My Way or the Highway (page 2)

SixofNine

People are people. It is the structure of the WT that is unique, and JW's are only unique to the extent that that structure perverts them.

xjw_b12

onacruse...craig

Hmmmmm. A little different from your usual posts. Going through a little introspective moment now perhaps.

The us/them mentality. Right/wrong, black/white, everything the WTS said and did must be wrong. Honestly: I perceive a lot of JW-thinking in this forum, primarily from those of us who are exJW.
The us/them mentality. Right/wrong, black/white, everything the WTS said and did must be wrong. Also, active JWs that post here are typically characterized as idiots, or just plain ignored.
I've not come this far, just to fall back into the same judgmental attitudes in which I was raised.
Don't take me wrong; I certainly believe in calling a spade a spade. But do you think that sometimes we think we have a spade, when in fact all we have is a club?

Good Point Sir. Easy to do, when you find out you've been betrayed, and lied to all these years.

I think the newbies are more in tune to do that, and mellow out as time goes on. But there are others, myself included who are easily riled, and tend to lash out, with that 180 degrees mentality.

Food for thought though....and thank you.

david

onacruse

expat:

Pretty much every person will tend to avoid others who they don't like or have very little in common with.

Yes; that's human nature, and that's not peculiarly exJW. But then you say:

Often the tendency for x-jw's is to react to any behaviour they see that even remotely resembles a Watchtower extreme. They thus end up rejecting average moderate behaviour, and start a pattern of extreme reactions

And that's what I'm talking about. The over-reaction, the extremes. And that is peculiar to exJWs, or any who have escaped from high-control groups.

So, then, if I may be so bold as to ask: Six, and expat, when you see a post from somebody who you just suspect is a troll, or on a subject that just sounds JW, how do you feel inside? Do your "rejection mechanisms" automatically kick into high gear? Perhaps because you're reacting still from an exJW mindset?

I mean no offense.

xjw:

Hmmmmm. A little different from your usual posts.

Yes, and well overdue. I owe it to myself to share my feelings with all of you who have shared so much with me. Perhaps my tone above indicates my tentative nature?

Craig

expatbrit

Craig:

Do you mind, I'm trying to form a clique with Six here!...lol

when you see a post from somebody who you just suspect is a troll, or on a subject that just sounds JW, how do you feel inside?

Good question. I feel like I want to blast 'em. Point out that they are using "JW thinking" blah blah. Occasionally I'll type a reply doing just that, then sit back and think "hang on, is it really "JW thinking"?

For instance, if I think someone is using black/white thinking, the reaction can kick in. I want to blast them for using WT black/white thinking. But then, is black/white thinking just used by JW's? And is black/white thinking always a wrong mode of thought? (Btw, if your answer to either of those questions is Yes, you're using black/white thinking...lol)

The reality is that everyone uses B/W thinking to a certain extent. It is necessary for everyday life. It is even protective in some cases. Thus it is a moderate facet of human thinking. Again, the WT magnifies this to an extreme, making just about everything a B/W decision.

Is that as clear as mud?

Expatbrit

jst2laws

Six and Expat,

I think you both are right that this is not unique to JW's. As Ona acknowledged it is typical of many high control groups. Whatever high control group, fundamentalists, literalists or cult one comes from there will be a need to deal with the mentality.

However, what we have in common is we came from the same 'high control group', JW's. It is this experience and it's side effects we perticularly are dealing with. Isn't that something we agree on?

Jst2laws

SixofNine

I'd love to stay and talk, but it's 9:15 friday pm, and I'm taking my pathetic self to a movie, or as logical would say,.

expatbrit

J2L:

Yup. I'm assuming Craig is specifically referring to the we're right / you're wrong and B/W attitudes of Jehovah's Witnesses. The tendency is for x-jw's to use the same type of mentality, just from the opposite side of the trench.

However, what I'm (and I think Six) referring to is the other other extreme, where an x-jw will reject any and all forms of we're right / you're wrong and B/W thinking. As usual, reality lies somewhere in the middle.

Expatbrit

jst2laws

Expatbrit

what I'm (and I think Six) referring to is the other other extreme, where an x-jw will reject any and all forms of we're right / you're wrong and B/W thinking

OOHHH! So some might be dogmatically opposed to dogma, extremely sensitive to extremism just as I am absolutely sure there is nothing certain.

Nope, don't see the possiblity

Jst2laws

Farkel

onacruise,

Whatever. HERE are the facts:

Think like me or I buss you up. I broke your nose if you not Da Kine. Yo' car is packa junk and yo' ....(oh, nevermind!)

Farkel, who knows Hawaiian pidgen and uses it from time-to-time.

My Way or the Highway

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