Posts by logansrun

132

I have a hard time blaming the Watchtower

by spiritwalker in

jw
friends

" if the watchtower said it, and the men on the platform preached it, then it must have been true.

so it was very hard to accept as an adult, that they were wrong.

i blame myself.

logansrun

From the article supplied by PS:

Several studies of Unification Church recruitment workshops reveal that, on the average, fewer than one in ten of those who got as far as attending a Church workshop agree to join the Church, and fewer than one in twenty remain with the Church for two years...
Given these statistics...the only conclusion that can scientifically be drawn is that the conversion practices of the Unification Church are not coercive. These practices not only fail to convert at least 90% of those subjected to them, but actually dissuade the overwhelming proportion. Furthermore, although persons who join the Church remain in an environment plaintiffs' experts would characterize as psychologically manipulative, even most of those initially persuaded to join the Church leave it after a period of months or years. ..

I think this is a rather silly argument. So, if 49 out of 50 people ignore the "Nigerian widower" who sends email begging for help, does that mean there was no misrepresentation for the fiftieth person who fell for the scam hook, line and sinker? Come on!

If someone wants to find "empirical evidence" for coercion I say: "good luck." Try finding "empirical evidence" for love or jealousy and the like. There are some things that simply do not lend themselves to rigid scientific studies. Sorry, I don't buy that line of reasoning at all.

132

I have a hard time blaming the Watchtower

by spiritwalker in

jw
friends

" if the watchtower said it, and the men on the platform preached it, then it must have been true.

so it was very hard to accept as an adult, that they were wrong.

i blame myself.

logansrun

I respectfully disagree Phantom. The WT (as well as Scientology, Moonies, Rebublicans, etc.) are very coercive. Mind control? Well, perhaps not in the absolute sense. But coercive? Come on -- you can "talk this subject to death" and make something coercive appear like it wasn't. In the end -- I JUST DON'T BUY IT.

Yes, the WT is extremely misleading, coercive and manipulative. You don't have to be Hitler to be a bad guy and you don't have to be given Chinese torture to be manipulated. Case closed. Get on with it.

Bradley

85

Truth, Justice, and the American Way

by D8TA in

ah yes, the ?truth?

?and not by the standards of one publishing company in which we all here share something in common with.

as i?ve sat silently for months, browsing this board on occasion, and i still can?t believe there are people here who blind themselves with ?patriotism?

logansrun

D8TA,

Excellent, excellent, excellent post. I agree 100% with everything you said.

Yes, it's amazing -- no, truly ASTOUNDING -- that people who broke free from a cultish indoctrination system like the JWs could be so blinded by nationalism and historical revisionism. The sad thing is that I KNOW some of the "right-wingers" here are much smarter than that. Perhaps that is why they have been indoctrinated so well. (Just like the dubs -- the most brainwashed are those who, like me, took it seriously and were among the "elite")

Change is coming....the more and more people speak out...the greater and greater the gap between rich and poor...the increase in US atrocities....change will come.

Bradley

124

I want to ask her out...

by DanTheMan in

jw
friends

there's a girl in my math class at community college who...omg she is such a hottie.

a babe-alicious babe.. i am very inexperienced in these matters, i guess you could say i'm relationship challenged.. how do i approach her?

she seems to struggle a bit with the material we're covering in class, and it comes pretty easy to me.

logansrun

Xena,

If that was the totality of what I know about Ms. Smith I would agree with you. Unfortunately, her tirades about politics, economics are so awful it sickens me. Her ethics are so icily cold they would make Ayn Rand shiver. This last statement was just the icing on the cake.

Never mind. Sorry I vented a little here.

5

Harper's Index For October

by Valis in

i always jump right to the index when i get my new harpers...this one was in october's issue.

always some interesting and amusing facts they gather.. .

october 2003

logansrun

Oh Valis, that's just liberal propoganda. Pay no attention to it.

B.

124

I want to ask her out...

by DanTheMan in

jw
friends

there's a girl in my math class at community college who...omg she is such a hottie.

a babe-alicious babe.. i am very inexperienced in these matters, i guess you could say i'm relationship challenged.. how do i approach her?

she seems to struggle a bit with the material we're covering in class, and it comes pretty easy to me.

logansrun

Xena,

Yea tells me she is a realist not some idealist with her head in the clouds.

Right. Sure. You know, somewhere between "idealism" and selfish materialism / heavy-handedness there is a golden mean which will be a balance between what "is" and what "ought." Make sense?

B.

124

I want to ask her out...

by DanTheMan in

jw
friends

there's a girl in my math class at community college who...omg she is such a hottie.

a babe-alicious babe.. i am very inexperienced in these matters, i guess you could say i'm relationship challenged.. how do i approach her?

she seems to struggle a bit with the material we're covering in class, and it comes pretty easy to me.

logansrun

I hate to make such an off-topic point but....

Stacey, you said:

I am attending college for one reason, to make myself more valuable in the job market.

No other reasons? You don't wish to better yourself in ways which have nothing to do with money, ie philosophical erudition, social understanding, humanitarianism, science, artistic development -- how to think?

Perhaps you didn't really mean "one reason", but if you did...telling, very telling.

Bradley

40

Politics is taking over again

by Simon in

i think it's getting a bit much.. please remember that while we dont mind some discussion of current affairs, we are not intending to be a political discussion forum.. i'm getting especially tired seeing some people making insulting and dismissive remarks and just posting dogma and propaganda.

worse still, it seems some people are *only* interested in posting on political threads and nothing else.

let me make it clear - that is not why we're here and if that is the only reason that you are here you will find the number of posts you have will be limited.. this of course goes for both sides.