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Category: Human Rights

For Ex-JWs – Sites to Explore

For Ex-JWs – Sites to Explore

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Sites for Recovering Jehovah’s Witnesses to Explore Scroll to the bottom if you’re not in the mood for this! Over the years, I’ve noted that the quality and helpfulness of former JW sites varies quite a bit. Some are very angry, while others are more compassionate. Some are able to create spaces to share insights with one another, some are more combative with peers. Some are focused on biblical interpretation, others on issues like abuse and shunning. More recently, I’ve…

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Fear, Contagion, and Scapegoating – Oh my

Fear, Contagion, and Scapegoating – Oh my

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The figure of the “evil other” is a pre-ethical fixation for the religiously-minded paranoid. Everything that one most dislikes or finds threatening can be projected upon others and (usually symbolically) murdered in the age-old tradition of the scapegoat. Such projection engenders – and feeds upon – symbolic (and real) violence. Predatory on the people who cannot bear to examine themselves, leaders of such movements play on fears of contagion, defilement and stain from without – from the evil others –…

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Derrida

Derrida

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I love humor, even when it’s aimed at my heroes. Jacques Derrida was hopelessly misunderstood by much of the American audience, but there is a grain of truth in much of this: The World’s Shortest Philosophy Books Dennett’s Philosophical Lexicon Philosophers’ Cause of Death Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road? Fair enough. But really… let’s think about intellectual courage… Yeah, Derrida has a lot going on. He is sometimes very difficult to read. And it’s easy to make fun…

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Sick and Tired

Sick and Tired

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125,830 People I’m so sick and tired of being sick and tired. I’ve spiked a fever at 105 degrees, and hovered around 100-101 most of the rest of the time. Vertigo and light-headedness. Fatigue and balance problems. Coughing. Sneezing. Aching, but I can’t rest (and I won’t take that medicine). Crossing my fingers that it doesn’t go into bacterial pneumonia like in many other cases. It’s been a week now, and I’ve racked up five sick days at work. That’s…

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Argue Pros and Cons of Healthcare Legislation Here

Argue Pros and Cons of Healthcare Legislation Here

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The actual dialogue that we should be having has been eclipsed by the pathologies of the American public. This post is for arguing the pros and cons of the actual bill, ok? Civil dialogue, only, please. Stick to topic and argue the actual bill! Ready Jonathan? Ready Phil? Ready Michael? Anyone else that wants to join in? Here is your forum. Make your case. See if you can be fair and adhere to the rules of civil dialogue. Maybe then…

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Roundup of JWs in the News

Roundup of JWs in the News

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Recent conversations in the comments have reminded me that I haven’t done my posting of recent news related to Jehovah’s Witnesses. The purpose in doing this is simply to highlight, over time, the kinds of issues that the JW mindset and set of demands can create or intensify in some. It is meant to encourage more compassionate and ethical policies and behaviors within the Watchtower organization and to help former JWs understand some of the clusters of danger that may…

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