Poops, thanks for this. I see your concerns and acknowledge that tolerance is a difficult road to travel. The key distinction for me is the central control exercised by the WBTS and the absence of central control over Islam. There is no Islamic equivalent to the GB. There is no unity of doctrine or thought. So Islam does not dictate that women be treated in particular ways. Rather groups of Muslims interpret how women should be treated and do so in a way that reinforces partiarchical social structures. This creates a risk of abuse and an opportunity to adapt to modernity and recognise that society benefits when women are fully and freely able to apply their talents and abilities to the benefit of society and are able to self-actualize to the same extent as men. I know that most Muslim societies are a long way from this now and in some respects are outright abusive, but look at how far we have come in the West since the 50s. Egyptian society in the 60s and 70s was quite liberal in the role of women in politics, education etc. When I lived there in the 80s the majority of women did not wear hijabs (veils) - this is no longer the case. The Middle East has become more doctrinaire in terms of Islam in the past 30 years. Unfortunately liberal Muslims are in retreat and there is no sign that this will change in a hurry. Cheers Fraz
Frazzled UBM
JoinedPosts by Frazzled UBM
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40
JW attitudes to women
by Frazzled UBM ini would be very interested to hear from you ladies on this one.
i know that the society keeps women in subjugation through the headship cr@p but didn't ahve any sense about hoew prehistoric the attitudes are until the other day when we were driving out of the supermarket car park and my wife spotted a woman dressed in tight shorts (it has been very hot here) and she commented 'they say that women who dress like that dserve to be raped'.
i did a wtf and overreacted 'how can you blame the victim like that - such attitudes give men a lciense to commit rape and make women feel they are to balme if they get raped which in turn means that rape doesn't get reported and it gopes on with impunity.
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Awake January 2015: How did life begin? - More misquotes
by Designer Stubble in[quote]some might assume that a scientifically-minded person would pick evolution and that a religious person would pick creation.
but not always.. rama singh, professor of biology at canadas mcmaster university, says: the opposition to evolution goes beyond religious fundamentalism and includes a great many people from educated sections of the population.[/quote].
end-of-quote in awake.
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Frazzled UBM
You guys are so cute getting worked up about this. I find it surprising that you find this so surprising. The WBTS is committing a massive fraud - that is obtaining an advantage through deception. They have been doing it for nigh on 100 years. What you have uncovered up is nothing short of standard practice. That is not to denigrate the good work in showing how brazen it is but my guess is that WBTS publicatioons are riddled with this sort of intellectual dishonesty. If they were a commercial organsation they would have been indicted for conspiracy to defraud a long time ago.
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46
Life is short and I'm gonna love it thread!
by poopsiecakes inso what are you doing to enjoy yourself?
doesn't have to be for anyone around you, or have anything to do with jw world.
just something that you do for you and only you and that fills your soul (whatever that means).
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Frazzled UBM
hi poopsiecakes - I responded to your challenge on the JW attitudes to women thread but I didn't see you comment so I am not sure whether I answered your query? Fraz
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46
Life is short and I'm gonna love it thread!
by poopsiecakes inso what are you doing to enjoy yourself?
doesn't have to be for anyone around you, or have anything to do with jw world.
just something that you do for you and only you and that fills your soul (whatever that means).
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Frazzled UBM
Miss Fit - good idea - I will do that
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46
Life is short and I'm gonna love it thread!
by poopsiecakes inso what are you doing to enjoy yourself?
doesn't have to be for anyone around you, or have anything to do with jw world.
just something that you do for you and only you and that fills your soul (whatever that means).
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Frazzled UBM
...and cycling, how could I forget cycling?
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46
Life is short and I'm gonna love it thread!
by poopsiecakes inso what are you doing to enjoy yourself?
doesn't have to be for anyone around you, or have anything to do with jw world.
just something that you do for you and only you and that fills your soul (whatever that means).
