Anders Andersen

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Posts by Anders Andersen

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  4

  Samantha Lyndell Azzopardi (the power of story)

  by Jerryh in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  "propositional thought hinges on logic and formality.

  narrative thought is the reverse.

  its concrete, imagistic, personally convincing, and emotional.

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  Anders Andersen

  Simon,

  True, but still....

  ...people tend to trust other (unknown) people by default (fraude and con men exploit that)

  ...apparently telling a story of some sort (being a victim, selling Paradise, I am a Nigerian prince...) tends to somewhat make our logic thinking be put on the back burner (when compared to stating facts without a narrative)

  This makes me remember I read about a study that found that people are more willing to say yes to a request when there is a narrative or reason stated.

  'Excuse me, can I please go before you at the copier, because I really need to copy this...'

  yields significantly better results than just

  'Excuse me, can I please go before you at the copier?'

  In the first case, no more information is conveyed than in the other case. However, since a reason is explicitly stated (although obvious, why else would you be at the copier), the requestee assumes the asker already thought about it, and his own logic thinking is bypassed.

  (Of course this works within limits)
  
  
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  13

  Who thinks Wt is going to throw Vincent Tool under the bus if he loses his law registration.

  by joe134cd in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  just read speculation about this on another thread.

  who thinks vincent tool, if looses his law license and becomes less useful to wt that he will then be reassigned to the field.

  or is he just to big of a player to lose even with out a practicing law license.

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  Anders Andersen

  Quickly checked about the Chitty/Greenlees story. Didn't hear it before (but hey, I'm fresh out :-p)

  Is there any substance to that story? Anything more than rumours?

  Didn't check yet, maybe someone happens to know?
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  4

  Samantha Lyndell Azzopardi (the power of story)

  by Jerryh in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  "propositional thought hinges on logic and formality.

  narrative thought is the reverse.

  its concrete, imagistic, personally convincing, and emotional.

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  Anders Andersen

  When a fact is plausible, we still need to test it. When a story is plausible, we often assume it’s true.

  When the psychologists Melanie Green and Timothy Brock decided to test the persuasive power of narrative, they found that the more a story transported us into its world, the more we were likely to believe it—even if some details didn’t quite mesh.

  Azzopardi’s frauds relied on a quirk of human nature: when we become swept up in powerful narrative, our reason often falls by the wayside.

  Cons, both long and short, thrive on in-the-moment arousal. They don’t give us time to think or reconsider.

  Hence the extreme load of prepping for meetings, daily Bible reading, personal study, field service...keep them emotionally involved and give them no time to really think...

  “They are so eager to get their hands on the proffered scam payoff that they fail to pay even rudimentary attention to the details of the proposed transaction and ignore scam cues that may be obvious to others not so overwhelmed by desire,” he wrote in a paper called “Consumer Vulnerability to Scams, Swindles, and Frauds.” The emotional outcome becomes the center of focus, and logic falls away.

  Keep your eye on the Prize. See yourself in Paradise. Stay wanting for the reward, but don't apply logic...

  Nice find Jerry!

  Very interesting article.

  (Of course I just assumed everything it said as true, since there was a powerful narrative in the article :-p ;-))

  
  
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  75

  Have we become what we despise so much?

  by Tenacious in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the majority of members who tend to join this forum have been hurt possibly even traumatized sometimes to the point of wanting to end their lives.

  upon joining the forum, new members are welcomed with open arms, welcome messages start pouring in, "likes" are freely given, a false sense of security is promoted where a member is free to speak his mind without having to worry about the wt gestapo.

  again, similar to how potential converts are welcomed and "love bombed" upon entering a kh for the first time.

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  Anders Andersen

  The fact that your able to (and not afraid to) state your critical view of this online community is part of the answer.

  The fact that answers (while maybe disagreeing with your position) are respectful to you, and the willingness to discuss openly, without you being called in the back room and forced to repent and shut up, are another part of the answer.

  There may be firm disagreements (with maybe less respectful wordings?) sometimes between atheist and christian exJWs. But the same happens on many discussions between Christian and atheist, regardless of their former affiliation.
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  152

  If YOU had to make the decision, would you respect a JW relatives wish to refuse a blood transfusion?

  by nicolaou in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  a few years after i quit the meetings my mum needed her medical directive signed and witnessed and she asked if i'd do it.

  i was surprised to say the least!.

  i think she was just angling to include me and maybe find some lever to get me involved again.

