Simon

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Posts by Simon

• 
  11530

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

  by Newly Enlightened in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  original reddit post (removed).

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  Simon

  Please take that "transphobe / misgender" cancer elsewhere. We don't need that bullshit on this site thank you.
• 
  4

  Call Bethel Podcast

  by Simon in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  i haven't seen this posted, maybe worth a listen:.

  "brave whistleblowers.

  a trail of data.

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  Simon

  I haven't seen this posted, maybe worth a listen:

  "Brave whistleblowers. A trail of data. A secret system for dealing with allegations of child abuse. Follow the Telegraph's Investigations team on their year-long hunt into the Jehovah's Witnesses."
  

  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/call-bethel/id1630422946
  
• 
  11530

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

  by Newly Enlightened in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  original reddit post (removed).

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  Simon

  No sooner than we get done with one clown it seem someone else wants to take their place.

  People are free to do what they want, but look closely. Check if they really have toxic opinions and bullying behavior of their own.

  Don't simply rejoice that someone you don't like has been replaced.

  Personally, I don't think any of these hours long analysis videos are necessary or helpful to anyone. Stop wallowing in the WTS. It's not healthy for you or your audience. it's not like anything much really changes anyway ... make a video if something actually changes, if there is actually some news to report.

  LET GO AND MOVE ON!
• 
  16

  Dear Female ExJWs

  by Simon in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  judging by some forum comments and tweets, it seems like some female exjw's feel they are being ignored or excluded from things.

  i thought i'd share my views.

  what could possibly go wrong .... first, i think it's unfair to post and judge people based on a private chat shared without permission and posted without context.

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  Simon

  If I can’t make a panel on my own merit, I don’t want to be there. I do not believe in feminism as it is sold to the public. I believe true equality comes from earning your way, not to “balance the books” so to speak.

  I think this is key. Women shouldn't demand to simply be token representatives. They should be there because the host wanted their views and they can contribute.

  The women who do that are way more powerful than those who insist on simply being a tick in a box.

  I hate the fact that men feel that dealing with women can be a mine field, although I accept that in some cases this can be the case. Conversely, as with men not all bring elders, not all women are a mind field.

  As I said, it was partly driven by the recent interaction I had. In a few weeks something else will be the most important thing that I think needs to be talked about (like when the Subway person doesn't tesselate the cheese slices properly and puts them all on the same direction, c'mon people, are we apes?!)

  Not all people who make ignorant, careless or uninformed comments are racist, bigots of phobics.

  Not all men are misogynistic and not all women are emotional basket cases.

  It is my opinion that the whole world, and this community included, needs to take a chill pill and either agree to disagree, ignore behaviour that doesn’t fit the values and beliefs, (yes it is possible to scroll on without commenting!) hear others opinions with curiosity rather than “prepare for rebuttal or attack”, be quick to apologise when we are wrong, not readily compare others behaviour to traits of the cult, and realise that just like other people, we have faults.

  The world is becoming ever more polarized, especially online, and people think they can talk to people anyway they want and throw out serious accusations such as "bigot" or whatever "...phobic" is the current word of the day.

  We all make mistakes and none of us like being called names. Perhaps there is merit in the saying “treat others the way you would like to be treated”.

  It's not nice to be accused of what most people think is something serious and most people's reaction is to defend themselves against such accusations, which is natural to want to "clear your name", but we have to remember that no one cares or remembers what some nobody says about us online. Most people see that they are crazy. Increasingly, no one cares about the labels either because they are so over-used.

  Now let me get off my soap box and go and find my pitch fork

  Oh no, Aussies are tougher than me, even the women. Time to head to the hills and hideout!

  Seriously, Kim, you seem like a perfectly balanced, easy-going person that is non-scary to interact with.
• 
  16

  Dear Female ExJWs

  by Simon in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  judging by some forum comments and tweets, it seems like some female exjw's feel they are being ignored or excluded from things.

  i thought i'd share my views.

  what could possibly go wrong .... first, i think it's unfair to post and judge people based on a private chat shared without permission and posted without context.

