Are JWs more negative than normal people?

by Julia Orwell 74 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Julia Orwell

  Compare a typical conversation with a JW to one with a random non-JW:

  Run into JW in the shops.

  JW:[surprised] Julia!

  Me: Oh hi JW,How are you?

  JW: Oh, just keeping on putting one foot in front of the other. That's all you can really do. Life is just so hard.

  Me: I suppose it has its ups and downs...

  JW: Yes, it's just so hard in this system. It's all I can do to just keep on going. Did you know Sister Sickly has been sick? And what about gay marriage? Ugh, we are so deep in the last days. It can't go on much longer. But how are you going? We haven't seen you and Hubby for a while. System got you down, huh? I understand, it's so hard in this system.

  Me: No, I've been great! I'm teaching again, getting into my art and writing, hubby's working at [Shop] and enjoying it and we're getting by pretty well. Life's been really good lately.

  JW: Oh. Well come back soon, we miss your comments at the Watchtower.

  Now contrast this with running into a loosely acquainted non-JW in the shop.

  NJW: Hi Julia! What are you up to?

  Me: Hi NJW, just getting a few things. How are you?

  NJW: Good. The kids are on school holidays soon so we're taking them to Australia Zoo.

  Me: Oh that's great, they'll love it! They have so much to see and do there. You still work at [company]?

  NJW: Yep, still doing the same ol' stuff. What about you? How have you been?

  Me: Great. I'm teaching again, and getting into my art and writing, and my husband's working at [shop].

  NJW: Really? Wow. That's so good you're developing yourself. What art are you doing?

  These hypothetical conversations are based on a conglomeration of real conversations with the two types of players. Notice the difference? Do you think JWs are more negative than non-JWs?
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  Gypsy Sam

  Omg. Yes yes yes. This was a huge issue for me!! Always whining, complaining, despondent etc. I annoyed many with my cheerful disposition and sense of adventure.
• 

  Julia Orwell

  Me too! It used to bug me that it was always, "sickness, sickness, sickness..." when the sisters got together, or gossip about some bad thing, and at the meetings it was about how hard it is to keep going in 'this system'.

  I was being treated for major depression one time, and I remember I had to actually get up and leave during a public talk because it was just negative, negative, negative, about all the bad things in the world like crime, war and disease and that. And also while under treatment, thinking, "These people see the bad in everything, but I'm not going to be like that anymore." and started trying to see good rather than bad. I tell you, having depression and being a JW is hell.
• 

  adamah

  Well, sure: it's a waste to have a JW persecution complex getting all revved up without having any actual persecution to justify it, so they have to make mountains out of molehills and contrive the persecution in their minds, seeing it where it doesn't actually exist. Hence when they encounter a REAL LIVE honest-to-God opportunity to demonstrate their faith as if they're "being tested by Satan" (such as shunning a family member), some rather relish the opportunity, as they take comfort in knowing they are getting a chance to step into the spotlight, and to "shine" before God.

  Pretty perverse, isn't it? It's a fundamentally unhealthy way to go through one's life, perceiving everyone else as if they're out to cause harm.

  Adam
• 

  rmt1

  Performance art.
• 

  Julia Orwell

  Good point Adam. They have to be a martyr to something. I also think hearing day in, day out, how 'bad' the world is wires their brains to be pessimistic too.
• 

  adamah

  rmt1 said-

  Performance art.

  I was thinking more like a really low-budget boring G-rated soap opera, eg "Last Days of (Evil Worldly People's) Lives"?

  Julia said-

  I also think hearing day in, day out, how 'bad' the world is wires their brains to be pessimistic too.

  Yup, just another self-fulfilling prophecy, which only reinforces their warped world view; their fantasy turns into their reality, when they alienate "Worldlies" with their "no part of the World" attitude, which only generates a reaction they read as "persecution". It's a bit of a cliche, yes, but nevertheless true that we are what we think, we reap what we sow, what you put out is what you receive, etc.

  Odd how they can parrot that sentiment in the words of Jesus, but aren't able to see how it REALLY applies to their own lives.

  Adam
• 

  MrFreeze

  Happiest people on earth.
• 

  Flg8ter

  No doubt!! Gotta remember.......it's beaten into them...how evil and wicked "this old world" is and how badly we need the "new system". When you are taught from day one how bad things are....and knowing deep down inside, the "new order" is a pipe dream...a carrot hang in front of them to keep them going.......that's gotta have a HUGE affect on a person's mental state.
• 

  Julia Orwell

  It's sad really. I mean, you can't have a conversation in the shop or anywhere with a JW without all that negativity. Talk to your friends at work, or the check-out operator at the supermarket, or someone at the pub, at your school, or anywhere: sure, they face the same challenges as JWs and anyone else, but they deal with it and accept it as part of life, not get bogged down on how it's indicative of Satan giving them a hard time.