Role-Playing & XJW Discussion Boards.

by hillary_step 89 Replies latest jw friends

  • wanderlustguy
    wanderlustguy

    I have met a couple of people from DBs, and if they are representative of how close virual people are to their real counterparts, I'd say there isn't much of a gap. As for myself, I would hope to think I am the same person in both, because that represents honesty to me. If I were completely different here, then that would mean in RL I'm not the person I envision myself to be, or want to be for that matter.

    But I could understand if a person had insecurities about themselves how they might take on a different personality here to escape from RL a little more, but hey, if that's their bag, baby...

    WLG

  • hillary_step
    hillary_step

    LT,

    Many thanks for your post. As usual we have more common ground together than not.

    I have to confess that you've never come across as angry to me, and only rarely condescending. Part of it may be the cultural divides that Marilyn described. I've certainly seen a good deal of that throughout my life, both with online interactions and a good deal of inter-continental travel (not exclusively to the States).

    And this well illustrates why I believe it is unhealthy to take these boards too seriously or as Abaddon widely notes to invest more in them than is good for our emotional health. Some think me angry, some not. I can assure you that I never reply in anger and am never hurt by insults, though I do not roll over and die when I am insulted. This is one person we are talking about here, but a wide variety of views on what this person is really like. How can we possibly attach more than a superficial weight to these boards and their personalities.

    On the point of unconditional love, as a Christian I must ask whether you feel that God and Christ love unconditionally? For example, when Jesus said his followers would receive their full measure of his love *if* the listened to his message, surely he made friendship with him conditional.

    Best regards - HS

  • hillary_step
    hillary_step

    Wasasister,

    You are much like me: we think we can "fix" people if we just use the right words. The reality is, we probably cannot. Given enough time and support, the majority of x-JW's will stop putting undue significance on discussion boards and get on with living a fulfilling life. "Protecting their interests" is perhaps your agenda, but may not be in their best interests.

    I am glad that you agree that many XJW's do put undue significance on discussion boards, that is the main point for my thread. I believe we have reached consensus. So words can work.

    Take care Wasasister - HS

  • jeanniebeanz
    jeanniebeanz
    I count as friends only those posters I have actually met. On a few occassions, a poster manages to unhinge me. When that happens, I realize I have become too involved. When that happens, I step away from the board for a few days.

    This is a really healthy attitude to maintain and a course that I have taken recently. At first it was so amazing to come across an entire group of people who actually understood what I had gone through in leaving the witnesses behind that I was somewhat obsessed with this board. I couldn't miss a moment and really got caught up in the goings-on.

    Any more, although I am here a lot, I don't take things as personally as I did at first. It's been a great healing experience.

    J

  • LittleToe
    LittleToe

    I've commented on the distinction of what is meant by "uconditional love" here:
    http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/88921/1485813/post.ashx#1485813

    Many thanks for your post. As usual we have more common ground together than not.

    A pleasure, and I concur.

    And this well illustrates why I believe it is unhealthy to take these boards too seriously or as Abaddon widely notes to invest more in them than is good for our emotional health.

    I would agree. On the occasional times that I've had any concern that I was doing this, I took a break. Sometimes I've taken a break without this reason.

    This is one person we are talking about here, but a wide variety of views on what this person is really like. How can we possibly attach more than a superficial weight to these boards and their personalities.

    I take it that the "person" you are using as an example is yourself?
    How much does "superficial" weigh?
    As we invest time communicating with people, maybe online, maybe by phone, maybe by meeting, don't we grow an attachment? That seems to be a rather human preoccupation.
    Maybe it's the result of inherited sin

    I would have to ask you (rhetorically) how many people from the board you have met? Could this be one reason (maybe even a primary source) of your own disengagement? Another is very likely to do with our rearing and culture.

    I'll take up again the example of Simon, if I may. I really like the guy. I've met him several times, and he's fun-loving and cute, though he's never invited me to join himself and Ang in a menage au trois. For that he's a b*st*rd! I know he'll blame it on not being able to get a babysitter, but I don't believe that for a minute....

    ...anyway, I digress... He's also got an unfortunate way of wording things on political subjects that really gets under some peoples' skin. It doesn't really affect me personally so much, as I'm not all that bothered by politics, though I know some are passionate about it. I personally visualise him chuckling away like Mutley, as another batch of Americans rise to the bait.

    Then it all gets rather personal and distasteful, and everyone starts falling out. I see posters whom I have grown to appreciate the comments of, whom I have met and liked, dropping like flies (I know, an exaggeration, I confess). I find that irksome, and have PMed him about it on occasion. Sometimes I'm pissed with him, and sometimes he's pissed with me. Sometimes he's pissed with someone who he has no particular reason to like, and not suprisingly the axe falls.

    Still we get on just fine both online and in person. Why is that?
    Is it because LittleToe is a jolly good fellow /doesn't conflict in politics / knows when to drop it / isn't a "stirrer"/ is a reasonably congenial communicator / is consistant on and offline / knows how to play the game of life / hypnotises the opposition? I suspect some of the above are mutually exclusive, so they can't all apply.

