Heroes and Villains For the Braindead
In a typical action movie, suspense movie or western, there are only heroes and villains. The heroes can do nothing but good and the villains can do nothing but bad. Nothing but good vs. nothing but bad. Black/white. All or none. Such dramas play well to most audiences because it presents no dilemmas, it requires no thinking and adds no angst for the audience. No evidence to weigh, no mitigating circumstances and no choice but to cheer the hero and vilify the villain. When the villain gets blown up or shot in the inevitable end, no one grieves for him or her. In fact, most people cheer at the event.
This is braindead entertainment is designed for an audience who enjoys being braindead or who just wants some simplicity and absolute certainty (if only for a short while) in their lives.
I don't have any problem with this. I enjoy going braindead from time-to-time as much as anyone. Being braindead is fun if done in moderation, I say.
In the world of dubs however, being braindead is not just a diversion and form of amusement. It is a way of life. Everyone is either a hero or a villain; good or bad; black or white; worthy of eternal salvation or worthy of being eternally destroyed.
An apparent dub exception to this thinking should be noted though, because it is most noteworthy. It is a stellar example of WT hypocrisy and double standards. There are two exceptions to the black/white/good/bad world of dubland. One is sometimes (but rarely) mitigating and the other is exculpatory without exception. One applies only to the rank and file members and the other applies only to WT leaders.
The sometimes mitigating factor for errant dub worker bees is something called "repentance." If a dubbie commits adultery or any other of the myriads of WT "crimes" one can be shown "mercy" if one can convince WT judges of having "true repentance." Only WT judges can determine what is "true" and what is "false" repentance. How can they determine this? Well, it's a rather complicated process which involves prayer, turning to the scriptures, turning to WT publications, how much they like or dislike the offender, how screwed up their own lives are at the moment, whether they are "getting any" from their wives lately, and mostly, just making up shit about how "repentant" the offender is supposed to be.
It is in this manner that decisions rendered are (mostly) final whether they are fair or unfair. Two men who may have lived otherwise faultless lives may be judged very differently for exactly the same transgression: one gets ruined and the other gets a slap on the wrist or even less. This is the way it is in the 80,000 congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses.
Does this process also apply to the elite leaders of dubs? With only one exception, the answer is "no." This exception applies only in the instance when one WT leader happens to piss off other WT leaders. Does it also apply when WT leaders force doctrine and policy that causes its members to die tragic and needless deaths? Nope. How about when WT leaders cause financial ruin and destroy all hopes of a normal retirement? Nope. When they wreck marriages and families? Not in your life. When the WT finally changes rules that had formerly destroyed lives and families, they use the expression (excuse) "God adjusted our thinking" without a shred of remorse or hint of repentance. Showing any repentance even for the most serious of sins committed by WT leaders surely must be forbidden among them. I assert this by presenting a challenge to any WT defender: using 125 years of WT writings, show me where ANY WT leader has said, "I'm sorry. I was wrong. Please forgive me and show me mercy." Good luck trying. You won't find any instance of humility or remorse from these men. Phony piety? Yes. Remorse? Never.
WT leaders exculpate themselves by stating, "we're just imperfect men" in the most hypocritical, cynical and cavalier way. Could the average dub get away with using that same excuse when they screw up, if even for a far less serious offense? Nope.
Consider a rather typical JW Judicial Hearing which is handled like this:
Elder A: "Brother Screwup, you are charged with the most serious offense of adultery. How do you plead?"
Brother Screwup: "I'm just an imperfect man."
Elder Body: "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! You are just too funny, Brother Screwup! We're serious here."
Brother Screwup: "Just what do you want to know?"
Elder A: "Did she like it when you did it?"
Brother Screwup: "Well, I.....she......"
Elder B: "Brother Elder A, let's just stick to the issue and not get sidetracked, ok? Soooo, Brother Screwup, what positions did you use when you had sex?"
Elder C: "Hey! It's MY turn! Did she have oral sex with you? Did you have oral sex with her?"
Brother Screwup: "That's not fair!"
Elder A: "You should have thought about that before you sinned. Now tell me: did she groan a lot?"
Brother Screwup: "As I said, I'm just an imperfect man, brothers. My wife is an invalid and we haven't had sex in over 15 years. Jesus even forgave prostitutes. I promise to never do it again. Why then, can't you forgive me?"
Elder B: "Did she climax? How many times.......?"
Sigh.
So much for the average dub using the same excuse their leaders use for far more serious sins than adultery. I feel compelled to emphasize just how revolting and self-serving this double standard is, because it is also a good/bad/black/white subset within the greater good/bad groupthink in JW culture.
There are those in the WTS with the power to harm and even cause needless death to others. They have absolute power to do whatever they want to six million souls. They have abused this power and harmed people in countless ways for eight decades. Yet, they not only show no repentance for their evil deeds, they refuse to admit to any accountability, either. They face no jury and receive no punishment. They shed no tears. They show not an ounce of remorse. They refuse to be judged by the same standards they use to judge others.
On the other hand, the average JW faces the harshest punishment possible in WT World for deeds which often hurts only himself or one or a few other people at most. When local elders falsely accuse and punish someone, causing collapse in that person's world and life, what happens to the false accusers and judges? They exculpate themselves just like their WT leaders: "We're just imperfect men."
So, in a sense, WT leaders who sin are still heroes, but WT worker bees who's sins are much less grave are villains. But other than this, dubs live and function (barely) in a world of absolute good vs. absolute bad. They alone are the heroes and all others are the villains. In the WT world view, the most heinous of human scum like Saddam Hussein are viewed in exactly the same way as the most kind and benevolent souls who just happen to not be dubs. At the hands of their black/white/evil/good/hero/villain judgmental God, NOTHING one does can mitigate his eternal damnation if he does not play by WT rules.
Dubbies try to avoid admitting this creepy belief when confronted with it, yet it cannot be denied or softened because the facts don't support it. The WT magazine has clearly stated that 99.9% of this world consists of people who will be massacred by their merciless God. Babies included. This belief and this statement has never been retracted by WT leaders. What society could exist if only say, 30% of its populous were so wicked they deserved swift execution, let alone 99.9% of its populous? None. There would be rampant anarchy. Yet most of this world lives in peace and cooperation and always has, despite the dub claim that 99.9% of this world deserves swift and gory execution.
This leads me to ask: "Then, what do people of this world understand that Jehovah's Witnesses do not understand?" They understand that between the wide contrasts of absolute good and absolute bad, most people live their lives in the middle, trying to do good and sometimes not making that goal; occasionally even doing evil things. These "worldly" people also understand that lumping some people as heroes (good) and the rest of them as villains (bad) is what only braindead people would do, or only what average people would do while watching a braindead action movie.
Unfortunately, dubs refuse to get out of that movie and breath some fresh air. The air in the dub "theater" is stifling, not good for their mental health and worse, keeps them eternally myopic and even stupid.
No wonder the JW religion is such a tragic joke to those who really understand it.
Chuck Norris, anyone?
Farkel