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Frazzled UBM
Regular great sex and cuddling
eating out with the family
going to musicals in the West End with my wife
my wife's cooking and baking
playing and joking around with my young son and hugging him
adventuring (we went trekking in Patagonia at the beginning of the year - amazing) and discussing literature, philosophy, politics and economics with my elder son and hugging him
travelling and the whole sensory walking, exploring (including scuba diving when I get the chance), eating and drinking experience that goes with that
watching rugby - particularly when the Wallabies win - a rare and special thing these days
good wine (Australian Shiraz is my favourite)
driving in the country in my 3.2 litre Audi A3 quattro sports - lots of grunt
reading a good book and watching a good movie
Xmas, birthdays, Halloween, Fireworks night, Easter etc.
I must say it's nice to do this list and appreciate the good things in my life
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Morning Witness - Sowing the Seeds
by Frazzled UBM inso i walked past a couple of young witnesses on the way to dropping my son off this morning and they were still there at the station when i came back to catch the train.
seeing them made me feel sad and think about all the stories of regret here on jwn so i figured what the hell i'll tell them.
so i approached them and asked how old they were.
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Frazzled UBM
Hi Laika - good to hear from you. I had a little chuckle inside when he pulled that stunt. I thought: "Better men than you have tried and failed at those tactics, Sunshine." Have fun with Kate this evening - sorry I can't join you - I am feeling a bit under the weather. Cheers Fraz
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10
Morning Witness - Sowing the Seeds
by Frazzled UBM inso i walked past a couple of young witnesses on the way to dropping my son off this morning and they were still there at the station when i came back to catch the train.
seeing them made me feel sad and think about all the stories of regret here on jwn so i figured what the hell i'll tell them.
so i approached them and asked how old they were.
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Frazzled UBM
Miss Fit - the guy actually said to me that I was rude in telling him he was wasting his life. I replied that may be the case but it is more true than any Truth you get from the WBTS. I notice the tactics when you tell them something they don't want to hear is to talk over you and then you talk more loudly to get your point in and then they accuse you of yelling - a tried and true tactic. So when they started talking over me - I put my hand up and said "Please let me finish." They then tried physical intimidation and when that failed the final option was simply to flee the scene. So they did adopt a congitive dissonance avoiding the uncomfortable truth approach. I don't think we can know for sure whether I will have had any impact when they reflect back on the conversation, if they indeed do so. But on reflection I think it was worth doing just in case it did have an impact. No harm in trying.
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27
WT Study 26th Oct. '14
by BluesBrother ini could find another thread so i thought i might add a few comments here - not a full critique though.
"hear jehovah's voice wherever you are".
http://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/w20140815/hear-jehovahs-voice/.
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Frazzled UBM
The simple unsubtle message: "Obey (the FDS) or die!"
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10
Morning Witness - Sowing the Seeds
by Frazzled UBM inso i walked past a couple of young witnesses on the way to dropping my son off this morning and they were still there at the station when i came back to catch the train.
seeing them made me feel sad and think about all the stories of regret here on jwn so i figured what the hell i'll tell them.
so i approached them and asked how old they were.
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Frazzled UBM
So I walked past a couple of young Witnesses on the way to dropping my son off this morning and they were still there at the station when I came back to catch the train. Seeing them made me feel sad and think about all the stories of regret here on JWN so I figured what the hell I'll tell them.
So I approached them and asked how old they were. They said they were 30 ande 27 - young as far as I am concerned. I asked them whether they had gone to university and they said no. So I told them it made me sad to see them wasting their lives. Well this clearly struck a nerve as they didn't know where to turn.
The guy, who was about 6'4", came very close to stand over me in an intimidating fashion - not being someone to be intimidated I told him to back off and I continued talking by telling them that in 15, 20, 30 or how many years time when you wake up and learn TTATT you would look back and regret being mislead into not seeking to achieve your potential. I told them they would probably be in low paying dead end jobs, not owning a house and not having adequate pensions in place. They said that was a generalisation but I said no that was based on the fact that in this information age there were no well paying jobs for non-graduates apart from some trades and I said in any case what I am telling you is based on the experience of many who have come before you who have told their stories on JWN.
I said to them "Look around the congregation at the old people living on welfare - when they were your age they also believed that Armageddon would come and spare them the need to save for retirement. By this time they were walking in the opposite direction and so my parting shot was: "In the future you will look back on this conversation and say to yourself 'I should ahve listened to that guy!'" I don't think I changed their minds but hopefully I planted some seeds.