I've known of very respectable looking pedophiles in suits walking around those conventions, yet the guy down the road with the dreads and tats is the most open, genuine person around. The thing is, those suits hide all sorts of vice, whereas the dero in the torn shirts and jeans is just responding to his personality. The way non jws dress is far more honest than those suited people playing happy families at a dc.
I Need Help Getting My Head Straight.......
by TTATTelder 44 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Frazzled UBM
Also as a lifelong worldly person who is law abiding, honest (if I see someone drop something I will go out of my way to give it back to them) and generally considerate to others and who has short hair, wears a suit to work and modest clothing of a weekend, doesn't smoke, drinks moderately and swears only occasionally, I am horrified at the ridiculous cardboard cutout image of worldly people perpetrated by the WBTS as part of its efforts to make Witnesses feel special and superior. Actually I think that the difference between that image and what my wife has observed of worldly people including me and my comments to her about how insulting the worldly people stereo-type is, have helped to stumble her.
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jgnat
I have done the same thing with my hubby, frazzled. I got to know our literal neighbours. Chatted over the fence. Hubby was charmed by many of these great people. Then later when he would parrot off some magazine crap that all these people are wicked and to be destroyed, I would say, "You mean like our Wicca neighbour Kristin and her amiable rocker husband?" He would back off.
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JWdaughter
I've been to conventions for business where the same could be said. I was in one in VEGAS and within the hall we could definitely see the contrast because we left the convention of business and business casual attired folks and stepped into the huge casino-where women of questionable morals were offering to keep my husband and I company. There's a disconnect! Good thing it was a LegalShield convention:)
I have been to other churches where this is the same. An SBC conventiton or meeting for VBS teachers has a bunch of people dressed nicely and acting discreetly-and no one gave us a dress code direction at sign up. No one saw fit to comment on the worldly riff raff,either. Refreshing.
(OTOH, going to the mosque-women are very modest with head coverings, but the men, while modest, are definitely dressed for comfort and about 1/3 of them have beards, so they would utterly fail the JW test of conventional business attire. This actually pleases me on the principle of the thing. That our utterly modest and even biblical attire wouldn't make the cut for a KH meeting delights me)
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Apognophos
I think there's a good chance that most Witnesses have conservative personalities, though this would be more true among converts; the high number of born-ins that the religion manages to cling onto will offset this trend because there's no guarantee the children will share the personalities of their parents. But I know I'm a conservative, so I can speak for myself, and I dislike seeing people dressed untidily and acting out in various "self-expressive" ways even if these people are actually healthy and normal.
There's a basic fear of disorder and crowds that is endemic to conservatism (fear of the disadvantaged masses beneath you), just as liberals are afraid of control and authority (fear of the privileged elite above you). So I suspect that also plays a role in why many JWs place value on neatly-arranged attire and good grooming. The veneer of orderliness is reassuring to us. People who formerly dressed shabbily or didn't have the money for nicer clothes, upon becoming a Witness, will put more focus on neatening their appearance, and dressing up for meetings (even if in a secondhand suit or dress) tends to eliminate the appearance of class differences.