Posts by Rainbow

34

Have You Found Your Place in the World?

by Rainbow_Troll in

we were all told when we were in the watchtower that we should be grateful to be part of such a loving family.

we were told that just beyond the superficial glamour of the world was a quagmire of despair, emptiness and pain waiting to suck us in.

obviously, we took that part with a mountain of salt or we wouldn't be here today.

Rainbow_Troll

I've lived in four states and visited many places. Though I admit most of those places have been poor, since I couldn't afford to live in a rich or middle class area. Right now I live in a trailer park along with other very poor white people (I guess we would be 'white trash' in the eyes of those who are better off). I literally can't afford to live anywhere else at this point and the jobs around here don't pay enough to offer me any hope of upgrading my living conditions. Frankly, as much as I would love to have my own apartment, I'm actually very grateful to have a place at all. I've been homeless more than once.

I'm not aware of any humanist, philosophical or book clubs in my area but there are plenty of internet forums available for those types of discussions (that's why I'm here).

There is a small community college here but when I say small, I mean that it's only a single room. They don't teach any subject that you could get a BA in. I don't think it should be allowed to call itself a college. Colleges should be places of education that offer degrees and are staffed by credentialed teachers. If you want to teach senior citizens how to use Windows 7, don't call it a college course, call it a computer education class.

My experiences in the public school system have really turned me off of formal education anyways. I much prefer just opening up a textbook and studying it on my own. If I need help there are lots of internet forums staffed by experts in every field who are willing to help students at no charge; as well as YouTube channels for all the major universities. I think my only real chance of getting a university education at this point is going overseas where higher education is free even to foreigners. That's something I'm currently working on but I still have to find some way of supporting myself while I earn my degree.

4

a jw hell

by carla in

a jw hell-.

https://www.yahoo.com/celebrity/smurfs-obsessed-woman-7000-smurf-items-worlds-largest-collection-190854430.html.

i would like to see a video of jw attempting a bible study in her place!.

Rainbow_Troll

Laugh all you want. I didn't think the smurfs were evil either until I saw one of the live action movies.

15

JANESVILLE WI HI-POWERED GUNS STOLEN, FBI SAYS DANGEROUS, MANIFESTO SENT TO WHITE HOUSE

by blondie in

jw
friends

http://www.wisn.com/article/officials-janesville-man-subject-of-manhunt-sent-threatening-manifesto-to-trump/9245932.

http://madison365.com/21587-2/.

besides sweden and syria news..

Rainbow_Troll

He should have sent the manifesto out after his planned revolutionary activity or at least posted it on the internet so everyone could read it. It was nice of him to threaten those schools, though. When I was a kid I was always hoping that someone would make a bomb threat one morning so the schools would be closed for a while. I considered doing it myself, but I was afraid they would trace it back to me.

80

President Trump launches missile strike against Syria

by jwleaks in

jw
friends

pesident trump authorized the missile strike because “it is in the vital, national security interest of the united states to prevent and deter the use of deadly chemical weapons.” .

59 tomahawk missiles were launched from two us navy ships.. russia has condemned the action.. https://youtu.be/4svp3yfneyq.

.

Rainbow_Troll

Wasn't Obama already bombing Syria before Trump assumed office? How responsible of him to continue the work of his predecessor. But I think the country we should really be bombing is North Korea; that Kim Jong Un bastard is crazy.

34

Have You Found Your Place in the World?

by Rainbow_Troll in

we were all told when we were in the watchtower that we should be grateful to be part of such a loving family.

we were told that just beyond the superficial glamour of the world was a quagmire of despair, emptiness and pain waiting to suck us in.

obviously, we took that part with a mountain of salt or we wouldn't be here today.

Rainbow_Troll

Mike: I realize these are not the entirety of your posts, but as someone not a part of the JW religion I see this as painting a very bleak picture. I know perception can be a part of a person's "reality".
I know you are sincere in these views. "The World" is not a perfect place. But please, if you are depressed, get help. I have friends. Certainly not many. But for those who have let me see into their lives, I have found none who are "simply hedonists with no goals, ethics or spirituality..."
Some of these are highly religious, some not at all. My friends are people, a mix of good and bad. I don't mean to come off as a know it all. I have been very depressed at times. And I have no understanding of what Jehovah's Witnesses go through.
But you sound very depressed. Please get help if you are. And I have the same concerns for anyone who sees the world as you do. As far as I can tell there is at least one other poster on this thread who may feel this way.

I suppose I could be depressed, but I feel so much better than I did just four years ago that it's really hard to see myself that way.

