In-Sight Publishing

2023-12-08

Ask A Genius 625: Era of Narcissism and Covid Deaths

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen and Rick Rosner

Publication (Outlet/Website): Ask A Genius

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2021/08/22

[Recording Start]

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: I’ve been pondering this topic recently. We’re discussing what some psychologists term an “era of narcissism.” Back in 2016, we explored this in our article, “Super Empowered,” focusing on how societal attitudes were shifting towards more egocentric behaviors. Now, it seems that those exhibiting grandiose, self-entitled traits have gained even more influence.

Rick Rosner: Yes, we did touch on that five years ago.

Jacobsen: Indeed, and since then, with Trump’s election, the empowerment of such individuals has only intensified.

Rosner: To put things in perspective, consider the population of Germany and its surrounding regions at the start of World War II, about 83 million. This figure is merely a quarter of the current U.S. population. The proportion of Nazis in Germany then, compared to potential fascists in the U.S. now, is alarming.

Jacobsen: That is a significant number.

Rosner: It’s concerning, especially when considering the number of American extremists compared to those in Nazi Germany. If a quarter of the German population were staunch Nazis, that’s around 20 million people. In America today, we might have twice that number with extremist views. The difference, though, is that these Americans aren’t engaging in the same level of violence as the Nazis did, although some do express harmful sentiments online. Moreover, American extremism isn’t limited to one ideology – it’s more diverse.

Jacobsen: This trend seems to have escalated in the last five years.

Rosner: Yes, and Trump’s presidency played a significant role. He became a figurehead for such attitudes at a time when social media amplified these voices. We previously discussed the influence of reality TV in promoting certain behaviors, but now, social media has taken over that role, allowing individuals to express extreme views without direct confrontation.

Jacobsen: The growth of fringe social media platforms has also contributed to this.

Rosner: Precisely. These platforms lack the content moderation of mainstream sites, enabling more extreme discourse. As for Trump, his influence remains strong, mainly due to the substantial financial support he continues to receive. Despite losing the popular vote and facing numerous controversies, he remains a prominent figure, largely because of the financial benefits and ego boost he derives from his political activities.

Jacobsen: And what about the broader implications of this trend?

Rosner: Currently, this loud narcissism in America is heavily intertwined with politics and the COVID-19 pandemic. If voter protection laws are passed, the political landscape might shift, reducing the influence of extreme ideologies. However, the right-wing media, another major factor in this equation, shows no signs of diminishing.

Jacobsen: So, this trend of amplified self-presentation and extreme views isn’t likely to subside?Rosner: It doesn’t seem so. The current cultural and technological landscape facilitates these behaviors. History shows that such attitudes have always been present in American society, but now they are more visible and widespread due to social media. While some of these issues may eventually lessen in intensity, it’s likely that a segment of the population will continue to harbor and express extreme views.

[Recording End]

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In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Based on a work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

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© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors co-copyright their material and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

2023-12-08

Ask A Genius 624: Math of COVID Now

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen and Rick Rosner

Publication (Outlet/Website): Ask A Genius

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2021/08/22

[Recording Start]

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Alright, let’s jump into this topic. Rick, can you share your thoughts on the current state of COVID mathematically?

Rick Rosner: Sure, I’m not entirely up-to-date on the overall numbers, but let’s take a historical perspective first. The Spanish flu around 1918-1920, which is a bit vague, was a major pandemic. Estimates suggest it infected about one-third of the global population and killed at least 50 million people when the world’s population was between one and two billion. Now, turning to COVID, the situation is complex. Despite the Trump administration’s many flaws, the former head of the FDA seems credible, and he suggests that most Americans will either catch the Delta variant or be vaccinated. Official statistics indicate about 36 million Americans have been infected, about 11% of the population. Realistically, this figure is likely underreported, possibly by 50% or more. So, it’s safe to assume that at least 15% of Americans have had COVID. Additionally, about 60% have received at least one vaccine dose.

However, there’s overlap between those who’ve had COVID and those vaccinated. Roughly two-thirds of Americans have either been infected or vaccinated, leaving about 110 million, including children under 12 who are yet unvaccinated. Presently, we’re vaccinating about a million people per day and seeing around 200,000 new COVID cases daily. Given the two-dose nature of the vaccine, this rate translates to about 700,000 people either getting sick or vaccinated each day. With a susceptible population of 110 million, we’re potentially looking at around 150 days to reach near-total coverage, not necessarily to achieve herd immunity.

To attain herd immunity, we might need to vaccinate or expose about 80 million of these susceptible individuals. Dividing 80 million by the daily rate of 700,000 gives us a timeline of approximately three to four more months of significant COVID impact in America. Interestingly, this wave might result in more infections than when we had no one vaccinated under Trump.

Regarding the Delta variant’s trajectory, like in India, it could last about three months before subsiding, though the reasons for its decline are unclear. Theories range from widespread infection to poor reporting. In summary, we could be facing three more challenging months with COVID in the U.S., unless something unexpected and positive happens. I’d rather not speculate on the global COVID situation, as I feel less qualified to comment on that. The end.

[Recording End]

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2023-12-08

Ask A Genius 623: Fatigue and COVID

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen and Rick Rosner

Publication (Outlet/Website): Ask A Genius

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2021/08/21

[Recording Start]

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: So, we’ve discussed this before, but let’s revisit it. What do you think is the cost of COVID?

Rick Rosner: Are we recording?

Jacobsen: Yes, we are.

Rosner: Alright. I think we should be angrier about COVID, especially in the U.S., than we currently are. Discussing COVID in the U.S. inevitably involves considering its global impact, as even a competent domestic response would still require continued vigilance due to the global nature of the pandemic. It’s impossible to talk about COVID in the U.S. without mentioning Trump. Many people are already angry, but the fatigue from five years of Trump’s influence is palpable.

Trump, in my view, did more harm and less good than any other president in the 20th or 21st century. Now, 20 months into the pandemic, I often think about the lost time and what it means, especially considering my age. I’m 61, so COVID could have consumed nearly 10% of my remaining life. It’s also affected the elderly significantly. My mother-in-law, who contracted COVID, had to move from independent living to a more assisted environment. This highlights the personal cost – the lost time, the diminished quality of life, particularly for the elderly.

There’s also the broader impact on society, like lost progress in various fields. While businesses’ financial losses might have been calculated, the setbacks in science, entertainment, literature, and other areas are harder to quantify. This delay in scientific progress might have personal repercussions for many, including myself, as I’ve been hoping for medical advancements.

Children’s lost socialization skills are another concern. The extent of this loss is hard to measure but will likely have long-term effects. There’s the educational impact, the financial losses for businesses, and of course, the tragic loss of life.

One reason we might not be as outraged as we should be is the gradual nature of these losses. The pandemic hasn’t stopped people from going out, but it has introduced a level of risk. Despite being the deadliest event in U.S. history, surpassing even World War II in American casualties, it lacks the immediate, visible horror of war or other catastrophic events. COVID’s impact, similar to the slow deterioration of old age, disproportionately affects the elderly, making it easier for society to overlook.

In summary, we’ve lost time and much more to COVID, and it continues to affect us. The pandemic has also contributed to the political and intellectual division in the country, further entrenching a significant portion of the population in misinformation and denial. The overall cost of COVID is immense, spanning various aspects of life, and it’s a cost we may never fully comprehend or acknowledge, partly due to the sheer sadness of it all. The end.

[Recording End]

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2023-12-08

Ask A Genius 622: Believing Bullshit and Being Skinny, Previously

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen and Rick Rosner

Publication (Outlet/Website): Ask A Genius

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2021/08/20

[Recording Start]

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: We’re all set, so go ahead.

Rick Rosner: Alright, so it’s this bizarre situation in America right now. Under Trump, it seemed like tens of millions of Americans were inclined to believe in nonsense. But it wasn’t as tangible as it is now, where we have a large number of hardcore anti-vaxxers, mask opponents, and to some extent, COVID deniers. This defies the overwhelming evidence that COVID is incredibly dangerous. In the U.S., COVID has become the deadliest event in history, with nearly three-quarters of a million deaths, surpassing any single event like a war or another pandemic. Not in terms of percentage, though – the Civil War likely had a higher death rate because of the smaller population at the time. But COVID is extremely lethal, and beyond its death toll, tens of millions have been infected, with a significant portion suffering long-term effects. Yet, so many Americans act as if it’s no big deal, evidenced by stories of pastors who mocked COVID precautions and are now either dead or suffering. These Americans believe in the same falsehoods, despite our highly evolved brains, developed over billions of years of evolution.

Jacobsen: Life began around three and a half billion years ago.

Rosner: Right, so our brains, these highly evolved organs, are meant to help us navigate reality. This raises the question: why are so many Americans currently disregarding reality? I believe it’s because our brains evolved in an environment devoid of systematic misinformation. For instance, our food preferences evolved during times when high-calorie foods like sugar and fat were scarce and vital for survival. Now, in an era of abundant food, these same preferences contribute to obesity. Similarly, our ancestors didn’t face the challenge of resisting deliberately false information, as there were no organizations or social media to spread it. Consequently, we are less equipped to deal with such misinformation today, leading many to fall prey to falsehoods. That’s essentially it, though we could delve a bit into the nature of deception.

[Recording End]

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2023-12-08

Ask A Genius 621: Informational Metaphysics, Physics: We’re Not Done with the Soul

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen and Rick Rosner

Publication (Outlet/Website): Ask A Genius

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2021/08/20

[Recording Start]

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: We’re all set, so go ahead.

Jacobsen: Life began around three and a half billion years ago.

[Recording End]

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2023-12-08

Ask A Genius 620: Utility of Metaphysics and Informational Framework

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen and Rick Rosner

Publication (Outlet/Website): Ask A Genius

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2021/08/20

[Recording Start]

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: I’ve been pondering the concept of metaphysics for quite some time. You’ve been thinking about this even longer than I have. Together, we’ve developed the idea of potentially reintegrating metaphysics with physics. Ancient Greek philosophers, especially those from the Ionian school, were deeply engaged in metaphysics. They didn’t have the physics that we have now.

Rick Rosner: You don’t necessarily need to, but nowadays, you can engage in metaphysics with a better chance of accuracy. The more you know about the universe and the closer you are to an accurate picture of it, the more likely your metaphysical ideas won’t be wildly off. Unless your metaphysics is either so vague it can describe anything, or so profound it remains relevant regardless of the universe’s accurate portrayal.

Jacobsen: Right, so we’re discussing the practical utility of metaphysics in providing a valid and sound description of the universe.

Rosner: Yes, and it’s worth mentioning that physicists, and maybe scientists in general, but especially physicists, often say that all science eventually boils down to physics. Biology, chemistry, they all reduce to physical interactions. When they become more complex, they turn into chemistry, and even more complex, biology, and eventually even the social sciences. However, people still specialize in biology, chemistry, and the social sciences because it’s efficient. You don’t need to deconstruct everything to basic physics all the time, although sometimes, delving into quantum physics helps explain new phenomena in biology and chemistry.

Jacobsen: Sean Carroll talks about poetic naturalism, where we can scientifically discuss love in many ways. However, we still use poetic and literary language, like “I love you,” to describe human experience, understanding that it’s founded on scientific reality. It’s about considering different levels of analysis and description, from folk psychology and interpersonal reactions to physics. Essentially, it’s all interconnected.

Rosner: Exactly, and our world has enough flexibility to allow these different levels of order and complexity. For example, my friend Chris is attempting to map every single feedback loop in biology within the human body. These feedback loops exist at various levels of complexity relative to basic physics, and he believes most are yet to be discovered.

Jacobsen: This is similar to Dmitri Mendeleev with the periodic table. He started simply, with many gaps, which were filled in over time. Chris could be initiating a similar process for feedback loops in biology.

Rosner: When we talk about metaphysics, we’re discussing the principles of existence, which overlaps with physics. It’s about what can exist and, by extension, what cannot. Quantum mechanics, especially, aids this discussion. It’s essentially the math and physics of things that barely exist, dealing with incomplete information. It describes how things behave when not fully characterized, like the position and velocity of an electron.

Jacobsen: However, I wouldn’t classify the math of quantum mechanics as metaphysical. It’s more about the math of existence.

Rosner: True, but there’s still a metaphysical aspect because it models what existence fundamentally is. You would think metaphysics should lead to more stringent and precise science. However, it seems we can use the solid science of quantum mechanics to inform our understanding of metaphysics.

Jacobsen: That’s counterintuitive, considering the history of metaphysics, which hasn’t been great at arriving at precise, sound views of the world.

Rosner: It’s akin to the struggle in defining consciousness or the history of theology. There are myriad interpretations, often leading to wrong or contradictory answers.

Jacobsen: In Western tradition, we’ve seen centuries of speculative metaphysics. In contrast, the last five hundred years have shown gradual refinement in understanding the universe through physics, chemistry, biology, and psychology. While some mysteries may be eternal, others are merely hard problems awaiting solutions.

Rosner: Quantum mechanics, being about a century old, has seen various attempts at applying its principles to other contexts, often incorrectly. Yet, you can use these principles in different ways, such as in predicting traffic behavior or in sports analytics. There’s a strong connection between quantum math and Bayesian probability, both frameworks characterizing uncertainty.

Jacobsen: So, when we talk about ‘frameworks,’ we’re referring to these structures or descriptions of the universe. However, these are not the universe itself. They are tools we’ve developed to create accurate maps of reality. But they remain maps, not the terrain.

Rosner: The language we use evolved because it was useful. Language and thought products aim to predict and act. Therefore, every word and its associated characterization is subject to fuzziness. Some words, like ‘apple,’ are fairly specific, but still encompass a range of variation and imprecision.

Jacobsen: Consider the notion of the soul, which historically justified inhumane treatment of animals. Our experience feels unified, but for a long time, the assumption was that a spirit or soul underpinned it, leading us in wrong directions.

Rosner: Let’s pause on the soul concept. The soul, as some see it, is an essence of oneself, transcending details and memories. It’s the core of who you are. However, I see the soul more as an informational substrate, somewhat independent of individual cognition.

Jacobsen: Extending that idea, one’s impact on themselves, others, and the environment during and after their life can be seen as an extended sense of the soul. It’s an extended self, essentially.

Rosner: An analogy between information and the universe is that the universe consists of space and matter. We think about the material bodies, but the space itself, curved around, forms an underlying structure determined by matter distribution. This curved space that contains everything is akin to what a soul might be – an underlying landscape determined by the aggregate of everything that’s happened.

Jacobsen: So, our descriptions of the universe, while useful, are just tools for understanding. They don’t capture the intrinsic operations of the universe.

Rosner: Language evolved to help us survive, so it’s efficient in that sense. But every word and sentence is subject to fuzziness and imprecision. This is especially true for terms in metaphysics.

Jacobsen: Hence, the danger in assumptions like the soul, which can lead to misguided beliefs and actions.

Rosner: The soul, as an informational aggregate resulting from everything that’s happened, is an unspecific underlying structure. It’s shaped by the overall curvature and dynamics of the universe.

Jacobsen: We’ll need to pause here and come back to this discussion later.

Rosner: Sure, let’s continue later.

[Recording End]

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2023-12-07

Ask A Genius 619: Hello, Call me! Can you hear me?

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen and Rick Rosner

Publication (Outlet/Website): Ask A Genius

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2021/07/26

[Recording Start]

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Hello again. You’re back. I’m just opening up the tab now. Can you hear me alright?

Rick Rosner: Yes, I can hear you.

Jacobsen: Great, let’s continue.

Rosner: Right, so I wanted to share something that I thought might interest you. It’s a photograph of the first Congress from back in 1952. As you correctly pointed out earlier, this document we’re discussing is iterative and based on ethical principles. There’s certainly merit in considering updates to it. The board has actually commissioned a group of distinguished individuals globally to draft a revised version. This draft will be up for discussion at the General Assembly next year in Glasgow, which I hope you’ll attend. It’s the best city in the world, in my opinion.

Jacobsen: [Laughs] Of course, you would say that.

Rosner: Well, I must admit, I’m fortunate to live in what I consider the best city in the world. That’s not so much bias as it is good luck on my part, I believe.

Jacobsen: Indeed, the luckiest person in the world, it seems.

Rosner: Sometimes it does feel like that. We’ve been enjoying some beautiful summer weather recently, around 30 degrees. Although, I suppose it’s likely due to global warming, which is quite concerning.

Jacobsen: Gary, as always, thank you for your time.

Rosner: Are we finished then?

Jacobsen: Yes, we’re done. You’re free to go.

[Recording End]

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2023-12-07

Ask A Genius 618: Informational Cosmology, Updates

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen and Rick Rosner

Publication (Outlet/Website): Ask A Genius

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2021/07/24

[Recording Start]

Rick Rosner: Alright, let’s dive into this. The central premise of informational cosmology is that the universe is much older than the apparent 14 billion years. It’s viewed as an information processor, with space-time and matter being the physical manifestations of this information processing. The concept parallels how our mind, the information processed in our brain, has a physical manifestation. This idea leads to the notion of a ‘world within a world,’ where the inner world isn’t physically encased like a yolk in an eggshell but exists in a different realm, interconnected through the manipulation of information.

This perspective gains traction when considering that the universe is quantum mechanical in nature. Quantum mechanics deals with incomplete information, stemming from the fact that in a finite world, complete information is an impossibility. It requires an infinite amount of information to perfectly characterize everything. This incomplete or blurry information is precisely what quantum mechanics mathematically models.

In a universe based on information, it’s plausible that it functions similarly to our minds. Throughout the day, our conscious thoughts, each laden with a certain amount of information, remain relatively consistent in their information content. For example, a thought at 2:00 p.m. likely contains a similar amount of information as one at 4:00 p.m. If information manifests in a 3D space-time manifold, one would expect these manifolds to be of roughly equal size.

The traditional Big Bang model of the universe, constantly expanding and potentially contracting, lacks this homogeneity over time. Instead, I envision a universe with a degree of uniformity across time, resembling more a series of ‘rolling bangs’ than a singular Big Bang. This concept is akin to watching water boil, where heated bubbles rise and pop, continuously in a cycle.

In this ‘ice universe,’ galaxies would form, shine, and possibly move towards the center, where their energy contributes to the active center of the universe. This central area remains inflated and active due to the energy emitted across the universe. Galaxies might have lifespans of trillions of years, but not all stars within a galaxy ignite simultaneously, leading to varying lifespans.

In a universe constrained to an apparent age of 14 billion years, as per the Big Bang theory, galaxies would have different destinies. However, in an ‘ice universe’ that maintains a roughly constant size, these galaxies, after burning out, might slide away from the center, becoming dormant for extended periods before potentially being reactivated by an associated web of galactic filaments.

These galaxies and galactic filaments, massive structures stretching across a significant portion of the universe, help shape its curvature. Some of these elements are well-understood in current physics, while others remain speculative. The idea is that old, burned-out galaxies might reignite, perhaps due to the curvature of space focusing energy onto them.

The universe, in this model, appears normal at any given moment, with processes like supernovas or events around supermassive black holes occurring as part of ‘normal universe business.’ The universe would be characterized by cycles of activity, not uniform ones where the entire universe lights up and then dims, but rather new elements moving into the active center, keeping the universe dynamic.

On the periphery, old galaxies act as stabilizing forces. They are like tent pegs in an associative web, holding the structure in place. Their gravitational wells provide a degree of isolation, protecting them from chaos. This stability allows for potential reactivation, as energy from active parts of the universe could be directed towards these dormant areas.

This model suggests a universe where vast amounts of energy from stars and galaxies, escaping their local environments, traverse the universe at or near the speed of light. This energy could potentially focus on these dormant galaxies, reigniting them in a cosmic cycle of renewal and activity.

So, that’s the gist of it. A universe with continual cycles of birth, activity, dormancy, and potential rebirth, all interconnected by the principles of informational cosmology and the physics governing space-time and energy.

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: I need to leave for work now.

Rosner: Alright then, have a good time at work and thanks for the discussion.

Jacobsen: Thank you, too.

Rosner: That seemed fairly reasonable, right?

Jacobsen: From what I could gather, yes. It sounds like a reiteration of rejuvenating old, burnt-out galaxies and the processes involved.

[Recording End]

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2023-12-07

Ask A Genius 617: Numerical Notation and Shapes

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen and Rick Rosner

Publication (Outlet/Website): Ask A Genius

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2021/07/22

[Recording Start]

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: I’m interested in exploring the relationship between numbers and shapes. Specifically, the connections between anything numerical and shapes of various dimensions, such as 2D, 3D, or 4D. Could you elaborate on the relationship between numerical notation and shapes?

Rick Rosner: Alright, let’s delve into this. Generally speaking, we understand from basic principles that systems, or aspects of systems, tend to exist more readily when they are self-consistent. For instance, a symmetrical five-sided polygon is a simpler and more readily understandable shape than a symmetrical polygon with five and a half sides. To even conceptualize a five and a half sided polygon, one might imagine an eleven-sided figure that loops around itself twice. Similarly, a seven-pointed star, which wraps around twice, can be considered as a three and a half sided shape due to its seven sides.

This preference for simplicity and symmetry is mirrored in nature. For example, in quantum mechanics, it was discovered that electrons orbit a nucleus in stable orbits only when the wavelengths of the electrons fit symmetrically in whole numbers around the nucleus. Although this model has evolved into the concept of electron clouds, where energy levels correspond to these symmetrical wavelengths, these clouds still exhibit symmetry around a nucleus. If you look up electron clouds, you’ll see that stable electron orbitals assume various symmetrical shapes around nuclei.

Now, this symmetry, which is crucial for stability, is often described using numerical values that possess a high degree of self-consistency. Arithmetic, as a system, exemplifies this. While you can have one and a half apples, or an apple cut in half, a system with an indeterminate number of apples (sometimes one, sometimes two) isn’t particularly stable. This instability is less apparent in macro situations, where the number of entities, like apples in a kitchen, is generally known and relevant.

In quantum mechanics, we encounter scenarios like Schrödinger’s cat, where a cat inside a box may be simultaneously alive and dead until observed. This concept extends to the idea of having two apples in a box, where one may or may not be destroyed based on a quantum event. In macro situations, however, such indeterminacy is generally tied to irrelevance. We might not know exactly how many apples our neighbor has, but it’s consistent within their context and only relevant within that specific environment.

In the macro world, objects exhibit self-consistency. They don’t blink in and out of existence; they behave as macro objects typically do. This behavior aligns with the unitary nature of objects and the self-consistency of arithmetic. Countable objects like apples operate within the bounds of arithmetic, allowing for counting and fractional division. This is rooted in the inherently self-consistent nature of arithmetic, a system that lends itself to the existence and understanding of objects and concepts in our world. And I guess that’s the end of my ramble on this topic.

Jacobsen: The end?

Rosner: The end.

[Recording End]

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2023-12-07

Ask A Genius 616: Historical Sex

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen and Rick Rosner

Publication (Outlet/Website): Ask A Genius

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2021/07/22

[Recording Start]

Rick Rosner: Observing the recent 20% increase in COVID cases over the past month, I noted that one of my gyms is not strictly enforcing the mask mandate. This situation led me to contemplate the constraints on sexual expression, particularly for closeted individuals in earlier decades. In the 1950s, for instance, opportunities for such individuals to engage in desired sexual activities were likely infrequent, possibly limited to a few times a year due to societal pressures and lack of opportunity.

Reflecting on this, I considered the broader context of sexual fulfillment across history, gauging it by an index of frequency. For most people, and particularly men, the opportunity to engage in sexual activity is often limited by their circumstances. This scarcity applies to various sexual orientations. Even among gay individuals, whom I assume might have different dynamics, limitations exist. Consequently, masturbation has historically been a common alternative, despite being frowned upon and logistically challenging in many societies.

In earlier eras, like the Middle Ages, communal living conditions and societal norms, heavily influenced by religious teachings such as those in the Bible, made private acts like masturbation difficult. Additionally, the average lifespan was shorter, affecting the total frequency of such acts over a lifetime. However, from the 20th century onward, especially since the 1970s, attitudes towards masturbation have shifted towards acceptance as a natural, biological process. The availability of pornography, particularly with the advent of the internet, has also influenced this trend.

Interestingly, in contemporary America, the interest in sexual activities seems to have diminished somewhat. This could be attributed to a variety of entertainment options available today compared to the 1970s when such diversions were limited. I speculate that the 1970s may have represented a peak in the frequency of masturbation, with a potential decrease in recent decades.

Considering this historical perspective, it appears that people in the last 50 years have engaged in masturbation more frequently than in any other period. This increased frequency has likely influenced the nature of pornography, pushing it towards more novel and diverse themes. This is due in part to the human need for variety in sexual fantasy, leading to the exploration of more unconventional and, at times, extreme content, especially given the vast and easily accessible range available online today. The end.

[Recording End]

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2023-12-07

Ask A Genius 615: More Flu!

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen and Rick Rosner

Publication (Outlet/Website): Ask A Genius

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2021/07/21

[Recording Start]

Rick Rosner: Let us delve into the topic of the Spanish flu, traditionally referred to as the 1918 or 1919 Spanish flu. Its moniker is somewhat misleading, as it originated not in Spain but in Oklahoma. The name arose during World War I, under President Wilson’s administration, which imposed strict media controls. As a result, there was minimal reporting on the flu’s severity in America, while outbreaks in other countries, particularly Spain, received more coverage. This led to the misnomer ‘Spanish flu,’ though a more geographically accurate name would be the ‘Oklahoma flu.’ Today, it is known by other terms as well.

Considering the absence of vaccines at that time, one ponders how the pandemic subsided. With an estimated global population of 1.5 billion, the Spanish flu claimed over 50 million lives, accounting for more than three percent of the world’s population. It is estimated that a third of the global population contracted the virus. While this level of infection does not necessarily confer herd immunity, the lack of widespread air travel at the time might have facilitated a form of localized herd immunity. The virus likely mutated into a less lethal or contagious form, contributing to its decline. By the summer of 1919, after about a year of prevalence, the pandemic’s intensity diminished, though it continued to affect some regions into 1920.

Drawing parallels to the current situation, approximately 3.6 billion vaccine doses have been administered globally to a population nearing eight billion. However, with only about 20 percent of the world vaccinated, we fall short of achieving herd immunity. The emergence of the highly contagious Delta variant compounds this challenge. The former head of a significant U.S. health agency suggested that most unvaccinated individuals in America are likely to contract it, given its rapid spread in England, where vaccination rates are commendable. Yet, the Delta variant predominantly affects younger, unvaccinated individuals.

In the U.S., vaccination rates vary significantly, with some regions, particularly those historically associated with the Civil War, showing much lower vaccination rates. This disparity is evident in the recent 800% increase in new daily cases in Los Angeles County. While the Delta variant is less lethal, its contagiousness could result in a surge of cases comparable to the worst phases of the pandemic. This is compounded by the fact that the impact of COVID-19 can be long-lasting, as seen in the case of my acquaintance, JD, who still experiences altered symptoms six months post-infection.

Recent shifts in conservative media, particularly Fox News, towards advocating vaccination, might be attributed to various factors, including legal concerns, economic implications, and political motivations. These changes coincide with a sharp increase in COVID-19 cases in Florida, currently the epicenter of new cases in the U.S.

In summary, we stand on the brink of a significant wave, potentially the second largest of the five waves experienced in the U.S. This current surge, characterized by rapidly increasing daily cases, is particularly frustrating as it is largely preventable through vaccination. The end.

[Recording End]

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2023-12-07

Ask A Genius 614: The Oklahoma Flu

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen and Rick Rosner

Publication (Outlet/Website): Ask A Genius

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2021/07/21

[Recording Start]

Rick Rosner: Ok. Let us start talking about Spanish. Were you even supposed to call it the Spanish flu of 1918 or 1919? However, that is what it has been called for a hundred years. It is not because it started in Spain; it started in Oklahoma. However, President Wilson had an embargo, World War One was going on, and he could stop stuff he did not want reported on. So, they only reported a little on the flu going wild in America. They could report on it going crazy elsewhere.

Moreover, the king of Spain got it. So it became the Spanish flu, even though it should be the Oklahoma flu. However, anyway, they did not have vaccines back then. So what made it stop being a pandemic?

