by Dismembered 14 Replies latest jw friends
Due to the negative connotations that result from the word "Apostate". How about if from here and now we consider ourselves Antipathetics instead. What do you think Simon & All? The word apostate because of how it's viewed turns my stomach.
What say you?
Dismembered
Edited by - Dismembered on 14 September 2002 11:48:48
Edited by - Dismembered on 14 September 2002 11:49:31
Edited by - Dismembered on 14 September 2002 11:50:3
Antipathetics sound like something you take for a medical condition. Nah - I'm Apostate
Mimilly
I sympathise w your reaction to the word. I guess i find the word amusing. Also, it's very powerful toward jw's. How do you feel about the terms: xdub, xjw, xwitness, formerly braindead? Antipathetic is a complex word.
SS
Hey ho all,
How about "FreeThinkers"?
CIAO4NIAO!!
alfie
The only reason the word "Apostate" is so cool is because it has such an alarmingly powerful effect on Dubs!
Right you are SYN, and throwing it back in their faces with our Apostofests is just the icing on the cake. Grand ain't it? They can't punch you out if you ain't there, right? We have taken their perjoritive word away from them and turned it into a party term.
Yay Us! Boo Y'all!!!
francois
Say it loud!
I'm apostate and proud!
Say it loud!
I'm apostate and proud!
Don't be messin' with my apostasy. You won't ever take that away from me.
I have come to like the word Apostate. It could be like the joke about calling someone a bitch to which we can reply "You say that like it's a bad thing" or That's Madam Bitch to you. IE: That's Madam/Sir Apostate to you.
Also I like the thought that was brought out in another thread, that when we speak we can be "Apostrophising".
Blessings
Cheryl
Your suggestion is a word that is too negative, IMO:
antipathetic (ăn-tĭp ' ə-thĕt'ĭk) also antipathetical (-ĭ-kəl).
adj.
In the world of recovery (yeah yeah there she goes again)
there is real merit in honestly claiming your identity that results from abuse (and almost all of us have suffered one way or another)
In the early days when people were just beginning to talk about abuse (late 70's) there was a real backlash about using the word "victim" mostly because it disempowers victims. We have seen the same effect in the gay commumity and the black or Afro-American community as they each struggle to find a word that marks them as a group struggling with their identity.
Each group has taken on a name that feels right for them. Victims have become survivors. But at one time we were victims as a result of unwanted experience.
These labels are part of the experience but they are also labels given to us by the outside - those others who seek to label us. At this point in my life and recovery I choose the label that works for me at the time. Mostly I am survivor. But the whole silentlambs issue has brought up some issues for me that bring back the victim in me. For certain purposes I need to reclaim that identity for others to understand where I am coming from - like the two JW ladies who came to my door the Saturday after Dateline.
Now as for the word Apostate.
Well when I left it wasn't for that because I still believed they had the "truth". But in the last few years I have fallen away from their beliefs - big time. And I have no problem telling them that - when it suits me. I can take that word now to empower me. It means I am free.
Do the JWs condemn me for it. You bet they do! Do I care - Not one little bit. I am very proud of the work I have done to recover from all the crap in my life whether as victim of my family and various physical/emotional/sexual abusers or as a victim of the WTS and all its insanity. By porclaiming I am an apostate from the WTS I am saying they no longer control who I am or what I think or believe. For me that is empowering and I am
a proud apostate
