"I'm suing all of you, all of you I tell you! Just wait and see, I have a whole squadron of legal people circling the area, ready to release their payload. No one will survive my armada of lawyers! Also, I'm total sane and should be believed."
Posts by Simon
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11530It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars
by Newly Enlightened inoriginal reddit post (removed).
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11530
It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars
by Newly Enlightened inoriginal reddit post (removed).
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Simon
I disagree in some respects that people who run boards like this one, or JW facts or other resources, are not an important part of waking people up.
It's importance is nothing todo with the forum, or anything I post (if anything, I'm a negative asset, LOL) - the value is in all the personal stories that people share and the willingness of many to hang-around to help others by answering questions, sharing their own experiences (which I think is the most powerful aid in making people realize that "it's not just me / my congregation") and simply being there to say "it's OK, you will get over this, life will get better!"
I saw a comment somewhere (maybe it was on Twitter) about how things go wrong when money is involved, because it easily corrupts things for people who can't control themselves. Don't get me wrong, things cost money, and there's nothing wrong with trying to make something self-sustaining or accepting help from people to cover costs. But when your motivation clearly becomes the commercialization of "advocacy" I think there is a real danger that you are no longer there to serve, you're there to profit from other people. All along Lloyd appears to have used the hard work of others (that they don't get paid for) and used it for his own personal profit and advancement.
The fact that he then kicked people down when they were no further use to him or dared to question him or not support him as much as he thought they should proves to me that he doesn't really care about anyone or any cause, it's just a personal ego trip and money making endeavour.
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11530
It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars
by Newly Enlightened inoriginal reddit post (removed).
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Simon
plus the way he has marginalised and bullied others going back years, including victims
This has almost been the most shocking revelation to me (I mean, yeah, the hookers-for-years with no shame thing is still unbelievable) but the idea that someone calls themselves an advocate, and raises money of victims stories, and then turns round and bullies those victims if they dare to question something or object to their story being used?
That right there is why anyone donating money is NOT supporting victims by doing so. If anything it is aiding abuse.
Sad that these people were silenced by him and others on his bidding.
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Are Jehovahs Witnesses a cult?
by GoverningBody inthis question has been presented many times throughout the years.
somewhat recently, there has been much talk surrounding the "bite method" :.
"bite” stands for behavior, information, thought, and emotional control.. some examples were thrown at me, such as the decisions of who we associate with, discouraging any worldy media, encouraging our brothers and sisters to report any of our misbehaviours to the elders, our rejection of criticism on the truth, shunning etc.. what do we think about this?.
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Simon
The trouble with some of these definitions of a cult is that half of corporate America would be classed as cults.
Seriously, they all have their own language, terms for their employees (which is never just "employees") and you better be singing the company song in the daily standup meeting or else there will be a question-mark against your name for the level of commitment you're showing.
Many groups of humans end up exhibiting the same behaviors. Those that commit themselves more to the "org" get ahead, those who don't are viewed with suspicion. Those that are elevated gain power and influence, and inevitably mis-use it.
This is every company, every government department, every religion and crime syndicate ever.
But sure, people want to shout "CULT!" as though it accomplishes something. What exactly does it do? Other than make mainstream people think that we're full of hyperbole, because those nice people in suits and dresses aren't like those Heavens Gate people or the Jonestown group at all ...
The word cult means something, and it can't be the end of the spectrum that has its members kill themselves and their children.
Calling JWs a cult smacks of desperation to label them as worse than they are.
Why not simply prosecute them for the harm they do, in a factual way, which will be far more convincing. They are a high-control group. They adversely affect family relationships. They coverup abuses that happen in their ranks to protect their image. Heck, they have people spend far too much of their free time promoting their religion than working to care for their families.
There's plenty to go at without jumping the shark and trying to make out they are the Massive Manson Family.
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11530
It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars
by Newly Enlightened inoriginal reddit post (removed).
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Simon
If someone clicked on his links or his website, just like coming here, they ALREADY have doubts and are already somewhat dissatisfied with the JW's.
Exactly. People rescue themselves, they are the ones that wake up and start questioning things - typically in response to something that the WTS has done to them, or something they have seen in their local congregation.
The idea that "we" save anyone is self-aggrandizing propaganda, all any of us really do is make information available so people can maybe confirm what they are feeling, but I doubt many staunch JWs are ever tuning into apostate videos and by the end re-thinking their life choices.
If it were the case, there would be mass exoduses when major TV programmes about abuse coverups run. But there aren't, and they have little real immediate effect.