But you are right, it is a matter of viewpoint. I think someone who loves to drink, do drugs, buy things and have lots of casual sex would have a fairly optimistic view of a world like this. The problem is not with the world, but with myself. I know that I just don't belong here. My incarnation on this planet must have been some kind of mistake.

But here I am and I have to make the best of it. I don't want to adjust and become the type of person who would feel at home here so I've found that the best coping strategy is to ignore my surroundings as much as possible and immerse myself in the activities that do give me pleasure: reading, taking long walks in nature, writing poetry, indulging in a warm pot of tea. There are worthwhile things in this world, but it obviously is not optimized for my personal fulfillment. It doesn't make me depressed; discontent would be a better description of the way I feel. Dukkha (as the Buddha used it) would be even better. I'm not suicidal, but neither am I dreading death.

Oh, and I've sought help but to no avail. Most psychiatrist seem to be little better than drug pushers. They tried to get me hooked on medication that did nothing for my mood, but did make me sick. There might be some genuinely helpful mental health specialists out there, but most of the ones I have encountered were quacks.

24

I finally get why people like to shun.

by poopie in

jw
friends

it finally hit me today.

why do religions enjoy shunning.

because many people feel like being close to god makes them special however just being special is not enough for many religious people that shun they must feel extra special how?

Rainbow_Troll

sparrowdown: Shunning used as official discipline for breaking the rules is what cults do as part of their information control policy to keep people under the thumb. Deciding personally to not hang out with a certain individual for whatever reason is personal choice.

You hit the nail on the head. After leaving the JWs I took the extreme of being very tolerant towards people, even if they were rude, bigoted or just plain crazy. I didn't want to be like the JWs and shun these people just because they were different or I didn't agree with some of their views.

But obnoxious crazy bigots DO tend to get on one's nerves, so eventually I did start shunning their company and felt the obligatory guilt. It took me a long time to see the distinction between what I was doing and what the JWs had done to me. I wasn't shunning these people because some higher authority commanded me to or I was afraid of the social consequences should anyone see me associating with racists, gay-bashers and religious nuts. Hell no, I didn't give a shit what anyone thought of me! I was shunning these people because they fucking pissed me off virtually EVERY TIME I held a conversation with them! Do you know how infuriating it is trying to reason with a guy who maintains that most gay men are child molesters? I did.

But now I am free and I owe it all to honoring my inner shunner.

27

Jehovah's Witnesses and Love

by Cold Steel in

comments?

stories?

reminiscences?.

Rainbow_Troll

I don't think it's as black and white is all that. Even back when I believed and wasn't just pretending, I loved my friends.

I remember back when I was twelve a friend of mine got in trouble with the elders after his parents found weed in his room. He begged me to somehow prevent my mom from attending the next meeting, as that was when they planned to announce his new status in the congregation. I wasn't able to do that but, miraculously, my mother must not have been paying attention when they made the announcement. Of course, everyone else still knew, but that didn't stop me from associating with him. I had already decided that I would hang out with him until I was personally told not to and, even if that happened, we could still meet in secret.

I still believed in Jehovah at that point and the Bible as well, but as far as I was concerned the shunning policy was just wrong. I might be forced to shun in public, but privately I would associate with whomever I chose and no misguided elder was going to stop me.

31

Why more highly educated people are less into conspiracy theories

by Mickey mouse in

jw
friends

i've seen discussions here about how jehovah's witnesses seem to be prone to believing conspiracy theories... https://digest.bps.org.uk/2017/04/05/why-more-highly-educated-people-are-less-into-conspiracy-theories/.

this last paragraph seems particularly relevant:.

importantly, van prooijen said his findings help make sense of why education can contribute to “a less paranoid society” even when conspiracy theories are not explicitly challenged.

Rainbow_Troll

Caedee: The problem is that historically conspiracies fail, someone always gives the game away in the end. People are very bad at keeping secrets because we are social animals.

This is true. The more people who are supposedly involved in an alleged conspiracy, the less likely it is to be true. It's the private one person conspiracies that are most effective.

So for example I don't believe that Eisenhower knew about Pearl Harbour before the attack because it makes no sense. A thwarted attack would have had the same effect as a successful one.

Londo: Eisenhower wasn't President in 1941. Or perhaps he was...and history has been covered up! :smile:

LOL! You're right. I don't know why I wrote Eisenhower. He was just on my mind for some reason. Regarding FDR's lack of motive for allowing the attacks to happen, I think that a fiery holocaust would have had a much greater emotional punch on people than a thwarted attack. But, whatever his motives may have been, the fact is that America had cracked the Japanese military code without their knowledge and long before Pearl Harbor. Unless the Japanese were super paranoid and never even hinted about the attacks in their communications, people in Washington would have known in advance what they were planning to do. It could have been that FDR simply did not want to risk tipping the Japanese off that their code had been cracked. Pearl Harbor was an acceptable loss if it meant ultimately defeating the Japanese.

