somehow tied in with Bible prophecy. True, they don't believe that at this point. But what I don't like is that we were presented with little snippets of belief from the likes of Russell and Rutherford, and taught to hold them in reverence, without being shown the whole picture. Talk about not being objective.
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Red flags
by beautifulisfree inwhen i was an active witness i never understood why there were 'annointed' women that would be ruling right beside god and helping rule over the whole earth.
but, they were not allowed or good enough to be 'elders' and just rule over a tiny little congregation.
i know now this should have been a red flag for me...but, i just thought oh well this scripture says that men are to be the head of woman.
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grey matters
That's the nice part about delusions . . . anything's possible.
LOL Now that's quotable. Thanks!
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Automatic Re-instatement?
by BritBoy indoes anyone out there know the answer this one.... .
ok, take for example the oral sex thread and the fact that the dubs reversed their thinking on this.
so, twenty years ago (within the marriage arrangements) blow job = disfellowshipping... now it's a "matter of conscience".
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grey matters
how, HOW did I fall for this crap for so long?
I ask myself this question every day!
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Elders Are Closing In....
by daniel-p inwell, it's been about 6 months or so since i've turned in a time report and things are heating up a bit.
i still attend the meetings with my wife - i am still "visible" - but i have not gone out in service for a conspicuous amount of time.
just this afternoon the po called and wanted to meet with me.
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grey matters
I think mkr32208 is on to something there. That is sort of what I did. I was fading pretty fast, but still active. Then I moved to a different state. To be honest, I really thought going in that I was going to try again to take things seriously in the new cong., but I just couldn't get motivated. It was over, whether I realised it or not. So I faded away completely. But the point is, the elders in the new cong don't really know me from anyone or really know how active I was before. So it isn't a big loss to them. The old cong just assumes I moved to a new hall and am more or less the same.
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my disassociation drafts, longish but i'd like comments....
by isthisit in<div> <div> <div>we decided to leave before being pushed, these are my letters, her letters are very similar but she is still working on them, any suggestions would be more than welcome....bear in mind my dad is po, should this change anything?
<br></br> ________________________________________________________________________________________________-- brothers this is perhaps the hardest letter i have had to write, and it is likewise the letter that i least expect to have to write.
as of this letter being received, i no longer consider myself as a jehovahs witness.
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grey matters
Wow. I don't know what to say. But I don't think you could lay that out in a more calm and reasonable manner.
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Are You Afraid That Armageddon Is Going To Come Since Leaving "The Truth"?
by minimus ini'm not but i bet that there are some that quiety worry about it.....what about you?
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grey matters
I am not concerned about it. The world has enough real problems that need to be resolved. I don't need to spend my time dwelling on some weird, dark fantasy dreamed up by a bunch of old men in New York.
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Discussion with friend
by sinis inso, my friend from texas was visiting this past week.
he still goes to the kh and is a ms. so he wanted to know why i have not gone to meetings.
i tell him that i am upset about the ngo thing (explained in detail).
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grey matters
I love that the UN got so many requests for information about this that they posted an official response:
http://www.un.org/dpi/ngosection/ngo-docs.html
Look for the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York link. It will bring up a .pdf
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I asked... and I have recieved.
by saki2fifty inwell, just go back from my little trip up to austin and had a really great time.
hung out with wifey, visited the state capital, did some site seeing, and conquered the muddy buddy race!
after 3 days away from home, we're now back in houston and i was eager to get back on the board and do some reading.
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grey matters
Hey Michael,
I'm glad your trip went well. It's good to get away for the weekend and have a chance to clear our heads once in awhile.
Best wishes and I hope things work out well for you.
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Please allow me to introduce myself...
by Asheron inplease escuse the obvious stones lyrical referance but thats the first thing that came to mind.
i am a 44 yo male fader from pennsylvania.
been faded for 22 years or so and been lurking and reading all of your posts for 6 or so months.
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grey matters
Welcome Asheron.
I laughed out lound when you mentioned the Stones reference. I wasn't sure that was what you were going for, but it popped right into my head.
About the JW family, yeah, I know. You just can't reason with them. It seems like their religion is the only thing they consider to be important.
What has helped me is to be close to non JW family - aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. I come from a big family. The members that are JW are significant to me, but they are not the majority of the family. I try to remember that to keep things in perspective.