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• 

  Simon

  I generally try to treat people well and be as easygoing as I can, with the understanding that I can't please everyone but I can decide who to engage

  I go with the "if I can't please everyone at the same time, I wonder if I can annoy everyone all at once?" approach, LOL

  Seriously, yes - you learn that some people aren't worth engaging with. My OP was partly driven by that as well. Here's what happened:

  I saw someone asking on Twitter something along the lines of whether she should speak to her husbands / boyfriends son and ex-wife, who were both JWs.

  I suggested that just because JWs shunned people, doesn't mean we have to (simply because they are JWs). At the same time I noticed the poster whining about someone blocking her, that someone being a guy who seemed uber reasonable. I didn't know why.

  Whoa, she goes off claiming that all JWs support child abuse and were bigots. I thought that was a bit OTT and suggested that wasn't the case and that it was itself bigoted to judge them all individually based on membership of a group. I also suggested that being angry was understandable but being filled with resentment wasn't a healthy way to live.

  Of course, that went down well. But I know she knew she was wrong. How do I know? Because she deleted her original tweets leaving just the one of me out of context. Then starts another topic bemoaning how she'd been "counselled" by some white male ex-elder type. Not even close to what happened.

  So next time, when some female exJW solicits opinions, am I more or less inclined to engage, or more likely to wonder if they are a cray-cray? That's how it works.

  The other thing were tweets that LloydEvenaParody made. I honestly think they lost the plot and have gone after people who simply don't deserve it. Cappytan seems to be one of the most reasonable of people and it's totally possible to both wonder about how much criticism of Lloyd is the right amount vs too much and be supportive of those threatened with litigation. He just seems to be a decent person pondering what the right balance is. How can you turn that into something to be judgemental about?

  So LloydEvensParody - I've enjoyed your parody but I think you've just diluted your criticism of Lloyd himself. Now he can look at that and say see, crazy person ... because that is what it looked like to me and I don't think I'm unique. The fact that you don't like that I "liked" someone else's reply about it that summed up the gist of what I felt is exactly the sort of thing Lloyd does. Please, take a step back and think about what you're doing and why.

  My advice is to use that account for what it was created for, and not to seek out enemies that are not there or try to divide people over something that simply isn't a thing and doesn't need to be turned into a thing.
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  3

  Running the US is as easy as riding a bike ...

  by LoveUniHateExams in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r96ibqzbwj8.

  worst.

  president.

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  Simon

  Damn, he was wearing a helmet.

  Although it's not like he could suffer any brain damage ...
• 
  32

  “This generation will by no means pass away.”

  by Fisherman in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  for argument sake let’s assume that this verse should apply to 1914. what are your thoughts on generation?.

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  Simon

  A generation is 20-30 years.

  Boomers, GenX, Millennials ... we talk about generations and they are not 70-80 years apart.

  110-120 years is right out.
• 
  16

  Dear Female ExJWs

  by Simon in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  judging by some forum comments and tweets, it seems like some female exjw's feel they are being ignored or excluded from things.

  i thought i'd share my views.

  what could possibly go wrong .... first, i think it's unfair to post and judge people based on a private chat shared without permission and posted without context.

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  2. 
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• 

  Simon

  Unless a crime is being talked about, sharing private communication is walking an ethical tightrope. On one hand we have seen leaked private communication of Lloyd Evans. On another hand we have seen other private chats leaked as well. It is a tricky subject to manage.

  My view is that typically it's wrong. Unless the private messages show someone is utterly conning people with a very different public persona and is really behaving unmistakably badly, I think it's difficult to justify. Especially if it relies on some strained interpretation to see something "wrong" ... if you tilt your head sideways.
  
• 
  16

  Dear Female ExJWs

  by Simon in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  judging by some forum comments and tweets, it seems like some female exjw's feel they are being ignored or excluded from things.

  i thought i'd share my views.

  what could possibly go wrong .... first, i think it's unfair to post and judge people based on a private chat shared without permission and posted without context.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Simon

  Judging by some forum comments and tweets, it seems like some female exJW's feel they are being ignored or excluded from things. I thought I'd share my views. This can only go well, right? What could possibly go wrong ...