And for all this, the harder thing to quantify is how many people who might be having doubts click on something and decide that the person is a nutter or just trying to make money off people rather than freely help them.
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11530
It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars
by Newly Enlightened inoriginal reddit post (removed).
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Simon
Of all things, he chose to question him on 'tight pants'. With all the exJWs that have been hurt by this religion in one way or another, he chooses to that.
Yeah, that was a massive fail and a huge let-off for them. It could have been, should have been, something about child abuse coverups, or families broken by shunning or people dying from refusing blood ... instead it's a massive big nothing burger which completely let them off the hook for anything meaningful.
He fumbled the ball and gave it away ...
Not exactly MVP material.
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Article: Judge: Jehovah’s Witness Parodies Are Fair Use. Watch Tower: So What?
by AndersonsInfo inhttps://torrentfreak.com/judge-jehovahs-witness-parodies-are-fair-use-watch-tower-so-what-220220/.
february 21, 2022 by andy maxwell.
in 2018, watch tower filed for a dmca subpoena that would've required youtube to hand over the identity of an animator who parodied the religious group in his videos.
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Simon
If it’s “the truth”, then they shouldn’t have any problems with it.
The moral argument is easy to win, but doesn't help pay $$$ you may face from a court decision.
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Article: Judge: Jehovah’s Witness Parodies Are Fair Use. Watch Tower: So What?
by AndersonsInfo inhttps://torrentfreak.com/judge-jehovahs-witness-parodies-are-fair-use-watch-tower-so-what-220220/.
february 21, 2022 by andy maxwell.
in 2018, watch tower filed for a dmca subpoena that would've required youtube to hand over the identity of an animator who parodied the religious group in his videos.
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Simon
Like most laws and rights, you really only have what you can afford to defend or fight for.
You see now in Canada that your "Charter Rights" really are simply a piece of paper, and can be revoked at will. Likewise in the US, people's constitutional rights are trampled on or suspended all the time.
All you have is what is convenient for you to have, and that can be revoked at any time.
The exact same thing happens with copyright law and other IP. You can have the best invention in the world, and a patent to say it's yours, but if you can't afford to sue a massive company then they can just take it from you.
The principles of what is and isn't allowed under copyright is pretty clear, but unless you have deep pockets or can attract some other group to help defend yourself and get sufficient publicity about it, the big company can override all the rules.
I think the mistake many make is believing that the platforms they use will provide them protection when in reality, these platforms are on the side of the big money. If you use them as your outlet, then they become the "point of failure" for the copyright claims, and because they have no horse in the race, they have no reason to risk anything defending some minor user of their system.
That's simply the state we're in. The internet has been taken over by big companies with deep pockets and the little guy can use it until they step out of line.
The only counter to this will be censorship-resistant platforms, likely block-chain based, but even those will be at the mercy of other centralized internet mechanisms such as domain name systems until those too are replaced. Unless and until the majority of people embrace these things, then they can only provide a niche audience compared to the mainstream platforms.
But does all this matter? Critique and parody are important but as the article points out they are a different audience to that of the WTS media. I imagine that a significant (majority) of the viewership is often those who have already left, who are looking for easy-to-digest validation. Also worth noting is that if you are making money off such videos, it's taken into account and counts against being classed as "fair use".
I don't think the majority of people really joined because of the beliefs or even really believe them as such (many JWs don't know what the current beliefs even are). It's a lifestyle, and people are caught up in it. People leave when they are ready, when the WTS experience convinces them that things aren't right, that there isn't any "truth" behind it. They need to know there are friendly voices on the outside, and that it's possible to leave and be successful and happy. No one can remove that message for violating anything.
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11530
It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars
by Newly Enlightened inoriginal reddit post (removed).
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Simon
Is his final "confessional" livestream still up on Youtube? I was looking for it the other day but couldn't see it. Admittedly , it was a bit of a car crash.
Plenty of people have a copy of the original, unedited version, should anyone need it.
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11
Jay the unfunny Comedian is calling everyone who disagrees with him racist now
by Diogenesister injust some screenshots of his twitter.
these are absurd reaches.
at this point it's just a risk communicating with him at all.. .
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Simon
Oh. Ok. Well there you go. Since I've never really followed Lloyd, I've definitely never followed any of his followers.
I was the same, like am I supposed to know who this rando is?
For what its worth, I've referred to my 3 year old daughter as a "little monkey". Am I racist, or is it all good since she's white?
Likewise, I refer to our friends kids as monkeys all the time, it's a term of endearment.
I have little patience for these people who go out of the way to twist everything into being racist.
Save it for things that actually are.