I think it's time for a re-evaluation for the exJW "community"
First, what does that word even mean? We're a diverse group of people with nothing at all in common other than we once belonged to a group who's membership believed they all had something in common.
But really, we don't, and never did.
People outside are the same inside, the same mix of good-eggs, rough diamonds, scallywags and toads. Use whatever euphemism for personalities as you want, all are there - good, bad, abusers, victims. People.
And of course people leave. At this point they either decide to go live their life or are still attached to the WTS.
Some decide that they are going to be the mighty one to finally topple-the-tower. But of course they won't, and never will.
Some decide that they need a constant diet of information reminding them that they are right to be on the outside (I often wonder if these people really fear they may be wrong, and long to return).
Some decide they they are over it but want to use their special knowledge and experience to help others to leave and to offer support.
All very different reasons and often personality types.
It takes a certain amount of 'drive' to make people want to do more than just move on, sometimes it can be healthy, other times not so much. I think a lot comes down to how much time you're spending and how much it takes over your life.
Personally, I think it's unhealthy to stay an activist exJW for too long. That doesn't mean everyone who does is mental, but some take it too far and it becomes your entire life. It's like any activism - when it acts as an impetus to assist others, it can be good and healthy, but when it becomes your entire life then it can be too much and unhealthy.
We've all seen cases where well known exJWs have, well, they've been notorious for being a bit unhinged. There are always those willing to applaud and support those "doing more", until the point they cross over a line and do something stupid, like pepper-spraying a couple of elderly JWs on the ministry. Then the "community" reflects and splits, because some want to go to war, total warfare, and the rest of us want to be part of the human race.
A particular risk is if we depend on the activism so much that we can't do without it. That is where Lloyd has ended up. He sees it as his job, a career. Does he really plan on doing this for the rest of his life? Who knows. He wasn't forced into it, it was his choice, but his behavior then impacts everyone else.
Well, maybe ... if you think you're part of one giant "community" they might.
Personally, I don't think there is one. There are some nice people, there are some not so nice people. I wouldn't want to be recognized as belonging to a group that contained unsavoury characters and does it make sense to identify with such a huge group with zero control of who does and doesn't belong or what they do?
I'm an exJW. It's simple an attribute that describes my past. It isn't membership of any group and I don't expected to support anyone in that group or commit to anything someone else in the group wants to do. The only "membership" I have is that I can voice support or criticism of anything someone in the group does, but then I can do that for anyone on the planet, so why do we imaging there really is any group? It's just people we've come across, due to our shared past.
My only hope is that people learn to be more critical. The same mix of people exist everywhere and that always includes bad-actors. The biggest danger is that people think they are the same, because they think they belong to some fictitious shared group, and they get suckered in and their standards eroded over time because they are addicted to being fed propaganda about the group itself being good, and the group they left being the enemy.
Time to move on people. The aim should always be to become an ex-exJW, or at least not get so involved in everything for such periods that it's effectively your life.