  First, I think it's unfair to post and judge people based on a private chat shared without permission and posted without context. When we talk privately, we don't intend our words to have a wider audience and so are less guarded in our speech and less careful with our language. We may use shortcuts, sometimes based on previous communication with the people involved, such that someone coming to the messages without that context could easily get the wrong impression ... especially if they were keen to get the wrong impression.

  Takeaway: Don't share private communication in an attempt to embarrass or ruin someone's reputation unless it's something truly egregious and obvious.

  Stop imagining that every male exJW is an ex-elder. Yea, I'm a white male exJW but no, I was not an elder, never had any power or position in the religion and never wanted any. I was treated badly by the elders just like you, so stop trying to lump me in with them. I think our hall was fairly average - we had about 100-120 publishers so say 50-60 males. Of those, about 6 were elders and were elders for years or decades.

  Basically, the number of males who are ever elders is a small percentage. Stop trying to make out that certain behaviour is todo with being a white male ex-elder when it's only to do with the "elder" part. Don't label people based on innate characteristics and call them evil and then expect them to be friendly and welcoming, and not think you're nuts.

  Likewise, we can do without the "I've been counselled" crap if we take part in a discussion and happen to disagree. That's what discussion is all about, having different viewpoints. Again, don't complain about not being included if, when you are, you turn round and kick us in the balls.

  No one owes you anything, just like you don't owe us anything. If you don't like that someone else has been invited on a panel, boo hoo. You're on the internet - make your own video, invite someone else who you want to talk to and hear from. There are no gatekeepers holding you back.

  You may not realize this but as a man, interacting with women anywhere for anything has always been a bit of a minefield and in 2022 things are getting worse, not better. Sometimes, it's just easier and safer not to. So please factor that in before you start judging and labelling people - some of us have had run-ins with what I call "crazy bitches" and so we think twice before reaching out. It's far easier and less problematic to message another guy online than a female. That's just the world we live in. So maybe you were excluded but not because of you.

  If someone genuinely is being misogynistic then of course you should call them out and I'll stand shoulder to shoulder with you if you do ... and if they were. But if you ring the fire alarm I expect there to be a fire, or at least meaningful smoke. If you expect me to strain to maybe see that something could be taken a certain way if you read it with a certain interpretation, I'm not going to be impressed and I'm not going to care.

  IMO it's pretty simple. There were those in power who treated others badly. Don't be so quick to "tilt at windmills". The vast majority of us were never elders, and even many that were, who left, did so because they were good guys who followed their conscience to do the right thing.

  There were high-and-mighty elder types of course, who desired and sought prominence and power and then misused it. I understand as much as anyone how the thought of them makes you feel angry. All the feelings come back and we want to set things straight. But save it for them, they are easy to identify. Don't see every male exJW as a stand-in for them.

  By now, I expect there is a mob forming and grabbing torches and pitchforks ... I'm kidding, women never know where tools are kept (boom-tish), but c'mon, we're not your enemy and we're all stronger together.

  If you genuinely believe that you're being excluded from some channel and would like to be included, why not ask them nicely rather than attacking and calling names and launching into accusations?

  "Hey, I loved that last video you did but did you ever think you may be missing out on a larger audience? I think there are probably be lots of women like me who would like to see some women included on the panel next time. I'd be happy to volunteer or can suggest some good people you could ask if you're interested?"

  I doubt anyone would respond to something like that with "sorry, no chicks" ...

  I'm sure I've offended many, but I'm trying to help even if it's just to start a discussion to clear the air.
• 
  11530

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

  by Newly Enlightened in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  original reddit post (removed).

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Simon

  but Evans’ numbers had been down below 500 previously, too, hadn’t they?

  When he started, on the way up

  https://graphtreon.com/creator/cedars