Back then, there were about one point five billion people on Earth. Spanish flu killed at least 50 million of them, more than three percent. They estimate that at least a third of everybody on Earth caught it. However, a third of everybody catching it would not necessarily give Earth herd immunity. However, it could be because we did not have commercial airline flights back then. So, maybe herd immunity is, you can do it at lower levels if you do not have people travelling from the most infected parts of the world to others. It may have mutated. I should do more reading on it, but it may have mutated into a form that was not as killie or as contagious. However, anyway, it died out, or at least people quit reporting on it, as much after the summer of 1919, after it had gone for about a year.

It still popped up and fucked up many people in some places in 1920. However, I do not know if it was still a pandemic in 1920. However, in any case, I only mention all this because, to compare it to now, about three point six billion vaccine doses have been given to the world’s nearly eight billion people. Moreover, depending on where you look, roughly 20 percent of the world has been vaccinated, which again is nowhere near herd immunity. Moreover, now we have this Delta variant that’s three times or more, and it is much more contagious than the previous variants. Moreover, the former U.S. head of… says that in America, at least if, that most people who are unvaccinated will catch it. It is running wild in England.

England has been doing an excellent job of vaccinating its people, except for its young people. Eighty-eight Brits, eighteen and over, have had at least one dose of vaccine and sixty-nine had both doses, which is higher than just about any other country. However, the Delta has been going wild in Britain, mainly among young people. It could be awful for the next couple of months, mainly since they stupidly two days ago got rid of all COVID restrictions. However, the U.S. is less vaccinated than Britain, where Britain has sixty-nine adults in the U.S., it is fifty-nine adults.

Moreover, you have got big pockets where, like the Civil War states, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and maybe Tennessee are thirty-five percent vaccinated. Wyoming and Idaho are forty percent, though they matter less because you have more Buffalo and Wyoming than people if you include cases in Los Angeles County. New daily cases are up eight hundred percent since last month. So, there is a fair chance that you would think that we could get a wave with fewer new daily cases than we had during the terrible third wave when nobody was vaccinated. However, this stuff is so contagious that there is a chance that the number of daily cases will match the third wave. Though it is not as killie, well, it is hard to tell because it is still early on. They called the death a lagging indicator that the death wave follows the new case wave by about two weeks because it takes two weeks for it to kill you if it is going to kill you.

However, based on Britain, it might not be as kill because it is infecting younger people. In general, it is common for people. Forty percent of people who get COVID-19 might end up being long-haulers. People with symptoms more than a month after their original diagnosis. My buddy JD got covered six months ago, and his shit still has not returned to the colour it was for his whole life until he got poked, which, as symptoms go, is not the worst fucking symptom, but who knows what else it is doing to him. However, anyway, it was going wild until yesterday or so; conservative media in America was pushing hard for vaccine skepticism, supporting people not getting vaccinated. The stock market crashed nine hundred points. The day before yesterday, people were thinking.

Anyway, yesterday, Fox News started to push for people to get vaccines a little bit. People think it might be because Fox is afraid of getting sued or because the people running Fox do not want to lose all their money if the stock market crashes because there is another huge wave, or simply because the Republicans do not want all their voters to die or to get pissed at them. After all, every Republican family loses somebody to covid. So last week in Britain and Florida, America’s most COVID state right now, with 20 percent of America’s new cases. Covid numbers have not been going up every day, but Covid numbers have never gone up every day because reporting standards vary by what day of the week it is.

Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday are low COVID reporting days because they are around the weekend. So the number has stayed the same. Today, they exploded again. The Florida numbers just came out, roughly 10 percent higher than the previous record for this wave. For a while, it looked like they might not be as exploding as people feared, but now it looks like they might be. So that is where we stand, probably on the cusp of a wave that will be the second biggest of the five waves the U.S. has had. Right now, it is at about 60 percent of the second and third-place waves in terms of the number of new daily cases and will probably match that number of new daily cases by sometime next month. To add, this seems like it is pissing people off more than the previous waves did because this is a preventable way. So, there may be a slight silver lining—the end.

[Recording End]

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2023-12-07

Pith 765: Heroesin Lioneyes

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/12/07

Heroesin Lioneyes: Asoon asunderu mate idols, your trip ’tis stent; agod, agasp, no undulnation undo itself, ’cause under God.

See “Calf.”

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2023-12-07

Pith 763: Music of the Peers

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/12/07

Music of the Peers: Human beings are not nearly as good as the music they play, but they can carry a tune; that’s not nothing.

See “War.”

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2023-12-07

Pith 764: Etch your insignia

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/12/07

Etch your insignia: Give your heart a break, take a pace before you place, the stake; no need to be so tart.

See “Leave a mark.”

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2023-12-07

Pith 762: Farben Works are still intact

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/12/07

Farben Works are still intact: Children play where adults slay; sleighs could roam where schools once lay.

See “Dividing line.”

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2023-12-07

Pith 761: Hidden costs

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/12/07

Hidden costs: The subterranean costs of war happen as a slow water drop in caverns; a plural stalactite deposit.

See “Some have no cure.”

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2023-12-07

Pith 760: Ticket to nowhere

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/12/07

Ticket to nowhere: Take a bath, get out, look at it, what’s left; not in the bath, on you, that’s the appearance.

See “What is a person?”.

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2023-12-07

Pith 759: Norah Jones

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/12/07

Norah Jones: is a cool, calm stream on a hard week.

See “Kharkiv.”

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2023-12-07

Pith 758: “I’m not modest, but I’m fun.”

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/12/07

“I’m not modest, but I’m fun.”: George Clooney is gold gone platinum.

See “Snake Pitt.”

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2023-12-07

Pith 757: And I

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/12/07

And I: oh eye, see I in i, instillunder sighte; a feelure failt; a randomdamn kirssed lipsealed; note me andamore.

See “A partingtition.”

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2023-12-07

Pith 756: Henry Kissinger

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/12/07

Henry Kissinger: So long and thanks for all the kitsch.

See “War.”

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2023-12-07

Pith 755: Air Raid Alarm

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/12/07

Air Raid Alarm: A sign, a signal, a signification; of alert, of danger, of war; now, pending, reality.

See “Sounds to remember the Now.”

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2023-12-07

Pith 754: War is hell

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/12/07

War is hell: There’s nothing the Catastrophe doesn’t affect; a pervasive declination on human wellbeing metrics, all scales.

See “Combat.”

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2023-12-07

Pith 753: No tomorrow

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/12/07

No tomorrow: Don’t imagine no religion; imagine no tomorrow, do that with duty; now, you don’t need the former and life starts.

See “Jot.”

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2023-12-07

Pith 752: Traps

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/12/07

Traps: If your focus is to “get ahead,” then, by definition, you’re always behind; why do people make their own miseries?

See “Nature.”

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2023-12-07

Pith 751: Poland

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/12/07

Poland: Every drink in a container is small here; lots of people dress as if ’90s North American Christmas movies.

See “Next! Moldova.”

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2023-12-07

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/12/07

Taiwan: Ukraine, target one, Israel, target two, who is third; is Taiwan a nervous candidate now?

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2023-12-07

Pith 744: Willy

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/12/07

Willy: There’s a beauty in tragedy; nature gifted emotions; they’re there; and that’s that.

See “Maya Angelou monologue to drunk on SNL.”

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2023-12-07

Cory Efram Doctorow Interview

Author(s): Cory Efram Doctorow and Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Noses: The Journal of the Mega Society

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11

Abstract

Cory Doctorow is an Activist, Blogger, Journalist, and Science Fiction Writer. He discusses: geographic, cultural, and linguistic background; the influence on personal development of the background; pivotal moments in life; the ability to travel by bus and intellectual development; advice for gifted and talented youths; and an honorary doctorate from Open University.

Keywords: activist, Cory Efram Doctorow, journalist, science fiction, writer.

1. Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Duly noted, the biographical information on the website remain out of date because the information appears update on July 30, 2015 – about an eternity ago.[4] With this in mind, and before the in-depth aspects of the interview, let’s cover some of the background. Those with an interest in more detailed information can review the footnotes and references provided throughout and at the end of the interview. In terms of geography, culture, and language, where does your personal and familial background reside?

Cory Doctorow: Geography, culture, and language, well, my father’s parents are from Eastern Europe. My grandmother was born in Leningrad. My grandfather was born in a country that is now Poland, but was then Belarus, a territory rather, that is now Polish but was then Belarusian. My father was born while his parents were in a displaced persons camp in Azerbaijan and his first language was Yiddish. My mother’s family are first and second generation Ukrainian-Russian Romanians. Her first language was English, but her mother’s first language was French and was raised in Quebec. I was born in Canada. My first language is English. And I attended Yiddish school at a radical socialist Yiddish program run by the Workman’s Circle until I was 13.

I was raised in Canada. I moved to Central America – the Costa Rican-Nicaraguan border – when I was in my early 20s and from there to California, and I ping-ponged back-and-forth between Northern California and Canada for some years, and then I re-settled in Northern California, and then in the United Kingdom, and then in Los Angeles, and then back in the United Kingdom, and then back in Los Angeles, and then back in the United Kingdom, and I am currently residing outside of Los Angeles in Burbank, and seeking permanent residence in of the United States.

2. Jacobsen: In terms of the influence on development, what was it with this background?

Doctorow: I guess there is some influence. It is hard to qualify or quantify. I have written fiction about some of my family’s experiences. My grandmother was a child soldier in the siege of Leningrad. It was something that I did not know much about until I visited Saint Petersburg with her in the mid-2000s and she started to open up. I wrote a novella called After the Siege that’s built on that. I guess I have always had a sense that rhetoric about illegal immigrants or migration more generally was about my family.

All of the things that people say illegal immigrants must and mustn’t do were about the circumstances of my grandparents’ migration. My grandfather and grandmother were Red Army deserters, and they destroyed their papers after leaving Azerbaijan in order to qualify as displaced people and not be ingested back into the Soviet population. Maintaining that ruse, they were able to board a DP boat from Hamburg to Halifax, and that was how they migrated to Canada. If they had been truthful in their immigration process, they would have almost certainly ended up in the former Soviet Union and likely faced reprisals for deserting from the army as well.

3. Jacobsen: What about influences and pivotal moments in major cross-sections of early life including kindergarten, elementary school, junior high school, high school, and undergraduate studies (college/university)?

Doctorow: I went to fairly straightforward public schools. My mother is an early childhood education specialist, and she taught in my elementary school. When I was 9, we moved to a different neighbourhood, not far away, but far enough away that I could not walk to that old school anymore. At that point, I enrolled in a publicly funded alternative school called the ALP, the Alternative Learning Program. It was also too far away to walk. So, I started taking the bus on my own, which was significant in terms of my intellectual development later in life, and my ability to figure out the transit route, and jump on the bus, and go wherever it was that I wanted to go. It turned out to be extremely significant in my intellectual development. The alternative learning school, learning program rather, grouped kindergarten through grade 8 in one or two classes.

Older students were expected to teach the younger students. There was a lot of latitude to pursue the curriculum at our own pace. That was also significant in terms of my approach to learning. The school itself, when I was in grade 6, I think, or 7, and was re-homed in a much larger middle school that was much more conservative. A number of students there were military cadets. I had been active as an anti-war activist and an anti-nuclear proliferation activist that put me in conflict with the administration. I was beaten up and bullied by the students at the larger school. I was also penalized by the administration for my political beliefs. They basically did everything they could to interfere with our political organizing. We ran an activist group out of the school, and attempted protests and so on.

They would confiscate our materials, and they would allow, tacitly, those kids who were violent against us to get away with it. When I graduated from that program, my parents were keen on my attending a gifted school for grade 9. I found it terrible, focused on testing and rigid. much the opposite of the program that I had gone into and thrived in. So, after a couple months of that, I simply stopped going. Grade 9, I started taking the subway downtown and hanging out at the Metro reference library in Toronto, which is a giant reference library. At the time, they had a well-stocked microfiche and microfilm section with an archive going back to the 18^th century, and I basically spent two or three weeks browsing through the paper archives, going through the subject index and then finding things that were interesting, and then reading random chapters out of books that were interesting and so on, until my parent figured out I was not going to school anymore. We had a knockdown, drag out fight. That culminated with my switching to a publicly funded alternative secondary school called AISP, Alternative Independent Study Program.

I went there for two years, and then enrolled in a school downtown called SEED school. SEED school was a much more radical, open, and alternative school, where attendance was not mandatory, courses weren’t mandatory. I took most of the school year off to organize opposition to the first Gulf war. I took most of another year off to move to Baja California, Mexico with a word processor and write. I took about 7 years altogether to graduate with a 4-year diploma, and then I went through 4 undergraduate university programs. None of which I stayed in for more than a semester.

The first was York University Interdisciplinary studies program. The second was University of Toronto’s Artificial Intelligence Program. The third was Michigan State University’s graduate writing program, which I was given early admission to, and then the fourth one was University of Waterloos independent studies program. After a semester or so at each of them, I concluded they were a bit rigid and not to my liking, and after the fourth one, after Waterloo, I figured I was not cut out for undergraduate education. The tipping point was that the undergraduate program with a thesis year. It is a year-long independent project. I proposed a multimedia hyper-textual project delivered on CD-ROM that would talk about social deviance and the internet, and while they thought the subject was interesting, they were a little dubious about it. But they were four square that anything that I did would have to show up on 8.5×11, 20-pound bond and ALA style book. And I got a job offer to program CD-ROMs from a contractor that worked with Voyager, which was one of the largest and the best multimedia publishers in the world.

I thought, “I can stay here and not do hypertext and pay you guys a lot of money, or I can take this job that pays more than I have ever mad e in my life and do exactly the work that you’re not going to let me do here.” When I thought about it in those terms, it was an easy decision to drop out and I never looked back.

4. Jacobsen: At the outset, you did mention that the ability to travel by bus was an important moment for you in terms of your intellectual development. Can you please expand on that?

Doctorow: Sure, as I went through these alternative schools, I had a large degree of freedom in terms of my time, and how I structured my work, and so, for example when I was 9 or 10, we did a school field trip to a library that was then called the Spaced Out Library, a science fiction reference collection, and now called the Merril Collection. It was founded by the writer and critic Judith Merril. She left the United States after the Chicago 1968 police riots, and moved to Canada in protest. She brought her personal library with her, which she donated to the Toronto library system, where she was the writer-in-residence. After going there once, and finding this heaven of books and reference material, and lots of other things, I started jumping on the subway whenever I had a spare moment and going down there. Merril herself, being the writer-in-residence, would meet with writers like me and critique our work. And from them, I discovered the science fiction book store, which I later went on to work at.

I would add that to my daily or weekly rounds, and go and raid their news book section, and their 25 cent rack, and began reading my way through the field. At the same time, my political activism and work in anti-nuclear proliferation movement, and the reproductive freedom movement, working as an escort at the Toronto abortion clinics to escort women through the lines of protestors. As I became more and more knowledgeable about the city, and all of its ways of getting around, I also found myself engaged with all of these different communities.

5. One of things that seems like a trend to me, and you can correct me if I am wrong, please. In the sense that, you have the rigid part of the educational system that you did go through. So, for instance, the earlier gifted program that you disliked, but when you had more freedom you did not note any general dislike of that, and, in fact, your general trajectory seems to indicate a trend towards more open-source information and in terms of educational style, too. That seems to be your preference, and that does seem to reflect a lot of gifted and talented students’ experiences in the traditional educational system. Any advice for gifted and talented youths that might read this interview in terms of what educational resources that they can get too?

Phew. I do not know., one of the things that going through the gifted and talented program, which was called gifted back then, taught me is that gifted is like this incredibly – it is a – problematic label. It privileges a certain learning style. I mean I did not thrive in a gifted program. I did terribly in a gifted program because the gifted program seems largely about structure, and same with the undergraduate programs, imposing structure on the grounds that if kids were left to their own devices, they would goof off. For me, although, I did my share of goofing off. If I was left sufficiently bored, and if I were given enough hints about where I would find exciting things that would help me leave that boredom, I was perfectly capable of taking control of my own educational experience, and because it was self-directed it was much more meaningful and stuck much more deeply than anything that would have been imposed on me.

It is like intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation. The things that I came to because I found them fascinating or compelling. I ended up doing in much more depth, and ended up staying with me much longer, than the things that I was made to do, and the things that the grownups and educators did for me was laid out the buffet, but not tell me what I had to pick off of it and in what order, and that was super beneficial to me. I think that when we say gifted and talented we often mean pliable or bit-able, as opposed to intellectually curious or ferocious. Although, I think we have elements of all of those in us. The selling of a gifted and talented program often comes at the expense of being independent and intrinsically motivated in your learning style.

6. You earned an honorary doctorate in computer science from the Open University (UK). What does this mean to you?

It meant rather a lot. More than I even thought it would. My parents were upset at my decision to drop out of undergraduate programs and not finish them. A decade after I dropped out of Waterloo, after I had multiple New York Times bestsellers under my belt, they were still like, “Have you thought about going back and finishing that undergraduate degree? For me, I think that undergraduate degree signified an escape and also was of becoming who they were. My grandparents were not well-educated. My grandfather was functionally illiterate in five different languages. [Laughter]. My grandmother too. My parents were arguably the first people in their family to be literate. Being the eldest of their cohort, respectively, they were the first people to become literate, not the last by any stretch, but finished a doctorate in education. For them, formal structured credentializing education was a pathway to an intellectual freedom. For me, it was the opposite, and yet it was clear that my parents – no matter what I did – were less than delighted with my progress. There would always be something missing in my progress for so long as I did not have a formal academic credential. So, they were awfully excited when I got the degree. I had some vicarious excitement. Plus, I thoroughly enjoyed to riff them on why they did it the hard way and spent all that time and money on their degree, when all you needed to do was hang around until the someone gave you one. Of course, I have more respect for the Academy that that. [Laughing]

[Laughing]

But it also meant that instrumentally gave me a lot of advantages. I have been a migrant on many occasions into many countries and have suffered from the lack of formal academic credentials. Immigration systems of most countries rely on credentialing as a heuristic of who is the person they want to resettle in their territories, and the lack of an academic credential meant that, for example, to get my 01 visa in the United States is an alien of extraordinary ability visa, which is typically only available to people with doctorate or post-doctorate credential. I needed to file paperwork that demonstrated the equivalent. My initial visa application was 600, and 900 pages in my second renewal and 1,200 pages in my recent one.

They were that long in order to convince the US immigration authorities that what I have done amounts to a graduate degree, so, that instrumental piece of it was nice, but then, finally, it was a connection to the Open University, which is an institution that I think very, highly of. Their commitment to a distance education, individualized curriculum for lifelong learning matches with my own learning style, and the way I think about pedagogy more generally. I was honored to gain this long-term affiliation with the university with what amounts to a lifelong affiliation with the university. It was exciting.

[End Part 1 of interview]

Abstract

Cory Doctorow is an Activist, Blogger, Journalist, and Science Fiction Writer. He discusses: philosophies appealing to him; a good grasp of the near future or lack thereof; Participatory Culture Foundation; the Clarion Foundation; the Metabrainz Foundation; The Glenn Gould Foundation; Alice Taylor and their love story; marriage and its change for personal perspective; Poesy Emmeline Fibonacci Nautilus Taylor Doctorow; three biggest changes in the next 50 years; timeline for the modification of more than half the human population; and the potential for the levelling off the accelerating technological changes.

Keywords: activist, Cory Efram Doctorow, journalist, science fiction, writer.

1. Scott Douglas Jacobsen: What philosophies appeal the most to you – general, political, social, economic, aesthetic?

[Laughing] Gosh. You mean like logical positivism or utilitarianism, or whatever? I do not know. I do not know that I have a main, core general philosophy that I think is best., politically, I favor evidence-based policy, but you still have to ask yourself evidence in support of what. Is it utilitarianism? I do not know. I do not know that I have a name for it. There are elements of anarcho-syndicalism and Marxism that I find compelling.

A book that had a huge impression on me this year was a book called Austerity ecology, and the collapse-porn addicts. It was a Marxist critique of the Green Left, which squared a lot of circles for me because I am a believer in material culture, and an enjoyer of material culture. I think physical things are cool, and I like them, and they bring me pleasure, and beautiful things bring me pleasure. The Green Left has conflated anti-consumerism with anti-materialism.

Leigh Philipps’ idea is that I do not need to step back from material abundance into a material austerity in order to save the planet, who’s name I am blanking on. He talks about how high technology and its material abundance are the only way we can imagine both accommodating the human population as it is and what is will become, and the Earth. That organic farming is code for let’s kill 3 billion people, and still not have enough food for everybody. It is only through GMO and nuclear power, and the Left has historically been the movement for material abundance for all.

The Left’s critique of the wealth of the rich was not that the rich had too much, but rather everyone else had too little. The Marxist left, viewed the capitalist system for improving material efficiency in material production so that the material abundance could be realized for all. And he makes many great little easily conveyable points like: “Capitalism and markets — because they favor firms that have lower costs — have radically reduced the material and energy-inputs into our physical goods, and continue to do so with virtually no end in sight.”

The downside of something like Uber or self-driving cars in a market economy is that all of the dividends of increased productivity and automation accrue to the forces of capital, but that’s an economic phenomenon and not a technological one. The upside is that we are getting more people to more places and more comfort with less environmental consequences, and that if we can solve the labor side what you end up with is an enormous benefit to everybody. And solving the labour side is an economic question that relies or presumes that the technological side is allowed to go on. He also notes that Walmart and Amazon of how non-market forces can be used to allocate resources extremely efficiently. These are not internal market places. They are command and control market places.

That nevertheless manage to move material products from one place to another very, efficiently, and so I guess I am a post-Green leftist. And I guess my view is that technology humanity’s servant and not its master but that it takes a political world for that to be the case. I do not know if that makes sense. It is the intersection of all of these other things. I think the two-dimensional left-right diagram or chart, graph, is insufficient. I think you need a right-left, centralist-decentralist, technology-anti-technology, material-spiritual, multidimensional shape to plot political ideology or life ideology correctly.

I am a believer in self-determination, but I am also a believer in collective work and collectivism, and particularly in the same way that being gifted privileges a certain cognitive style or certain intellect without regard to any objective criteria for what is the best intellect. I think that the idea of meritocracy is a self-serving, self-delusion. That meritocracy starts from the presumption that you can get rid of all the people whose skills are possessed by lots of people and take the people whose skills are more rarely distributed in the general population and that those people can have a perfectly good life,

The reality is that it does not matter how excellent you are at being a nuclear physicist or a brain surgeon,

If you are someone cleaning the toilets, you are going to die of cholera. I am skeptical of the meritocratic story, and, again, I do not know exactly what you would call that political philosophy. Egalitarianism? Not because I think we are all different. I do not know. Humanism? I am an atheist and a materialist. I am a believer in Enlightenment methodologies. I am a believer in the scientific method. And the idea that our own cognitive processes are subject to delusion and self-delusion. That self-delusion is particularly pernicious problem for our cognitive apparatus and only by subjecting ourselves to adversarial peer review can we figure out what is true or not or whether we are kidding ourselves. I do not know what you call that philosophy.

2. Who besides you might have the best grasp of the near future?

I do not think I have any real grasp of the near future. I think science fiction writers are Texan marksman. We fire a shot out there and then draw a target around the place where the pellets hit. Science fiction makes a lot of predictions, and if none of them came true that would be remarkable, but that does not mean we are any better than a random number generator. I think that the near future – the way to find out about the present anyways, which is the moving wave front in which the past becomes the near future – is to look at all of those futuristic stories that we are telling that represents the futures that may be, and find the ones that are resonating in the popular imaginations, and that tells you about the subconscious fears and aspirations lurking in the public.

I think that the reason that Millennials who were literally not born when Terminator and The Matrix came out are still talking about the Red Pill and Skynet because the idea of transhuman, immortal life forms that treat us as inconvenient gut flora is fantastically resonant in an era when the limited liability corporation has become the dominant structure for guiding our society. In the same way that Frankenstein had its popularity in England tells you an awful lot about the aspirations and fears of technology becoming our master instead of our servitor of the people that read it and watched it on the stage at that time. I do not think anyone is good at the near future, but I think the keen observer is the one who acknowledges that and instead of predictions tends to observations about what’s popular.

3. You serve on the boards of the Participatory Culture Foundation, the Clarion Foundation, the Metabrainz Foundation, and The Glenn Gould Foundation. Let’s run the foundations in order: why the Participatory Culture Foundation? What does it do?

Participatory Culture Foundation is an umbrella under which a group of now not-so-young, but then young, activists that I, liked and continue to like and admire were doing a bunch of projects. They started off as an activists group called downhill battle. It was founded by the music industry’s attempts to regulate the internet and have gone on a wide variety of projects. And they created 501(c)3 in order to have an umbrella to do fundraising through, and to organize their projects, and asked the people who have advised them over the years to join the 501(c)3 board as a brain trust, which I was happy to do.

4. Why the Clarion Foundation? What does it do?

The Clarion Foundation overseas the Clarion writing workshop, which is the workshop I went to when I went to Michigan State. It was formative in my own writing career, and I teach it every couple of years. When the Michigan system was defunded by their state level government and Clarion lost its home at MSU, and started seeking new accommodation, it restructured as a 501(c)3 and asked me if I would join the board. I joined to be their technological know-how person. Arts organizations are a little short on technological prowess. Since then, I have filled that role and done some fundraising for them. I do teach at Clarion every couple of years. I am working out the logistics for teaching in summer 2017 with my family now.

5. Why the Metabrainz Foundation? What does it do?

Metabrainz Foundation overseas something called Metabrainz, which is a metadata system for music that’s open. It was founded in the wake of a now-forgotten scandal. There was something called CDDB or CD Database. The way that it works is that every time you stuck a CD in your computer. You would be prompted to key in the track listing for it. That would go into CDDB, which was organized as an informal project. And then a company called GraceNote took the project over, and made that database proprietary for access to it and freezing out new media players, and you may have noticed that the market for media players has all but vanished in the wake of that – in part because of other phenomena to do with lock-in and platform strategies.

But also, in part, because that metadata resource that made music sortable and playable was cut off. That the commons had been enclosed, and Metabrainz is formed to create an open repository of metadata that was user generated and crowdsourced, and to lock that open in the bylaws of the (c)3 so that it could never be enclosed, so that people would have the ability and the confidence to contribute to the project knowing that it would never be enclosed. It has been successful since and has built a database whose metadata is reliable in ways that GraceNote and other databases have never been, and can be accessed with audio fingerprinting algorithms to automatically generate trackless things and other information.

It is a good example of information politics. How political structures, and how economic structures, and how data handling practices can lock services open and make sure that you can have new entrants and new competitors as opposed to locking them closed and pulling up the ladder behind someone who was scrappy a couple years ago and has now developed as a player.

6. Why The Glenn Gould Foundation? What does it do?

That’s one of the ones that lies largely dormant. Gould died without any heirs. Glenn Gould was obviously this famous pianist, and they started an arts foundation and put on a conference that attracted some great talent, but, unfortunately, no audience. There were 80 performers and maybe 60 tickets sold. And they asked me if I would join the board, and I did. Then, they said, “If we have any secure events, we will contact you as a support member.” As far as I know, they haven’t done that.

7. You married Alice Taylor. How did this love story begin and develop into the present?

We met when I was working for Electronic Frontier Fund (EFF). I attended a meeting in Finland that was organized by Tim O’Reilly and Joe Eigo and Marko Ahtisaari (son of the former Prime Minister in Finland). It was called the Social Software Summit. I was at the time a smoker, as was Alice. I came in from San Francisco and had a carton of duty-free cigarettes with me, which we proceeded to smoke together over the course of the conference. It was mid-Summer and the Sun never set. We sat on the roof of the hotel bar. This 12-story hotel in the middle of Helsinki. It is the tallest building in Helsinki. It was KGB headquarters during the occupation.

We stayed up all night. It was romantic, and it kindled a long-distance love affair, which was less doomed than other long-distance love affairs might have been because I was already planning to take this job as European Director at the EFF, which would have me relocating to London. And about six months later, I moved to London and we took up the relationship in person and moved in together about a year later, and had a baby together in 2008, and got married later that year, and are still together to this day.

8. How does marriage change personal perspective on life and its progression?

Well, I guess it forces you to, especially coupled with parenthood, take account of the priorities of other people. When you decide that you’re going to set aside your own pleasure activity or downtime for personal development time to achieve professional goal, suddenly, that decision gets a lot harder. You have to take account of other people’s priorities. I think it makes you more empathic and better at taking other people’s point of view. I think it is required that you be more empathic about other people’s complaints about you. Of course, you have a best friend and sounding board from someone who keeps you intellectually honest who is always there, and I think that makes you more rigorous and smarter, too.

