Cooperation and Conformity

by Saethydd 3 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

  • Saethydd
    Saethydd

    A common thing that JWs point to as proof of God's blessing is the supposed cooperation between people of many different backgrounds. However, I think there should be a distinction drawn between collaborations that are performed through true tolerance and open-mindedness towards another's point of view, and collaborations that are the result of a high level of conformity by its participants.

    The former sort can be seen, for example, in the UN, which while not perfect, I believe does try its best to foster true cooperation between people of all nations. The latter of sort of cooperation, however, is more akin to the type found in communist dictatorships or countries controlled predominantly by a single religion which doesn't care to protect the rights of those in the religious minority. I hope most people would agree that the former type of cooperation is morally better.

    The type of cooperation shown amongst JWs is clearly of the second type because failure to conform to their rigid rulesets or social conventions is rarely met with anything but disdain. Conformity based cooperation doesn't scale up quickly because that cooperation doesn't extend beyond the group, so cooperation amongst different sets of conformists is rare, to say the least. In fact, I think it can be more difficult for a group of JWs to work collaboratively with non-JWs.

    Thoughts?

  • oppostate
    oppostate
    I think it can be more difficult for a group of JWs to work collaboratively with non-JWs.

    Your mentioning this made me stop and think. And, I would tend to agree with you that JW's have a sort of conformity based on uniformity that would clash with non-JW mindsets. JWs like to think that they can collaborate with others, but really anything they are encouraged to do will be for the benefit of the 0rganization ultimately and completely.

  • exjwlemming
    exjwlemming

    It's much easier to cooperate with those in the same mind set and beliefs as yours...like JW's uniform conformity. However, the real test of a human being is cooperating and accepting those who are not in the same place as you. JWs fail miserably at that.

  • millie210
    millie210

    Remember the Pepsi commercial where they pulled a bunch of people together to sing and hold up a Pepsi?

    Those people did a convincing job. They probably were swept up in the moment (plus they were paid) and perhaps believed they really would help world peace.

    They were a group of strangers pretending to be something....

    that is exactly what jehovahs witnesses are doing.

    People are drawn in and saturated in the idea of global unity and "love" so they each assume the persona and seeing each other do it reinforces it.

Share this

Google+
Pinterest
Reddit