No education. Not just to avoid critical thinking

by StarTrekAngel 6 Replies latest watchtower bible

• 

  StarTrekAngel

  I was listening to my brother in law talk about his job this week. He had a stable job for a long time. It was not without problems but it was there. He did not make a whole lot and has always struggled financially. He is a bit naive and wants to play by the book in environments where people are constantly bending the rules. I am not here to support that kind of behavior. I am just making the point that he would easily become target for people that were looking for escape goats. After he got tired of that job (10 years plus) he started working somewhere else and has not been able to hold a job for more than a year at a time. Everywhere he went he ended up in trouble. I know him well enough to know he did not cause them, but was easily made a target. In his latest rant about his job, he started complaining about how he works with a crew of men who don't seem to be able to hold a normal conversation. All they can talk about has to do with sex, drinking and shady business. On top of that, they seem to not be able to talk without letting out a curst after every other word. He says that sometimes he gets a headache from hearing it all day. I don't doubt that there is a healthy portion of "JW self righteousness" in that comment from him but I can understand where he comes from. I don't mind hearing the cursing and I know I let one out every now and then, but I know there is something to be said about people that can not talk without cursing all the time.

  That is what got me thinking. I work in a professional environment, surrounded by mostly engineers and business people. That is not to say there are not well spoken bad apples, but at least our conversations are much more pleasant and usually surround around worlds affairs, travel, family activities, political issues, and even spiritual ones. Almost instantly my apostate little devil seating on my left shoulder told me..."If he had actually invested some more time educating himself rather than dedicating so much time to the org, he would not have to settle for this shitty jobs right alongside with uneducated people."

  He is the kind to follow rules to the T. He's even listed his "30 plus years as a public speaker" as a qualification in his resume. On top of that, his son is headed down the same path, although I got to say the kid is not interested on anything. No school, no org, not even baptized.

  So as you can see, lack of education doesn't just prevent you from analyzing things critically or progressing financially and professionally. It also helps to create that barrier that furthers indoctrination. The same barrier that they are asking our kids to create by making sure the let everyone and their mother know they are JWs on the first day of school.
• 

  freemindfade

  My college education was blamed by a family member of mine for making me think critically... ok... and...

  Really I can honestly say my analytical approach to this being a complete dangerous cult had zero to do with college. College doesn't make critical thinkers, but it does work well for them.
• 

  tim3l0rd

  It also helps to create that barrier that furthers indoctrination.

  The difference in language is something that I struggle with too. Many of those that I work and sometimes hang out with (college educated people) feel the need to curse like sailors at times. I still struggle with accepting expletives as part of normal language and using them myself. When I'm reading something online to my wife, I routinely change curse words to something less vulgar even though I know she doesn't have a problem with the curse words. I can see how this serves to keep us separate, create a barrier between us and non-JWs, and gives us a superiority complex.

  Interestingly, an elder in my hall was assigned overseas for many years and sh*t was used locally as the non-vulgar word, but caca or poop were seen as vulgar. He had to get used to using sh*t in everyday language.
• 

  TTWSYF

  Many times people curse a lot because of a limited vocabulary. More education [from an accredited source say even BYU] would certainly help ones dialect to improve exponentially.
• 

  OneEyedJoe

  Really I can honestly say my analytical approach to this being a complete dangerous cult had zero to do with college. College doesn't make critical thinkers, but it does work well for them.
  

  I think the constant encouragement to apply critical thinking skills in college can subtly help wake up a JW. I agree that if someone's going to learn critical thinking, they're probably going to have it worked out before college, but when you're in an environment full of people questioning things, it can drive you to apply it elsewhere. I'm sure it had some degree of an impact on me - when I was in college was when I essentially became an atheist struggling to remain religious due to the phobia indoctrination.

  I hadn't thought about the idea that keeping people from getting good jobs makes them less likely to find good association outside the cult, but that makes perfect sense. I've seen it in my wife too - when she worked it was always around uneducated people and most of them were lazy and directionless and it's easy to get the idea that "this is just how worldly people are."

  Another element of college (especially when living on campus) that plays a huge factor is that it takes one out of the parentally-controlled routine. That routine supports the cult and makes it easier to stay indoctrinated, and challenging it can give someone the breathing room they need to wake up. The exposure to a diverse group of people from different backgrounds, often with pressure to be accepting of people's differences, also can make someone realize that there are good people out there that have valid reasons for not being a cultist and you know will never join up - makes you question the cult doctrine about non-JWs dying at armageddon.
• 

  done4good

  I hadn't thought about the idea that keeping people from getting good jobs makes them less likely to find good association outside the cult, but that makes perfect sense. I've seen it in my wife too - when she worked it was always around uneducated people and most of them were lazy and directionless and it's easy to get the idea that "this is just how worldly people are."

  There are many reasons for the anti-education position WT holds to. I agree 100% with the statement made above.

  Learning to think critically is only part of the equation. A person who is college material likely has that worked out anyway before they even go. As an ex that went to college during my JW days, I also know that going does not automatically make someone wake up and leave. It took 11 years after graduation for me to finally leave. Many JWs have gone to college and remained in the organization for many years afterword. What really contributed to my eventual leaving was realizing that my success was independent of anything having to do with the JWs, and that the organization was responsible for any major failures I had in life.
  

  A very key part of the equation is success itself. Successful people do not make good robots. Successful people generally do not struggle with the same financial issues, and other higher order issues caused by financial stress, (such as marital issues). Successful people don't need their egos constantly validated by peers, and certainly not of those who are less successful. Successful people do make good friends with others who are generally equally educated, and successful. They also learn much from this socialization.
  

  In short educated = successful, and successful people by and large do not make good JWs.

  d4g
  
• 

  Bungi Bill

  All they can talk about has to do with sex, drinking and shady business.

  So much for the WTS-inspired idea that a university / college environment is "bad" as it exposes young people to "bad associations" etc. As the OP's account demonstrates, the workplace is just at least as capable of doing the very same.

  It matters very little whether it is amongst skilled or unskilled workers, either. I worked for almost five years in such occupations as truckdriver, farmhand and construction labourer, before finally waking up to myself. Truck drivers in particular are renown for their overuse of a certain expletive - i.e. the one that rhymes with the same motor vehicle that they drive!

  Yet it was very little different when I (belatedly) began an apprenticeship, and also during the following decades that I worked in the electrical trade. Casual conversation amongst fitters, mechanics, electricians, plumbers, boilermakers or whatever differs not at all from those subjects highlighted above in yellow. (Anybody that doesn't believe that ought to be a fly on the wall in the Maintenance Department's canteen, during a meal break at any large Industrial Plant!)

  Despite this, the WTS /GB seemingly have no problem with their young people entering a trade course. However, just mention university and the old "bad associations" line will be trotted out in no time.

  Just another one of their red herrings:

  - as others on this thread have pointed out, the WTS have other, ulterior and rather sinister motives for stopping a person from getting an education.

  Bill.