Why don't people in the US, UK or Euro-Citizens know anything about Jehovah's Witness Pedophile Issues and lawsuits?

by MagicMItchJensen 27 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  MagicMItchJensen

  I know you all are aware of how little knowledge people have about Jehovah's Witnesses and topics men like Bob Bowen and women like Barbara Anderson tried to raise the level of public awareness that "The Jehovah Witness coming to your door might be a Pedophile or Child Molester!" What's gone wrong, has the Society outsmarted the Media or do people not really care what happens to young children? If you took a survey trying to ascertain how many people walking through the grocery store, a Target or upper class stores Nordstroms, your going to be shocked how little people know.

  If it's about the Catholic Church, those numbers shot through the ceiling, is this because there is no problem in the New World Watchtower Order or their better at damage control? People need to know what's going on, its like this does not sink in the public's head because their too busy or stupid! I've shown papers to people and had them read them and next time I see them, they did not know "Jehovah's Witnesses have had problems with Child Sex Abuse or allow Pedophiles preaching door to door! Why do you think that is?

  This make's me sick to my stomach thinking all the hard work done by Barbara and Joe, Bob Bowen has not made a dent because people are too busy on their Smart Phones or looking at Kitten and Puppy Videos to care about the truth. What's wrong with our World, are we doomed because people don't care?
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  Phizzy

  The JW's are an insignificant, minor, cult religion that simply does not come on to people's Radar.

  A number of people I have spoken to locally think that when their door is annoyingly knocked on a Saturday morning it is the Mormons calling. The LDS do not door knock in my area,but that shows how little the JW's register.

  Having said that, I think there is an opportunity to raise awareness when a clutch of cases arise here in the U.K, but so far that has not happened.

  When it does, we here in Europe need to wake the Media up. We can also then point to the cases in the U.S, particularly the Conti case when that is finally resolved, but going off half-cock with a weak story is not going to get the Media's interest, it has to be a full-blown scandal.
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  Doltologist

  Magic

  My feeling is that it's a combination of things:

  • Like you say, people are too engrossed in their i-phones and their image on social media. A couple of weeks ago, I went into town to replace my mobile phone. In the phone shop was a girl in front of me who was VERY, VERY distraught because her phone was on the blink and she hadn't been able to access facebook since the day before. I kid you not. It was as though her whole world had fallen apart. God isn't on facebook and therefore isn't on their radar.
  • god is becoming less and less relevant to people (belief in god is falling fast in Europe and beginning to fall in the USA) - church congregations are through the floor (generally) in the UK.
  • In the UK, although paedophilia appears to be rife in the katlicker church, it's now become associated with clergy of all denominations.
  • In the UK, if a jovie comes a door knocking, either the door gets left unanswered or slammed in their faces once it becomes apparent who they are. Jovies very rarely get over the threshold.
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  steve2

  In New Zealand, we have had breaking news on assorted religious groups in which sexual abuse has occurred. The public switches off after a while, unable to distinguish one group of nutters from another.

  At times, those speaking out against specified religious groups run the risk of themselves appearing unhinged. I instance Mr Unthank from Victoria, Australia who incited a lot of media intrigue in Watchtower "policies" which allegedly enabled pedophiles to go about their business at will. But that earnest man soon tripped himself up with his preposterous announcements, using legal jargon to try to compel specified members of the GB to apologise in court. WTF?! He came across as obsessed and unbalanced. The media stopped calling and the world - shock, horror - kept its mundane rotation round the sun and quickly moved on. News is like that - quickly surpassed and forgotten.

  Besides, JWs are very tiny fish in a huge ocean teeming with bigger, badder, madder fish. Little wonder media coverage on religious pedophiles sinks like a stone - Catholics did it bigger and badder and more memorably and their sheer size means news about that religion will carry more impact on that basis alone.
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  Ruby456

  I agree steve. JWs are tiny fish. Plus the abuse amongst hasn't been as compelling for public attention as the catholic church or as bad as what has been practiced by prominent media figures to qualify for media attention.

  But the work done by people like Barb, Joe, Bill and Candace is awesomely huge and rivals the work the of others.
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  cofty

  The Jehovah Witness coming to your door might be a Pedophile or Child Molester!

  So might the postman or milkman or delivery driver.
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  snugglebunny

  My impression is that the general public tend to regard religious males, ageing popstars and members of the House of Lords as possible paedophiles.

  JW's are simply a minor sect perceived as just being slightly nutty. There may have been a few oohs and aahs after the airing of Panorama all those years ago, but Jehovah's witnesses generally don't appear on most folk's radar.

  So no. Only us ex's are really aware of what goes on.
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  prologos

  In countries where prominent Personalities are shown to be serial offenders, thousands of girls are abused repeatedly in one county alone, for years, where would the perhaps 2 pedophiles* on average per jw congregation show up in the mass media? * All pedophiles, are not sex offenders, predators, certainly not child-rapists. In the majority of the congregations, most overseers are likely really repulsed by that deviancy, and quite vigilant to shut it down, root it out. The fact that they work at it quietly does not mean it is tolerated, encouraged, even the courts keep a lid on certain details to protect what they feel is proper limit to public interest.

  The media bosses are not convinced that there is a attention-grabbing news story here. They will not be used as tools for personal, justified vendettas. IMO.
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  punkofnice

  Most people don't care what cult/religion a pervert belongs to, just that the filth needs to face justice.

  I think people may well lump all religions together as a whole.

  No one I have spoken to takes any notice of JWs, let alone the corruption within. They're just not interested.

  WE are interested being ex JWs.
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  steve2

  I should clarify that, notwithstanding the tiny size of the JW organization, some people stand out as having done a superb job in responsibly and sensibly alerting the media about problematic aspects of the Witnesses' woefully scant policies on child sexual abuse. The names mentioned above, including Barb, Joe, Bill and especially Candice, a victim of JW ineptitude and patriarchal reactivity, stand out.