by stuckinarut2 11 Replies latest jw experiences
Was just pondering the mindset of the average JW.
Would it be appropriate to think that many are Sycophants?
Think of the way they act towards those they preach to. Or the way they act towards one another in the congregation - especially towards those taking the lead (elders)
What about the way they fawn at the Governing Body or Bethel representatives?
Thoughts?
I can see that many of the rank and File could be classed as sycophant`s , flatterers of the Governing Body and i`m pretty bloody sure that the Governing Body members are toads ,repulsive people who do not deserve such flattery .
Just look at the cong car park 20 mins before the CO visit starts. Best behaviour central.
Car parks. We needed to drive quite a distance to conventions. I suggested that the parking attendants direct first arrivals to the farthest parking places and fill the car parks toward the centre and i was shut down.
My inner reason was that the first in always 'booked' the best seats for them their relatives and friends so they could at least be required to walk some.
Many would drive up and not give a damn about how much space they killed with sloppy parking. I estimated many more cars could have been accommodated if parking was done correctly. I wrote a polite notes to this end.
the reply ? the parking area doesnt have white lines on it. This was crap and i said so as everyone with a drivers license has to park as part of the test.
" He who is .. in little things etc"
Selfish selfish arrogant people.
i suppose another definition of sycophant is a brown nose
Depends on how much ambition they have.
Some don't give a hoot about their "position", and so aren't so much.
Many want to climb the corporate, er, theocratic, ladder, and know who exactly it is that they have to impress.
sycophant. Very appropriate word, which I didnt know of until now.
Yes, most of JWs are sycophant. Even I had been one once. They try with all their might to please fellow witnesses ,new recruits, elders, CO and GB - believing that doing so pleases their god
Your “average” loyal JW not only has a need to do what they believe is right - they have an equal, if not greater, need to be seen by as many people as possible doing the right thing. Hence, JWs get their peculiar thrill from being noticed and/or telling others how obedient and loyal they are to the organization.
Nice comments!
No. I don't think so. I saw plenty of brown-nosers among the elders... those trying to rise through the ranks. But among the average JW? No. I did not see much fawning. We were taught to believe that we were super important and everyone was watching us. Most people I knew were completely and overly arrogant. I'm still arrogant at times. I saw a lot of guilt as well. But I saw almost no fawning over other people.. The only people I saw being revered were the traveling overseers who had entertaining talks or people who came from other countries. I saw a lot more people avoiding each other.
I don't count the love-bombing as sycophantic behavior. I think that is just a natural reaction to having someone new and shiny in your tiny little bubble. People behave the same way in small towns except that they don't immediately show the new people love because they don't know if the new people are trust-worthy. In the JWs it is assumed that all new people are trustworthy and so love and joy is the obvious and acceptable response. Despite how creepy and cult-ish it is, it is also just really natural human behavior.
Maybe something has changed with the advent of the GB getting into the limelight, but I doubt it. Just because people behave well or are 'on their best behavior' when someone important to them is in town, that doesn't mean that they are sycophants.
A sycophant is a type of person, not a specific behavior. This means that if a person is a sycophant than they exhibit that behavior as a part of their personality not just situationally or on certain occasions. Consider the the type of people that Wormwood and Bellatrix Lestrange were in Harry Potter, the kind of person that C3PO is in Star Wars, even the kind of person that Effie Trinket was in Hunger Games. These are, very different, examples of sycophants. Brown-nosing is a current idea of the word, but it doesn't accurately describe what a sycophant is. While I knew some brown-nosers, I can't say that I knew any sycophants. So, no. I don't think that your average JW is a sycophant.
