TrueTomHarley

I think that’s why everyone leaves me alone, more or less, because I don’t go to Bethel and tell everyone what to do.

In the sequel, Dorothy follows the yellow brick road as instructed. ‘Ah crap!’ she says at movie’s end. ‘California!’

I got into some trouble with this post on FB. Several who use Zoom a lot were indignant, thinking I was calling them luke-warm Christians or worse. One, who has always been a pal, proceeded to tell me off on no uncertain terms. Of course, it is my own fault, as @George88 pointed out. Had I made clear from the beginning that the opening question was not mine, it would not have happened. I told this brother that “I wasn’t speaking at all about you or any of the situations you mention. I should have stated—and would have were I to do it again—that the Question about ‘boring meetings’ is not mine, but was taken off a social media site (Quora) that pitches out questions for anyone to answer. I decided to answer it, and so the next three paragraphs are mine, but not the question itself. It may be the question was not written by a current Witness at all, but a former one. There are some in that population that openly boast of being PIMO, with the eventual ‘goal’ of being POMO (physically out/mentally out). Many of the friends have never even heard of that terminology, but it is sort of a modern-day ‘Demas has forsaken me because he loved the present system of things.’ It is among the reason that our numbers have been stuck around 8 million for many years now, barely growing at all. I wasn’t in any way speaking of ones like you.” upon which, he made a graceful reply and all is well again. On the one hand, I was heartened that so many black screens chewed me out, taking umbrage that I should think them PIMO. On the other, I was disheartened that so many had never even heard of the term—not the term itself, really, but the phenomenon. Alas, it does kind of smack (in the case of those who are shepherds) of not knowing the appearance of the flock.

Al Kapp, the cartoonist, stuck to traditional ‘follow the flag’ values. He didn’t think much of the young people protesting, and lampooned them with the group, S.W.I.N.E. (Students Wildly Indignant about Nearly Everything) He would appear on campus and tell them off. One of the protesting youths asked the pugnacious fellow whether he thought young people held any advantage at all over older ones. ‘Yes, they’re better at carrying luggage,’ he replied.

Nonetheless, from this point on, I strapping on a guitar when preaching among the young.

Duddies. Not daddies. As far as I know, there are no fuddy daddies, or at least if there are it might be some relation to sugar daddies.

Yeah, I suppose you’re right. I probably should have clarified from the start that it was a question encountered on social media, not my own. I’ll do that should there be any reincarnations.

I caught some flak on Facebook over the post, similar to yours, as though I was suggesting any black screen is a PIMO. I wasn’t. One person confessed to a certain form of social phobia but was very much in the program, saying how much better Zoom was than the old phone lines. To him, I said, “It all works. Lots of reasons to prefer Zoom. I didn’t mean this to be a judgmental post. I just agree that among the constant black screen no-shows there are probably some who have tired of the whole program but don’t want others to think so. I didn’t mean to suggest it was anyone’s duty to figure out who was who.” Another thought it not good to be suspicious of one’s brothers. I replied, “This is well-stated, [in both cases, I addressed them by name]. Suspicion was not what I meant to encourage. ‘Open to the possibility’ was more my point. And even when the latter is the case, that doesn’t mean a person won’t benefit from a hand of friendship. Thanks for commenting as you have.” Two persons didn’t know what PIMO was, which I don’t think is very healthy—a little like the Russian Supreme Court refusing to look at what everyone else had seen, video-recorded evidence of incriminating material being planted by authorities. Of course, that is not to blame those friends. You’ll never hear the term PIMO at the Kingdom Hall or via the literature. It hampers people to be so uninformed about what large swaths of others are up to. I think some were confused by the question itself. I took it off Quora, a social media site which has (I think) taken to generating many ridiculous questions about JWs (though, this wasn’t one of them) through AI, (sigh—which some brothers appear to take as though sincere questions from interested persons) Yeah, I know the feeling. The trouble is, you almost can’t, since we are primed to overreact. I see you don’t keep up with modern science. I believe several genders have been discovered in which they do just that. Hey, this is pretty good. And isn’t that Many Miles 8 rows back, 4th from the left? I hope the brothers don’t harrumph too much over it. It’s not like they could endorse it, but it is possible to say, ‘You know, there’s a place to learn more about this Jehovah.’ What to one person is not being swept along by the fads and vagaries of men is to another just being a bunch of fuddy-daddies.

Q: How much credit do PIMO Jehovah’s Witnesses owe to Zoom for freeing them from attending boring meetings at the Kingdom Hall? Probably quite a bit, though simply fading would accomplish the same goal, minus the certain element of hypocrisy. Fading works fine for those who wish to leave. As long as one doesn’t go publicly reviling, robbing banks, or killing people, one is fine. A consistent blackened screen without any participation always suggests to me PIMO as a possibility, save for obvious cases of infirmity, distance, hardship, etc. Nor is anyone fooled in the long run. Witnesses bond so readily with their fellow believers, even from around the world, because 2/3 of what they have in common is their spirituality/love of God. Begin to indicate that 2/3 is not very important to you, and in time relationships, even friendships, will shift. I mean, I don’t think those meetings are boring at all, but if I did, I not only wouldn’t go but I also wouldn’t use Zoom in an attempt to deceive others into thinking I was. I like to think I have some backbone.

Now if Tucker had asked Putin whether Moscow girls really do make him sing and shout, then we’d have something to hang our hats on.

So that you can select from this small group of faiths the one comprised of true followers of Christ. If a religious group is not hated, it is disqualified from consideration, since the Bible repeatedly says that true Christians will be hated. For example: If you were part of the world, the world would be fond of what is its own. Now because you are no part of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, for this reason the world hates you. (John 15:19)

I’m on it. (please be patient)

Oh, yeah. Put me in the lineup. Great use of time, that will be.

I don’t really believe it simply on the basis of character. It is not something I can picture him doing.

I dunno. He looks like a Bond villain about to order a nuclear strike.

If only a lesson was to be learned from it.

Look for the guy with fleas.

You’re daft! It’s not the same picture at all! (assuming you mean the article, ‘Who is Leading God’s People Today,’ in the February 2017 Watchtower, which would have been studied around the dates you say.) The seven members photographed then are with entirely difference facial positions. The seating order is the same, that’s all. If you do not mean that article, the you are going to have to be more specific as to what you do mean. The dates you mention, 4/29-5/5, do not correspond to anything on the Meeting Workbooks. Until you are more specific, I’m going to assume you have hung out with liars too long and have uncritically lapped up what they fed you, surprising for one who, though ever hair-trigger ready to lambaste the GB, makes a big fuss over precision Yeah, that would settle it, but I still think you’re nuts. Even were AM photoshopped out, that is your conspiratorially-minded evidence that it is hoped Witnesses will forget he ever existed? No more so than Bro Cook appearing in the 2024 picture but not the 2017 might be taken for trying to make us think that he always existed.

Not that I would challenge you on this, but it would be better if you would point to the previous publication. Yes I see the 2024 one with the two new brothers. Where is the previous one you claim was photoshopped over? Unless you can point to it, you can easily be portrayed as the dupe with the mind of a goldfish.

Nah, I can’t understand how any of it works, either.

Okay. We’ll allow the poor soul to continue. Besides, you wouldn’t be able to stop him any more than you could stop onset of the Great Day.

Perhaps Pudgy will tell you about the Matrix movies.

Buuaacck buck buck suawaaack, cluck, cluck. It’s a way of earning the respect you crave. It is not as though you are not plenty nasty to him.

Come, come, George. I showed you how not to be a coward. Show a little backbone, won’t you?

Are you sure you are not a bot stuck on an unhealthy setting?