9. On February 3, 2008, Poesy Emmeline Fibonacci Nautilus Taylor Doctorow came into the world with Alice Taylor and Cory Doctorow as her new parents. How does parenting change personal perspective?

I think it makes you have more of a stake in the future. I certainly have always thought that it will be terrible for people who come after me if our worst mistakes go on unchecked, but now there is a much more personal and emotional element to it. It also makes you, I think, a lot more cognizant of the suits and nuts of cognitive development. Having lived through your own cognitive development gives you a certain amount of perspective on how people think and how other people think, and how you often thought, and how you changed, but parenthood makes you confront it on a daily basis as an actual project with consequences.

You need to figure out how to get another human being who lacks your experience, but isn’t dumb by any means to agree to do the things that are the right things to do including acquiring knowledge and experience and context and the ability to put it all together. That is a humbling thing, and that is a continuous challenge, but it is also exciting and rewarding. I also think, at least for me, it eliminated my ability to be objective or to emotionally distance myself from the peril or consequences of children who suffer. And so that is in movies and books, where I find it intolerable now, when children are used as plot devices. Not intolerable intellectually, but emotionally, and having strong emotional reaction to the plight of children who are badly off.

The refugees today. I have always worried about the refugee issues, but there is new dimension when you think of a parent in that situation at least for me. That I was not or never had before I was a parent. I am only 8 years in. There is only more to come. I am sure.

10. What seem like the three biggest changes in the next 50 years without appropriate international preparation?

With that caveat that science fiction writers suck at predicting the future, I think that climate change is on its way, and we have already released so much carbon into the atmosphere that there will be catastrophic effects felt as a result – regardless of what we do. And so our arguments now or challenge now is to see the cataclysmic consequences of that early carbon release and take motivation from it to do something about it before subsequent carbon releases some along that do even worse damage to the planet and to us, and to the living things that we care about.

I think that there is a similar thing happening in our information ecology. That we’ve had 25 or 30 years of surveillance capitalism and mass data gathering on us, and I think the leaking of all that data is more or less a foregone conclusion. Anything that you collect is likely to leak, and I think that given that breaches are cumulative in their harm. That having a little bit of information of you leaked is bad, but it can be pieced together with the next little bit of information so that it can be significantly worse, and so on and so on.

So what we are not arguing about is not whether or not all of that data is going to leak and we are all going to feel the consequences of it, but if we are going to learn from it early enough to not collect too much more information in much more detail from many more sources as computers disappear into our skin and as we put our bodies into computers more often, as our houses we live in and our hospitals have computers that we put people into and so on. So, I think both of these are related issues as they deal with long-term consequences and immediate short-term benefits.

And problems with markets and marketability of things that have long-term consequences and the force to internalize the consequences of their actions. They both have to do with regulatory barrier, and they both are related to mass wealth inequality. One of the things that has driven wealth inequality is corruption, and the ability of the elites to fend off fakes and attempts to make them internalize the costs of their bad decisions, and that corruption is also driven by mass surveillance and mass surveillance allows corrupt states to perpetuate themselves longer because surveillance can be used to find the people that are most likely to make changes to status quo and neutralize them by telling the cops who to take out or by allowing for the disruption of their organizing or activism. And so, I think those two issues are related, and I am interested in how do we decarbonize surveillance capitalism as much as the question of how we decarbonize industrial capitalism as well.

I guess the third is the line between surveillance capitalism and political surveillance. They are intimately related. On the one hand, because of the otherwise destabilizing impact of mass wealth disparity can be countered through surveillance and also because surveillance is much cheaper and easier to attain because markets have offloaded the costs of surveillance from the state to the individuals who are under surveillance. You buy the phone and pay for the subscription that gathers the data about you, and so the state does not have to bear that cost. During the Cold War, the Stasi had one snitch for every 60 people. Now, the NSA manages the to survey the whole planet at the rate of about 1 spy to about every 10,000 people.

11. How long until more than half of the human population is significantly modified, genetically, with augmented thought processing, with continuous blood monitoring and drug administration or the like?

Gosh, I have no idea. I think that my generation assuming that industrial and technological civilization does not collapse. All of my generation will have some medical implant if we live long enough. We are logging enough ear-punishing hours that we’ll all have hearing aids. The numbers on what percentage of people are legally blind by the time they die is a crazy number. It is like 89% or something. The life limit that will use some prosthesis, heads up display, or goggles as we become legally blind is high. It depends on what you count such as wheelchairs and so on. We are already cyborgs to some extent, but in terms of direct germ plasm modification. I have no idea.

That seems to me like a real wild card. Bruce Sterling has made a compelling case is an incredibly dumb idea because the chances are that we’ll come up with better germ plasm modification and you’ll be forever stuck with this year’s mod. Given how much of our metabolic and maybe even our cognitive function is regulated not by our own cells, but by our microbial nations and given how much easier it is to manipulate of a single celled organism. Maybe, what we’ll we do is manipulate our microbes rather than our germ plasms.

12. Will accelerating technological change ever level off?

I honestly have no idea. I think that things like Moore’s Law tend to be taken as laws of physics rather than observations about industrial activity. Moore’s Law is more of an observation than a prediction, and I do not know that we understand entirely what underpins it. I also think that when we look at something like Moore’s Law. We say the power of computation is doubling every couple of years or 18 months. What we mean is not only are we getting better at making faster computers, but we are also choosing the kinds of problems that computers that we know how to make faster are good at, and so it may be that as computing power becomes cheaper or cooler.

Then we can add more cores rather than faster cores, that we decide that we solve the problems that can be solved in parallel rather than serial is problem that we think of as an important one without ever consciously deciding it. That’s where all of the research is because that’s where all of the productivity gains are. We never even notice that we are not getting much better at solving problems in serial because we end up figuring how to solve problems that matter to us in parallel and pretending we do not see the problems that aren’t practical in parallel.

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2023-12-07

Peter Singer Interview

Author(s): Peter Singer and Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Noesis: The Journal of the Mega Society

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11

Abstract

Prof. Singer’s biographic statement on his website says the following: “Journalists have bestowed on me the tag of “world’s most influential living philosopher.” They are probably thinking of my work on the ethics of our treatment of animals, often credited with starting the modern animal rights movement, and of the influence that my writing has had on development of effective altruism. I am also known for my controversial critique of the sanctity of life ethics in bioethics. In 2021 I was delighted to receive the Berggruen Prize for Philosophy and Culture. The citation referred to my “widely influential and intellectually rigorous work in reinvigorating utilitarianism as part of academic philosophy and as a force for change in the world.” The prize comes with $1 million which, in accordance with views I have been defending for many years, I am donating to the most effective organizations working to assist people in extreme poverty and to reduce the suffering of animals in factory farms. Several key figures in the animal movement have said that my book Animal Liberation, first published in 1975, led them to get involved in the struggle to reduce the vast amount of suffering we inflict on animals. To that end, I co-founded the Australian Federation of Animal Societies, now Animals Australia, the country’s largest and most effective animal organization. My wife, Renata, and I stopped eating meat in 1971. I am the founder of The Life You Can Save, an organization based on my book of the same name. It aims to spread my ideas about why we should be doing much more to improve the lives of people living in extreme poverty, and how we can best do this. You can view my TED talk on this topic here. My writings in this area include: the 1972 essay “Famine, Affluence, and Morality” in which I argue for donating to help the global poor; and two books that make the case for effective giving, The Life You Can Save (2009) and The Most Good You Can Do (2015). I have written, co-authored, edited or co-edited more than 50 books, including Practical Ethics, The Expanding Circle, Rethinking Life and Death, One World, The Ethics of What We Eat (with Jim Mason) and The Point of View of the Universe (with Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek. My writings have appeared in more than 25 languages. I was born in Melbourne, Australia, in 1946, and educated at the University of Melbourne and the University of Oxford. After teaching in England, the United States, and Australia, in 1999 I became Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics in the University Center for Human Values at Princeton University. I am now only teaching at Princeton for the Fall semester. I spend part of each year doing research and writing in Melbourne, so that Renata and I can spend time with our three daughters and four grandchildren. We also enjoy hiking, and I surf.” Singer discusses: Animal Liberation Now; and the awakening to the treatment of animals.

Keywords: Animal Liberation, Animal Liberation Now, Apuleis, Australia, Buddhism, Canadian student, Japan, Oxford, Peter Singer, Plutarch, Princeton University, Pythagoras, Romans, The Golden Ass.

Conversation with Professor Peter Singer: Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics, Princeton University (1)

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: So, today, we are back with Peter Singer. Different publication, second interview, you are coming out with a book again, Animal Liberation Now, as an update on Animal LiberationI, which is an update on the original text. This interview is being done in December, but it will come out in May, 2023. So, to begin, what was the first indication in your intellectual history and personal history when ethical consideration for non-human animals was considered important and legitimate?

Prof. Peter Singer: To me, this can be traced to a very definite single event. There was a chance lunch that I had with a fellow graduate student. I was a graduate student at Oxford studying philosophy and came from Australia. I was talking after class to a Canadian graduate student about a topic completely unrelated to animals, but something going on in the class. He said, “Let’s continue the discussion over lunch, over at my college.” I said, “Sure”. We went there to get served. At the table where you get served, there was either a salad plate or some spaghetti with some red-brown sauce on top of it. I took the spaghetti. The Canadian asked if there was meat in the spaghetti sauce. When he was told there was, he took the salad. We sat down and continued to talk, and the conversation that we were having. When that came to a natural conclusion, when I asked him what his problem was with meat, you have to realize this is 1970.

There aren’t a lot of vegetarians around.

Jacobsen: [Laughing].

Singer: I don’t think I had a serious conversation with a vegetarian about eating animals. There weren’t really any. You knew that some Indians didn’t eat meat. There might be some people who thought it was bad for their health to eat meat, but they were pretty rare too. Richard said something much more straightforward than that. He said, “I don’t think it is right to treat animals the way they are treated to turn them into food for us”. It took me aback. I knew, of course, animals were turned into food. I thought they were outdoors in the fields, basically, having a good time before the grim day.

Jacobsen: [Laughing].

Singer: When they go to get dropped off for slaughter. Richard said, “No, they are inside, confined in sheds. The real test of how much you crowd them is if your profits go up. You will cram them until so many may drop dead that they can’t cope, then profits decrease. Then you will stop. That is not the point at which their welfare is good. It is well past that.” This pretty well disturbed me. I found myself reasonably kind to animals. I never thought of myself as an animal lover. I never had companion animals. Who wants to be cruel to animals? That is a bad thing. I didn’t know much about it. Richard said there is a book out about this by Ruth Harrison called Animal Machines. It wasn’t a well-known book and obscure book about animal faming. I don’t think it was on any bookshelves. It was pretty revealing because it was building on what farm magazines were saying about how to treat your animals. “You make more money if you do this”. It backed up what Richard was saying.

“This is not good. Is it really okay to treat animals like this? Why would it be okay?” That is what got me thinking that there is a serious moral issue that I should think more about.

Jacobsen: If we go back to the 1970s story and the moral awakening on the treatment of animals, are there prior individuals in centuries past who gave serious consideration to the ethics of animals? I think we’re all somewhat aware of the dismissal of moral concern for animals in intellectual history.

Singer: Yes. There, certainly, have been a few individuals in different civilizations. Interstingly, Buddha talks a lot about compassion. Buddha talks about compassion for sentient beings, not just for humans. If you go to visit a Buddhist temple, certainly, I visited some in Japan. You get a little admission ticket. You pay a small fee for admission. On the ticket, it says, “The first precept of Buddhism is compassionate consideration for all sentient beings”. That doesn’t mean all people following Buddhism and Buddhist priests are vegetarians. In the West, Pythagoras was a vegetarian. Although, we don’t know why, because we have no direct writings. It may have been his thoughts on being reincarnated as animals. There was some connection with India or the East. That may have led Pythagoras to think that.

But there are a couple of ancient writings. There is an essay by Plutarch, in the Roman period, called on abstinence from flesh. We don’t have it all. But it is clear that what we have does talk about the suffering inflicted on animals, particularly by wealthy Romans having special kinds of what were supposed to be delicacies. If you have a pregnant sow, and if you trampled her to death, trampling the piglets inside her, and ate them, this was supposed to be a special gourmet delicacy. Plutarch didn’t think this was very good.

The other work that I should mention is because I edited an abridged edition of it. The Golden Ass by Apuleis, he was a second-century Christian hero, and thinker. An African, actually, he came from what is now Algeria. He has this really amusing novel, which I think deserves to be better known about a man that gets turned into a donkey. He gets interested in magic and the magic turns out wrong. He becomes a donkey for quite a long time. So, the rest of the novel is told through the eyes of the donkey. The donkey doesn’t get treated well by humans.

Jacobsen: [Laughing].

Singer: Clearly, Apuleis was sympathetic to the treatment of animals. The man who gets turned into a donkey. His family history include Plutarch. So, clearly, there is a link between Plutarch and Apuleis.

[End Part 1 of interview]

Singer discusses: non-human animal consideration; reasons people make changes in diet regarding animal welfare; and sentientism.

Keywords: Animal Liberation Now, Australia, Chinese, Japanese, octopus, oyster, Peter Singer, Princeton University, Pythagoras, Sentientism, vegan, vegetarian.

Conversation with Professor Peter Singer on Meat-Like Foods and Sentientism: Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics, Princeton University (2)

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Things have really ramped up in the last couple decades in terms of consideration of animal welfare. Although, there is mass killing of non-human animals, certainly, in factory farms and elsewhere. However, I think with a lot of technological advancements; the conversations seem to be happening a lot more. Things just happening around meat grown through stem cells. Things of this nature. Has advancement of technology, in your opinion, changed some of the consideration of non-human animal welfare, simply for the fac that it may not be necessary to include as much suffering if you can get the same product in another manner that is more efficient?

Prof. Peter Singer: I am hopeful that cellular agriculture and plant-based analogues to meat are going to do that. I don’t think they’ve done that to a really significant scale. I think that’s largey because of cost. They are still more expensive than the standard meast products. If you buy an impossible burger or a beyond meat burger, it is going to cost you a little more than the ordinary beef burger. It may be just as good, but it is not clearly better. So, it needs to come down in price, I think, and then we need to get these other products that people are producing. There are chicken products, now, coming on the market, in Singapore anyway. They are selling chicken nuggets. I think they will start to come on the market here too. It is not as though you have been unable to nourish yourself because these high-tech meat-like products. You could always live and cheaply on plant proteins like lentils and beans of various sorts, and tofu, of course, is a product that has been around for millennia and takes a lot of different kinds of flavourings. I think it works well in a lot of dishes, particularly Chinese dishes as this is where it comes from – and Japanese dishes. So, you didn’t really need it. But some people wanted the taste in their mouth or the chewiness of meat. I hope these products will get cheaper and widely sold and eaten.

Jacobsen: To the brass tax of the considerations about making those changes, what have been, realistically, the main reasons people have made those changes in their diet or their buying patterns, purchasing patterns?

Singer: I think there are three major factors as to why people are moving away from meat in their diet. Some, like me, are primarily concerned over what we are doing to animals and you don’t want to participate in this ruthless exploitation of literally tens of millions of animals giving them nightmarish lives without any consideration for their wellbeing. That’s been one big factor. The second is we are increasingly aware of is the contribution of meat to climate change. Climate change, itself, wasn’t an issue until the mid-1980s, then it will still focused on fossil fuels for a long time. It is only in the last 10 or 20 years that people have been more aware of the role meat plays in accelerating climate change. That’s the second factor. The third factor is health, I would divide the health factor into two. On the one hand, there are people who think, “I will be healthier if I don’t eat meat”. That is certainly a factor for many, many people. You live better. You feel better. You lower risk of cancer of the digestive system and of heart disease. I think there is good evidence of all of those benefits now. That is a big factor. There is also the public health aspect of it, not just what you eat, but what other eat – because factory farms are a great place for growing new viruses. We have alreay had one major pandemic come out of a factory farm. That was the Swine Flu pandemic, which preceded the Coronavirus. It didn’t kill as many people as the Coronavrus. But it killed a lot. The big risk is the next virus to come out from animals crossing to us is that it is grown out of a factory farm with so many animals stressed together. Humans go in and out to taker the animals out to kill them or to do routine maintenance. It could be both highly contagious as Coronavirus, but much more deadly. If that happens, we will be in a very serious problem. That’s a good public health reason for wanting to not take part in factory farmed products as well.

Jacobsen: There’s a term “Sentientist” floating around. To myself, it matches, sort of, my own ethical considerations. I beieve you identify as such. How does this term – this concept – encapsulate a lot of the ethical thinking for you right now?

Singer: Well, look, the point is a sentient being, in the sense we’re using here, is on capable of suffering and feeling pain – and, hopefully, capable of experiencing pleasure and joy as well. But certainly, the capacity to feel pain is part of what it is to be a sentient being. It is a being with conscious experiences. The point of saying that you’re a sentientist is to say that you think that any being capable of feeling pain should have its interests given weight. I would say given similar weight to similar beings with similar interests. Beings that might have a similar interest. If an animal feels a certain amount of pain through – let’s say – being hit, then that is just as bad or equal to hitting a human being and causing the human being a similar amount of pain. The term “sentientist”, we talk about being vegan or vegetarian. They get termed if they eat animals or animal products. But it might not be the case that all animals are sentient. A good example of a non-sentient animal may be an oyster. Oysters have very simple nervous systems. They are unable to move away from sources of danger. So, it is arguable that they would have been less likely to evolve a capacity to feel pain, given that it wouldn’t do them much good as opposed to animals who can move away from sources of pain. So, if you are a sentientist, you might say, “I don’t eat birds and mammals, vertebrates generally. I don’t eat fish.” Perhaps, there is an invertebrate that is clearly sentient is an octopus, which is a mollusc. You might say, “If an animal is not sentient, then I don’t object to eating it, because you can’t cause it to suffer or feel pain. It doesn’t have that capacity.

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2023-12-07

Luca Fiorani Interview (Part 3)

Author(s): Luca Fiorina and Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Noesis: The Journal of the Mega Society

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11

Abstract

Luca Fiorani is a member of Ultima IQ society (cut-off: 170 σ15; founder: Ivan Ivec). Academically, he has a philosophical background. At the same time he sees himself as an independent autodidact. His main interests are: literature, arts, tennis and communication. Fiorani discusses: the Ultima Society; rethinking membership; membership or entrance; requirements in high-I.Q. societies; strict and legitimate entrance requirements; P. Cooijmans’ societies; newer thoughts on high-range testing; reconsideration of high-range testing; a member; tests of Paul’s; T. Prousalis’ tests and X. Jouve’s tests; astronomical I.Q. scores; HRTs; the 2% estimate a qualitative estimate; participation in Sidis Society; CatholIQ; common threads in personality or tests between Dorsey, Cooijmans, Prousalis, Jouve, and Kutle; the qualifying test and score for the Mega Society; a relatively non-arbitrary ceiling of 180 S.D. 15 ; wisdom; measuring the general factor or a generalized factor of intelligence with mainstream intelligence tests and HRTs; the different things measured; one’s intelligence; the single hardest test ever; a high level of problem-solving ability; Megalomania; the hardest things to realize about the high-I.Q. communities; positive developments; leaving Real IQ society; SLSE-II; IVIQ 16 Test; HRT test-makers; flourishing in a comprehensive way; intellectual and creative output of individuals in the high-I.Q. communities; type of test; a generalized intelligence up to and including I.Q. 180 S.D. 15; highly intelligent people waste their talents; the newer generation and the older generation of high-I.Q.; speed of thought; wash out the “basely egocentric behaviors”; the essential stats; the sociocultural and philosophical front; studies; the romantic life; newest intellectual project; protection of others; “The communities”; a reasonable skepticism; good uses of diverse problem solving abilities; diversity, equity, and inclusion; the generic positives and negatives; interest in media and the entertainment industry; the content of the production on Wittgenstein; a sign of a healthy culture; controversial and often polarized discussion; newer media; increasing assholery; should people put on the breaks on their mouths; silence as an indication of restraint; diversity; equity; inclusion; a minority group; the Flynn Effect; vastly positive reception from the high-I.Q. communities; a space for clarity of mind; find the time to get their outlet, their space, their place of calm; the reversal of the Flynn Effect; “Tätigkeit“ and “Therapie”; a long-term romance; the problem-solving abilities for renewable technologies; the compliments; what he say to himself 6 years ago; describing this past person; the world simply doesn’t always come in neat packages; a form of therapy; official comeback; Keith Raniere; eudaimonia; hypersensitivity; the flaws; Jouve; the self-discoveries over the last several years to bring about self-therapy; the Wittgenstein paper; this “valuable opportunity”; the idea behind True IQ; the methodology of Ivec; other people in the high-I.Q. communities; increase the number of test-takers to make the sample sizes larger for more valid tests; “The Real g Test”; the best article on high-I.Q. psychology ever written; Wittgenstein; magnum opus; the components of wisdom; more variance between males and females; a centralized platform for test-creators; good standards; a philosophical stance; paideia; a great level of expertise; the criminals and cults; Kevin Langdon; Master Chef Craig Shelton; people interested in joining high-I.Q. communities; and goals now.

Keywords: Catholiq, Chris Langan, D. Kutle, Dawid Skrzos, Deus Vult, Erik Hæreid, Gianluigi Lombardi, Heidegger, Heinrich Siemens, high IQ community, high-I.Q. societies, Ivan Ivec, James Dorsey, JCCES, Jean-Mathieu Calut, Joe Feagin, Jonathan Wai, Joseph Dinouart, Keith Raniere, Kirk Kirkpatrick, Kirk Raymond Butt, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Mega Society, megalomania, Paul Cooijmans, Plato, Ronald Hoeflin, Rick Rosner, Robert Lato, Santanu Sengupta, Sidis Society, T. Prousalis, Ultima IQ society, Wu Meiheng, X. Jouve, YoungHoon Kim.

Conversation with Luca Fiorani on Everything Under God’s Sun: Member, Ultima IQ Society (3)

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Lots of new stuff has happened. You have left one high-I.Q. society. You are a member of the Ultima Society. As well, you have some new thoughts on high-range testing. Let’s start from the top, naturally, what else has been new in life for you, since the last interview?

Luca Fiorani: First of all, I’d like to thank you, Scott, for the valuable opportunity.
My life is better than before. It wasn’t bad the last time we talked but now I feel that I’m finally flourishing – in a comprehensive way. [Ed. You’re welcome, and congratulations on flourishing.]

Jacobsen: What prompted rethinking membership in the high-I.Q. society?

Fiorani: I’ve left Real IQ society (founder: I. Ivec) because my global score, my estimated True IQ, was not realistic, not even remotely. I’ve realized that the adjectives ‘real’ and ‘true’ were misused. They didn’t fit. Generally speaking, I’m now against too inflated and too lavish IQ scores. The method approved by Ivec is simply too generous and also not all my scores came from credible and reliable high range IQ tests.

Instead, I’m still a member of Ultima IQ society – cut-off 170 σ15 – because I had entered when the requirements were robust and because “170” is not utterly craziness.

Jacobsen: What happens when membership or entrance requirements in high-I.Q. societies become too lax, even too strict?

Fiorani: When the criteria become too lax, the scores are less serious, less rigorous and people are more inclined to several delusions – unfortunately, megalomania included. They cajole themselves that the resulting scores are legit, trustworthy, stable but very rarely that is actually the case.
Currently, within the high IQ community, it does not happen that the criteria are too strict. At least as far as I know.

Jacobsen: What high-I.Q. societies seem to have strict and legitimate entrance requirements at the moment? I do not mean necessarily higher I.Q.s, simply the boundaries are set reasonably tight, and the testing is more valid than not.

Fiorani: Probably this happens with P. Cooijmans’ societies. (Note: I don’t know the high IQ community in its entirety, there could be other well-founded examples.)

Jacobsen: Why those high-I.Q. societies in particular?

Fiorani: Because all in all the test-author mentioned above has remained true to his principles, even when rigid. His work is consistent and self-cohesive.

Prousalis’ tests and X. Jouve’s tests are arguably better, superior, and when I say so I’m expressly referring to the methodology and the stats; they always give relevance to standardized tests: but right now societies based mainly or exclusively on scores earned on these tests – I mean, the ones designed by Prousalis and Jouve – do not exist.

Jacobsen: Your newer thoughts on high-range testing. What are those? Or, more properly, to begin on this line of reasoning, what are the factors behind the newer thoughts?

Fiorani: High range testing is often stimulating and challenging and sometimes has its validity, coherence, plausibility.

HRTs can be decent and even good psychometric instruments. In most cases, though, the tests aren’t adequately accurate, the subsequent scores should be taken very cautiously, without giving them too much value or importance.

My newer thoughts are born when I’ve become aware of the fact that too many people believe that their huge, astronomical, Brobdingnagian scores are their actual IQs: they are not, in reality. No actual IQ above 180 σ15 exists so when I see this plethora of IQ scores above 190 σ15, I start to think. Many, many, many, many, many – you got the idea?… – scores are not serious, they don’t come from enough reputable tests: as simple as that.

Usually when I take a look at a random listing, ⅚ of the scores are comical.

Jacobsen: How did those factors come into more full reconsideration of high-range testing at the moment?

Fiorani: I just look at HRTs in a more relaxed way and I feel compassion for those people who really believe that their IQs are above 180, above 185, above 190, above 195, above 200, just because a bunch of weak, iffy, wobbly instruments say so.

Less than 2% of HRTs are fully functioning and authoritative.

Jacobsen: Outside of Ultima IQ society, are you a member of any others? If so, why those? If not, why not?

Fiorani: Yes, I am. I’m still a member of Sidis Society (founder: J. Dorsey) and also a few more, e.g. Catholiq (founder. D. Kutle).

I appreciate that Dorsey is dedicated and I admire Kutle as a person and I also like the journal Deus Vult.

I indeed have a qualifying score for Mega Society (founder: R. Hoeflin) but I’ve heard that the members can be too harsh sometimes, so I’m not interested in joining.

Jacobsen: What tests of Paul’s stand out? Why those?

Fiorani: For his tests, I can tell you that I read thoroughly the statistical reports and I take into account the opinion of a dozen of versatile test-takers. His best test is probably Cooijmans Intelligence Test – Form 3E. I don’t have a direct knowledge, though.

Jacobsen: For T. Prousalis’ tests and X. Jouve’s tests, could those tests still be used? People seemed to like the JCCES of Jouve. I know Santanu Sengupta [Ed. 174 S.D. 15] from India claims a high score on it.

Fiorani: I think that Prousalis’ website isn’t defunct; Jouve is back with revised forms of his old tests and other precious stuff.

I think that JCCES gives realistic results and I consider it a nice psychometric product.

Jacobsen: What tends to happen when individuals believe astronomical I.Q. scores claimed based on some of the tests?

Fiorani: They lose objectivity and sensibleness. Their self-awareness is inferior. And a bit of wisdom is required for high intelligence, in my humble opinion…

Jacobsen: What would make scores coming from HRTs, in terms of test items in an overall schema and sample size, above 180 σ15 believable to you?

Fiorani: Without talking gibberish, 180 sd15 should be the ceiling of ceilings, in an ideal, optimal, utopian high range IQ test. A test that gives you your exact IQ and the game is over. This, too, is implausible, since you always need a collection of heterogeneous tests. A perfect, unique, adamantine IQ test that tells your ultimate IQ is not within this plane of existence. Hypothetically – and merely so –, the ceiling of this imaginary test should be 180 sd15. That’s my (narrow) perspective.

Jacobsen: Is the 2% estimate a qualitative estimate, or an actual count and review of some tests and then an estimate?

Fiorani: It’s more a qualitative estimate than a quantitative precise estimate. It’s not an absurd statement, nevertheless. But let me be clear: I don’t want to be aggressive towards test-authors and test-takers who genuinely care about HRTs and find them beautiful/wonderful, for instance. I’m saying that it’s rare that these products have golden quality under psychometrics’ point of view. Regardless, one could find them astonishing for the inherent difficulty of the items, the multiple logical layers and so on. In most cases you have the dimension of cognitive entertainment and leisure-time activity: and that’s not a bad thing, not at all. Issues come when you convince yourself that all the HRTs you take pertain to (a fully valid) cognitive assessment.

