#worldviews

[troydooly]

Reflections on Charlie Kirk's Celebration of Life: Free Speech Needs Gua...

[lostmoonfragments]

Some Jehovah's Witness things I'm processing...

I was raised Jehovah's Witness, but my mom was just a long-term study. She could never quit smoking, so she couldn't advance. She also strictly enforced a lot of the lifestyle on me while not doing it herself. My ex-stepdad (who I do still call dad) used the Bible and witness beliefs as a weapon for power. He wasn't a study at all. My mom picked and chose what to follow, and chose that the "man of the house" rule would be strictly enforced.

1) Denotative use of words: This means that there's a lot of looking up the dictionary definition of words and the root words in Hebrew and Greek. There's very specific language use. People often use words "connitatively" which means the popular and cultural understanding of a word outside of its true definition.

This makes it hard for me to communicate sometimes. I also grew up very hard of hearing (partial deafness) and autistic, so I tend to use words very strict to their definition.

---

2) Colorblindness and Antinationalism: Witnesses are taught to be colorblind. When you're an adult who comes in with outer world experience, you tend to have more PC understandings. If you're raised like this from childhood, it's a lot harder to learn to be more PC about it. I'm logically aware that I have to be sensitive to racial differences and inequality, but I have a really hard time grasping a lot of nuance around this. I do use the words "ethnicity" and "race" very sociologically definition specific as well, which confuses a lot of people. In sociology, ethnicity is a culture. You can be ethnically southern American, ethnically east coast, ethnically Chinese, and at the same time have a different race.

On top of the Colorblindness is the anti nationalism. There's a very specific JW culture and way of behavior that is strictly peaceful and the same rules and beliefs are enforced worldwide. This draws a lot of international people since the Congregation is familiar from one country to the next, and the Colorblindness does make a lot of people feel safer and more protected as they travel. I ended up learning to think a little less American, and a little more global because of this. As I try to integrate into society as an adult, this has been kind of... problematic.

Americans push their worldviews and political ideology on everyone without understanding cultural differences, beliefs, and customs overseas. Like, I have friends who think the answer to China's problems is to approach it with an American mindset and belief system without realizing it's a whole different ballgame. The history, the mindset, the government, and all of this is so different from the west that we can't impose our structure to fix their issues. Americans who don't know any Chinese people from China want to say they have all the answers without any understanding of life there or input from the people. So, as I try to understand political nuance, it's just been a struggle.

---

3) Isolationism: JWs are super isolated. They're taught not to get close with people outside of the congregation. I wasn't able to get baptized because I had 2 friends from school, and they were queer. I chose them and so dated a trans man, so I was pushed out. That said, I wasn't allowed to get to know my family. My mom always talked about how she'd have to give up her brothers and sisters as a Witness, so she kept me from getting too close. When she gave up on studying for a while, I did end up getting to know her closest brother and some cousins, but because I didn't get to know anyone until adulthood, I don't have family to fall back on. The grandfather who raised me is dead. Even my favorite aunt who I knew when I was little has dismissed me as a stranger. I'm trying to get closer to family, but it's hard. I don't fit in well.

---

4) Related to that is avoiding politics. We learn some history and all, but mostly about god, the bible, and wars. Small aside, but JWs were actually in the Holocaust and camps with Jewish people. In school, people thought I was either Mormom or Jewish.

Anyway, not being in touch with politics outside of how it affects the Congregation and our history had made it a struggle to stay in touch with politics today. They don't watch the news, they don't vote, and they don't fight in the army. In some countries with mandatory service like South Korea, Witnesses serve prison time. So it's just super detached and I have to go out of my way to learn worldly politics.

I did learn history, I went to a good school, and my grandpa was a Marine at the end of WWII and in Korea, so I definitely learned my history, but I had to try and understand politics and nuance on my own, largely through youtube and tumblr. I often feel like my brain is in a different political era, though. I want to be a good person who uplifts and helps people, so I do try really hard to find the right way to think and act, but it's not really guided much by friends and associations.

---

5) Having deep conversations with strangers: this one is also amplified by my autism. With JWs, you don't keep things light and have small talk. You use a lot of deep personal stories to relate to the Bible and your studies, and this happens often within the first few meetings of someone. It's intense, and it makes me an intense person.

I always feel the need to get to know people on a deep level early on and feel comfortable sharing idealistic worldviews, deep opinions, and personal stories. I do try to learn how to keep things light, but it's a big, big challenge. Witnesses also are trained to make every conversation a teaching moment, so I tend to be seen as being on a "high horse" often. For some people who are bright and idealistic, who enjoy the depth, it works out great! I make people feel comfortable and they open up to me easily. But, it's also really hard amongst others who have mastered the art of "saying less".

---

Overall, my main "creed" is essentially to love people through the Biblical definition that love is an action, and to try and take care of the planet and all living things as best I can with whatever power I have.

I don't know if this all seems coherent for others, but it's just what I'm processing. I kind of want to go back to being a JW sometimes for the protection as someone who was so removed from the World that I can't fit in well now, but I don't share all the isolation beliefs, and a few other things.

