You Feel Free to Discuss Politics NOW.

by compound complex 20 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  james_woods

  It has been accurately pointed up more than once here - so I merely repeat the facts:

  The J-Witnesses are far from being non-political. In fact they take an extreme political position all the time.

  Who else has ordered their people to attend federal prison rather than defend country with such success as the WTS? Who else has made a religious issue out of the flag and the national anthem? Who else ordered their people to die rather than buying a stupid little cardboard name-badge for 25 cents in Malawi? Who else has labeled the United States the "King of the South", with the USSR being the "King of the North", thus making the USSR the ultimate winner in the struggle? Who else has labeled all other religion the "Scarlet Whore", and the United Nations to be an "abomination before God", the "Wild Beast" of Revelation? (before they joined the UN for a peek in the library?)

  The Witnesses are in fact anti-establishmentarian anarchists. Their hatred of normal human society and normal human government can only be satisfied when (and if! - a big false prophecy if -) their war-Gawd Jeehovah comes down and destroys everybody on earth except for themselves.

  Compared to that, the little Republican-Democratic race we have here in the USA is a walk in the park. Hell, Stalin and Hitler were a walk in the park compared to the Witness vision of Harmaggedon.
• 

  snowbird

  Good thread.

  Thanks to my release from the Glorious Freedom of Jehovah's People, I am now free to get into heated political discussions and have my intelligence insulted questioned by people that actually display real emotions that were once hidden behind the mask of the New Theocratic Personality. If they were all here with me, I would pour them all a draft. Well, most of them anyways.

  I love it.

  Bless us all.

  BTS

  What BTS said with a minor strike-through.

  Sylvia
• 

  Gopher

  Serena Williams said she would vote for Obama, but can't vote because of her religion. Now THAT's what I call neutrality.

  Source -- Rick Fearon's YouTube video (The funniest part is how he aligns a tennis racket with the WTS being a "snare and racket". )

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPL2C8F8PaQ
• 

  compound complex

  Thanks, Friends, for all the food for thought ...

  CC
• 

  AnneB

  http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&defl=en&q=define:politics&sa=X&oi=glossary_definition&ct=title

  Definitions of politics on the Web:

  • social relations involving intrigue to gain authority or power; "office politics is often counterproductive"
  • the study of government of states and other political units
  • the profession devoted to governing and to political affairs
  • the opinion you hold with respect to political questions
  • the activities and affairs involved in managing a state or a government; "unemployment dominated the politics of the inter-war years"; "government agencies multiplied beyond the control of representative politics"

  I'll go for Door #4: "the opinion you hold with respect to political questions":

  I don't think voting does a bit of good. I think it's something of a placebo; it allows people to think they have a voice, an effect, when, in fact, they have nothing of the kind.

  Remember the old story about the householder refusing the magazines because he just knew the publisher was getting rich peddling them door to door? I heard it back when the magazines were going for $.05. Even after a thorough explanation of the expenses incurred by the publisher in bringing the magazines to the public, the householder's logic was that all those nickels add up, so the publisher must be getting rich!

  Carry that "logic" over to the matter of voting: Do all those votes really add up to a force that sways governmental affairs?

  I think not, therefore I have no interest in participating in that aspect of the political system.
• 

  hillbilly

  I knew quite a few Brothers with political opinions...they just watched what they said, how they said it and who they said it in front of.

  The most blatant? We had a guy in St Joe Mi ... he had managed to get control most of the property on a prime road leading to Lake Michigan. He became a builder - developer for the million dollar market. I cant tell you how often he would miss his bookstudy to go to Township board meetings to ask for tax breaks, zoning or other considerations. He had plenty of opinions and was pretty open about talking about them too.

  But if a regular guy voted in the local election about school taxes or water and sewer milage they toast him....go figure.

  I felt free to discuss politics then...I just didnt do much about it.

  Vote.

  Hill
• 

  Gopher

  Participation in politics DOES matter in a society like ours. Even if the candidate you vote for doesn't win, you still had a voice in the selection of your representative.

  The system isn't perfect. Of course government is influenced by a lot of factors the voters have little or no control over.

  But for those who believe "not voting" is somehow noble, please don't complain about anything that happens in your city, state or national government. If you don't even care enough to cast a vote to try to sway things when you have the chance, why should anyone listen to any complaint you have about how our society is governed?
• 

  undercover

  I've about come full circle...

  Didn't keep up with politics as a JW for obvious reasons, then when I became free of that mentality, I took an interest in politics. Even though I knew deep down that politics is full of scoundrels and crooks I thought it interesting how the processes worked. But after a couple of presidential campaigns now, lots of empty promises and outright lies, not to mention the stupidity of the average voter, I've lost interest again. All the way down to the local school board I see lying, false promises, cahooting(is that a word?) and just plain old sleaziness, especially in campaign ads.

  No candidate I've seen represents me fully, nor do I agree with any one candidate's full platform. If someone says I just have to pick the lesser of two evils, I say that the lesser of two evils is still evil...and I'm not going to help put them in office.
• 

  undercover

  But for those who believe "not voting" is somehow noble, please don't complain about anything that happens in your city, state or national government.

  I've heard people say for years, if you don't vote, you can't complain. Well, we have the freedom and right to vote but we also have the freedom and right to not vote. We can't be forced to go into a poll and vote.

  And I can complain all I want because I have freedom of speech.
• 

  compound complex

  Thanks, most recent posters, for information valuable to me personally. I appreciate your taking the time to respond.

  FWIW, years ago a client said to me that choosing between candidates, for him, was comparable to choosing between broccoli and cabbage:

  I don't like either one!

  CoCo