Jacobsen: What is your level of participation in Sidis Society? What do you get out of it?

Fiorani: My level of participation is the following: my name is listed at the corresponding webpage.

I get some sort of prestige, in a way. That I’ve achieved a non-negligible level of cognitive performance. And I support Dorsey’s drive. Plus, I like the name, “Sidis”. That’s all, I guess.

Jacobsen: For CatholIQ, what have been the benefits so far?

Fiorani: For CatholIQ, or Catholiq – apparently both spellings are correct –, the benefits come from some articles of their journal, Deus Vult. You’re informed when it comes out and you can also submit an essay of yours, or a poem, etc. That’s nice and the ambience overall is healthy.

Jacobsen: Any common threads in personality or tests between Dorsey, Cooijmans, Prousalis, Jouve, and Kutle?

Fiorani: I think that Dorsey and Cooijmans are both devoted to HRTs, they deeply care about them. That’s what I perceive and infer.

Prousalis and Jouve have designed tests perfectly comparable to professional tests. The stats of their tests are sometimes impressive.

Kutle is a clever man and a noble person. The items of his tests are very nice and sometimes elegant. I recommend Arcanum and Road to Damascus, both designed by him. They require time and diligence and a high level of crystallized intelligence. They represent a fascinating and pleasant intellectual experience.

Jacobsen: What test was the qualifying test and score for the Mega Society?

Fiorani: Ron Hoeflin knows.

Jacobsen: The norms and scores on Paul’s site list a 76 out of 78 on the Cooijmans Intelligence Test – Form 3E as the highest score it. I recall a listing of the three top scores on tests by Paul, out of all tests, in an interview with Paul by me. There was a tie for the top score on all of the tests, at the time, with one of the scores on Cooijmans Intelligence Test – Form 3E. The question, by me, followed by the response, from him:

Jacobsen: What have been the 3 highest legitimate scores on a Cooijmans test by testees to date while using the most up-to-date norms on tests? If I may ask, who were these individuals?

Cooijmans: First, I want to say that this is not an easy question. There are many thousands of scores in the database, and they are raw scores. To compare them, they have to be converted to protonorms. This would not be doable by hand in any reasonable amount of time and effort. To our good fortune, over the course of two decades I have painstakingly written programming code and created a protonorm database so as to dynamically link the raw scores to their current norms, and, for instance, put out a list of scores that exceed a certain level, with the name of the test and candidate if desired. This is the largest and most complex informatics project I have undertaken, and I think it is also the most difficult thing I have ever done, intellectually.

Of course, any good programmer should be able to do this. Still, I must say I never see test statistics by others that even remotely have the quality of my reports, so it seems that not many combine their programming skill with statistics. I set the controls such that only the top three scores remained, and they are 76 raw on the Cooijmans Intelligence Test – Form 3E, and 27 and 28 raw on the Cooijmans Intelligence Test 5. The I.Q.’s are 190, 186, and 190, respectively. I can not give the names as that would violate the privacy of the candidates.

Of course, the norms in that range are still uncertain, and there may be a number of scores right under these that, after renorming, turn out to be equal to or higher than these. (Jacobsen, 2022a)

My inference: The highest scorer on the Cooijmans Intelligence Test – Form 3E is personal friend and writing colleague, Rick Rosner, who is a comedy writer. This matches, not the scores but, the achievements on other well-regarded tests, e.g., Mega Test (44/48 first attempt and 47/48 second attempt) and Titan Test (48/48). This would track with the test selection by you. Rick is of the same opinion as you, about Paul’s tests[1]. How can setting a relatively non-arbitrary ceiling of 180 S.D. 15 help with lots of test constructors without the massive comparative resources of mainstream academia? It has an aesthetic appeal of a clearcut boundary.

Fiorani: Rick Rosner, yes. I know him too. I think he is one of the smartest persons I’ve known within the high IQ community. Not only for his monumental scores on highly reputable tests but also for other commendable and remarkable traits. He’s a great guy, very smart, very witty. As a test-taker, he’s certainly better than me. I tend to believe that his mind is the mind of a genius. Rick is uncommon, unconventional, multifaceted.

The ceiling of 180 sd15 has its beauty and its rationality, yes. The WAIS-IV stops at 160 (theoretical rarity: 1/31,560). HRTs could have a boundary, at 180 (theoretical rarity: 1/20,696,863). We know that the theoretical rarity isn’t exactly and strictly the actual rarity – the actual rarity being inferior. But there’s no need to go much higher. To examine at or above 190 σ15, 195 or 200, for instance. I don’t see the underlying logic nor I find the basis, the grounds. Twenty points above the ceiling of the WAIS-IV are enough, especially because twenty points for the upper, upper end have a bigger weight.

If a test is normed well, scores above 166-170 are already exceptional. Of course, scoring 160+, or 170+, or even 180+ on a very imperfect test becomes easier. That’s why a single peak performance of 180+, σ15, does not impress me. Also, peak performances at 190+ are not as rare as the score per se suggests. You always need to understand the construct validity vel similia. You always have to relativize… Otherwise you might start to believe that the rarity of your intellect is really one in a billion: can we all agree that this sounds bizarre, extravagant, exaggerated, laughable, immensely pretentious?

Jacobsen: Can wisdom be measured in any standardized manner? Or is this more something qualitative or experienced in interaction with someone?

Fiorani: Luckily and rightfully, the second thing you’ve said.

Jacobsen: The idea is measuring the general factor or a generalized factor of intelligence with mainstream intelligence tests and HRTs. This leads to the question. With further reflection for you, how much do HRTs and mainstream tests measure the same things?

Fiorani: Very nice question. The connection between the two approaches is not weak, there is in fact a strong correlation. The more traditional way (standardized tests, timed, supervised conditions) and the alternative-inventive way (untimed conditions, items way more difficult/elaborate, etc.). Mainstream tests and HRTs don’t measure the exact same thing. In my opinion, the main difference is given by the fact that reducing the impact of the sheer speed of thinking, you can go deeper and you can reach higher levels of reasoning and complexity. A deep thinker reaches his/her full potential with HRTs, usually. Someone who scores high or very high on WAIS-IV can do pretty well on HRTs, if he/she is enough motivated. It is not said that he/she will score higher than a topscorer of tough and well-constructed HRTs.

Jacobsen: If there are different things measured to acquire scores, what are the different things measured? I do not mean the obvious in different test items and a schema for the test items to fit. I mean the human qualities or mental traits measured in acquisition of a high score.

Fiorani: In untimed conditions, patience, stamina, perseverance are rewarded qualities. Important mental traits rewarded are: the abstraction, the conceptualization and, in a way, the cogitation. In timed conditions a more basic pattern recognition is rewarded and, always, a fast thinking – and related aspects.

Jacobsen: What are other qualities, other than I.Q. and wisdom, going into one’s intelligence?

Fiorani: Creativity (or profound divergent thinking), comprehension of contexts of different nature, knowledge (or culture), artistry (or mastery of talent). All these facets of intelligence are interconnected and they intersect. The more they are intertwined, the better – id est, you are more intelligent.

Jacobsen: Of those avid test-takers known to you, and for yourself, what do they consider the single hardest test ever taken by them, or seen by them? Why?

Fiorani: Taken thirty years ago, without WWW, the Titan Test was hard. I think that Rick Rosner would agree.

People who take Cooijmans’ tests say that some of them are very hard – Heinrich Siemens and also my friend Erik Hæreid would agree, all things considered.
The two spatial tests by (pseudonym) Robert Lato are very hard.

LDA-SWaN by my compatriot Gianluigi Lombardi is surely hard.

The single hardest test seen by me is IVIQ 16 Test (test-author: Dawid Skrzos). The single hardest test taken by me is SLSE-II (test-author: Jonathan Wai).

Jacobsen: How has knowledge of a high level of problem-solving ability helped your personal and professional pursuits?

Fiorani: Life itself consists of problems and solutions, new problems and new solutions, and so on. This is evidently an answer and I’m smiling right now.

Jacobsen: Megalomania has been noted by others and you. Something not the norm in the communities, but just enough to be annoyance. How should people deal with it?

Fiorani: To avoid irritation and also troubles, some obnoxious individuals should be avoided. It’s sad but sometimes things just work like this.

Jacobsen: What have been the hardest things to realize about the high-I.Q. communities?

Fiorani: For sure the high IQ community has good and praiseworthy qualities but too often it’s a venue for basely egocentric behaviors.

Jacobsen: What seem like positive developments?

Fiorani: Reduce the excessive variety of tests’ norms and make them more uniform. The listings, the rankings, etc., could become realistic.

Jacobsen: How did Ivan react, if at all, to leaving Real IQ society?

Fiorani: He accepted my decision.

Jacobsen: What made SLSE-II by Jonathan Wai so hard? Is it still valid, or is it compromised?

Fiorani: Some of the items require extreme attention to details and some others are slightly and acutely obscure. There’s a certain ambiguity rate.

It’s still graded by Wai, I believe.

The items were discussed and some IQ groups declared the test invalid for admission.

Jacobsen: What makes IVIQ 16 Test look so difficult?

Fiorani: Every item is like a labyrinthine encryption. The author, Dawid S., was incredibly good with numerical sequences and I think he solved all the items of the Numerus series by Ivec. Perhaps he naively thought that a common test-taker had his outstanding skills for numbers and pattern recognition, hahaha!

Jacobsen: What have HRT test-makers simply not figured out? What are some directions to solve these issues?

Fiorani: I would give too vague answers, I don’t know. As a maxim: less generous norms and more detailed stats.

Jacobsen: How is your life flourishing in a comprehensive way?

Fiorani: My studies ended, my romantic relationship continues happily, my professional life has started, I cultivate my interests, I’m less anxious, I’m less bored.

Jacobsen: What about intellectual and creative output of individuals in the high-I.Q. communities? Are there any people who stand out as truly matching their claimed or measured intelligence with their productions and/or productivity?

Fiorani: Yes, there are.

Jacobsen: What type of test would measure, in a single test item schema or a single question type, or might tap most into a generalized intelligence up to and including I.Q. 180 S.D. 15?

Fiorani: A long test with various items – verbal analogies, verbal associations, numerical sequences, figure matrix reasoning questions, mixed in mixed problems – might work.

Jacobsen: Side question, how do highly intelligent people waste their talents?

Fiorani: When they are emotionally unstable – and there are a myriad of possible factors causing this… But what happens next is just a consequence.

Jacobsen: What differentiates the newer generation and the older generation of high-I.Q. types?

Fiorani: The newer generation is less prudent.

Jacobsen: When does speed of thought become less of a differentiating factor for seeing differences between a smart person and a smarter person? What seems like the I.Q. threshold?

Fiorani: The IQ threshold, assuming a rather even cognitive profile, is (approximately) 145 sd15.

Jacobsen: Is there a way to wash out the “basely egocentric behaviors” in the community?

Fiorani: Nope, there isn’t. Sorry for the frankness and the jaundice.

Jacobsen: What are the essential stats to start including in some of the tests moving into the future to make the tests analysis of scores more in-depth?

Fiorani: The following essential stats should be non-hidden:

A histogram that shows how the scores on a test are distributed.
A table regarding the items’ difficulty and robustness.
Cronbach’s α presented & Spearman-Brown prediction formula presented.
Correlation with standard supervised psychometric batteries.
Correlation with other significant HRTs.
Presentation of theoretical IQ per raw score points.

The last one is the most obvious but sometimes being didactic is not a sin.

Jacobsen: What’s new in the sociocultural and philosophical front for you?

Fiorani: The topic of diversity, equity and inclusion – in the media and entertainment industry.

Jacobsen: For your studies, what was the final result?

Fiorani: «Eccellenza».

Jacobsen: How is the romantic life now?

Fiorani: Fulfilling.

Jacobsen: What is your newest intellectual project?

Fiorani: An essay on Ludwig Wittgenstein that might see the light in August.

Jacobsen: On the individuals who claim inflated scores, there is also the factor that they don’t want to believe it themselves as much as they want the public to believe it to keep a modicum of cachet. There is the solution of leaving them alone. So, less about compassion for them and more about protection of others. In other words, what about others who may be less experienced, potentially more intelligent but naïve, on some of these aspects of the communities?

Fiorani: Nice question, again. If a neophyte looks at the scoreboards and the listings, he/she should probably reflect as follows: this is a collection of peak cognitive performances on disparate HRTs, not every score is that phantasmagorical; and the accuracy of the scores is more important than the scores themselves. In other words, which of the displayed scores are obtained on accurate psychometric products? A 160 σ15 can be (literally) more significant – or: with meaning – than a >185 σ15, it depends on the test(s).

I’d say to the neophyte: within the community, search for quality and accuracy, ignore the stratospherical, esospherical, sidereal scores, especially if the solidity of the test(s) is unknown, unclear or low.

Jacobsen: “The communities”, as I type it, I am making an assumption. I had some correspondence with someone about this, in the high-I.Q. communities, recently. The idea is the community as a homogenous, and humongous, blob or a subcultural bloc. To me, “the community “seems more like communities and variegated rather than singular, but modest in size somewhere in the middle 1000s in membership, excluding Mensa International. Does this match experience for you? What else can be subtracted, added to a proper perception of the idea of high-I.Q. communities to describe them?

Fiorani: Well, yes, I agree, this matches my experience. I use the singular – a subcultural bloc – for simplicity but I become simplistic, it’s true. A proper perception of the various souls and cores of the community isn’t easily obtainable.

Reading your interviews is helpful. Here and there, you can see different characters and sense different mental settings. There are diverse kinds of “members”.

Jacobsen: Most members of the high-I.Q. communities seem to have a reasonable skepticism, while some cases simply do not, about claimed scores or achievements on some of these harder HRTs. A more substantiated norm was published by Redvaldsen entitled “Do the Mega and Titan Tests Yield Accurate Results? An Investigation into Two Experimental Intelligence Tests”. The scores can be reduced to the aforementioned range, by you, on the Titan Test and Mega Test to 166-170 for the highest scorers on the tests by Hoeflin, e.g., Cole, Langan, May, Raniere, Rosner, Savant, Sununu, etc. This brings things down to Earth and says something legitimating about the constructs of the HRT communities when the effort is significant enough. What are the lessons from the Mega Test and the Titan Test, and the Hoeflin ensemble of societies?

Fiorani: Reasonable skepticism is healthy and I knew this paper. I think that Hoeflin has counter-replied but I don’t want to wander from my own answer. The point is that these experimental intelligence tests aren’t bad. Perhaps they’re just too ambitious, sometimes. I believe that a possible lesson learnt from the Hoeflinian galaxy is the following: the ceiling of a prestigious untimed IQ test isn’t necessarily above 180 σ16, or 176 σ15.

Jacobsen: Another side note, my other inference: The other highest scorer on Paul’s tests, who tied with Rick, Heinrich Siemens. Anyway, I have experimented with making use of both the intelligence and the expertise of the high-I.Q. communities. One of which is a series of educational interview sets on the relevant expertise of people. One example is the aforementioned Erik Haereid. He’s so well-versed in statistics and actuarial sciences as an actuary. It is in-depth. Certainly, not everyone’s cup of tea, but, also, not something everyone thinks about much, especially how much it pervades their lives. What might be some other good uses of diverse problem solving abilities? There are lots of highly involved people, who, likely, have great ideas to create things helpful to others. [Ed. If others have expertise, let’s tap it, call me!]

Fiorani: Rosner, Siemens, Hæreid: these guys are very, very clever.

Other good uses of diverse problem solving abilities? Projects related to renewable technology.

Jacobsen: Diversity, equity, and inclusion, these have been highly contentious hallmarks coming from academe. What are the first thoughts on the chosen concepts to you?

Fiorani: First thoughts are about the fact that these concepts cause disagreement, they’re divisive. A philosophical question might sound like this: why is controversial and often polarized discussion so trendy and so paradigmatic nowadays? Do the newer media interfere?

Jacobsen: What are the generic positives and negatives for you?

Fiorani: The generic positive is that people talk; the generic negative is that people talk too much.

Jacobsen: How is this of interest in media and the entertainment industry to you?

Fiorani: I try to use philosophical lenses to interpret the phenomena that permeate my life as individual of a highly complex society. Media and entertainment industry are crucial for understanding our current sociocultural macro-context and also its micro-variations.

Jacobsen: What is the content of the production on Wittgenstein?

Fiorani: It’s about the notion of philosophy as „Tätigkeit“ and „Therapie“.

Jacobsen: Disagreement can be a sign of a healthy culture. A culture of higher feedback mechanisms within individuals and between people. It can be toxic too. What are the forms of this disagreement and divisiveness?

Fiorani: Yes, disagreement can be a sign of intellectual vitality, it’s true. Though we need to understand if the disagreement facilitates a proper dialogic instance or not. In multiple cases, you see a non-dialogic approach.

Divisiveness concerns the representation of the (so called) minority groups. Joe Feagin, a well-known sociologist, has described the fundamental characteristics of a minority group.

The topic is too ample, I don’t want to be or seem trivial.

Jacobsen: “Very nice question”, “Why is controversial and often polarized discussion so trendy and so paradigmatic nowadays?

Fiorani: Hahahah, these questions require a dissertation – and I’m not joking. I must limit myself for a criterion of practicality and convenience. Polarized reflections require less effort, you spend less time and less mental energy. We go too fast, we don’t valorize profoundness. Instagram reels or TikTok shorts, etc. etc., represent the immediacy and impulsiveness of consuming, the commodification and barbarization of thoughts, of concepts, of the concept. We don’t reflect enough, we don’t take our time – literally. Choosing a side, and doing so intensely, vibrantly, rapidly, is a shortcut. We like shortcuts.

Jacobsen: “Do the newer media interfere?”

Fiorani: Without a doubt. There no longer is a life completely outside them.

Consider my previous answer, too.

Jacobsen: Kirk Kirkpatrick calls a phenomenon the “American Disease” and Rosner calls it “Superempowered” (Jacobsen, 2018; Jacobsen & Rosner, 2017). Is the degree of divisiveness a reflection of increasing assholery?

Fiorani: You are right, yes.

Jacobsen: When should people put on the breaks on their mouths? What’s the speed limit here?

Fiorani: Let me quote the French preacher Joseph Dinouart and his L’art de se taire (1771), first part, first chapter:

«1. On ne doit cesser de se taire, que quand on a quelque chose à dire qui vaut mieux que le silence.

[…]

Jamais l’homme ne se possède plus que dans le silence: hors de là, il semble se répanfre, pour ainsi dire, hors de lui-même, et se dissiper par le discours, de sarte qu’il est moins à soi, qu’aux autres.
Quand on a une chose importante à dire, on doit y faire una attention particulière: il faut se la dire à soi-même, et après cette précaution, se la redire […].

[…]

Le silence tient quequefois lieu de sagesse à un home borne, et de capacité à un ignorant.
On est naturellement porté à croire qu’un homme qui parle très peu, n’est pas un grand génie, et qu’un autre qui parle très peu, n’est pas un grand génie, et qu’un autre qui parle trop, est un homme étourdi, ou un fou. Il vaut miex passer puor ne point être un génie du premier ordre, en demeurant souvent dans le silence, que pour un fou, en s’abandonnant à la démangeaison de trop parler. […]».

[Ed. pp. 5-8.]

Didn’t you believe that a polemist born 307 years ago would have answered to your question, did you?

(Of course, if necessary, I might translate, but I don’t know an official English edition of the text.)

Jacobsen: With silence as an indication of restraint, not necessarily genius, and loquaciousness potentially as an indicator of a madman, silence becomes a better heuristic than not. Why do diversity, equity, and inclusion, lean one into talking too much rather than too little now?

Fiorani: Certain themes are important in principle and as a matter of fact. But they are too repeated and, then, oversimplified. As users of social networks and spectators of TV shows, we see how incessant ideology can be – and also counter-ideology can be insistent. The fact is that a topic like this is no longer perceived as a niche interest, we often feel the desire (or compulsion?) to express our opinions, again and again and again. Aware or not, we are already in a circulus vitiosus. We are overstimulated and we feed the exact inner workings of the structure.

A possible solution would be creating safe places and safe moments for ourselves, to safeguard the lucidity of our mind, loosening the chains we’ve contributed to construct.

Jacobsen: What does diversity represent in its practical effects in implementation in media and the entertainment industry?

Fiorani: For example, casting actors of different ethnic groups for playing certain roles/characters – possibly avoiding stereotypes and clichés –, is a practical way to represent sociocultural diversity. This implementation helps or could help more people to feel identified, to feel represented, to feel not invisiblized, to feel not marginalized, via common narrative and psychological devices (empathy, projection, etc.).

This is a deliberately succinct answer, given summarily.

Jacobsen: How is equity implemented in the media and entertainment industry?

Fiorani: Also in this case, in representation and communication, you will need to avoid pseudo-archetypes and bromides. Then it’s up to the public ponder over the outcome.

Jacobsen: What is an outcome of inclusion as a value acted out with diversity and equity?

Fiorani: It depends. (Cf. the two previous answers.)

Jacobsen: How does Feagin define a minority group? In Canada, for instance, Christianity is undergoing a rapid diminishment. It will, probably, be less than half of the population by self-claimed identification by some time in 2024. Is it merely numbers? If so, then Christians will be a big minority as less than half in Canada. They’d already be a minority in the United Kingdom. However, it must be more nuanced in Feagin’s view. How so, if so?

Fiorani: Even if it is not polished, I will quote Wikipedia English (page: Minority group): “Joe Feagin, states that a minority group has five characteristics: (1) suffering discrimination and subordination, (2) physical and/or cultural traits that set them apart, and which are disapproved by the dominant group, (3) a shared sense of collective identity and common burdens, (4) socially shared rules about who belongs and who does not determine minority status, and (5) tendency to marry within the group”.

Jacobsen: Do you think the stagnation or reversal of the Flynn Effect is correlated with the massive introduction of these new media?

Fiorani: Reversal more than stagnation, AFAIK. Yes, I think that it is indeed correlated. This could be seen as a bias of mine but we’ll see what time – and studies and researches – will tell us.

Jacobsen: I’ve received vastly positive reception from the high-I.Q. communities. Rick Rosner called me more rational than him. Chris Langan called me a stupid little idiot. YoungHoon Kim called me a very balanced intelligence and wiser than him. I appreciate all of the compliments. They speak well of one another in general too. There are some shocking things some say about one another. They tattle, so whatever, but to me, hilariously. Less so now. Anyway, and to the point, my other sense of the communities is regular interpersonal stuff seen in any sub-culture and set of communities. People living their lives and competing mentally in their off time. That’s healthy. When it becomes someone’s identity or life, that raises eyebrows to me. That’s, probably, a normal reaction. How about you?

Fiorani: The expression used by C. Langan is a compliment? I doubt so, hahah… I agree with Rick and also with Mister Kim about your balanced intelligence.

Yes, it’s not healthy at all when it becomes someone’s identity. I’ve seen lots of cases, nevertheless. And, again, I agree: the fact staggers me. Luckily, I’m much wiser now than I was six years ago. There are shadows in my career as a test-taker but approximately an eon has passed. Life goes on and improves.

Jacobsen: What might be a good means by which to create such a space for clarity of mind?

Fiorani: Just take our time, in different situations. Consider one of the Ten Commandments: Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. There’s no irony nor humor, we can glean a lot more than the literal meaning and we can also omit for a second the religious interpretation(s). Can we deduce the importance of rest, the importance of break, in our (now frenetic and hyper-demanding) lives? We can – that’s my modest view.

Jacobsen: If they’re like me, they could be working 7 days a week at an elite equestrian facility sunrise to sunset, or some other job requiring it. Down time is hard to find nowadays, for some. Even a regular 5 days and 9 to 5, they might go partying or drinking, or pursuing social activities, which might not necessarily be conducive to the creation of a safe space for thought. What about those people? How can they find the time to get their outlet, their space, their place of calm?

Fiorani: Those people still can find ways. For example, you can deem an interview with a pseudo-intellectual Italian dude as refreshing.

Jacobsen: What other factors seem to be behind the reversal of the Flynn Effect?

Fiorani: One should read papers on the matter. As a perception of mine, I see a depletion of people’s vocabulary and scarce comprehension of text. The verbal tasks (subtests) are the most g-loaded in the WAIS-IV.

Jacobsen: What are “Tätigkeit“ and “Therapie”?

Fiorani: The first term means “activity, occupation” and the essential idea is that philosophy, for Wittgenstein, is more an attitude than a doctrine or a theory. The second term means “therapy”, and the idea behind is that philosophy can take care of the chronic disease that the language itself represents.

Not everything can be summarized in a cool way.

Jacobsen: Are you married, common-law, a long-term romance, or a newer partnership?

Fiorani: A long-term romance.

Jacobsen: What are some directions for the uses of the problem-solving abilities for renewable technologies?

Fiorani: In application terms? I say to myself: let’s try not to stray beyond our scope. So, I don’t know, sorry for disillusioning.

Jacobsen: I “appreciate all of the compliments”. If it wasn’t a compliment, then I don’t appreciate it. However, in some sense, it can be considered a compliment. I’ll take it! Thank you, Mr. Christopher Michael Langan. Don’t spell his name wrong, though, I’m told it “can be interpreted as a passive-aggressive form of sacrilege”, by him. Anywho, one of my favourite stories from observing Jouve. I like how a legitimate experimental psychologist, Dr. Xavier Jouve (a.k.a., an almost literal Professor X. of the I.Q. communities), who developed some awesome tests, then transitioned abruptly into photography. That’s truly wonderful. I love that kind of stuff. Does anyone know the reason? If anyone knows, I’d love to know it.

Fiorani: No idea. His comeback is official, though. Cf. the following link: http://www.cogn-iq.org/index.htm

Jacobsen: I’m really happy for you, and the transition self-identified by you. What would you say to yourself 6 years ago?

Fiorani: About HRTs and IQ scores? Take them less seriously. About some pernicious individuals of the community? Give them little importance.

When this interview will come out, I better prepare myself to face a couple of haters and trolls, their possible lasting hatred, entirely motiveless and – in the present – unwarranted. I’m being brave against some stubborn fanatics. They give abnormal importance to small past events related to high range IQ tests. They can become suffocating…

But it doesn’t matter, I’m accepting this interview and I’m happy.

Jacobsen: What words describe this person to you?

Fiorani: The 2017 version of myself? I was emotionally immature and, sometimes, (emotionally) unstable.

My mistakes were not even close to gravity. They have been flaws, surely preventable, but just minor flaws – if I reconsider them with the cognizance of an adult person not disassociated from reality.

Jacobsen: Maybe, if not everything can be given in a cool way, the world simply doesn’t always come in neat packages?

Fiorani: Agreed.

Jacobsen: Could your own philosophical pursuits be considered a form of therapy for yourself?

Fiorani: You are insightful, I confirm. You’re right.

Jacobsen: His official comeback will raise the bar for everyone. What has been the discussion within community about this?

Fiorani: Within the community, I don’t know. Personally, I’m happy. He is ne plus ultra: professional high range testing.

Jacobsen: What are your thoughts on his coming back?

Fiorani: It’s great!!

Jacobsen: Brave the storm! You get used to them. Perspective: They are 2% or less of the population of the super smart. Criminal Keith Raniere is exceedingly rare. He swindled the Bronfman’s out of $150,000,000 (USD). Sara and Clare were in the equestrian world and were known to some of my bosses quite well. He was in the Mega Society alongside Marilyn, Rick, Chris, other Chris, Kevin, Richard, Ken, and the myriad of others. He is one out of a much larger number of super smart people. You’ll do fine. What would you see as the main points of maturation for you?

Fiorani: I didn’t know the names you mentioned. And I was feeling better without knowing, hahaha! I think it gives an idea about real criminals and real crimes compared to trifles and minutiae.

The main point of my maturation: understanding better each context and having a more pragmatic mindset, at times.

Jacobsen: Your “comprehensive way” of flourishing. Would you consider this eudaimonia on a personal level?

Fiorani: Yes.

About the topic, more broadly, cf.:

Julia Annas, The Morality of Happiness (1995)
Christoph Horn, Antike Lebenskunst. Glück und Moral von Sokrates bis zu den Neuplatonikern(1998)
Alexander Nehamas,The Art of Living: Socratic Reflections from Plato to Foucault(1998)
Edith Hall, Aristotle’s Way: How Ancient Wisdom Can Change Your Life (2019)

Jacobsen: What were the moments of emotional instability? Hypersensitivity, emotionally speaking, is common among the highly intelligent. It doesn’t seem like a mark of shame or guilt to me, more a signal of a longer maturation process due to the emotions catching up with the mentation.

