by minimus 96 Replies latest jw friends
How many of 'us' were able to research about the WTS and leave, helped by the Internet?
I think it does hurt them - they are twisting the figures / reporting criteria to keep the stats up in the west and the only real growth is in poor countries, ex easter-block and war-zones.
imo, the biggest impact the Internet is having on the WTS is that more and more JWs are finding out, or at least suspecting, that there is a social network outside the org. Not to discount the incredible amount of info now so freely available, that shows how twisted the WTS is...oh my, that info is indeed critical to breaking down barriers.
But, on the human level, so what? Many many JWs (and I include myself in this) knew for a loooooong time that the WTS was screwed up...but did I/we have a place to go after? No. Did we even suspect there was a place to go after? No. So what did we do? We stuck with the social group we had, in spite of its obvious errors and oppression.
Anyway, that's what the Internet, and JWD very particularly, has done for me. I can't help but think that the hard-liners at Brooklyn are getting really nervous about the social dynamic that they're seeing, and over which they have no control. People will do what they can, when they know they can.
Craig
It has hurts the society in huge ways. Every witness currently has an entire apostate library at their finger tips. Where as before the society could decieve people with near imunity now every lie is cataloged and saved for future reference and the first sign of doubt.
On a personal level I did not get completly free until I saw Shuans site and some info on the blood issue.
Terry
Not only does the Internet provide a forum for disaffected JWs in the process of questioning, but it has the potential to ``nip in the bud" any potential interest on the part of the public. If a householder, for example, in an Internet-literate country, finds a JWs door-to-door message appealing and wants to know more, what's more natural than to go to his search engine and type in ``Jehovah's Witnesses" or ``Watchtower." He/she then asks the returning JW to account for what he/she discovers on the net, and the JW feels as though he/she's been hit by a truck-- ``blindsided" and woefully unprepared to discuss issues he/she never knew existed! And who's he/she gonna blame for not telling him/her ``the WHOLE truth" about the Truth?
As Room 215 intimated, it gets the thinking process onto issues that the door-door JW does expect. This can have the added effect of making really obscure and dirty issues come up at the door.
For instance, suppose that suddenly every call a JW made got into a discussion of DF'ing/Shunning. An Internet based educational campaign could provoke this. This discussion paints the JW @ the door as having no FAMILY VALUES, feelings, compassion or such.
If this goes beyond the "Local Needs" crud-talk, the next shot is a KM dealing with this
So, CONTROL has been taken from Brooklyn. Brooklyn would have the Dub stay away from this like the plague. But suddenly, they have to "do damage control" and counter the normally "sleeping dog" topic of DF'ing.
Without such an Internet campaign, how often would DF'ing come up at the door?
Mustang
Excellent Comments!!!
Gotta love technology...
Has anyone else noticed that the WT literature is featuring more ethnics and third world witnesses? It reminds me of when the big catalogue companies like Eaton's and Sears finally caught on that their growing market share was coming from the immigrant market, not White North American Suburbia. But of course, they still "sold" the White North American Suburbia lifestyle. As does the WTS (well, slightly disturbed White North American Suburbia).
Sears:
The internet is having it's effect where it is available. I worry about the thousands that will be baptized in the third world this year. How many years before witnesses in these countries find out they have been sold a myth?
Not only does it help insiders to do research when having doubts, it also prevents a lot of people from getting suckered in. When we encounter something new what is the first thing one does? "Let's see what I can find on the net". People will get scared when they see al the garbage.
It severely limits their 'potential converts' pool. I think that is an even greater threat than educating those already in. It stuns their growth and forces them to look elsewhere (ie 3 world countries)
Greven
Well, I hazard a guess, that Ray Franz has sold more books via on line services, or by interest generated on line, then through the old fashioned way.
You know going down to the library on off-hours, or sneaking incognito into a "Christian Family Book Store"
