Posts by Simon

11530

It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars

by Newly Enlightened in

original reddit post (removed).

Simon

It's nearly the end of the month, so you know what that means? Time to submit your field ministry report cards brothers and sisters ... (ugh, flashback!)

Sorry for that - no, it's Patreon Subscriber Cancellation day!

He started with close to 900 at the start of the year, and it goes down throughout a month but a lot of people cancel at the end of the month (might be todo with how patreon works, I've never used it). You can see the Feb month-end dropped 34 and March month-end dropped 31.

He's currently at 571.

I wonder at the people left, at some point it seems like nothing will be enough to convince them they are funding a bullying asshole, but maybe they don't follow things and it takes a while for them to remember that they have a subscription and to find out what he's been up to.

But my guess is it's going to go to about 550.

https://graphtreon.com/creator/cedars

11530

It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars

by Newly Enlightened in

original reddit post (removed).

Simon

The information is out there now, his reputation will proceed him if people bother to look.

You can't force people to do their due diligence before getting involved with someone, and it's not your or my job to do that, but no one can complain that they didn't know if they didn't look.

But I hope we can promote other voices and other content so he can't keep preying on those who may be newly doubting and leaving, and they happen to be in their naive "everyone who left the WTS is now my friend, on my side, and only wants the best for me" stage.

Take away the $$$ and I think his appetite for "activism" will soon diminish.

11

Jehovah’s witnesses and compulsory voting in Australia.

by Longlivetherenegades in

what do jehovah’s witnesses do during election period in australia?

i learnt voting is compulsory in australia and those who choose not to vote are fined.

do jehovah’s witnesses pay such fines?.

Simon

Yeah, it's stupid to not simply conspire with someone to negate your votes by each voting for a different candidate.

It achieves the exact same thing in terms of being neutral, but without breaking any laws.

11530

It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars

by Newly Enlightened in

original reddit post (removed).

Simon

11530

It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars

by Newly Enlightened in

original reddit post (removed).

Simon

"Things I'm grateful for: my loved ones, my beautiful children ..."

Yeah, no mention of any wife. But also strange that children aren't covered as "loved ones". Maybe that was referring to his Thailand girlfriends?

Also, poor Tibor ... to be left out of the honors list.

11530

It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars

by Newly Enlightened in

original reddit post (removed).

Simon

I think he's just excusing his own behavior with that statement. It's no different than his claim that his sexuality was "tampered with" as an excuse for whoreing around and behaving inappropriately with girls*. At what point do people take responsibility for who they are and what they do?

The reality is that there is a random assortment of people in most groups. Yes, there will be some degree of gravitating together in extreme cases but I think overall JWs tend to have the same sort of mix as the general population.

People are who they are. People are not made "good" by leaving any more than they are made "bad" by staying. Certain environments can feed certain personality types - an abusive narcissist for example may find a cosy home as an elder, and abuse their power. If they are subsequently kicked out, did the WTS really make them who they are or is it simply who they always were? I think someone's immediate family environment has a stronger impact on personality than the WTS part of their existence.

Whatever impact the WTS had on people, to imagine it sets the path of your life is really loser-think. You can change. You can reprogram yourself. All it takes is a small amount of introspection and effort if you want to change. If you refuse to accept criticism then yes, you may stay a dick all your life. So he's right in one way.

*that "oh, ha ha ha, I said 'girls', whoopsie!" where he laughs in his video is a pretty sick way to talk for someone claiming to be a CSA advocate.

11530

It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars

by Newly Enlightened in

original reddit post (removed).

Simon

This is informative about why some people behave the way they do, and how they can suddenly "flip" if you challenge or simply question them.

Esp. the bit about how they believe they are always right even when it's crushingly obvious that they are not, and how they absolutely have to get the last word in order to believe they have "won", that everyone else has to agree with their view of reality, that there is no such thing as constructive criticism (of them).

As you watch it, think of who matches each of the things described. It's uncanny!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Te7hmo8ajgM

14

Do you find Watchtower as Looney as Jim Jones?

by Foolednomore in

jw
friends

forbid the universe for the mass suicide of many.

but with the no blood policy, the constant call to be loyal to the org no matter how looney it seems, just very dangerous to any normal thinking person.

or just crazy stupidity?.

Simon

Have any of your other family members left the WT? If so, how many?

My father was Df'd when I was little and I got back in touch with him later in life.

My much younger half-brother never really got "in" to leave, I credit myself for some of that by feeding him information as I was leaving. It's odd how he's totally accepted and part of the family though.

None of rest of my immediate family have as far as I know (mother, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, nephews etc...)

11530

It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars

by Newly Enlightened in

original reddit post (removed).

Simon

i think the most realistic hope of success is if his patrons drop to a point where he can’t carry on. It’s why I obsessively check the number each day.

That's why it's important to constantly put some of the responsibility for what he does on THEM.

They are the ones enabling a narcissistic misogynist bully, everything he does is on them because they bankroll what he does.

Also, I think it's noteworthy that he seems to be specifically targeting Kim more than anyone else. It may be that he knows her criticism is more of a threat, because she worked with him ... but part of me thinks he likes bullying women because he's a weak man. His use of prostitutes may be along the same lines - apparently, it's not always about sex so much as power and control.

Weak men are nasty bullies.

11530

It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars

by Newly Enlightened in

original reddit post (removed).

Simon

Kim he’s trying to wear you and everyone else down

Yeah, this is something else he's done a lot in the past on here with me. He thinks he "wins" an argument by just going round in circles until everyone gives up and moves on and then he declares himself victorious.

Facts don't matter to him. A chorus of voices shouting in his face that he's wrong won't change his mind. He's so pig-headed and determined that what's rattled round his head is the truth and if he just repeats it enough times in his monotonous voice, everyone will eventually believe him.

Kim: you don't have to answer or even read everything he posts, it's more important to take a break and not let his BS get to you. That's what he wants to do, that's why he makes these threats, as a "legal" was to harass people. Enough people have seen the replies to his comments that all but his must sycophantic followers can see exactly the kind of person he is.

The idea that Croatia is going to extradite and prosecute someone because some obnoxious jerk-wad on the internet got "insulted" is beyond laughable. Especially when the defense would simply be his own video testimony. It's beyond insane.

Meanwhile, the US is still trying to extradite Julian Assange after a decade, to put things into perspective.