Fiorani: It’s true.

Jacobsen: What were the flaws, minor as such?

Fiorani: Related to HRTs? Well, it has happened that I’ve discussed some items of a couple of active high range IQ tests – which is not allowed and unfair.

I was severe towards myself after that. Later I have discovered that my behavior was less worse than other behaviors of other test-takers. I have downsized the thing a lot when I’ve seen what other testees – pretty commonly – do.

In those occasions, regardless, I made a mistake. Funny (?) thing is that none of the episodes of soft cheating on HRTs entailed a successful outcome, in terms of IQ score. Because: or I didn’t submit my answers at all (so, no IQ score); or my submission has been graded but wasn’t spectacular (so, below my average). Even in the second case, and anyways, I haven’t used the earned IQ score for admission purposes in some high IQ groups. This soft cheating hasn’t brought me anywhere in multiple senses, then.

Now remembering my mistakes is helpful.

Jacobsen: Do you think Jouve would be open to an interview? He wasn’t years ago, for benign professional reasons.

Fiorani: I think he is a reserved guy but you might try.

Jacobsen: What would you consider the self-discoveries over the last several years to bring about self-therapy?

Fiorani: Knowing inner emotions more lucidly. Work in progress, though.

Jacobsen: Where might people be able to find the Wittgenstein paper, eventually?

Fiorani: Still to be decided.

Jacobsen: What is the most valuable part of this “valuable opportunity”?

Fiorani: Sharing ideas and also having a conversation about them. It’s always nice and it is also a underrated experience.

Jacobsen: What was the idea behind True IQ?

Fiorani: Having a good and articulate confirmation of your broad cognitive abilities.

Jacobsen: What is the methodology of Ivec to make overly generous scores?

Fiorani: He uses an extension of Ferguson formula. But the scores are initially hyper-inflated. So, to me, it doesn’t work.

Jacobsen: What other people in the high-I.Q. communities deserve admiration for efforts, character, scores, tests, or healthy community building? The fact of its finiteness makes it capable of cataloguing.

Fiorani: Excluding the already mentioned ones, Kirk Raymond Butt deserves admiration. In his case, you have a combination of multiple traits. Wu Meiheng, too. For scores and character, a French guy named Jean-Mathieu Calut – the best test-taker I’ve ever met.

Several guys have huge scores, though. And several persons deserve admiration, without a doubt.

This list is obviously incomplete, hastily made.

Jacobsen: Maybe, the biggest long-term barrier isn’t necessarily the test items to HRTs becoming more robust. It’s test-takers and test-taker variety. What might increase the number of test-takers to make the sample sizes larger for more valid tests?

Fiorani: Good question but I haven’t found an answer yet, I don’t know how more people might find HRTs appealing. In fact, larger sample sizes would be a blessing.

Jacobsen: Have there been any tests based solely on the most g-loaded items possible? So, both the most g-loaded test/sub-test type and the most g-loaded items from those tests or test items or test types comparable in g-loading. That plus an online testing platform with a smart and narrow A.I. screening processing of the test items as the test evolves uniquely each time – random but not random – on an encrypted platform might give something like a secure place to get lots of people. Let’s call it “The Real g Test”, for real OGs, holla back!

Fiorani: They tried something (most g-loaded items possible) but I don’t know if it’s just chimeric…

Jacobsen: What is the best article on high-I.Q. psychology ever written or known to you?

Fiorani: Lohman, David F.; Foley Nicpon, Megan (2012). “Chapter 12: Ability Testing & Talent Identification”: this one is nice.

But there are plenty of good articles.

Jacobsen: By the way, why did you focus on Wittgenstein, as your necro-therapist?

Fiorani: Plato has spoken about μελέτη θανάτου (meletê thanatou) or “care of death” and Heidegger has spoken about Sein-zum-Tode or “being-towards-death”. I don’t need Wittgenstein if we talk about death.

Or you mean that Wittgstein is a cadaver, νεκρός (necros)? Why him as a therapist, then? My greatest masters have died long before I was even born.

Jacobsen: “Ron Hoeflin knows”, oh, the secrets he holds. Have you see some of his magnum opus?

Fiorani: A bit, here and there.

Jacobsen: What are the components of wisdom? How is wisdom practiced and lived, and witnessed, universally in individuals in all cultures? In other words, what are its manifestations, ingredients, and enjoyable outgrowths to see in others?

Fiorani: Good judgment and moderation.

Jacobsen: I have been interviewing women in the high-I.Q. communities. Yet, the ratio is so skewed. There is the fact of more variance between males and females. Yet, I don’t think the skew of the degree of variance tracks the degree of variance of membership in the communities. Why? I know Rick admits to joining Mensa to get a girlfriend. He even asked Marilyn vos Savant out while trying to join the Mega Society. She’s been super nice to me: She published one or two pieces of mine in her column for me.

Fiorani: Actually I’ve never understood why women don’t join high IQ societies as much as men. Let me know if you figure it out, hahaha!

Jacobsen: Is there a centralized platform for test-creators to have their work listed and linked? If not, I can, probably, make one in an article to advertise them if this helps everyone.

Fiorani: I don’t think that a centralized platform for test-authors exist.

Do as you wish but I don’t think that the creation of such platform would actually help.

Jacobsen: What would be the good standards by which to “make them more uniform” regarding test norms?

Fiorani: We’ve already talked about the detailed stats and Prousalis and Jouve. You already have an acceptable answer. (smiling)

Jacobsen: I’ve been highly involved in a number of philosophical movements – secular and religious, slightly transitioning as I see in practice or witness flaws in either philosophical foundations or sociopolitical structural outcroppings from those foundations, e.g., claiming a democratic movement and then booting properly elected executives, or claiming respect for freedom of expression and then coercing removal of articles from publications… I’m much, much less sure at the current moment. What is a philosophical stance for you, now, either in metaphysics or pragmatic living (or both)?

Fiorani: Anekāntavāda.

Jacobsen: How can the newer generation become more prudent?

Fiorani: Re-understanding the value of paideia.

Jacobsen: Who else in the communities have a great level of expertise in something niche or interesting? I’d like to email them and get another series going with them.

Fiorani: Perhaps you’ve already interviewed the most interesting ones but let’s be clear: „Was wir wissen ist ein Tropfen, was wir nicht wissen ein Ozean“. (smiling)

Jacobsen: I should write another comprehensive article on the criminals and cults coming out Mensa to the most obscure high-I.Q. societies and communities. It’s shocking. I have all the data points. It’s simply putting it together. Before knowing about Raniere, what were the worst cases known to you?

Fiorani: Silentium est aurum.

Jacobsen: Kevin Langdon in a funny recorded talk to the Triple Nine Society made a great point about the idea of screening for high intelligence for a society or a community of people, and then telling them what to do… that seems counterproductive and doomed to fail. The Mega Society and Mega Foundation split was one such case of individuality of several people exploding. It’s public and on the record. What procedures, policies, processes, ethics, norms, should be instantiated in a high-I.Q. group to minimize the increasing individuality of higher-I.Q. people, increase group participation and cooperation and mutual respect, and provide a process for booting assholes, e.g., something more than a simple “No Assholes Policy”?

Fiorani: A procedure like this is antithetical to the quiddity of such groups.

Jacobsen: Mentoring younger people when I have the opportunity is the most meaningful thing to me. One young man, who wanted to be a chef, when I was working in the restaurant industry was a bright light. After leaving to work with and around horses, he said, “Thank you for everything.” It was so moving. I wanted to cry. And I am a little bit thinking of it now. I managed to get Master Chef Craig Shelton, who is a member of the high-I.Q. communities to get me book recommendations for him (he would known better than me). I ordered the books and gave them to the young man. Have you ever mentored younger people?

Fiorani: Happy for you, it must be a gratifying feeling. (smiling)

Nope, I’ve never mentored younger people.

Jacobsen: What are other resources for people interested in joining high-I.Q. communities or learning about giftedness in general?

Fiorani: For people interested in joining high IQ societies: https://highiqtests.com/join

For people interested in learning about giftedness: Sternberg, Robert J.; Davidson, Janet E., eds. (2005). Conceptions of Giftedness.

Jacobsen: What are your goals now?

Fiorani: Keep working on my Self, writing my own story.

License

Copyright

2023-12-01

Hematologist Helps Open the Eyes of Pregnant JW

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Journal Founding: August 2, 2012

Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 12

Issue Numbering: 1

Section: B

Theme Type: Idea

Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”

Theme Part: 29

Formal Sub-Theme: None.

Individual Publication Date: December 1, 2023

Issue Publication Date: January 1, 2024

Author(s): Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood.

Author(s) Bio: None.

Word Count: 1,033

Image Credit: None.

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369–6885

*Original publication here during July, 2018.*

*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*

Keywords: Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood, Christian, God, hematologist, injection, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Power of Attorney, transfusion, Watchtower Society.

Hematologist Helps Open the Eyes of Pregnant JW

I looked forward to the birth of my third child. I had decided on a surgical birth (my third cesarean). Since each subsequent cesarean is more likely to become complicated, I would be at a higher risk of blood loss during and after the operation, and as an active Jehovah’s Witness, this made my doctors worry. There were additional complications: gestational diabetes, and my blood iron levels were low. Then, towards the last trimester of pregnancy, I learned that I had a prothrombin gene mutation which increases the danger of bleeding. My upcoming birth was deemed high risk.

My obstetrician and I went over my birth plan, upon which I had written “NO BLOOD! See Healthcare Power of Attorney (POA)”. I explained my beliefs and my refusal of blood transfusion. I informed her that I could agree to a cell-salvage system during the operation but she didn’t think that would be a good option. She asked me to double check with my elders or leaders about my alternative options for treatment since I really had trouble explaining myself. In the meantime she asked me to speak to a hematologist since my blood count (hemoglobin) started to drop and she felt a specialist would offer better options for alternatives to a blood transfusion.

I contacted my elders. They had never dealt with a situation like mine before, so they contacted the Hospital Liaison Committee (HLC). The HLC provided me with a link to a document on JW.org for Witnesses to share with their doctors, with a section on pregnancy and childbirth. I planned on discussing this information with my obstetrician and hematologist.

At my hematology appointment, I asked the doctor about the options listed in the JW.org document like Erythropoiesis-stimulating agents* (ESA) – drugs such as Epo, Epogen, Procrit, Aranesp – and a cell-salvage system. (The other options found in the document were not available in the hospital where I would be delivering.) Because I was just a few weeks away from my cesarean birth, he was undecided about recommending ESA injections since it takes time to work. He suggested I do iron infusions which they offered in his office. As he explained how ESAs worked he did mention that the treatment might benefit me in the days following my delivery, and affirmed that it was my right to decide whether I want the treatment or not. He wanted to discuss it with my obstetrician first. Should we get the green light, he would need to know my blood type. This made me very confused. “Why does it matter what my blood type is with EPO? Isn’t EPO a bloodless product?” He paused and said, “Yes, it is technically a bloodless product but they make it from whole blood and they prefer to use blood that matches the patients.” I didn’t know what to say or what to think. I realized that I knew nothing about blood, how it works and its components. Being a curious person, I had to find out.

I was just a few weeks away from having my baby and I was terrified. Could I be putting myself in unnecessary danger? I felt like I was handing over my life to the JW.org organization without any true or valid reasons. I just started to wonder if maybe the blood transfusion policy might be based on an incorrect assumption. Yet I felt so ignorant about the physiology and anatomy of blood. And this was all triggered by just a simple question from my hematologist that made me stop and think.

Even though I had doubts I decided to modify my birth plan and my alternatives for blood transfusions. My OB didn’t recommend EPO because I was close to my due date, but the iron infusions and supplements helped somewhat. When it came time for my cesarean my OB didn’t recommend the cell-salvage system because of the risk of maternal blood mixing with embryonic fluid which can lead to death. The hospital did not have the tools to perform acute hemodilution so my surgical team just prayed for the best and proceeded.

Everything went well. I recovered quickly to my surprise.

I was able to review some information about blood and learned little by little. With everything that I have read I really don’t see any justification to the Watchtower’s No-Blood policy. My small doubt led me to read about blood components and fractions. ALL components pass through the placenta, mother’s own milk contains white blood cells yet they are banned by the Watchtower organization.

It has now been a year since I had my beautiful baby. I am not an expert but I feel like I can make a better decision about my health and well being. It’s very empowering to do your own research and make an informed decision on your own without anyone else’s ideas or conscience to influence you or make you feel guilty. If you’re pregnant, talk to your doctor openly about the hospital’s procedures for blood transfusions, do some secular research, and if you can, look for a hematologist you can speak to. Get informed! There are risks for EPO (erythropoietin) and since it is a complex hormone, it may not be a better alternative treatment*. There’s a significant risk for death with a cell-salvage system.

Don’t feel guilty about looking for secular information. That’s how I felt, guilty, when I first started to do research on blood transfusions. Some days the guilt was overwhelming especially when I would find information that didn’t support the Watchtower’s teachings. I had to pace myself and pray to Jehovah for understanding. It feels good to finally have my conscience back and be the master of my own faith. My process lasted several months but I knew I had to do it. Doing this research, I feel, has brought me closer to Jehovah since I can see how he values life over the cold application of regulations, especially if it means losing a life. Life is the most valuable thing we have. So please research and ask questions. This can save your life and your baby’s.

* Risks of therapy include death, myocardial infarction, stroke, venous thromboembolism, and tumor recurrence.

Bibliography

None

Footnotes

None

Citations

American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood. Hematologist Helps Open the Eyes of Pregnant JW. December 2023; 12(1). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/hematologist-eyes

American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood. (2023, December 1). Hematologist Helps Open the Eyes of Pregnant JW. In-Sight Publishing. 12(1).

Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood. Hematologist Helps Open the Eyes of Pregnant JW.In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 12, n. 1, 2023.

Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood. 2023. “Hematologist Helps Open the Eyes of Pregnant JW.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (Winter). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/hematologist-eyes.

Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood “Hematologist Helps Open the Eyes of Pregnant JW.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (December 2023). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/hematologist-eyes.

Harvard: Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood. (2023) ‘Hematologist Helps Open the Eyes of Pregnant JW’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 12(1). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/hematologist-eyes>.

Harvard (Australian): Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood 2023, ‘Hematologist Helps Open the Eyes of Pregnant JW’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/hematologist-eyes>.

Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood. “Hematologist Helps Open the Eyes of Pregnant JW.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.12, no. 1, 2023, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/hematologist-eyes.

Vancouver/ICMJE: Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood. Hematologist Helps Open the Eyes of Pregnant JW [Internet]. 2023 Dec; 12(1). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/hematologist-eyes.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

2023-11-22

Former HLC Chairman’s Confession: A Victim Can Become Guilty of Harming Others

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Journal Founding: August 2, 2012

Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 12

Issue Numbering: 1

Section: B

Theme Type: Idea

Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”

Theme Part: 29

Formal Sub-Theme: None.

Individual Publication Date: November 22, 2023

Issue Publication Date: January 1, 2024

Author(s): Dieter Parczany

Author(s) Bio: None.

Word Count: 1,537

Image Credit: None.

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369–6885

*Original publication here during June, 2018.*

*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*

Keywords: Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood, Christian, Dieter Parczany, God, harm, Hospital Liaison Committee, Jehovah’s Witnesses, victims, Watchtower.

Former HLC Chairman’s Confession: A Victim Can Become Guilty of Harming Others

This article borrows from chapter seven of “Acquiring Freedom From Fundamentalist Religious Thinking” written by Dieter Parczany (under his pen name Peter Porjohn). The author is a member of the leadership team of AJWRB.

It is not easy for me to write my story, but it is very important for two reasons. First, because it must be demonstrated that under religious influence, a victim can become a person guilty of harming others. Secondly, I want to remain honest in relating my story, and I do not write this for personal justification, or to accuse others for all the damage done. I am not only a victim but in turn blameworthy myself of doing harm. It is true I was unduly influenced, but nobody forced me to become a Jehovah’s Witness. This is why I also have to acknowledge my own guilt and admit it openly.

Of course, I feel victimized by damaging religious influence. My thinking and my life had been dictated and manipulated by a religion that claims to be God’s only organization on earth. This was possible because I was willing to believe it. Being convinced I was “in the truth”, and presumptuous enough to know what God’s will was, I also became guilty of causing damage to others. Yes, others became victims because of me. I can not compensate for most of the damage I have done, and I am embarrassed about things I thought, said and did. It is still saddening and very hurtful for me to think about some of the consequences of my actions.

The death of my son

This is probably the most difficult part of my confession. When my son Manuel was six years old, he became ill. He suffered from a T-cell Non-Hodgkin-Lymphoma. This is a systemic cancer which can affect the whole body, brain and bone marrow. Initially he underwent chemotherapy and radiation treatment to the head. For half a year he received this treatment while in the pediatric cancer station of a university clinic, with either his mother or myself always by his side. After this treatment he continued to receive chemotherapy for one and half more years as an outpatient. When he was eight years old he suffered a relapse, and died in our home six weeks later. Qualified personnel from the pediatric cancer clinic were available for him and us throughout the duration of his illness.

At this time small children with Non-Hodgkin-Lymphoma had a 75% chance of survival. My son’s chance of survival was less, as he did not respond well to the beginning of the therapy. As Jehovah’s Witnesses we refused the transfusion of so-called “principle blood particles (primary blood components).” This is why he did not receive the full dosage of cytostatic drugs (substances used in chemotherapy). One side effect of the medication is that thrombocytes (platelets) drop to a life threatening level. Because we refused the transfusion of thrombocytes, the dosage of medication, and the amount of radiation had to be lowered as well.

When a relapse occurs, a bone marrow or stem cell transplantation is usually considered. While Jehovah’s Witnesses do allow bone marrow transplantation, this procedure was out of the question, as the church would not agree to the transfusion of erythrocytes (red blood cells used for the transportation of oxygen). After bone marrow or stem cell transplantation the body cannot produce its own blood for a certain period of time (at that time about ten days). This is why a transfusion of erythrocytes becomes necessary. But taking erythrocytes is not permitted by Jehovah’s Witnesses. Hence, there is a contradiction, one against all logical reasoning because the bone marrow is practically “the factory” of blood. Produced stem cells in the bone marrow are much more similar in consistency to full blood cells than erythrocytes which appear everywhere in the body, like, for example, in urine.

Nobody knows whether our son Manuel would have survived taking full advantage of all the medical options. Shamefully I have to admit that as parents it was more important to make sure that our son would not receive a transfusion of principle blood particles than it was to accept all possible medical treatment for a full 75% chance of victory over cancer. I carry this thought and guilt in my heart always. I believed that obeying a divine law as interpreted by “Jehovah’s organization” was more important than optimal treatment of my little son. I was convinced that we would get him back in the resurrection, and that no permanent damage could be done by his death. I loved my son with the whole heart of a father, and I would have done anything for his happiness, except violate this “divine law” interpreted by men. My tears are falling as I write this, and words cannot fully express what I am feeling.

Being a chairman of a “hospital liaison committee”

By reason of falsely interpreted Bible scriptures, Jehovah’s Witnesses refuse the transfusion of the following blood particles: erythrocytes, leukocytes, thrombocytes and plasma. However, it is permitted to receive all fractions of those blood particles, i.e. hemoglobin, crosupernatent, coagulation factors, albumin, etc. Also permitted are stem cell, bone marrow and organ transplantation. The use of certain surgical methods such as a “cell saver”, which receives the blood and leads it back through closed systems in the body are also allowed. Nonetheless, all these many details and rules are always subject to change. Today somethings are permitted that yesterday would cause someone to be disfellowshipped (excommunicated).

Within the Witness Organization exists a worldwide hospital information service located in the headquarters in the USA, and each of the Branch Offices in different lands. Additionally, there are hospital liaison committees that try to locate doctors sympathetic to the needs of Jehovah’s Witnesses patients, and hospitals who are willing to respect the decisions of these medical professionals in regard to these patients. Members of these hospital liaison committees are called to give counsel, recommendations and information. They are also called upon to act as intermediaries between medical personnel, lawyers, judges and individual Jehovah’s Witnesses.

However, people continue to have health complications, or even die because they decide in favor of the currently accepted knowledge and rules published by a few non-professionals who happen to be members of the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Gene Smalley, a senior member of the writing staff and helper of the Governing Body in the headquarters of Jehovah’s Witnesses once told me: “We are submitting problems and suggestions to the Governing Body for a solution or change of rules. Until the majority finally understands, agrees and is willing to vote for change, sometimes this can takes years.” In the meantime people suffer and die.

Epilogue

As chairman of a hospital liaison committee I accumulated much guilt in cooperating and supporting such a preposterous system. Regretfully, as a representative of this religious organization, I defended the official doctrines with all there Pharisaical regulations regarding blood transfusions. I regret that this affected the lives and well-being of many people.

While enjoying an evening at the theater, an “elder” of my former religion recognized me during intermission and approached. He said that many would be happy if I would return to the organization. I expressed my appreciation for his words, which showed his sympathy for me. I explained that returning would be a “step backwards” in my life since in the meantime, I have been able to prove biblically that “the truth” is not true. He answered “You may know more than I do, but I know it for sure, I feel it in my heart that we do have the truth.” I too know this feeling, but it is false and it does not stand up to close examination. One pays a high price in life for this feeling, and I am not willing to pay it any longer.

My spiritual, emotional and physical well-being has become a touchstone for my thoughts and actions. I respect the value of each human being, either as individuals or organized in groups; as long as they do not harm others, but respect the life and dignity of their fellow-men, women and children. It is not my right to look condescendingly on people just because they do not share my opinion or viewpoint. Every human being is in a different stage of spiritual development and frequently, we do not recognize how harmfully we may have been thinking and acting.

I am grateful for people who have been tolerant, forgiving and patient with me despite all the mistakes I made in my past. Although having had the best of intentions, my thinking was narrow-minded for many decades, and I have harmed people because of it. Having had my life consistently determined for me, I was not able to see things clearly, or from a different point of view. My mind was closed to evidence and logical reasoning being convinced I was living “in the truth”. It is my hope that my story will help people who are imprisoned by their way of thinking. I wish them courage, strength, and above all faith in themselves to liberate their souls, and be able to live in harmony with their authentic self.

Bibliography

None

Footnotes

None

Citations

American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Parczany D. Former HLC Chairman’s Confession: A Victim Can Become Guilty of Harming Others. November 2023; 12(1). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/victim-harming

American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Parczany, D. (2023, November 22). Former HLC Chairman’s Confession: A Victim Can Become Guilty of Harming Others. In-Sight Publishing. 12(1).

Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): PARCZANY, D. Former HLC Chairman’s Confession: A Victim Can Become Guilty of Harming Others.In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 12, n. 1, 2023.

Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Parczany, Dieter. 2023. “Former HLC Chairman’s Confession: A Victim Can Become Guilty of Harming Others.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (Winter). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/victim-harming.

Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Parczany, D “Former HLC Chairman’s Confession: A Victim Can Become Guilty of Harming Others.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (November 2023). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/victim-harming.

Harvard: Parczany, D. (2023) ‘Former HLC Chairman’s Confession: A Victim Can Become Guilty of Harming Others’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 12(1). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/victim-harming>.

Harvard (Australian): Parczany, D 2023, ‘Former HLC Chairman’s Confession: A Victim Can Become Guilty of Harming Others’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/victim-harming>.

Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Parczany, Dieter. “Former HLC Chairman’s Confession: A Victim Can Become Guilty of Harming Others.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.12, no. 1, 2023, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/victim-harming.

Vancouver/ICMJE: Dieter P. Former HLC Chairman’s Confession: A Victim Can Become Guilty of Harming Others [Internet]. 2023 Nov; 12(1). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/victim-harming.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

2023-11-20

Widows, Family Property And Witch Persecution In Ezeagu, Enugu State

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: September 1, 2014

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: African Freethinker

Journal Founding: November 1, 2018

Frequency: Once (1) per year (Circa January 1, 2023)

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 1

Issue Numbering: 1

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Individual Publication Date: November 20, 2023

Issue Publication Date: TBD

Author(s): Leo Igwe

Author(s) Bio: Dr. Leo Igwe is the Founder of the Humanist Association of Nigeria, the Founder & CEO of Advocacy for Alleged Witches, and the Convener of the Decade of Activism Against Witch Persecution in Africa: 2020-2030.

Word Count: 634

Image Credit: None.

Keywords: Advocacy for Alleged Witches, AfAW, elder, Enugu State, Ezeagu, fathers, Kogi, Leo Igwe, National Human Rights Commission.

*Please see the footnotes and bibliography after the article.*

Widows, Family Property And Witch Persecution In Ezeagu, Enugu State

An advocate drew the attention of the Advocacy for Alleged Witches to the case of a woman subjected to torture, inhuman, and degrading treatment during a funeral in Imezi Olo in Ezeagu in Enugu state. An online news media, the Oriental Times, reported the story. It states on its Facebook page: “Mother Paraded in Ezeagu Enugu State by Village Elders After Allegedly Confessing to Killing Her Two Sons Because They Confronted Her For Selling Their Fathers Properties”.

According to the report, this woman, a widow, was accused of causing the death of her 22-year-old child. Just imagine that! Local sources said that the child died as a result of an accident. There was no information explaining how the villagers knew that the woman, who was living in Kogi state, caused the death or the accident.

The AfAW contacted the publisher of the Oriental Times for details of the incident and how to reach the victim. The publisher declined to provide contacts or further information on the case. Furthermore, the AfAW made efforts to reach the woman or any relative through a professor of philosophy at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University in Awka and a catholic priest in Ezeagu without success.

But another effort yielded results. The AfAW contacted some persons from Ezeagu living in Enugu. Someone who said he was at the funeral agreed to travel to the village to meet with the woman or her relatives. This contact traveled to Imezi Olo community and met with the relatives. He did not meet the woman. The woman had returned to Kogi state where she was when the incident happened. The AfAW local source confirmed the incident. He noted that on the day of the funeral, some people in the community subjected the mother of the young man to “Iti Ajame” also known as “Iya Omu”. Iti Ajame or Iya Omu is a form of public disgrace and humiliation. The mob rubs some ash mixed with water on the body of the person. The person is paraded around the village and forced to confess or admit to perpetrating the alleged crime.

In this case, the woman was subjected to this humiliating treatment. But local sources said that the accusations were false and the handwork of her enemies, some people in the community who hated her. Our sources further noted that her enemies got away with this public humiliation because the woman had no persons in strong socio-cultural positions who could defend her and resist the mob. The AfAW has yet to reach the woman. Relatives declined to give out her contact. The AfAW contacted the Commissioner of Police, the police public relations officer, the International Federation of Women Lawyers, and the National Human Rights Commission office in Enugu informing them about this incident. The Advocacy for Alleged Witches condemns this pervasive trend of accusing people of magically harming others, causing sickness, death, or accident. These practices are primitive and should stop.

How could anyone think that this woman caused the death of her son? What would be her gain? The son reportedly died as a result of a motor bike accident. How was the woman responsible for that? Why should the woman be made responsible for the accident? Was she the driver? Don’t people die as a result of accidents? As this case has shown, this allegation is linked to a dispute over family property. Such disputes are rooted in situations of limited good, stressed and strained family relationships, not harmful magic. These disputes should be resolved without linking them to baseless and mistaken allegations of perpetrating occult harm. The AfAW urges state authorities to ensure that those who made these false accusations and then subjected the woman to public disgrace, maltreatment, and humiliation in Ezeagu are punished.

Leo Igwe directs the Advocacy for Alleged Witches

Bibliography

None

Footnotes

None

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

2023-11-20

Scott Douglas Jacobsen on Lots of Stuff

Author(s): Adewale Sobowale (Interview) & Scott Douglas Jacobsen (Transcriber)

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11/20

*Interview by Adewale Sobowale, transcription by Scott Douglas Jacobsen.*

Scott Douglas Jacobsen is the Founder of In-Sight Publishing and Editor-in-Chief of “In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal” (ISSN 2369–6885). Jacobsen is a Tobis Fellow (Research Associate) at the University of California, Irvine for 2023-2024. He is a “Freelance, Independent Journalist”, “in good standing” with the Canadian Association of Journalists. He considers the contemporary scientific method as the pragmatic, functional source of understanding the world and universal human rights as the moral frame leading substantive ethical discourse, internationally. You can email: Scott.Douglas.Jacobsen@Gmail.Com. Here I talk with Adewale Sobowale of The Migrant Online about a lot of things.