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  Anders Andersen

  Doesn't the Bible say:

  There is hope for whoever is among the living, because a live dog is better off than a dead lion.

  Does that apply to refusing blood with lionlike courage?
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  75

  How did you feel when you found out "the truth about the truth"?

  by stuckinarut2 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so when you first found out specific facts about the organisation, how did you feel??.

  the un membership.

  the way 1914 was calculated from pyramid measurements.

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  Anders Andersen

  I was very amazed at the fact that an otherwise reasonably intelligent person (me :-)) could ever have believed all this complete and utter nonsense for so long...

  
  
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  152

  If YOU had to make the decision, would you respect a JW relatives wish to refuse a blood transfusion?

  by nicolaou in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  a few years after i quit the meetings my mum needed her medical directive signed and witnessed and she asked if i'd do it.

  i was surprised to say the least!.

  i think she was just angling to include me and maybe find some lever to get me involved again.

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  Anders Andersen

  @CodedLogic: excellent point!
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  4

  WT beliefs keep somebody I know from suicide, any suggestions?

  by EndofMysteries in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the religion is like being on a dangerous drug or major abuser of alcohol in which suddenly stopping it will kill them even though remaining on it is also killing them.

  someone i know has poor health, on welfare and very poor, and unable to turn around and change their life.

  they are very depressed and been on care and had several close calls and suicidal thoughts.

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  Anders Andersen

  Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.

  Please get this person professional help before even starting on TTATT.
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  43

  any JW construction going on other than Warwick?

  by Magnum in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  is anybody aware of any kingdom hall builds going on or any kind of ldc activity?

  i've been wanting to ask this, and committeechairman's question at the end of this thread, http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/289353/ldc-semininar?page=4&size=20, moved me to go ahead and ask.. i've kind of wondered whether the org leaders got rid of rbcs and instituted the ldc arrangement because they wanted to be able to stop or slow down construction without it being obvious.

  if the rbcs were still in existence, it would be obvious that there's nothing (or almost nothing) going on (if that really is the way it is) because rbc personnel would be idle when they were used to being busy.

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  Anders Andersen

  In the Netherlands an auditorium that was used for circuit meetings is currently being expanded (existing building overhauled, new building next to it) to create more capacity so it's suitable for conventions as well.

  Since currently this auditorium cannot be used, and the only other was already sold, they have to complete it. Renting is expensive, and you can't sell rented buildings (but they may try in future ;-))

  For financing this project they sold an other auditorium, and calculated to us the money for renting venues for conventions that would be saved. Those combined more than financed the new building, and then they added a nationwide moneygrab resolution to finance it....
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  152

  If YOU had to make the decision, would you respect a JW relatives wish to refuse a blood transfusion?

  by nicolaou in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  a few years after i quit the meetings my mum needed her medical directive signed and witnessed and she asked if i'd do it.

  i was surprised to say the least!.

  i think she was just angling to include me and maybe find some lever to get me involved again.

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  Anders Andersen

  Don't know if someone else already brought it up, but this question is closely related to this one:
  

  If you find someone who just slit his wrists and he tells you 'please just let me die', would you call an ambulance?

  
  

  Now you can argue that this is not the same situation as with a JW who has his signed medical directive while (supposedly) completely sane.

  And it isn't the same situation. The suicidal person states his wishes while dying, he makes an active choice when it really counts.

  
  

  A JW medical directive however was signed while using armchair philosophy.

  The JW doesn't really know what his decision would be at when he was really dying. If he were conscious, he might have changed his mind now he's really in the situation.

  For those coming up with alternative examples, e.g. suppose you found someone whois not depressed but slit his wrists anyway, and tells you 'please just let me die. I am dying of a terrible painful disease anyway, and my whole family was just murdered'. Would you call an ambulance?

  
  

  Now it's more likely you just let him die, right?

  And what if you know that what he believes (terminally I'll, family murdered) is actually not true at all?

  In the examples above, does the wish of the person trump he need to help him?