It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars

by Newly Enlightened 11530 Replies latest watchtower scandals

• 

  JeffT

  He says "I would like to reiterate that as a professional activist I get to spend my wages as I please." (from point 5)

  Putting on my accountant hat I wish to point out this is not true, at least not in the United States. If his patrons are donating money and claiming a charitable deduction he has some hoops to jump through. (It is my understanding from reading up on IRS standards that if one is donating to a foreign entity, that entity must act as if it was in the US). This means he must report to a board of directors that makes decisions about spending and his salary. His financial statements must be available for review and produced under the direction of a licensed auditor. And he must have separate accounts for personal and company funds.

  I have seen no evidence that any of this is happening.
  
• 

  TonusOH

  The statement is a non-sequitur anyway. If he promised to use the funds only for his activism, at the very least he has to answer to his patrons for it, or they may decide (as they have, by the hundreds) that they do not wish to support him with their money anymore. Whether or not he is a professional activist does not have anything to do with it.

  If he wanted to explain himself to his patrons, taking the arrogant "I can do as I please" attitude was probably not the best approach. Because, as he is learning, they can do as they please with their money as well.
• 

  silentlamb_silent_no_more

  I tried repeatedly to register on that forum, but the registration spam filter question won't let me register. I can't answer the "question" correctly. If any of you are able to successfully register there, please help me do so too.

  The spam filter answer if HTFIF
  

  I managed with that. I hope that helps.
• 

  Simon

  But I'm morbidly interested in watching as he flames out in public

  It is hilarious how he pours gasoline over himself, lights matches and then complains that it's other people doing it to him.
  
• 

  TonusOH

  Here's someone whose obsession with the issue is probably very relevant to Evans. It's a former patron who admits to being a very generous supporter (and possibly the most generous of his supporters), but who felt that... well, let's let him explain it:

  "I believe that a person who is doing that kind of advocacy work on behalf of a community should live to higher standards and be held to certain standards. Especially when they're critical of hypocrisy of the agency they're criticizing."
  

  This guy doesn't appear to be an exJW, and is an atheist. Nor does he seem to be aware (or bothered by) the way Evans has treated many in the exJW community. In other words, the kind of person that some would expect was not upset by Lloyd's actions. It does seem as if he is aware of the videos from other exJWs, and that those may have had an impact on his decision. Yet his decision is driven by the things Lloyd admitted to, not the stuff he claims are being made up about him.
  

  He makes a very clear case about how Evans's actions affect the way he is viewed now.

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7b6IvHVWBfg
• 

  Vintage

  Silentlamb-silent-no-more,

  Thank you so much. My brain is so "literal" that I've finally learned to just ask for help in these situations.HTFIF Got it.
• 

  TonusOH

  Just to add: he appears to be a former Bible Student (one of the offshoots of the Millerite movement, like the JWs). He makes two particularly salient points:

  1. He notes how harsh Evans was in dealing with the Tony Morris booze-buying video, and wonders how he would have reacted if he learned that Morris had, instead, visited a prostitute.
  

  2. He notes that, among the things Evans has not done, is promise that "it [cheating on his wife with prostitutes] won't happen again." He admits that he cannot continue to support Evans financially if he thinks it is possible that Evans will continue to seek out prostitutes and cheat on his wife.
  

  I wonder how many other patrons feel the same way.
  
• 

  Listener

  I saw this post made on a thread regarding Steven Unthank. A poster going by the user name of 'the-real-BCG' wrote a resonse to comments that Lloyd Evans had made. It's on ex JW Reddit -
  