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: I’m enjoying the Vancouver life still, still at the ranch here.

Adewale Sobowale: [Laughing] Alright, how was the experience?

Jacobsen: It was good. I found it, more or less, educational. I found them focusing less on specific orientations around economics and more on principles and models, and concepts, of economics. That’s different than one might expect in an economics course for journalists provided by a thinktank because, when most of us have an idea of a thinktank, we’re thinking of a group of people with a good deal of funding who provide a specific lens on economics, on policy, on politics, on analyzing society. This wasn’t that. So, I think the fact that we included people from left to right to center in the political spectrum looking at some of the biographies of some of the people participating with us in our class of 22 minus 1 was very good. So, I think the presentation was fair and the information was informative. How did you find it?

Sobowale: By the way, Could you introduce yourself?

Jacobsen: Sure [Laughing], that might help. [Laughing] So, hi, my name is Scott Jacobsen. I live in Langley, British Columbia, Canada. I am a freelance, independent journalist in good standing with the Canadian Association of Journalists. I am a Tobis Fellow for my second/renewed year 2023/24 at the University of California, Irvine in the Center for the Scientific Study of Ethics and Morality. The title is Tobis Fellow for that. I have a lot of titles and things of that nature and a long history of doing different things. Right now? I just came off shift doing ranch labour with horses. It is exactly what you’re thinking about: cleaning buckets, shovelling poo, driving the tractor, loading manure bins. Things of this nature.

Sobowale: You must have a lot on your hands.

Jacobsen: [Laughing] I assure you. We have a team. This team, they grew up with horses. It’s a much different experience for them. For me, I had no background with horses. As far as I am concerned, I had no right to be here. Yet, I wanted to take on that challenge. In a Ghandian sense, I wanted to be among a people to be able to know them, and then be able to write on them, appropriately. So, I have been doing interviews, writing some articles, but more interviews with people in the equestrian industry in Langley, British Columbia, Canada. Because, at least, the moniker in public discourse – news, opinion pieces – in the history of the township is “the horse capital of British Columbia.” That’s a fair statement given the number of horses here and the fact that we have Thunderbird Show Park, which is, probably, the largest facility, probably, in British Columbia for any equestrian sport. Probably, the biggest in Canada would be Spruce Meadows, which has this huge international status. People I have interviewed in Holland would consider it an honour to fly their horses from Holland to Alberta to compete at Spruce Meadows. This is the kind of thinking of a horse person when they look at Spruce Meadows or other similar stature places.

Sobowale: Now, we discussed about your activism and all those things. Can you just tell us why you’re an activist and which type of activism are you into?

Jacobsen: I’m into a lot. It depends on the frame. It depends on the time. It depends on the interest. If I have the time, I try to commit some time to it. If there is a season of life where time or finance might be a little more limited, I can’t fund things as much as I would like to; I can’t take as much time as I would like to, to help some initiatives that, to me, seem important. So, the types of activism, more to the question; they’ll, typically, be around critical thinking, scientific education, Humanism, human rights, and a wide smattering of those things. Those tend to be relatively broad terms. You know, when we say, “Human rights,” as you know, those can be broken down to a number of different things. I know we are doing this interview for Migrant Online. When you look at the number of international treaties and rights documents on migrant and refugee rights, there are an extraordinary number going back decades near or at the founding of the United Nations. One of the most recent was even in 2010. Certainly, there will be more coming through in different bodies of the United Nations. It speaks of States’ responsibilities and human rights simply for the fact of their humanity.

Some things would also be around human rights. There has been a focus on some Indigenous rights. That has been more giving some profile of people in the secular community who haven’t had much of a voice. In fact, there isn’t much of an organization around it. If an individual classified under the United Nations title of “Indigenous” exists and does not adhere to the traditional beliefs, so, they know of their cultural background or what is left post-colonial context. Yet, they don’t believe in the supernaturalism around it, for example. Those people have a hard time organizing because they could lose, sort of, community support for having given up those beliefs. There is a similar situation, as Mandisa Thomas of Black Nonbelievers (Inc.) told me, with regards to African Americans who reject the African American Church, for instance, because it is sort of a mixed history. On the one hand, and this is the way it’s explained to me, there is the history of racism and slavery and the use of the church to oppress, while, at the same time, during the Civil Rights Movement and the Civil Rights Era in the United States; the church was one of the only places of civil and political organizing to simply fight for basic rights, for equality, as African Americans with not only white Americans, but others in the United States. It is seen as a system of oppression taken on by African Americans and then used in a positive way for community building.

But then, if one doesn’t adhere to a belief in a God and in the relevance of the Bible to their personal lives, it becomes very difficult – this is the way it is explained to me – because it is sort of a mixed history because it is a positive and a negative thing to them. Just given their right to freedom of belief and freedom of religion, they have the right to leave. The rub is when they do leave. It comes with certain social consequences. It becomes particularly acute when the major social capital, social support systems, aren’t from the State. It’s from the community and, primarily, from the church community. So, by rejecting that structure, they give that up. So, I’ve done some work profiling some of those voices because I think it’s important. I have more stuff coming on down the line regarding that. A lot of people who tend to be non-religious in highly religious societies. There are some very good societies where people get along. There is a lot of inter-religious, inter-belief dialogue. People getting along, respecting each other. There are other contexts where the State, by law, is used to keep people, sort of, in the closet about their non-belief. There are a number of people who I have interviewed who could not finish the interview because they were taken to jail in the process of the interview.

This did not happen in Canada. One happened in Pakistan. Another, who I did several interviews with and was doing several more, as I talked over dinner with you, happened to an individual from Nigeria, Mubarak Bala. I don’t know if his term is up. He is the President of the Humanist Association of Nigeria. It’s an important country because it is a huge population of people. Not everyone agrees with what was done, obviously, because people don’t want that to happen to them for their personal philosophical beliefs. Yet, it happens. I think cataloguing some of those views does a little bit of work that is important to help out. It is free. It is a little bit of time, little bit of labour, and taking the time for a conversation. Others, it’s really getting people who come out of traumatic circumstances. There were a couple of cases, where it is somewhat associated with the last topic. Individuals who gave up their religious belief. But it wasn’t necessarily for formal theological reasons. It wasn’t, “I studied the text. And I disagree with the orientation or the statements within the holy text.” Rather, it’s the home circumstance was abusive. They managed to get out or had to flee. It’s similar with some of those cases where the State is after them for their things stated, then the reprisal isn’t from the public, but more from that which the public pays for with taxes: the government.

Other cases, there’s been a lot of board work as well. So, I think United Nations Women Canada does important work, but I think that’s dissolved into a foundation now. There are a lot of concerns with the United States in Canada given the overturning of Roe v Wade, which was a major landmark in a lot of active equality movements, human rights movements, reproductive justice movements, for women in terms of, at least, having some choice in whether they have the child. So, if they can delay their pregnancy or plan it out, or if an unplanned pregnancy happens and it’s the wrong person, say, then this can be halted. They can pursue an education.

Sobowale: Excuse me, are you linked to any organization?

Jacobsen: Right now, Humanists International, I am linked to. I do some work interviewing some of them. I used to be part of Young Humanists International. So, Young Humanists International, I used to be the Secretary-General for a time, which is an elected position. I believe I was elected in 2019 in Iceland. I was on the Board of Humanist Canada. Right now, I am on the Council for Centre for Inquiry Canada. It is a less active role than being on the Board and there are a larger number of people for that organization. It would, typically, be defined as a secular humanist organization. The main stuff I am doing right now would be associated with The Good Men Project for writing, as a platform. In-Sight Publishing as a sort of experimental platform, which stage-wise is having new things added to it. But given its experimental nature, how that will turn out is an open question, although, I have been working on it for a while on-and-off. And then, there is also the University of California, Irvine Ethics Centre. I am a Tobis Fellow there. A lot of the work I do through there or for them has to do with women in the academic system. I would say those three: The Good Men Project, In-Sight Publishing, and the University of California, Irvine, are the main ones with a lot of independent work. There were a lot of former board positions, where the term just ended. We can go into that more if you like. But I don’t want to ramble too much [Laughing].

Sobowale: Why are you interesting in fighting for human rights?

Jacobsen: To me, it seems like the substantive alternative. In fact, the only real game in town, internationally. Where, we have parochial ethical systems. You might find some in various Abrahamic religions or minority religions around the world. They have their uses. People, they build lives. They would define themselves as a religious person, as a moral person, living according to rules of their holy text. The one that everyone seems to, at least, declare that they would abide by, for the most part, even if they don’t in terms of action on the ground by governments, by States, Member States of the United Nations, is international human rights, international law. Those, to me, everyone, at least, seems to take part in them and that seems substantial to me. It seems more legitimate because everyone is partaking regardless of ethnicity, sex, gender, religion, non-religion, etc. So, it seems to me like the right thing to do, and, in terms of, at least, having the premise of a moral discussion; everyone plays by the same rules.

Sobowale: What would you say about the state of the world now?

Jacobsen: Mixed [Laughing].

Sobowale: What would you say about the state of the world now?

Jacobsen: I would say the state of the world is mixed. I may have the general statement wrong. However, I think there are more democracies now than there have ever been. If that is so, that’s a positive.

Sobowale: Just a minute, when you said, “There are more democracies now.” Don’t you think there are pseudo-democracies?

Jacobsen: Yes, I would take it as a sliding scale. That would be the first caveat. On one, there are more democracies than ever. On the second hand, there is a sliding scale of democratic governance. So, individual States that have corruption of various degrees will have a lower democratic rating. Those that are autocratic, authoritarian. They would have an even lower status. I would take it as a sliding scale based on the strength of the institutions. I would assume there are indexes that sort of gather relatively agreed upon indices of democratic systems and then the degree to which each country has them. You collate those per country. You get the country. You rank-order them. Then you get a matrix of values per country. Then you rank-order them, then you have a relative system. There is a weakness inherent in that sort of ranking.

Sobowale: Why has migration become a political issue?

Jacobsen: Because if it’s a political issue, I would assume that it garners votes. If you can have something that is a social issue for a decent number of the population, good and bad, across the spectrum, then you can make a divisive opinion about it: complete migration, complete no migration. Then you come off as a firm, non-wishy-washy politician. People like that. So, you get votes in either direction. So, “hot button issues,” as they say in North America.

Sobowale: This migration issue, they are using it to gain or lose votes.

Jacobsen: Yes, I mean this was part of the discussion over the weekend for our class. It’s not the money, in this sense. In some sense, we can talk about economics as about money and money as human utility, but money doesn’t capture everything. So, it’s not quite a generalized human utility index, so far. But in terms of just getting votes, if you take votes, the economics of votes. What topics come to the top of the list? If migration is a really big topic, then you orient your frame and your political party around that frame vis-a-vis migration and, at the end of the day, human beings – migrants and refugees, then you can run it through the marketing and public relations people. And they’ll jazz up the public about how you are dealing with this hot button issue. So, you can garner more votes on that. Either it’s xenophobia, “We don’t want these people here.” Or it’s ultra-compassion, “We are super good. The other party is super evil. We want more people in because we are the good, compassionate people. Those evil people don’t want them in.” Obviously, an oversimplification and simplistic, but I think the general orientation of the argument is that it is an economics of votes, and there’s a utility in taking firm stances or extreme stances, or both, about certain hot button issues. One of them happens to be migration.

There can be entirely invented ones too. If you can get a public riled up enough, this can also have political impacts. Even though, your neighbour might have superstitions about numbers. And you don’t. And you want to buy their property. This was an example from Lee Kuan Yew, the former prime minister of Singapore, before he died. His son is actually likely stepping down next year or as soon as next year. He said, “If they move, and you put a pitch for the price for the home,” this isn’t the exact example. “You don’t care about that numerical superstition about some number. However, you have to take into account the other thinking of that person when you are purchasing that property because you have to take the how they are framing it.” So, even though, it is imaginary. It is a superstition about any number, doesn’t matter. You have to take that into account. A non-rational, irrational thing in order to do rational decision-making about house purchasing next door. It’s like that on any human issue, really.

Sobowale: By the way, as you are talking about economics or whatever, I tend to think some of these leaders are, more or less, gaining economically, from instability, from whatever. You know?

Jacobsen: Yes, that’s where the economics of votes is really about economics too [Laughing].

Sobowale: [Laughing].

Jacobsen: If you are a politician, in most countries, it pays well. You can decide your pay, sometimes. You get benefits. Some of the best benefits in the world. You get prestige. You get respect, sometimes. You get hate as well, and stereotyping as a politician. You get, sort of, career advancement. You can try to run for president, prime minister.

Sobowale: That’s true.

Jacobsen: If you’re a place like Iceland, you have a president and a prime minister, but that’s another story. [Laughing]

Sobowale: By the way, even the arms dealers, the guys dealing in arms and ammunitions. They gain economically.

Jacobsen: Yes, that’s the black market. In many ways, if you outlaw industry, an industry, you create a black market overnight. I mean, the more rapid example, by analogy, would be if you pass a law, overnight, you’ve made a whole class of criminals. A slow motion version of that analogy, going to the original example; you make a black market by outlawing things for guns because war is profitable. People will slowly develop a black market for AK-47s. Open question: What about all of the arms and artillery and tanks that the American military left in Iraq and Afghanistan after the Doha Agreement with the Taliban in 2020/2021? This is open field for high technology to be taken by religious fundamentalist militants, by State actors hostile to the United States, or simply State actors who have an interest in the black market economy of arms, even people who are non-State actors who have an interest in the black market economy of arms. There are prominent cases. I remember looking at some international individuals from different countries, including Nigeria, I think, who were dealing with arms or who had militias kidnap kids, drug them, brainwash them, train them to be killers. It is really horrific. Fundamentally, back to your original question about why get involved in some of these things, or at least write on them, do a small like that, not be boots on the ground getting kids out of hostage situations. It seems like the right thing to do. That’s an intuition rather than a firm fact. Yet, I think it reduces the total number of human suffering. So, I think it is a reasonably good thing to do.

Sobowale: By the way, don’t you think the “Third World War” is starting?

Jacobsen: I don’t know. If you look at the Doomsday Clock of the Atomic Bulletin of Nuclear Scientists [Ed. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.], or however it goes, I forget the exact organization it’s from, but it is the Doomsday Clock. Certainly, it has been ticking closer to midnight. But we have conflagrations with the Russo-Ukrainian War, with the Hamas-Israeli war.

Sobowale: The last one or the continuous one.

Jacobsen: The ongoing ones, it’s sort of in Middle East-North Africa and Eastern-Western Europe – Eastern Europe. Those two, certainly, represent conflagrations. Yet, I think it’s important to reflect. Most of human history has been war. I believe the number is less than 10% of recorded human history has been peaceful. So, the default is 9-to-1, war. Something like that. So, war is not new, as we both know. The ratio of war is not new. The major threats on the immediate ground have to do with nuclear powers fighting one another.

Sobowale: By the way, what I wanted to say, you know, when you look at it: the distribution of arms or whatever. The amount spent on arms and munitions. If you could just slice this into half, would the world not benefit?

Jacobsen: I mean, I’m a peacenik. So, it’d be nice. The question is, “How do you get from A to B?”, or A to Z – so to speak. Treaties help. Where there is mutual benefit in a very hot situation, the Cold War would be a good example between the Soviet Union and the United States. Those treaties, that started, if you track them. I forget off the top because it’s been years since I looked at that stuff. The treaties, when you look at those treaties to reduce arms mutually, they were effective. So, international law and treaties, and focusing on reducing nuclear arms, did work. And not many nations necessarily have them. So, I mean…

Sobowale: …one thing, I see. Just like the internet, I mean, internet could be used for good purpose and for negative purpose. Nuclear, too, it could be used for good and for bad.

Jacobsen: Yes, it’s… the common example is a hammer. You can hit a nail into a 2×4 and build a cabin for a family to live in, in the forest, or you can bludgeon a skull and kill someone. This is in some of the oldest literature around like the story of Cain and Abel. These sort of violent stories of brother killing brother. I think it extends in a loose way to using a hammer to build a home or bludgeon a skull. Those kinds of examples are very clear to people. It sets an example that the category “technology” is neutral. It depends on the orientation of how you use it and then the purpose behind that, the why you are using it. Technology, even to the current moment, is like that as well. Something as advanced as nuclear technology is in a similar state. Even ones that are more slow proceeding threats since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution would be the emission of CO2 into the atmosphere, and other emissions, those create, you know, these sort of negative feedback effects where there is a capture of additional energy into the atmosphere. It is sort of a greenhouse effect. So, we get a warming planet. That is more slow going. That didn’t start… that started well before either of us were born, but we can somewhat pinpoint it based on different metrics.

Sobowale: What kind of world would you see 5 years time?

Jacobsen: It is always interesting to ask that question or reflect on that topic when a war starts. Imagine asking this at the beginning of the Iraq and Afghanistan war. I would argue we’d have relatively rapid technological change, faster than now, because we are not seeing linear changes on information processing fronts and developments in those styles of information processing. Somewhat similar to human, somewhat different, we are seeing exponential effects. So, let’s say a doubling happened every year, okay, year one from now. It seems the same as a linear change. By the fifth year, you’re 1, 2, 4, 8, 16. So, it’s 5 years, but it has been 16 times the change. That sort of scales up. That has effects on everything that is downstream from information processing changes. I think any kind of warfare we’re going to see, if we are sticking to war examples for the last few that we’ve had. We’re going to see less on boots on the ground, ships in the sea, planes in the sky, and more fourth dimension of war in terms of cyberwarfare: hacking, shutting down plants, gathering data and information about the citizens, the army. Those sort of hacking initiatives will be a difficult forefront. We are seeing some changes in the Canadian Armed Forces around this as well. Where some positions have come up in the last several years to sort of develop a frontline of protection for Canadian citizens from this, but, I mean, obviously, the secret intelligence services will be more important for that. I would see: war, but also a changing landscape of war. I believe the Israel-Hamas War will, probably… I mean, it is idiotic to make these kinds of predictions. Maybe, a cooldown and then a re-entrenchment by the Israeli forces into Palestinian occupied territory and with Ukraine and Russia; that ball is still up in the air. Most other parts of the world will, probably, be relatively similar.

Sobowale: Okay, we have about 6 minutes more. What do you hope to achieve with your activism?

Jacobsen: A modicum of change that only one person can make in a limited amount of time with limited resources, with time being another resource [Laughing].

Sobowale: You know, change could be relative, you know? Look at this. The arms dealers, they are there to make money. I regret to use the word “developing” because we all know they’re underdeveloped. They are just there, right? They are there to make money. Where does that leave us?

Jacobsen: If people want to make money, that’s their prerogative. Not everything has necessarily been monetized at this time. Although, human beings, certainly, in many regards have been objectivized… objectified and made into commodities. Obviously, that’s a longer discussion, but, to the original question, nearing the end of that 6 minutes. I would aim to add a little bit of good that I can in a limited amount of time, and that without any praise from a higher power or sense of doom about a hell after motivating me, simply because it is the right thing to do is good enough for me.

Sobowale: I just wish you all the best. Because I know the stories are out there. Because, I mean, like I just said, the arms dealerl, you are out there trying to fight for human rights, trying to do all those things. Maybe, the leaders in the developing countries. It’s kind of a morass, you know? But then, I just wish you all the best. So, let’s just quit the program and we’ll talk some other day.

Jacobsen: Excellent, thank you, and thank you for the opportunity.

—

Audiovisual interview original publication at The Migrant Online:

(November 9, 2023)

A chat with Scott Jacobsen, a Canadian activist and journalist!

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2023-11-19

Witchcraft Persecution And Advocacy Without Borders In Africa

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: September 1, 2014

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: African Freethinker

Journal Founding: November 1, 2018

Frequency: Once (1) per year (Circa January 1, 2023)

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 1

Issue Numbering: 1

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Individual Publication Date: November 19, 2023

Issue Publication Date: TBD

Author(s): Leo Igwe

Word Count: 453

Image Credit: None.

Keywords: Advocacy for Alleged Witches, Kiambu County, Leo Igwe, Nigeria, Thika Town.

*Please see the footnotes and bibliography after the article.*

Witchcraft Persecution And Advocacy Without Borders In Africa

These Nigerians claimed that they were conducting some prayers. It was not stated the kind of prayers that they were conducting. The police intervened, resisted the mob, and took these nationals, who sustained some injuries, to a nearby hospital.

The Advocacy for Alleged Witches urges Africans to campaign against abuses linked to witchcraft beliefs everywhere. This call follows the rescue of Nigerian nationals, who were accused of witchcraft in Kenya. As reported, the police rescued these Nigerians in Thika Town in Kiambu County. It was stated that an angry mob beat and almost lynched them while they were performing some rituals.

The Advocacy for Alleged Witches commends the Kenya police for intervening and rescuing these foreign nationals. As in many parts of Africa, witchcraft accusation is a killer phenomenon and a death sentence. These foreign nationals were fortunate. Police rescued them. In many instances, the police arrive late, after the damage has been done.

Recently, Kenya recorded incidents of witch persecution and killing. Last week, two elderly women, accused of witchcraft, were lynched in Murang’a County. There is still no information regarding the arrest and prosecution of suspected perpetrators of this heinous crime.

In other African countries, such as Ghana, Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, accusations of witchcraft and witch persecution take place. Alleged witches have been attacked, killed, or banished. However, in most cases, locals are the target. People often accuse their neighbors, members of their family or community. This incident draws attention to the fact that foreigners are also at risk of being accused. Africans should look beyond their borders in advocating against witchcraft-linked violations.

People often demonize strange and unfamiliar prayer and ritual forms. They regard them as evil, as invocations of occult harm. African Christians and Muslims have been indoctrinated to demonize, occultize and witchcraftize religious others, especially traditional religions or any ritual forms that deviate from religion, as they know it. As this incident has illustrated, those who conduct prayers and rituals that depart from local norms are at risk of being accused of witchcraft and evil magic. Witchcraft accusation is a threat to the lives of Africans everywhere. Africans should not look the other way as alleged witches are attacked and killed in other countries. They should know that everyone is at risk of being accused or killed for witchcraft, whether you are a local or a foreigner. Africans should strive to advocate against witchcraft accusations and witch persecution without borders.

Leo Igwe directs the Advocacy for Alleged Witches

Bibliography

None

Footnotes

None

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

2023-11-19

Man Who Made Children Eat Their Faeces Must Answer For His Crimes

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: September 1, 2014

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: African Freethinker

Journal Founding: November 1, 2018

Frequency: Once (1) per year (Circa January 1, 2023)

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 1

Issue Numbering: 1

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Individual Publication Date: November 19, 2023

Issue Publication Date: TBD

Author(s): Leo Igwe

Word Count: 311

Image Credit: None.

Keywords: Advocacy for Alleged Witches, Benue State, federal Polytechnic Gboko, Leo Igwe, Paul Akor.

*Please see the footnotes and bibliography after the article.*

Man Who Made Children Eat Their Faeces Must Answer For His Crimes

The Advocacy for Alleged Witches(AfAW) urges the Benue state government to ensure that Mr. Paul Akor who forced some children to eat their poo is brought to justice. This call has become necessary following concerns by the mother of the children that Paul may escape punishment. On Sunday, April 9, 2023. Mr. Akor, an administrative staff at the Federal Polytechnic Gboko forced a 5-year-old boy, Anongo, to eat his faeces. This revulsive incident took place at the industrial layout, in Bamba, Modern Market area in Makurdi. Anongo is one of three children. Paul and the parents have been disputing some land within the family premises.

Family sources told the AfAW, this boy poo on this disputed piece of land. And Mr. Akor saw him; he assaulted and manhandled the boy, using his face to rob the faeces and forcing some of the poo into the mouth. Family members said this was not the first time that Paul had maltreated Anongo and the siblings. Last year, Mr. Akor assaulted the boy’s sister threatening to make her eat her faeces if she tried to defecate on the disputed land. The AfAW has been informed that sometime last year, Paul caught Ananga’s brother defecating on the land and subjected him to the same ill-treatment. He forced him to eat his poo. When the mother tried to intervene, Paul beat her and she fell to the ground.

The AfAW understands that the case is before a court in Makurdi. Paul has denied abusing and maltreating the children. The mother of the children is concerned that Mr. Akor would use his connections to evade justice. The AfAW sources in Makurdi have spoken to the children and their mother who confirmed this ugly and disgusting treatment. The AfAW asks the Benue state government to ensure that justice is done; that Paul Akor is brought to book.

Bibliography

None

Footnotes

None

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

2023-11-19

Illusion Of Witchcraft Meetings And Witchphobia In Africa

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: September 1, 2014

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: African Freethinker

Journal Founding: November 1, 2018

Frequency: Once (1) per year (Circa January 1, 2023)

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 1

Issue Numbering: 1

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Individual Publication Date: November 19, 2023

Issue Publication Date: TBD

Author(s): Leo Igwe

Word Count: 954

Image Credit: None.

Keywords: Advocacy for Alleged Witches, Africa, Leo Igwe, witchcraft, witchphobia.

*Please see the footnotes and bibliography after the article.*

Illusion Of Witchcraft Meetings And Witchphobia In Africa

The Advocacy for Alleged Witches (AfAW) combats abuses linked to witchcraft beliefs and ritual attacks. One way it seeks to achieve this goal is to educate and enlighten Africans and get them to abandon illusions and misconceptions that drive witchcraft fears and anxieties. One is the notion that witches, defined as persons with magical or supernatural powers turn into animals and insects, and fly out at night as birds, or in witch planes and baskets. The belief is that these occult agents meet at covens where they suck blood and conspire to kill or harm other humans and their estate. Now do such meetings take place? Are there human beings capable of attending and participating in these spiritual and supernatural gatherings? This piece addresses these questions.

The superstitious belief that witches meet is strong among Nigerians, nay Africans, including the educated ones. Through socialization or indoctrination, the belief that witches metaphysically convene is pervasive. It is an African cultural ubiquity that is so entrenched. Africans dread any supposed or implied witchcraft meeting. A supposed gathering of these principalities and powers unsettles, unhinges, and discomforts them. The delusion underlies the opposition to events that AfAW has organized in Benue state. To better understand the grip of this illusion on the minds of Africans let us take a look at some of the reactions to the meeting of the AfAW in Benue state in Nigeria. In response to a police disruption of the event, someone sent me this message. It states:

“Good afternoon, I have received information that witches wanted to have their first meeting in Benue state on the17th

September 2022 and have been interrupted. I don’t know how true it is but if it is so, I want to inform you that Benue state has been dedicated to the uncontestable God. The only living God. The creator of the heavens and the earth. The one that destroyed satan over two thousand years ago. Your creator Jesus Christ the Lord. There is no little portion of the land for you to have the meeting in Benue State, for he is already in the land. Therefore that meeting cannot hold. Trying to do so is to contend with Him. Thank you”. In reply I said: “If you are ready to learn, please pay attention to this. What we organized was not a witches’ meeting. We the organizers do not believe in the existence of witches. The event was meant to address human rights abuses in the name of witchcraft. We cannot organize meetings for entities that we believe are imaginary and non-existent”.

I invited the guy to a rescheduled event on December 21, 2022. And in response, the person said:

“Benue state has been dedicated to Jesus, try it and you shall see disaster in your midst”.

The illusion that witches planned to meet in Benue blinded this person and others witch believers and fearers in Benue state. Hence the post drips with threats and intimidation. The proposed AfAW meeting took place without any hitches. No disaster occurred as predicted.

The Ortom-led government is consumed by the fear of witches, and the delusion that they meet or could meet in Benue. It acted under the pretension that a witchcraft meeting is real. The Ortom government bought into this illusion and ordered that the AfAW event be stopped. The police in Benue acted based on this misapprehension. They believed that witches could physically gather and meet. In addition, the police did not want to go against the directive of the governor.

Imagine this, if witches, as widely believed, were to meet in Benue state, would the Ortom government stop them? Would the state, which constitutionally does not recognize the reality of witches and witchcraft, be able to prevent or disrupt the gathering? What will they use to stop it? How will they prevent the meeting? Look, the police came to the venue with guns and trucks to arrest witches. What was going on in the minds of the officers on that day? Did the police think that they could arrest witches as popularly believed? Is that not an exercise in absurdity and futility? At best, the Ortom-led government and the police in Benue made a caricature of themselves. They made governing and policing in Benue state a laughing stock.