TD: The idea that the Holocaust never happened is a conspiracy theory contradicted by a ton of evidence. There is no reasoning with someone who embraces a conspiracy theory, because every single piece of evidence is written off as part of the conspiracy.

The flaw in most holocaust denial arguments comes down to special pleading. They want people to accept their 'evidence', but they simply deny the credibility of any counter evidence. They'll accept the testimony of a few concentration camp inmates that it really wasn't so bad: that the Nazi officers didn't work them too hard and even arranged things like orchestras and talent shows to keep the inmates entertained. Meanwhile, the vast majority of survivors who testify to the cruelty of the Nazis are called liars. It never seems to occur to them that Nazis were just human beings whose behavior could range from nice to nasty and that, for this reason, a concentration camp could easily become a hell on earth if a bad Nazi was in charge. Creationists use the same strategy.

redvip: For example, the folks that believe that the twin towers came down because of explosives in the buildings. This is completely ridiculous. The amount of people required to do this would be massive. No way you can keep that a secret.

Not to mention unnecessary. If some powerful faction in the US government wanted the twin towers to go down all they would have to do would be to wait and let it happen. The 911 hijackers weren't the first people who wanted to blow up the WTC.

31

Why more highly educated people are less into conspiracy theories

by Mickey mouse in

jw
friends

i've seen discussions here about how jehovah's witnesses seem to be prone to believing conspiracy theories... https://digest.bps.org.uk/2017/04/05/why-more-highly-educated-people-are-less-into-conspiracy-theories/.

this last paragraph seems particularly relevant:.

importantly, van prooijen said his findings help make sense of why education can contribute to “a less paranoid society” even when conspiracy theories are not explicitly challenged.

Rainbow_Troll

What bunk!

I personally have never been able to understand why more people aren't at least open to conspiracy theories.

Even in my own day-to-day experience, I have seen many conspiracies play out. Where I used to work employees would conspire against each other all the time. One falsely accused her supervisor of sexual harassment. Another committed vandalism in an effort to frame their coworker so they could get their position. The company's CPA tried to frame me for embezzlement in order to disguise her own habitual thefts. If common people of mediocre ambition would engage in conspiracies, what naive fool doubts that the rich and powerful are involved in much broader and more intricate schemes?

We must also take into account the conspiracy theories that have since been proven to be conspiracy facts. There are too many to list in a single post, but here is a short list in no particular order that anyone can google and verify for themselves:

The assassination of just about every rabble rouser in history from Julius Caesar to Martin Luther King Jr.
The Roman Catholic Church's massive conspiracy to conceal, aid and abbet child molestors within their ranks.
The Bolshevik/Communist conspiracy against the Czar (read 'Catechism of a Revolutionary')
The P2 banking scandal in Italy
President Eisenhower's foreknowledge of the Pearl Harbor attacks.
The US governments Prism spying program recently exposed by Eric Snowden.
The CIA's MKULTRA program.
The CIA instigated coup d'état against Guatemalan president Jacobo Árbenz over some fruit.
The CIA's plot to overthrow president Mossadegh of Iran for daring to nationalize the country's oil. Hell, virtually EVERYTHING the CIA has done in its 69 years of existence would qualify as a conspiracy!

I could go on and fill pages and pages of historically verifiable conspiracies, but I think any educated reader could come up with their own examples. The fact is, no truly educated person - unless history was deliberately omitted from their 'education' - would dismiss a conspiracy theory out of hand. To the contrary, the more educated you are, the more cynical and paranoid you are likely to be.

24

I finally get why people like to shun.

by poopie in

jw
friends

it finally hit me today.

why do religions enjoy shunning.

because many people feel like being close to god makes them special however just being special is not enough for many religious people that shun they must feel extra special how?

Rainbow_Troll

I've only ever shunned people if they have repeatedly made me feel uncomfortable, so it's very hard for me to understand the motives behind what the JWs do other than fear of getting caught and being shunned oneself.

One thing that has always puzzled me is why more JWs don't communicate to their DF'd friends and family in secret. In today's computer saturated environment of anonymous web-based email and PGP encryption, getting away with it would be trivially easy and yet not one of my friends has agreed to communicate with me this way. Are they afraid that Jehovah will tell on them to the elders? I would think that the very naughtiness of such an act would prove attractive and actually deepen friendships on the principle that the relationship has now become totally private instead of being mediated through the bOrg. Also, it would be a way of rebelling against the elders without taking on any real risk.

I guess I just have no grasp of human psychology.

Rainbow_Troll

Posts by Rainbow_Troll