  ...Secondly, educate yourself about the legal processes and issues involved with reporting child sexual abuse. Without stepping outside the confines of JW religious doctrine and beliefs and educating yourself how can you honestly expect to do better than the Watchtower. Inside the religion, education was discouraged because it kept everyone believing unsupported claims.
  This thread is an example of why we need to start educating ourselves instead of just believing anything that is published.
  Cedars1929, while I understand that you are passionate about being loud in your activism for victims of child sexual abuse, do you realise that by using some of your chosen forms of activism you are unknowingly harming some victims. I cannot stress enough how important it is to educate yourself.
  To put it simply:
  WARNING: TO ALL VICTIMS SHARING THEIR STORY PUBLICLY PRIOR TO REPORTING THEIR SEXUAL ASSAULT TO POLICE - YOU ARE DAMAGING YOUR CHANCES OF A SUCCESSFUL PROSECUTION. PLEASE DO NOT SHARE YOUR STORY PUBLICLY UNTIL YOU HAVE REPORTED TO POLICE.
  This is one of the main reasons I decided to speak with you privately. I tried to educate you on why it is important to get written consent from the victims stories you publish. As a producer of a documentary and an activist you have an obligation and to know this information and educate people. It is imperative that you advise people about the impact of producing information about someone’s sexual assault.
  In obtaining their written consent you SHOULD be informing them that if at any time in the future they choose to make a criminal complaint, their case will be jeopardised by publicly sharing their story. Your choices as an activist impact other people’s ability to obtain criminal justice. Unfortunately many victims are unaware of this fact, they naively give up their story for the cause at their own cost. Being subject to sexual assault myself, the number one issue that was important to me was the ability to seek justice for what happened. I am pretty sure that it is also the number one issue for many other people that have been in the same circumstances as me.
  Cedars1929 there is so much legally about this topic that you need to educate yourself on. Otherwise you can inadvertently and unknowingly be causing more harm than good.
  Just revisiting our goals, how we choose to do achieve our activism goals matter.
  BCG activism goal:
  is to protect children, expose JW practices and assist people while respecting other people’s consent = desired outcome is to hold the Watchtower accountable.
  protects victims rights to criminally prosecute
  cedars1929 activism goal:
  is to take down the Watchtower at any cost = desired outcome is hold the Watchtower accountable
  jeopardises victims rights to prosecute
  For al those reading this thread, this information should not be used to vilify cedars1929, I do not want that to happen. It is not the reason why I clarified cedars1929 comment. It is my hope that cedars1928 will now listen and learn from a second effort to explain why I raised issue with consent. I have decided to share this information in reply to cedars1929 comment above to educate the Ex JW community and cedars1929 why it is important to start educating yourselves - we need to do better.
  I believe that many activists are doing “what they believe” is in the best interests of people, but there is a very big difference between someone’s belief and what is factually helpful. BCG’s Hot Tip: is to educate yourself about the issues you are advocating about.
  I would personally like to see the Ex JW community unite. For the record, cedars1929, I have no animosity towards you whatsoever, I am still open to discussion with you, please let me know if you have any questions or want to discuss the issues addressed above please use my email it is: [email protected]
  I will be speaking about why the issue of “consent” is so foreign to the Ex JW community in a video in my YouTube channel.
  https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/d6plyk/did_steven_unthank_really_take_watchtower_to_court/

  I think the warning to abuse victims is well considered and I wonder if Lloyd bothers to share this advise with those victims that he interviews or if he even thinks this is important.

  In the blog that Evans made, he states at 3. a. (caps are mine)

  Anyone wishing to accuse me of perpertrating crime should be going to the police before posting on social media IF THEY TRUELY CARE ABOUT THE CRIME ITSELF OR ANY POTENTIAL VICTIMS.

  How many victims has he told to report the crime or seek professional advice before he agrees to publish their story?

  He mimics the Watchtower with his play on words such as calling himself a professional. Lloyd states that he is a professional activist but he is no professional. He has not demonstrated any real professionalism when dealing with victims of abuse. He plays at a game of splashing their stories on his social media accounts with no proper guidance or assistance. He profits from their stories, even makes a full time living from it and appears to do very little for them.
• 

  Vintage

  Good points, Listener. Thanks for bringing that article here to us.
• 

  NonCoinCollector

  Looks like Lloyd Evans will be in London next week if anybody is looking to show him a good time.