    I've challenged Simon and other mods on and offline, and have still succeeded in only being edited once over a jest (albeit some threads that I've contributed to have occasionally disappeard). Why is that? Because I don't do it very often and I do it in a "nice" way? Sheesh, what a great epitaph that would be - "Here lies little toe. He was... ... he was... ... "nice"

    I don't really want to carry on on the subject of moderators, as that's sailing a little too close to the wind for my liking, but it illustrates the point that I'm trying to make. We build relationships with people based on communication, whether online or offline. That affects our actions, either positively or negatively. To expect otherwise would surely be to expect us to transcend our human nature? We might "mask" it for a while, but occasionally the mask will slip (knew I could bring this back on topic, if I tried hard enough!).

    On the point of unconditional love, as a Christian I must ask whether you feel that God and Christ love unconditionally? For example, when Jesus said his followers would receive their full measure of his love *if* the listened to his message, surely he made friendship with him conditional.

    That would depend on your theology, with some "Universalists" believing just that. Personally I have difficulty with the idea of Hitler in heaven and reconciling alleged records of him talking about a fiery hell and a bedarkened one.

    But as you likely know, I generally don't like the pigeonhole of "Christianity" being applied to me for the sake of argument, as I am hardly orthodox.

    I believe that God loves those whom He loves unconditionally, but that might be my bias towards Calvinistic "eternal salvation" shining through. As I stated on the other thread, that's different from unbounded unconditional love for ???? where do you set the bounds? humans, insects, vegetables, minerals, atoms???

    I do know that I personally have "love" for some people that I don't particularly like. Perhaps we're then getting back ionto the realms of symantics, though.

  • wasasister
    wasasister

    Well said, as usual, LT. I find myself agreeing with your points above.

    To HS:

    I am glad that you agree that many XJW's do put undue significance on discussion boards, that is the main point for my thread. I believe we have reached consensus. So words can work.

    Yes...I suppose we have found common ground, yet where we diverge is this: While I would agree that "many XJW's do put an undue significance...." I for one do not feel the need to verbally spank them for this tendency. Perhaps this is because I used to be one of them. Neither your words, nor mine, will force XJW's to come to the same balanced and somewhat detatched position you and I share about these boards. They will get to that point sooner or later, or in some cases not at all, with or without my encouragement.

    Instead of finding fault with such "undue significance", I prefer to be understanding of how they may feel, and use that perception to temper my reactions to them, much in the same way I respond to dedicated JW's. Yes, I think they are wrong, but I can certainly see where they're coming from.

    You take care, too.

    Wasa

  • LittleToe
    LittleToe

    Wasa:

    Neither your words, nor mine, will force XJW's to come to the same balanced and somewhat detatched position you and I share about these boards.

    Devil's advocate, again:
    Upon what grounds do you determine that "detachment" is a balanced perspective?

    It might work for scientists, engaged with their experiment. For those who are merely interested in data/information, too. But what about the rest of us mere mortals who have wholly human preoccupations?

  • upside/down
    upside/down

    What takes place here is no different than the discussions I've heard at the Pub or local bar (I'm not a big drinker- I'm only 5'-7")LOL.

    Anyway, there is so much sh*t talk at the Pub... It's the best thing for mankind. I'm convinced the demise of modern man and the rise of pop-psychology and brain meds is due to the demise of the Pub as a place of "release". Where one can imbibe some, talk sh*t and be heard perhaps and most likely ridiculed by friends and strangers and still be someone that is accepted and has value.

    Kinda like the sit-com CHEERS.

    So what. There will always be ones that abuse the forum and ruin their own lives... but a little over the top behaviour and discussion seems to be good for the soul.

    Here's to role-playing...and the Pub. Or what it really is "bull-shitting"- it's obviously how "God" made us, or we wouldn't do it.

    u/d (of the full of BS class)

  • franklin J
    franklin J

    like anything else in life; it is what you make it.

    we all have out own reasons for posting here; some more sincere or ernest than others.....

  • wasasister
    wasasister
    Devil's advocate, again:
    Upon what grounds do you determine that "detachment" is a balanced perspective?

    It is remotely possible that I was being facetious. I highly doubt anyone is as "detatched" as HS appears to be.

    It is not incumbant upon me to determine what constitutes "undue" in this scenario. What might be an inappropriate level for one person may be comepletely appropriate for someone else. When I stopped going to the Kingdom Hall, I made a personal resolve to stop judging others who thought or acted differently than myself.

    At times, I read this and other boards and think to myself: "These people need to get a real life. They are completely obsessed with this argument!" Then, I recall my resolution and realize there was a time not so very long ago that I would check H2O when I got up in the night to pee. Was that "healthy" or "balanced"? Probably not, but it got me through a rough and relatively speedy transition phase in my life.

    So who am I to finger-wag?

    Wasa

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