It is pertinent to state that a witchcraft meeting is a mirage or a fantasy. It is an fictional convocation. Unfortunately, Africans have been deceived and indoctrinated to believe this fantasy as reality or fact for so long. Such a meeting does not take place anywhere except in the minds of the believers. The notion of a witchcraft meeting is rooted in fear and ignorance of nature and the universe. Testimonies of witchcraft meetings are products of accusations or confessions by unstable minds. No human being turns into a bird and flies to witch meetings at night, as believed in Nigeria. No humans fly around on magical planes or baskets as believed in Malawi or Zimbabwe. That is why the caricatures, called witch planes or flying baskets, are always seen lying on the ground. No one sees them flying, taking off, or landing anywhere in Malawi, Zimbabwe, or beyond.

Like people in western countries Africans should abandon the illusion that supernatural witchcraft meetings and other occult nocturnal gatherings take place. They should discard this notion that supposed witches embark on magical flights to a coven where they engage in cannibalism or initiate children and other adults into the witchcraft world. These illusions drive irrational fears and horrific abuses of alleged witches in Nigeria, Ghana, Malawi, Zimbabwe and other African countries.

Leo Igwe directs the Advocacy for Alleged Witches which campaigns to end witch hunting in Africa by 2030.

Bibliography

None

Footnotes

None

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

2023-11-19

Witch Persecution, Sharia Court And Legal Defence In Borno

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: September 1, 2014

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: African Freethinker

Journal Founding: November 1, 2018

Frequency: Once (1) per year (Circa January 1, 2023)

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 1

Issue Numbering: 1

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Individual Publication Date: November 19, 2023

Issue Publication Date: TBD

Author(s): Leo Igwe

Word Count: 500

Image Credit: None.

Keywords: Advocacy for Alleged Witches, Borno, Leo Igwe, National Human Rights Commission, Sharia Court, Witch Persecution.

*Please see the footnotes and bibliography after the article.*

Witch Persecution, Sharia Court And Legal Defence In Borno

Early this year, the office of the National Human Rights Commission in Borno drew the attention of the Advocacy for Alleged Witches to the case of Maryam (not the real name), who was accused of witchcraft. Maryam is 65 years old and a single mother. Her in-laws accused her of magically causing the death of another family member. They attacked and beat her, and she sustained some injuries.

Borno is one of the sharia implementing states in Nigeria. And some Muslims take their cases to Sharia courts for adjudication. Maryam took the matter to the court because her accusers threatened to murder her. “We will kill you, and nothing will happen”. They reportedly told her.

The Sharia court ruled that she should swear by the Quran that she was not responsible for the alleged harm. They agreed that if she performed the oath she could live freely in the community. But the Sharia court decision did not go down well with her accusers. Their lawyers rejected the ruling of the Sharia court and appealed the judgment. The National Human Rights coordinator is trying to engage a lawyer who could defend Maryam. She contacted the AfAW.

Maryam does not have a job and does not make a significant income. She is unable to hire a lawyer. In her message to AfAW, the human rights officer said, “According to them (Maryam and her supporters), they do not have some money to hire a lawyer, the person who was handling it abandoned the case because they could not afford to pay him”.

The AfAW is exploring ways to support the NHRC office in Borno to ensure that Maryam hires a lawyer. Victims of witch persecution are usually poor people like Maryam who cannot afford to pay the police to intervene in their cases or to hire a lawyer to defend them.

Confronted with such situations many resign to their fate. They stay back in the community where they risk being attacked or murdered by their accusers. Or they flee their communities and take refuge in cities. But more often, they go to neighboring villages and communities.

In many cases, the stigma follows them to these places, and other family and community members also reject and refuse to accommodate them. So, some alleged witches die wandering or living on the streets.

The National Human Rights Commission should liaise with the Legal Aid Council, Ministries of Justice, Women’s Affairs, and Social Welfare, and ensure that victims of witch persecution like Maryam get the support that they need. The persecution of witches continues because these institutions are moribund.

They have failed to fulfill their mission and mandate. These institutions should not allow accused persons to be doubly victimized by their accusers. To suffer witch persecution is enough tragedy. These agencies should not let the accused suffer further violation or abuse. These institutions should rise to the occasion, and help end impunity. They should synergize and rally against witch persecution in Bornu and other parts of Nigeria.

Bibliography

None

Footnotes

None

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

2023-11-19

“Defender of the Faith” to be Dropped

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11/19

As noted by John Paul Tasker in CBC News, the status of the Church, particularly the Christian Church, in Canada has been a long history of privilege over other sectors of society, other religions, and non-religions. Those come with benefits to Christians, generally speaking, and costs to everyone else.

As Christianity has continued its decline, we have seen a carving back of the overextensions of religious belief and practice into religious privilege more into equality. One of those is more symbolic, but an important footnote to the conversation around religion in Canada.

King Charles had the title of Defender of the Faith for about a century. However, there is a push to change the identity of the head of state, especially because of the lack of established church. We have a declining Christian population, rising non-religious population, and no established church.

So, the title of Defender of the Faith seems both practically absurd and symbolically unequal. The Trudeau government has indicated, according to Tasker, a disinterest in the continuation of the King of England’s religious role in Canada.

Tasker said, “The ‘defender of the faith’ title dates back to the Tudor period in the 16th century and refers to the monarch’s unique position as the “supreme governor” of the Church of England — the state religion established after King Henry VIII pulled English churches from papal control.”

I didn’t know this, but, apparently, the King becomes a sovereign religious figure in the Westminster parliamentary democratic system with sacred duties. It’s laughable. No less an ass-colonizer Christian nation at its foundation as Canada could conceive of such a position.

It’s important to note the still-existing symbolic representation of a deity in the Charter of Rights of Freedoms in the Preambular clause with the recognition of the sovereignty of “God.” Whose god? Why one, not many? What definition of a god? And so on, it’s simple prejudice shoved in for Christian appeasement.

Tasker opines that there is a push to show the relevance of the King or the monarchy, probably more generally, to the Canadian public. The reference to the United Kingdom is being dropped, too, by the way.

There must be a push in other countries within the commonwealth, so as to modernize and make consistent the standards of reference for the contemporary period.

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2023-11-19

Religion: Recent Immigrants and Not

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11/19

Bryan Passifiume in the National Post commented on something that may seem obvious. Where, in a Western states such as Canada, there is a trend towards a reduction in religiosity. Typically, if women have more equal rights, education is high, and incomes are higher than average, then the society becomes less religious over time.

If natural-born Canadians tend to be less religious, and if new immigrants are more religious, then those facts can be plugged inot Passifiune’s analysis. In that, individuals and families from poorer countries with fewer rights for women, less education, and lower incomes, will likely be newer immigrants. This will influence, a bit, the secular nature of the Canadian state.

There may be a surge of apostasy within those families and for those individuals in those communities exposed to a more liberal democratic form of life, as seen in Canada. Potentially, this could mean an increased demand for secular communities to provide a community for these possible upcoming apostates. We’re talking more than a million new immigrants in a short matter of time.

Rev. Dr. Andrew Bennett stated, “If you look at the the data for new immigrants, disproportionately they’re coming from countries where religion is a much more public reality than in most western democracies… New immigrants are more likely to express their religion publicly than non-immigrant Canadians… They’re more likely to attend religious services, they’re more likely to desire to have their children educated according to their religious tradition.”

The countries with the most incoming immigrants are China, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Philippines, France, Pakistan, Iran, the United States, and Syria.

Data published by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada points to India as this country’s top source of immigrants in 2022, with 118,095 new people arriving from that nation last year.

Cardus, the source of the study for the data analysis on the immigration, developed a spectrum of spirituality index. The categories in the spectrum were religiously commity, privately faithful, spiritually uncertain, and non-religious.

The only major observable or significant different between the numbers was between the religiously committed at home and those new. 14 percent and 28 percent consider themselves as such, respectively.

Among those who consider themselves “religiously committed,” only 14 per cent were born in Canada, while 28 per cent were born outside of the country.

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2023-11-18

Eddie Griffin on Gangster Rap

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11/18

I was doing some extra chores this evening at the ranch piling a gravel mound that got messed up, so I got it to look nice and organized. Then I had to blow some leaves and other gunk on platforms and gravel into a corner of a barn to be picked up and scooped into two wheelbarrows for dumping into the manure bin. I was reflecting, and a thought came to me on Eddie Griffin.

He was joking one time about rappers and gangsters, like urban street gangsters. The idea being a distinction between gangster, rappers, rap, and gangster rap. Griffin has a solid point. There are rapper, certainly, like Jay-Z. There are lyricists like Eminem. Both at the height of their particular craft, no doubt.

There is a legitimate and, as 50 Cent points out, a black art “without question.” Even though, he takes a turn stating that some had a hard time accepting that a white artist does it better than black artists, “It is what it is.” Yet, gangster rap, according to Griffin’s joke, isn’t a thing.

If you’re a gangster, the first rule is “silence,” according to Griffin. Then comes the true punchline, if you’re a rapper, “You talk too fucking much!” That’s a fair point.

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2023-11-18

Pith 743: Anomaly

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11/18

Anomaly: Anomie oh me oh my, a rotation in waitin’; died oh deed oh, a year so, a day no; anomaly I see I sigh, oh why oh die.

See “Time.”

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2023-11-18

Conversation with Professor Albert Berghuis on Antibiotics and the Only Synchrotron in Canada: Professor, Department of Biochemistry, McGill University

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Phenomenon

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11/17

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: So, let’s start with the Canadian Light Source at the University of Saskatchewan. What is this like? Is this a research facility or institute?

Professor Albert Berghuis: Yes, what is that thing? The Canadian Light Source is a research facility, and practically speaking; it is a bunch of magnets put in a giant circle with lots of sophisticated instrumentation attached to it to accelerate electrons at high velocities through this ring that is going to – I don’t know how fast you think, but they go incredibly fast. These instruments scientific instruments look a little bit like CERN, right? In Switzerland/France, where they use it, they use electrons and positrons, then bounce them onto each other. That’s not what’s happening here. They spin them around. Every time you make an electron want to go around a curve; it emits radiation depending on how fast it goes the kind of radiation that is generated at the synchrotron is X-rays. It is these X-rays that we are interested in.

So, you can take X-rays at your dentist or your doctor for an X-ray. That’s just, a puny amount of X-rays we can have. We have instruments in our lab that are 1000 times more intense, and they are still puny compared to what a synchrotron can do so we use these X-rays to illuminate our samples. You put a sample in front of the X-ray beam. The X-rays go partly through there. Partly, they get bounced off through the samples, and the way they bounce off gives us information on what is in our sample. This is what is known as X-ray diffraction.

Jacobsen: And so, the main point of the research is always based around X-ray diffraction in terms of using that as the methodology.

Berghuis: Yes, or in a sense, a step further is that the main objective: we make these samples. These are biological samples as you saw in the article. We put the ribosome in a crystalline form in front of it to figure out the exact three-dimensional structure of the ribosome.

Jacobsen: Basically, you’re doing 3D modelling through X-rays or structural analysis.

Berghuis: It is more that. We’re using X-rays to see an object, right? Remember that to see an object; you have to use a wavelength that corresponds to the size of the object. We want to see atoms and how far atoms are apart. So, we have to use a wavelength in that range, about one to two angstroms, so light wavelength with one to two angstroms is X-rays. That’s the kind of wavelength you have at that point. So we can see those atoms and molecules. So it is not modelling. We can see it.

Jacobsen: That’s very cool.

Berghuis: It takes a lot of computational stuff because there is a little tiny problem in that this is well-known in X-rays. It is where the fundamental part we have a little bit problem of to see things,. Yu need a lens, right? Your eye has lenses, and there are no x-ray lenses. But that is a computational problem. Thankfully, nowadays, there is mostly some complex math involved in that. But in the end, we can still see those molecules.

Jacobsen: So, are you working with the math department?

Berghuis: No, no, not anymore. But the theory of how the scattering of X-rays can allow you to see things was all developed around 1900 and 1910. Very clever physicists were involved in figuring that out. Now that theory is firmly established, we don’t need that anymore. Although, yes, clever programmers, because you can think they started with seeing the structure of salt. Now, moving that to the structure of the ribosome, that we solved with these 300,000 atoms. It is exponentially much more complex so computers come in, and indeed, some knowledge of computer programming can prove helpful once in a while.

Jacobsen: So, ok, you resist new antibiotics for some bacteria. So, how can you look at it, in some ways? It is quite a big jump. The evolution of this resistance to various antibiotics.

Berghuis: So, yes, it is good that we have some time here. So, we don’t see evolution, right? We are in a time point here, right? We cannot turn the clock back and see how things were so much in the past. We can see, based on indices in general, when you think about molecular evolution or gene evolution, we see the current state and the diversity. We can rationalize that they started at a similar point and, therefore, pretend to turn the clock back of what that was like previously. But in the end, we see how resistance is now. I think another misconception. I’m sure this right. People think antibiotic resistance started when we started using antibiotics.

Jacobsen: That’s right. Or a common phrase, my daddy ain’t a monkey, this sort of thing. This standard objections to evolution. It is a similar idea.

Berghuis: Yes, but antibiotic resistance. Evolution works. Evolution, as most people think about it, does not work as fast; you don’t see evolution at our time scales of human life. They know that that’s not how things go, except for viruses. That’s how we can see the evolution to the Delta variant, for instance, of COVID-19 or if under extreme pressure. But the kind of resistance out there for antibiotics is almost exclusively ancient, with ancient resistance that has been out there for thousands and thousands and thousands of years. They have been optimized over those thousands and thousands of year. What has happened since Fleming developed penicillin, and we started using them at quantities that are, from a biological point of view, like insane, where we’re making kilograms, especially where you are in farmland. They’re using an insane amount of antibiotics in husbandry, for instance, right? And that has resulted not so much in evolution as in selection that they entered the bacteria that don’t have the resistance are disappearing, and the ones that do have the resistance are multiplying. So it is not evolution, but it is a selection we have been seeing since 1940, so that’s the last 80 years. Does that answer a little bit of your question?

Jacobsen: It does answer a little bit of it.

Berghuis: Yes. Of course, with that is this nasty thing of bacteria that are very friendly with their neighbours and can give them all kinds of DNA presence, so, the genes encoding resistance have been spread around. This is not evolution, but it is spreading helpful stuff to your friendly neighbours; hence, these things have spread across the globe.

Jacobsen: And so, this project you started five years ago?

Berghuis: Yes, well, in many ways, the grant idea started in 1995 when I became an assistant professor as all research is correct, you evolve and accumulate and build on previous results. But indeed, about five years ago, we made the decision. We’ve been studying this specific class of antibiotics. We knew that a new member of this one was about to be put on the market. The company had been developing that. We knew the company, we knew the compound, we knew the various clinical studies that have been done so, at that point, we say we like to see how this thing works at an atomic-molecular level already it was out, it was known from all those clinical studies. What kind of resistance exists for this, even this newest antibiotic? And so we said we also want to see how that clinical resistance works so that started putting that in place and making that all happen. That took about five years to get to the final result.

Jacobsen: Wow, what was the feeling when you finally got those results?

Berghuis: Oh, like I said, I started this, when I became an assistant professor; I had dreams about it. I said we could see both aspects and do the resistance as clearly as these molecules are not as big as the ribosome I was like, Yes, forget the ribosome. That’s not going to happen now we made that happen. So, seeing the first results of that and especially how much we could see, I was beyond excited. Yes.

Jacobsen: So functionally, why must you know the three hundred thousand atoms to get the 40 atoms?

Berghuis: So the 40 atoms? But how do those 40 atoms sit in the ribosome? And to do that. I guess the analogy would be, what a steering wheel looks like. But if you want to know how the steering wheel sits in the car and how the whole car works, knowing the steering wheel and maybe the shaft is not going to quite cut it, you need to know the entire car.

Jacobsen: Yes, that makes sense.

Berghuis: So, unfortunately, and especially when the steering wheel is inside the car if you want to take a picture of that, it does not work. You take a picture of the entire car.

Jacobsen: Yes. Were there any other research institutes that were deep collaborators for the long term on this particular project?

Berghuis: Yes. So the reason why we could do the ribosome structure is this built up very much on Nobel Prize-winning research of groups that solved for the first time the ribosome structure. So it is not that for the first time I’ve seen the ribosome. This was Nobel Prize-winning research. We see this whole giant structure with a brand new antibiotic bound to it, and it explains how this particular antibiotic works. But building on this ribosome structure of my colleague Martin Schwing, who is at McGill; it was a massive help with this, and he’s also a co-author on the paper because he was a grad student and a postdoc in the two labs that got the Nobel Prize for this. So, having him in the lab made me think I could do this. Duplicating it is not really duplicating somebody else’s work, but still, you’re building on all that information; this was somebody who had been in that lab and done that kind of research, so it was finally possible for us to build on that research because we had the person in-house who could help us with it.

Jacobsen: When you break through a scientific barrier, something that was quite interesting that was noted in the information that was sent to me was that you have this research taking five years once that barrier is broken. With a new generation of antibiotics or a new antibiotic, it would take a tenth the time to get that same kind of result. So how does this have an entire order of magnitude reduction in the amount of time taken into the future by your estimates as an expert?

Berghuis: So, why? Right? Think of it it is really like studying these ribosomes. If I go into the lab of the groups that do these structures and study ribosomes daily, the expertise will be available. The right equipment is all out there. If you read a paper, there are all kinds of little issues that you’ll have to struggle with and figure out yourself. Tiny things of organization. If you use this instrument, the optimal settings are slightly different than if somebody else in their setting with a slightly different version has that show. it is an awful lot of optimization so it took us five years to figure out all these optimizations. Remember, the ribosome is two parts. There are the 30s and the 50s. It also has a piece of mRNA in it. It has tRNA in it. We have to purify each of these tRNAs. We had the mRNA to synthesize which mRNAs to use. It takes a lot of optimization to pure those parts, then trying to get the right conditions in putting this all together into a form that can be used at the synchrotron.

You saw the equator, like, we sent so many samples over there, and only a few of those were of the right quality. We’ve done it in our lab. We know how to do this with our setup. We have the persons who are doing this in our lab. So that’s why this will now be an awful lot easier. Also, taking the data from the synchrotron, typically 99.999 percent of the labs work on things that are, 100 times 1000 times smaller. All the software in the default values of how you deal with the data have been set up for that. We had to throw that out the door and come up with it. So we had to re-paramatize our programs to deal with things that are everything. When you make a structure ten times bigger, your probs become ten times bigger. This thing was several scales more significant, and I saw all our problems were several scales more significant. But we figured that out. We jumped the hoops. As I said, we went through there. Now we know what to do. Does that make sense?

Jacobsen: Yes. One hundred percent does.

Berghuis: So that’s right. But trust me, if another lab in Canada wants to try to do this, even though we’ve described everything and you think I can follow the recipe, I guess it is the same right as your mother’s recipe for a dish, if you try to make it, does it taste the same? Never quit. Right?

Jacobsen: Yes, that’s right. As the particular drug was a plazomicin, is that correct pronunciation?

Berghuis: Yes.

Jacobsen: As I said, so when the phrase is used, emerging bacterial pathogens within the paper, what is the classification there that you’re looking at in terms of these “emerging bacterial pathogens” that would prompt the need to use plazomicin or things similar in the future?

Berghuis: So, pathogens are, of course, by definition, bacteria that are harmful to us. There are lots of bacteria that are very nice to us, and we need them like in all our microbiota. Things like that. The emerging ones are the conventional ones. Antibiotics are not helpful because they do acquire more resistance mechanisms so those are the emerging bacterial pathogens that we aim for. I’m guessing I’m trying to think where we said this precisely in the paper, but that’s the issue, right?

What’s more, the ability to treat bacteria with current antibiotics is declining, and those are the ones that plazomicin has been geared to you to be used for. Partly, it was explicitly developed to circumvent a lot of the resistance tricks that are out there. So that’s what made this one, in many ways; it is a potent antibiotic.

Jacobsen: Could a similar set of experiments be done to examine this kind of resistance when you don’t use one antibiotic but use two? So you have this kind of overlap of effects to see, how did these interactions work on this particular structure?

Berghuis: So, yes and no, I’ll give a complicated answer here. So, for aminoglycosides, this is not the case. There is what you’re talking about: this combination therapy using two drugs to treat something. So, there are various versions of that idea out there. The most effective one, and this is even with aminoglycosides very often used. So, think of a bacteria, right? It is a complex living machine with a couple of machines inside that make this bacterium duplicate and survive, and a number of them are essential. One of the essential ones is the ribosome because it makes proteins, and other essential machinery is the making of the bacterial cell wall. So what now? If you attack the bacterial cell wall and the ribosome simultaneously, you might be able to reason this out, like because you want to generally keep drug doses low. Maybe I don’t need as much of either one of them if I use them both in combination. They might synergize. Lo and behold that is true. That is a very standard treatment with aminoglycosides. They use great aminoglycosides that attack the ribosome and beta-lactam antibiotics like penicillin and cephalosporin that attack the bacterial cell wall , they work together in synergy. You must use less of each to get more than double the effect.

So, that is one way of thinking of synergies because if you use two drugs together, you want to see the synergy that they work together in concert, that the effect is greater than the sum of the individual parts .On top of that is, of course, lowering drug concentrations [] toxicity, which is always a concern that works best. You would think of reasoning if the two targets were different. Yes. In this case, a cell wall and the ribosome. But there are also examples of within the ribosome that you can, because it is such a complex machine, you can target one part and another that will have a more significant effect and that, indeed, there is a relatively new drug. Although it was ancient in France. We have been studying that drug as well, and it has indeed two ingredients. Two drugs that work in concert on the ribosome and thereby cause the bacteria to die. But to your question, can you study simultaneously if it is different machinery? Do you do a different set of experiments to look at those parts again?

Jacobsen: And for practical applications of some of these areas of research. I mean, about antibiotic resistance globally, many populations can be at risk here. So how does this increase the efficiency of this technique or recipe, as you called it, reduce this problem? Is it a possibility, potentially into the 2020s? Not the far future.

Berghuis: So the far future, the 20 years. So, antibiotic resistance is a complex problem, which, the WHO has already identified. It is giving information out for people, so they use it properly, giving out to doctors reduced use. All of these measures are ultimately aimed at using antibiotics as little as possible and only to the most beneficial effect that means misused, avoid misuse, proper use so that you don’t create more antibiotic resistance. That’s a whole public health aspect, especially when you think of places like India, which is notorious for the massive spread of antibiotic resistance because there you can buy antibiotics over the counter. You don’t need the prescription drug; you go to your pharmacy. I feel I have a cold. I will take penicillin for this, even though it is a virus. It is pointless, right? Or I feel I am in this. One of my colleagues at McGill talked to me about this,. That it is widespread. That the production of antibiotics there is substandard therefore, even if you go, you take this drug three weeks or a whole week, seven doses, right? And you really should stick to that prescription. If you do that in India, it might well be that the doses only contain half of your antibiotic. So, there are all levels of complication in this, the global fight against antibiotic resistance that go well beyond…

We aim to facilitate the development of next-generation antibiotics, right? Provide the critical information to make that industry go faster. Of course, we’re not in a position to do the vast clinical trials in all of this kind of stuff. So, the current modus operandi in antibiotic research, in general, is that. Research universities push the discovery and the development further and further as the industry is increasingly reluctant to pick up on these projects, and we’ll see how far we have to push this forward before the industry picks this up. It used to be 10 or 15 years ago. We wouldn’t have to push as far as we do now because the industry has become far more reluctant. A case in point is plus or minus in itself the drug. So this was the original idea of plazomicin does come out of Montreal, out of the University of Montreal, by a guy who studies these antibiotics. He started this 15 years ago, if not more. Through these compounds, we interacted at that time as well, so he finally got a company spun off. A company that was based in California to take this antibiotic, get investors to do all the clinical trials it took, in the end, so close to 10 years to pass through all of the things that. This is the way these things go.

You can’t rush clinical trials. You have to do that properly. In 2018, they got this approved. But beforehand, they had two clinical trials, hoping to market this drug for urinary tract infections and skin infections. If I got the facts completely straight in my head, but this is, hopefully, it is correct. The skin infection part was a raving success. The clinical trials, the urinary tract infections. The FDA wanted to see some more data, so it was not harmful. But they said we need some more data. However, all of the investors finally pulled out. The CEO put all his money stock back into the company to keep things afloat. But that only worked for so long. They had a couple of other drug development projects. They put that on hold, and despite all of his efforts, the company went bankrupt, at which point they sold the patents for plazomicin to two companies to pay off all their debts and things like that.

And so these are patent-holder companies that are producing it, one for China and one for the rest of the world, if I recall. But this is now a company that holds a patent and license for companies to produce it. But no more research and development is going on, and all the investors that invested feel burned; they will not invest in any antibiotic research and development whatsoever anymore. So this is another story of how, from the economic point of view, it is very, very difficult to bring a new antibiotic to market. Which means while we know everybody knows that, we need newer antibiotics, right? The resistance will only spread, so we need to come up with newer ones that have less resistance. Will that resistance be permanent? You can be optimistic or pessimistic about that.

Nonetheless, you will need some newer ones, regardless of how optimistic or pessimistic you are. But the industry is not investing in it. So that means places like my lab and all kinds of other labs have to push the research further and further, so that the risk level of a company gets smaller and smaller and smaller.

Jacobsen: When is that threshold usually?

Berghuis: Oh, it depends, where you are or what the disease is. I don’t know if you’ve read it. I think this is a big issue at the moment in the States for a drug that’s supposed to help with Alzheimer’s. I don’t know if you’ve heard that story.

Jacobsen: What particular drug is this?

Berghuis: Forget the name, but the drug for a year of treatment, I think it was $56 million or so per treatment. The efficacy of that drug is in severe question. They don’t even really know if it does anything, and a whole pile of people at the FDA review board stepped down because they were not happy that it received FDA approval anyway. So, here’s a drug that will make if it is approved. If people are taking it, it will bring the company vast amounts of cash, and it is not even clear if it will ever work. So there’s a very different threshold over there compared to antibiotics. The same goes for a lot of cancer research. We have an elite compound that shows some efficacy in animal models that will already get you very far in the industry and will start to pick it up. This is economics, right? The problem with antibiotics is if you take them for a week or so, whatever the prescription is, you’re done. You don’t have to take it. Any different than with high blood pressure medication, cholesterol-lowering medication, or cancer medication. All of those are long-term treatments. As soon as they are approved, they are also approved for minimal things because the FDA wants to protect all agencies, and the WHO wants to protect them for as severe cases as possible, which means for a company, your market goes from this big to suddenly this big.

Jacobsen: When using the Synchrotron and trying to see the actual structure of what is happening with the ribosome with antibiotics. What are some of the difficulties that come along with having this happen? I did look it up. The Synchrotron was built in 2004. Yes, so, you have a 17-year-old machine that is still widely used and probably will be used well into the future based on its applicability and the size of the staff attached. So, what are the difficulties when trying to get an accurate picture of this structure?

Berghuis: So, yes, problems are difficult steps along the way. So the first part is, getting the samples in the right, and I mentioned right, producing these ribosomes, producing all of the elements, that can be used at a synchrotron, which means we have to grow crystals of the ribosome and then find the right conditions that they can be irradiated there. We’re doing this at cryogenic temperatures to lower the damage of X-rays. Once the sample is at the synchrotron, not all samples are equally good. We know we sent a whole pile of them, and each one has to be tested to figure out which one is good. I know it is hard to come up with a good analogy for that one. But from some samples, the image will be fuzzy. From some samples, the image will be much sharper.

So, what we would call resolution is that the resolution we can get from an experiment differs depending on the sample and the intensity of the x-rays that come up from the Synchrotron. So, at the moment, I think the Synchrotron is about to come up again. They have some issues because that machine does not run 24 hours, seven days a week, 52 weeks a year. They have their fair share of problems with that thing, keeping it operational as well. But you try it multiple times. One of the things we did a lot of experimenting with is we knew how to make the ribosomes and the whole thing around there. But how much plazomicin did we add to our mixture to see it? Like, think of it, if you have samples containing a million ribosomes in there, and this is the number is far more significant than that, do we have to add a million of the plazomicin or two million or three million or four million to make sure that it sits in there to see it all the time? Because if we only see it once in every hundred, we don’t see it. Hmm. So that was an experiment. We had to try it. Get the data processed, all the data. Look at it, and finally, in the end, can we see it or not? No, we can’t see it. OK, let’s try again. Change that parameter so it is a lot of iterative steps until you finally get to see what you were hoping, that it is finally there when that finally worked, as I mentioned to you before, we saw it more clearly than I thought was possible.