But yeah, that's all for now. Maybe someone can use this to work through some stuff, too. Helps me process a little. Yeah.......

[retrotoons-rush]

Tumblr is giving a lot of you really warped and narrow minded view of love and romance. Those poems, quotes and visual media are someone's work. They're not meant to be taken literally, or as a guide.

In reality you'll experience relationships with people who will have their own flaws, experiences and limitations. No, they will not respond to your needs and situations the way you've been brought up to think. Oftentimes it won't go the way you expect. Sometimes there will be mistakes. And those so called imperfections are what give relationships that humane quality.

Romance in media and literature are for show. Your own experiencs and journey are what actually matter, and something you'll actually remember, instead of generic romance Tumblr quotes.

And honestly, people on here are starting to sound the same. Where's the individuality?

[marandsviet]

"Every cloud has a silver lining, but some people only see the storm"

[liketwoswansinbalance]

The King of Ravenbow to the School Masters: Until we meet again.

⸻

[Out of earshot, later:]

Rafal: [in a low voice] That was a veiled threat if I ever heard one—

Rhian: [affectedly] Don't be daft! It was an invitation.

Midas: You're both nutcases. It was a form of basic human decency the two of you lack.

⸻

The Storian: All members of the king's audience were wrong.

⸻

Inspired by these:

[furiousgoldfish]

I just realized there’s a fundamental difference in people I do and don’t feel comfortable around. It has to do with the way they interpret the world.

The ones I don’t feel comfortable around, are usually people older than me, but that is not what I take issue with; it’s their manner of speaking to me. These people will speak their views of world as if it’s final, the only correct way to think They will also attempt to force this view of the world on you, with the complete assurance that you will. If you try to correct them, they’ll respond with almost a threat in their voice if you don’t immediately comply and validate that you agree. Their values, the ‘old values’, are the only ones that are true, and they don’t wait to see if you think differently, they’ll state it as if it was a timeless fact and dare you to confront them on it. I will sometimes, carefully, try to point out inaccuracies or research that has proven it wrong - and they’ll fight me on it.

For instance, I’ve had an elderly person complain to me about the ‘today’s youth’ and ‘how they’re ruining everything’. The problem was that the children in the park were loud, and sometimes, they would see teenagers late at night in the park, and they assumed these teenagers were doing drugs (can’t confirm if this is true). The elderly person got upset, yelled, and insisted it would all be better if some physical violence was thrown at those children. I couldn’t listen to that kind of line without interfering, so I pointed out, hey, that would only make the children more likely to become mentally unhealthy, depressed, and learn that the violence is the only rule in life. I also pointed out that even if the teenagers in the park were doing drugs, they cannot be the source of the problem; after all, they’re not the ones who invented drugs, or circulated it here, or would be easily able to buy them; it was the older generations that created this problem, and gave them to the teenagers. The elderly person pretended not to hear any of it, and stuck to their original opinion, while now seeing me as the enemy. After all, if I didn’t conform to their worldview, I was the problem, one of those who need to ‘get some common sense’ and be ‘persuaded’. Because blaming kids and teenagers on problems created by the older generations, is the only way they can keep seeing themselves and their contribution to the world, in a positive light. The only way to keep control.

The other type of person is the one who doesn’t attempt to enforce their worldview on you, instead they try to see where you’re at. They’ll tell you what they think, add ‘at least that is how I see it’, and then ask you ‘What’s your view on this? What do you think?’

Sometimes we’ll find pretty soon that our views differ, and we’ll agree to disagree and talk about something else. Sometimes, we’ll display our information, how we know it, and offer arguments that lead us to believe what we do, sometimes we’ll have little anecdotes to tell. Sometimes we’ll find out some new information, be encouraged to research it, and come back to revisit the subject in order to decide on a new, more informed standpoint. Sometimes we’ll find out we’re completely on the same page, and then be glad to have found out. But we don’t assume. We don’t see each other and go ‘yes, this person I don’t yet know perfectly, must have the exact stance on every issue in the world, they must have this specific information and subscribe to the same ideas and thoughts’, because that is presumptive, rude, and creating impossible expectations.

I wonder if the first kind are people who shared their perception of the world with their entire generation, and then project that idea on the entire world, believing those who disagree can only be blind and stupid? And in that case, assuming someone would disagree, is the same as assumption they’re lacking in intellect? My generation has vastly different views on everything, I can find people my age who disagree with my every view, and people younger than me who agree with me. I can’t assume for anyone that they would adapt my views, but I also can’t assume them clueless, because we all form our view based on information we gather thru life, and different people will have different information and experiences at their disposal. So it’s necessary to not assume, to find out where people stand, and then meet them where they’re at.

[cupcakegalaxia]

If you lie down with dogs with fleas, you'll get fleas. Hence the company you keep will effect and influence you so be cautious about who you associate yourself with on a constant basis.

I'm not saying you can't hang out with that friend you care about so much and wish to see them better. But what I am saying is that of you involve yourself with them all the time in their actions, it will start to corrode you.

I would also like to add that if you are a friend with a unbeliever and you look at them as a project to get to Christ instead of a person who needs Christ, you need to take a step back and think real hard about that cuz that's gross.