Terry,
If only we could harness the power of creativity here on JWD to actually DO SOMETHING to shake the Bethel Boys with more shocks on the Richter scale instead of the gentle erosions ongoing.
It occurs to me that the JWD Forum contains a wealth of information on JW's- their founders and successors, their history, their doctrines, teachings, prophecies, scriptural interpretations and continual changes thereto, their lies and cover-ups, the GB/FDS tactics and treatments of the rank and file vis-a-vis disfellowshipment and the blood issue, and so on.
The Society has a number of CD's that capture and preserve the content of their past publications. Why can't something similar be done for and on behalf of JWD Forum? Except, however, there is some material here that would not be relevant such as off-JW topics, fluffy exchanges, fun and games, argumentive or contentious threads, and such. This would be the kind of information that would be best not included. (In other words, part of an editing-out process.)
The objective here would be to create a kind of "Best of JWD" collection, or "Classic JWD Threads" or such. Also, it would be about organizing the material into topics or categories to facilitate research. The CD-ROM could be interactive with a comprehensive index that could take you to the thread or topic you wish to access.
With this collection of the best and most useful/relevant threads/posts respecting the Religion of Jehovah's Witnesses, a second phase could be entered into. This would be one where, on any given topic, the threads/posts could be reviewed and analysed, and then edited and rewritten such that all of the salient points could be distilled into succinct points that are important contributions of thought to a particular subject or topic. After all, there is a lot of cumulative duplication in the material over time, which repetition we would want to eliminate in the rewriting and reorganization- much like producing a comprehensive manuscript for publication as a book (CD-ROM).
This would be a rather huge undertaking, and one in which a number of volunteers could participate, with each one specializing and focusing on a specific topic or area of concern. There would also need to be a kind of Project Manager/Co-ordinator or Producer/Director thru whom everything flowed to the top from each of the participants. This has to flow on some kind of organized basis, with target dates for accomplishing various tasks, and all of the components of the project coming together in some kind of organized fashion, just like happens when a movie gets produced. It all has to come together.
Certain matters would have to be dealt with at the outset. For example, protecting everyone's identity, anonymity and confidentiality as posters. Further, as a prerequisite, if we wish to publish any of their commentary, this project would involve obtaining permission from each of the individual contributors on their threads/posts to do so. In this regard, we would need to approach Simon, the Administrator for his prior approval of such an undertaking. Everything we do would have to be subject to his prior approval, and consistent with his stated policies and obligations he is under with respect to the JWD Forum. In fact, he would essentially have to be the head of this Project, since this is already his Forum, and we cannot do anything to cross the line of proprietary rights and copyrights. It is just that there appears to me that there is such a wealth of useful and helpful information that has accumulated on this forum, and all we would be trying to do here is enhance its usefulness and value thru preservation, organization and publication.
In the end, what would we have? I believe that this would prove invaluable to most everyone on JWD forum, as well as new JW's who are leaving, or thinking about leaving the JW Organization. And further, I think this would prove to be a powerful tool for approaching the folks at Bethel and creating our own Tsunami for their benefit. The shock waves may even come to be felt around the world, since JWD is already connected on a global scale in real time and without the limitation of geography. Can you also imagine this as a handy little disc for distribution at JW Conventions. After all, CD's are quite small, very light, and quite economical to produce, unlike most books.
Finally, I am thinking that this has the potenital of generating revenue, the proceeds of which could be used to support this JWD Forum. The JWD Forum itself could simply advertize the availability of this CD-Rom on this Forum. After all, it is all about the material on this JWD Forum to begin with. We would not be doing this project for the financial rewards personally, but rather to support the cause of informing the public, helping those leaving JW Land, and those who have just left, and hopefully becoming an instrument that could cause a number of JW's who are already steeped and entrenched in that Organization to have a good, hard, second look at what they are doing with their lives; even getting to the "underbelly of the beast".
What do you think?
Rod P.