Jacobsen: That’s great. I mean, it is science. It is fascinating. You’ll know people have this stereotype of a very dry endeavour. I think it is that it is a very long-term endeavour. So it is a slow-boiled excitement.

Berghuis: It is, yes. I do think my students go through the same thing. I try to explain it like think of being a discoverer. Right? Most people are like Columbus. What must have felt, although there’s the story, is far different in natural history, but the fake story, right? He sailed across, and he didn’t know if there was another side to the north, to the Atlantic suddenly, he did see land like, whoa! Right? That was a fake story, but I still realized, like at that point in this fake version of history, I saw something that nobody had ever seen before,. People didn’t believe I could see. That is very much what we do. We see things that have not been seen before, and we see them for the first time. That is… And, when we started, suddenly, a whole pile of things made sense. The same, maybe with a steering wheel like, “Oh,” and then connect. “So that’s how it turns the wheels. Oh, how?” Right? And you are when you see that you go like, “I’m probably the first person in the universe who understands how these wheels work because nobody has ever looked at them.” Right? Chances are, on other planets in other galaxies, they don’t have ribosomes, right? So, that kind of realization is somewhat intoxicating. That’s why we keep on doing this.

Jacobsen: Are there any areas of the research, the questions that I have not asked that should be addressed as we close today?

Berghuis: Let me think, I think. It is always important to talk about research. That’s a team effort, and I am incredibly proud of the students in my lab who worked on this right. I’m the guy sitting behind the desk. I come up with some of these ideas, right? It feels a bit like designing or writing a piece of music, but with amazing musicians that can make your stuff come alive.

Jacobsen: Professor, thank you very much for your time today.

Berghuis: Okey doke. Hopefully, you can synthesize out of all of this rambling.

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2023-11-18

Professor Christopher Cameron on African American Freethought

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Phenomenon

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11/17

Christopher Cameron is Professor of History at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He received his BA in History from Keene State College and his M.A. and Ph.D. in American History from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research and teaching interests include early American history, the history of slavery and abolition, and African American religious and intellectual history. Cameron is the author of To Plead Our Own Cause: African Americans in Massachusetts and the Making of the Antislavery Movement and Black Freethinkers: A History of African American Secularism. He is also the co-editor of New Perspectives on the Black Intellectual Tradition and Race, Religion, and Black Lives Matter: Essays on a Moment and a Movement. His research has been supported by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, the Massachusetts Historical Society, the American Philosophical Society, and the American Council of Learned Societies. His current book project, entitled Liberal Religion and Race in America, explores the intersection of race and liberal religion dating back to the mid-18^th century and the varied ways that liberal theology has informed African American religion and politics in the 20^th and 21^st centuries. Here we discuss African American Freethought.

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: You have some interesting facets to work on American Secularism and African American religion experience and, in turn, atheism. Before this, though, there is, as always, an origin story. How did you grow up, e.g., family life and background, style of parenting, and community context?

Prof. Chris Cameron: I was born on an American army base in Heidelberg, Germany, where my mother Sylvie Cameron was stationed in the early 1980s. I am the oldest of five children and grew up primarily in New Hampshire. My Catholic and French Canadian family had migrated there in the early 1960s, and what little religious upbringing I had revolved around midnight mass on Christmas Eve or attending mass on Easter. I had a pretty turbulent childhood and moved around quite a bit between New Hampshire and the Bronx. I spent time in foster care and was even homeless for a while. I got into a life of crime pretty young and started dealing drugs at age 16, which would lead to my incarceration on multiple felony drug charges in 2001. Oddly enough, this was just the kick in the ass I needed to get my life together. I got my GED while I was in jail and started going to community college soon after my release in 2002. Within 8 years, I would have a BA, MA, and Ph.D. and my current job as a history professor.

Jacobsen: What sparked interest in African American religious and intellectual history?

Cameron: I began working in this area during my senior year of undergrad at Keene State College in New Hampshire. I read the autobiography of a formerly enslaved man in the 18th century, Olaudah Equiano, and was very fascinated by his use of religious rhetoric in making the case for the abolition of slavery. I wrote a short research paper just on him but would continue working on religion and Black abolitionist thought in graduate school at UNC Chapel Hill, with the dissertation I completed there in 2010 eventually becoming my first book–To Plead Our Own Cause: African Americans in Massachusetts and the Making of the Antislavery Movement. I then turned my scholarly interest in Black intellectual history into the founding of a new organization in 2014–the African American Intellectual History Society. This organization aims to promote scholarship and teaching in this field and to support it financially with fellowships for graduate students and faculty as well as annual conferences.

Jacobsen: African Americans, in my conversations and interviews when it comes up, who identify as freethinkers tend to remark on a complex history with the American church. The important role of the church in community organizing during the Civil Rights movement while, at the same time, the use and abuse of the Bible, the church, male authority figures, slave masters, and the God concept, to enslave, abuse, whip, chain, castrate, rape, humiliate, and intergenerationally torture a people. Some see black identity, African American identity, tied to the church and the God concept, so, when rejecting them, one becomes a community and social outcast. What’s your experience?

Cameron: My experience is actually very different from that of many Black freethinkers. I am mixed race and was raised by my white French Canadian family, primarily in New Hampshire. Religion was not particularly important in my family growing up. I actually embraced religion while incarcerated in 2001 and began to move away from it about 7 years later while I was in graduate school in North Carolina. Much of my peer group–fellow graduate students in the humanities–were already atheists so I felt welcomed and accepted. And when I started to be more public about my nonbelief, my family was fine with it. Even though most of them are believers, they rarely go to church and religion is just not a big part of their lives so it did not seem to matter to them that I did not believe. So I really lucked out in not being ostracized by my community for my lack of belief in God, but as you point out in the question, this situation is not the case for many other African Americans and they often have to choose between nonbelief and their families/communities. Many choose to stay silent about their religious identities for fear of ostracizing these groups.

Jacobsen: What seems like the greatest tragedy of the God concept and the Bible in advancement of European Christian colonial, institutional racism as a contingent fact for today?

Cameron: In my view it is the fact that the God concept and Christianity more broadly was used to enslave my ancestors and now the latter’s descendants are among the most ardent adherents of Christianity today. That is not to say that Black people should not be religious but I think it is particularly ironic that we seem to be even stronger believers in the religion used to justify our enslavement than the descendants of those enslavers.

Jacobsen: What was the influence of African Americans on the Universalist churches of the 18th century?

Cameron: Universalism was just beginning in 18th century America and African Americans played important roles in those origins. A formerly enslaved man named Gloster Dalton was one of the founding members of the Independent Church of Christ, which was the first formally incorporated Universalist congregation in the United States. Dalton remained a member of this church until his death in the early 19th century and both his sons and grandsons would be prominent activists and leaders in Massachusetts. In addition to Dalton, a Black woman named Amy Scott was a founding member of the First Independent Church of Christ, a Universalist congregation in Philadelphia that was organized in 1790. Scott helped to form this congregation and participated in meetings that led to a general convention of Universalists in Philadelphia in May 1790, a meeting that helped shape both the theology and ritual practices of the emerging denomination. While both Dalton and Scott considered themselves Christians, they believed that religion must be in line with the findings of science and that God was a rational deity who would not damn humans to hell for eternity for finite sins. Their religious beliefs thus placed them squarely outside the bounds of orthodoxy at the time.

Jacobsen: How has American religious liberalism influenced, and been influenced by, African Americans and African American culture?

Cameron: In addition to their roles in founding the first Universalist churches in the 18th century, African Americans have played pivotal roles in American religious liberalism from the 18th century to the present. They were early believers in Transcendentalist philosophy during the 1830s and 1840s and influenced white Transcendentalists such as Theodore Parker to become more active in the abolitionist movement. Later in the 19th century, African Americans in Chicago such as John Bird Wilkins created the first Black Unitarian congregations and Joseph Jordan founded the first Black Universalist church, with both of these congregations starting in 1887. African Americans continued to found new Black liberal churches in the 20th century and then initiated the “Black Empowerment Controversy” within Unitarian Universalism in the 1960s, whereby they brought the call for Black Power into the church and demanded autonomy from whites. Under the leadership of Hayward Henry (now Mtangulizi Sanyika) they created the Black Unitarian Universalist Caucus that served as a model for a contemporary organization, Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism.

Jacobsen: Were there any challenges in being the founding president of the African American Intellectual History Society?

Cameron: Absolutely. I first worked on starting this organization in early 2014 by organizing a group blog. I probably reached out to 50 different scholars in order to get 7 positive responses from people who would agree to write monthly posts starting in July 2014. Then from there came the challenge of converting the blog to an organization. We got non-profit status easily enough but it was a challenge to grow the membership. Things moved slowly until our first conference in Chapel Hill in March 2016, which had about 100 attendees. After that event we received a lot of buzz and membership began to quickly pick up. But there remained challenges of fundraising so we initiated an email marketing campaign that saw positive results. But this was certainly a challenge because most of us involved with this were academics who were not trained in essentially running an online business. My wife Dr. Shanice Jones Cameron was really pivotal because she did have this training and helped me every step of the way in getting the organization off the ground.

Jacobsen: Has the Black Lives Matter movement been influenced much by religious language and experience in its activism and work for equal dignity and rights?

Cameron: BLM has a wide variety of intellectual influences. Some of these are secular and the movement is much more accepting of secular activists than other civil rights organizations have been in the past. But many of the influences for BLM activists have been religious, including Islam, African Traditional Religions, and various forms of Christianity, including liberal Christianity. Some of the foremost activists in Black Lives Matter, including Leslie Mac, who founded the Ferguson Response Network, and Lena Gardner, one of the founders of the Minneapolis BLM chapter, are Unitarians who take their liberal religious perspective into their organizing work and take their political philosophy into their congregations. Indeed, Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism emerged out of a BLM convening in Cleveland, Ohio in the summer of 2015.

Jacobsen: As with much of American intellectual and activist history, much African American contribution, men and women, is hidden or downplayed. Who are the under-rated figures in African American freethought?

Cameron: There are many I can point to but I will just name 3 in different eras of American history. Fannie Barrier Williams was one of the founders of the National Association of Colored Women and a prominent speaker, activist, and intellectual during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She moved to Missouri from New York in the early 1880s to become a teacher and the racism she experienced there turned her away from Christianity. In the 1880s, she would join a Unitarian church in Chicago led by a deist and freethinker named Jenkin Lloyd Jones. Her reasons for joining this church were rooted in its activist identity rather than an adherence to particular theologies. In the 1930s and 1940s, Louise Thomson Patterson was another important freethinker and leader. She was repulsed by Christianity after experiencing racism from white Christians in Washington state in the 1910s. She went on to become a leading activist in New York’s Communist Party and was a key figure in the Black Freedom Struggle for much of the 20th century. And finally, during the 1960s, Octavia Butler moved away from her Baptist roots and became an atheist. She would bring her secular perspectives into her novels and went on to become the most well-known Black sci-fi writer of the 20th century. I intentionally named 3 Black women because they have often been marginalized in histories of freethought, even more so than African Americans more broadly.

Jacobsen: How are atheists viewed in African American communities, in general? Are there areas in which there is a wider acceptance of these individuals outside of the work of a handful of significant organizations and individuals pulling a lot of weight for a neglected freethought group?

Cameron: Generally speaking, atheism is often seen as a “white” thing in Black communities. Probably most Black people believe in the central role of the church in the Black Freedom Struggle and believe that atheists are opposed to a key institution in Black culture. They also think secularism more broadly is something rooted in a western philosophical paradigm, a paradigm that has often tried to exclude Black people from the category of the human. In terms of where Black atheists are more accepted, it is generally in urban, cosmopolitan areas or areas with a large educated population, such as college towns like Chapel Hill, NC where I went to graduate school.

Jacobsen: What do African American freethinkers need in terms of support based on current contexts and historical examples? Interviews and exposure can help; finances can assist too. However, there must be more.

Cameron: As you note, interviews and exposure are great and I would not downplay the importance of financing Black secular organizations and causes. Also, larger secular organizations using their financial resources but also their reach through publications and large email lists can really be key in supporting Black freethinkers. Here I’m thinking of organizations like Freedom from Religion Foundation using their email lists to host a fundraiser for a group like Black Nonbelievers. It would not necessarily be FFRF giving BN money but helping them raise it, or even publicizing events that Black secular orgs put on.

Jacobsen: Race and sex intersect in American equality activist history. The work to give equality to white women was seen as priority over black women because this was viewed as an impediment if pursued at the same time. Why?

Cameron: I think a large part of this viewpoint boils down to racism and jealousy. White women activists such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton were incredibly angered after the Civil War when they saw Black men getting the right to vote before them, and that resulted in racist tirades from women like Stanton and Susan B. Anthony against Black people, which inhibited making common cause with Black women. When prominent Black women leaders heard and read these racist remarks, it turned them off from working with white women and they founded their own organizations such as the NACW that Fannie Barrier Williams helped to found.

Jacobsen: Following from the previous question, how are factors like this played once more when it comes to economic justice, social fairness, and legal equality, too?

Cameron: When activists separate themselves from one another and work in their own siloes, it makes it harder to achieve goals that should probably be common ones. Take the socialist movement. That really began to gain steam during the early 20th century, but major labor unions such as the AFL-CIO or IWW either prohibited Blacks from joining or marginalized them when they did. So too did the Socialist Party. This had very negative effects on the fight for economic justice at the time because a large portion of the working class, namely African Americans, were not involved in the organized movement for workers’ rights. Instead, they formed their own major unions such as the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, led by socialist and agnostic A. Phillip Randolph. So the existence of racism, whether among white women activists or those in the white working class, certainly stymied what could have been very broad movements for economic and social justice. And that is exactly how the white ruling classes, at least in the United States, have wanted it. As LBJ said in the 1960s, give the lowest white man someone to look down on and he’ll let you pick his pockets.

Jacobsen: The life paths for black boys, African American boys, is much more precarious than for white boys, European American boys, statistically speaking. To those freethought boys and young men reading this, what is your advice for them, from either background?

Cameron: You are part of a long tradition of Black freethinkers that includes some of the most prominent thinkers, activists, and leaders in African American history, including Frederick Douglass, Fannie Barrier Williams, W.E.B. Du Bois, Zora Neale Hurston, Louise Thompson Patterson, James Baldwin, and Octavia Butler, to name just a few. Many of these individuals struggled with some of the same feelings that you might be wrestling with, including feeling out of place and ostracized for their beliefs. They nevertheless pressed on and achieved things that have profoundly shaped our modern world, and you can too.

Jacobsen: Thank you for the opportunity and your time, Prof. Cameron.

Cameron: Thank you as well for this opportunity and I hope your readers enjoy this.

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2023-11-18

Conversation with Professor Peter Singer Animal Ethics: Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics, Princeton University

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Phenomenon

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11/17

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: What would you consider the stronger arguments coming against the ones that you tend to make in Animal Liberation, Animal Liberation Now, and in animal ethics in general?

Prof. Peter Singer: I think the best argument specifically against the claim that you ought not to consume animals at all, or at least put aside consuming clearly sentient animals. I think the best argument against that is one that focuses on animal products from animals who are not factory farmed living good lives outdoors. So, the argument says that these animals would not exist at all. They get killed. They get killed to get eaten. Their lives are short. Is that worse than no life at all? Arguably, a short good life is better than no life at all. So, I find that quite a difficult argument. It gets you into deep philosophical questions quickly about whether bringing a new animal into existence to live a good life can replace, somehow justify, killing the animal living a good life, but could have lived many more years if they hadn’t been killed. So, I think that’s a tough argument for somebody who is trying to argue for being a vegetarian, to me. From my point of view, as it is still only a factory farming argument, it goes most of the way to where I would want to go; it doesn’t quite go all the way. If somebody told me, “We could wipe out factory farming altogether, but double the number of animals living in more traditional farms in social groups that meet their needs”. I’ll say, “I’ll take it”. Yes, the suffering in factory farming is so much greater than the suffering or the slaughter through the fact of the shortening of the animal’s life; I think that would definitely be worth eliminating factory farming to let that continue.

Jacobsen: What would you consider the strongest argument for eating less meat?

Singer: I think the simplest argument for eating less meat is the climate change argument. Every reduction you make is a good thing, clearly. It reduces greenhouse gases in the air and supports the growth of plants and vegetables, which are much more efficient in the fallout of greenhouse gas emissions, particularly beef and dairy. Also, it is much better for animals reducing the amount of factory farming or contributing to reducing the amount of factory farming and reduces pandemic risk as well. I think the idea that if you are not prepared to eliminate animal products, then the argument to reduce them is a pretty sensible and sound idea.

Jacobsen: How do you deal with the arguments around climate change? One argument countered against it is the supernaturalistic one. “You are interfering with God’s Will. God will sort it out for us”. It is similar to the ones found in anti-abortion arguments where God is bringing life into the world at conception, sort of thing. How do you tend to grapple with those arguments where the frame of reference isn’t even used in the same sphere of reference, empiricism? Jerry Seinfeld has this one metaphor in a different context where you’re playing chess and the board is made of water and the pieces are made of smoke.

Singer: [Laughing] Of course, God is elusive like that. You can’t quite grab it.

Jacobsen: Sean Carroll says God is a bad argument because God is a poorly defined concept.

Singer: Right, one thing you can do is ask the person, “Why do you believe there is a God at all?” You can get the concept of God that they have. The idea that God will fix climate change seems [Laughing] to me – let’s say – a high-risk strategy.

Jacobsen: [Laughing].

Singer: Which seems to me probable that there isn’t a God, there is going to be no fix. I remember once, one of the best front pages of the newspapers I saw was the New York Daily News after a shooting. One of those school shootings I think it was. What they had around the whole of the side, the side of the front page, they had these little portraits of various politicians who had said, ‘Our prayers are with you’, to these parents of the kids. ‘We are praying for you.’ The headline in the middle of the page was, “God isn’t fixing this”.

Jacobsen: [Laughing].

Singer: Yes. It’s true. Lots of people praying that no more people will get killed in these mass shootings that America has been having. God doesn’t seem interested in fixing it, unfortunately. Right?

Jacobsen: Some of these high school kids come forward saying, to the effect, “We don’t want your prayers. We want policy change”.

Singer: We have to fix it ourselves in other words. That’s the same for climate change.

Jacobsen: Peter, thank you for your time today.

Singer: Thank you for holding out until the book is published. Thank you for that too.

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2023-11-18

Pith 742: When we figure out the math of thought

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11/18

When we figure out the math of thought: we’re likely to be disappointed, because evolution made small tweaks to get it.

See “Details.”

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2023-11-18

A chat with Scott Jacobsen, a Canadian activist and journalist!

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): The Migrant Online

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11/18

*Interview by Adewale Sobowale, transcription by Scott Douglas Jacobsen.*

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: I’m enjoying the Vancouver life still, still at the ranch here.

Adewale Sobowale: [Laughing] Alright, how was the experience?

Sobowale: By the way, Could you introduce yourself?

Sobowale: You must have a lot on your hands.

Sobowale: Now, we discussed about your activism and all those things. Can you just tell us why you’re an activist and which type of activism are you into?

Sobowale: Excuse me, are you linked to any organization?

Sobowale: Why are you interesting in fighting for human rights?

Sobowale: What would you say about the state of the world now?

Jacobsen: Mixed [Laughing].

Sobowale: What would you say about the state of the world now?

Sobowale: Just a minute, when you said, “There are more democracies now.” Don’t you think there are pseudo-democracies?

Sobowale: Why has migration become a political issue?

Sobowale: This migration issue, they are using it to gain or lose votes.

Sobowale: By the way, as you are talking about economics or whatever, I tend to think some of these leaders are, more or less, gaining economically, from instability, from whatever. You know?

Jacobsen: Yes, that’s where the economics of votes is really about economics too [Laughing].

Sobowale: [Laughing].

Sobowale: That’s true.

Jacobsen: If you’re a place like Iceland, you have a president and a prime minister, but that’s another story. [Laughing]

Sobowale: By the way, even the arms dealers, the guys dealing in arms and ammunitions. They gain economically.

Sobowale: By the way, don’t you think the “Third World War” is starting?

Sobowale: The last one or the continuous one.

Sobowale: …one thing, I see. Just like the internet, I mean, internet could be used for good purpose and for negative purpose. Nuclear, too, it could be used for good and for bad.

Sobowale: What kind of world would you see 5 years time?

Sobowale: Okay, we have about 6 minutes more. What do you hope to achieve with your activism?

Jacobsen: A modicum of change that only one person can make in a limited amount of time with limited resources, with time being another resource [Laughing].

Jacobsen: Excellent, thank you, and thank you for the opportunity.

—

Audiovisual interview original publication at The Migrant Online:

(November 9, 2023)

A chat with Scott Jacobsen, a Canadian activist and journalist!

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2023-11-18

Pith 741: Peculiar

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11/18

Peculiar: the neutralizing language of military views of war; to take a life, you take the life out of the living language.

See “Trials.”

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2023-11-17

Dr. Hugh Notman on Biological Anthropology and Teaching

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11/17

*Interview conducted August 25, 2017.*

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: What is your name and position?

Dr. Hugh Notman: Hugh Notman, I am associate professor in biological anthropology as well as the associate dean of learning technologies in the faculty of humanities and social sciences.

Jacobsen: How did you find AU? Why did you choose it?

Notman: AU found me if I am honest. 11 years ago, I was looking for a faculty position. I just finished a post-doc. I came across an advertisement for biological athropologists, which landed in my lap and was very fortuitous. I livedin Alberta, had my first child, and was wondering how I would feed it. I saw this position. It was in Alberta. It was great. If I am honest, I really had not heard of Athabasca before that. I am not a native Albertan, so I didn’t grow up here. But I did my Ph.D. here. So, I was in Alberta for the five years. I did that. But during that time, I had not come across the name. So, to me, it was almost a risk. I just thought, “Okay, I’ll do it.” I didn’t know about it. This was in the mid-2000s.

Jacobsen: With regards to your research in biological anthropology, what are your main research questions?

Notman: My area is primatology. I study primate communication and cognition, and just generally ecology and behaviour. I’ve worked with chimpanzees in Uganda, studying communication in little monkeys in South Africa, and Spider and Howler monkeys in belize. So,the Africa stuff is morecommunication and cognition. I am really interested in questions of “what are the kinds of things animals communicate?” Is it like language? Does this relate to the origin of language in humans? Are there any actual parallels in the sense that can we find the roots of aspects of human language? Or are they qualitatively different?

Jacobsen: It’s a broad field. If you take other primatologists like Frans De Waal or biological anthropologists like Helen Fisher or linguists like Noam Chomsky, the field has broad applications. What, from your decade of AU experience, draws students to the discipline?

Notman: Most of my students so far seem to be interested in the individual courses. So, I try to make the course as reflective of my own interests. We have base junior level courses on primate behaviour, human evolution. The ones I have added in are more to do with what I think are interesting topics for students regarding human evolutionary biology and then I just opened a course in primate cognition, which includes some of these topics. The discipline, most of what our courses in anthropology are right now. I would say the majority are socio-cultural and archaeology. Then there’s just an attempt to grow the biology subfield.

Jacobsen: What tasks and responsibilities come with being a professor at AU?

Notman: Any of the other ones that come with any other universities. You have your commitment to teaching and course development, and research, and then administrative service as well. The difference, I guess with teaching and course development at AU… I also teach at U of C as a sessional. There you make the classes for the night or that class. It is actually easier to do that than to get up in front of 400 people and wing it based off your notes then it is from notes students need to learn on their own. I would say that is a unique challenge for teachers at AU. It took a little while to get used to that.

Jacobsen: For students interested in getting the degree in biological anthropology at AU, what are your tips for them doing in the course of studies as well as outside of that in getting a position, getting a job of some form that would be relevant to the courses and degree that they’ve selected?

Notman: Currently, it is just a degree in anthropology generally. So doing well in their courses, like any course, anything biology or social sciences — read, read, and read, write, write, and write. That is the key to success in the social sciences. To do that, you have to be passionate and interested in whatever yuou are learning about. If you are interested in pursuing something biological or biological anthropology related, that is a huge subfield in anthropology or subdiscipline I should say. Bio-anth can include forensics. Forensic anthropology has a nice practical application. You can do CSI stuff. That draws a lot of students who dig up bones and stones. There are things like human genetics and migration patterns. Primatology is almost an outlier. What we do is almost more like biology, it is a historical legacy that we’re in an anthropology department at all. Fun fact, in the States and Europe, it is starting to change. You can find more biology in the anthropology disciplines. That’s kind of a thing if people are interested in that kind of work. Usually, you have to go on to do graduate work and postgraduate work. There are lots of other options. I would encourage them to contact me if that is what they are interested in.

Jacobsen: What are some of the plans or directions of initiatives for the next 5 years for biological anthropology in terms of growth, for instance, with programs and student enrollment at AU?

Notman: We talk about the growth of the anthropology program more generally rather than biological anthropology. I am just the biological anthropologist. I am responsible for the bio-anth course offerings. It is not a specialty within our programs that you could necessarily specialize in. We’ve had, myself and an archaeologist and a sociocultural anthropologist (who is going to retire, probably, in a year)… the big transition will be when we replace that person in a year, what their area of specialization will be. So, no real current plans. One thing that myself and the archaeologist, both of us run field schools actually in Belize. But at the moment, they are not AU field schools. They are run through the group studies programs at the University of Calgary. But they are open to all students. They don’t have to be a U of C student. So, technically, we could have an AU student on them. We haven’t so far, but this is something both the arhcaeologist and myself would like to try and really push that more at Athabasca to get Athabasca students involved. She runs an archaeology field school in Belize looking at Mayan sites. I am the primatology field school there. That’s the area where I think we’re excited about making forays and drawing more AU students. Again, they would be coming as visiting students to the University of Calgary, but there is a very simple mechanism for that.

Jacobsen: What about graduate school for students? What should they do in terms of getting in research?

Notman: If you are interested in graduate research, then you should decide what you are interested in. Whenever you apply to a potential graduate supervisor sending an email saying, “I would like to do graduate research at your school. I would like to do a masters.” You say, “I have an interest in this. I have done my research. My research interests align with yours. I see you work with these species on this subject or in these areas. This is what I would like to do.” It doesn’t mean you’re going to do that.Your supervisor may have his or her own ideas. At least, it shows that you have done your homework. That you, actually, have similar interests and a potential supervisor is much more likely to consider hast application or that request more seriously than a cold call out of the blue, “I love monkeys. I’d love to work with you.”

Jacobsen: [Laughing].

Notman: Do your homework and have an area that you are actually interested in and should align somewhat with what the potential supervisor does. That’s the main consideration.

Jacobsen: Any final thoughts?

Notman: Just do it. People think, “If I do a degree, does this mean I have to end up working with monkeys?” No, it doesn’t. You can do whatever you want. If you want to do a graduate degree in something that seems to not have as much application like something like anthropology, you learn very crucial skills in any of the social sciences, like how to research, how to communicate, how to write which is a vanishing skill, and these are things that, I think, are very important skills to have in any profession.

Jacobsen: Thank you for your time, Hugh.

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2023-11-17

Pith 740: What’s in a name?

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11/17

What’s in a name?: It’s like a lace fractionated lattice throughout neural networks; a trigger of self-reference.

See “Identity.”

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2023-11-17

Pith 739: Akon

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11/17

Akon: needed a white boy to nearly get to a billion Spotify listens with “Smack That”; is it a compliment or a denigration?

See “Dunno.”

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2023-11-17

Charlene Polege on Human Resources

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11/17

*Interview conducted August 25, 2017.*

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: What is your name and position?

Charlene Polege: Charlene Polege, Chief Human Resources Officer, Athabasca University.

Jacobsen: You have been here 4 weeks. How did you find AU? Why did you choose it?

Polege: Oh! That’s a good question. I had been in Vancouver and had an opportunity to make a career shift. My sons are here. They are both going to university. Athabasca University came across as an opportunity through my network, actually. It resonated with me, chiefly, because of the purpose. I am a huge believer in what Athabasca University stands for: post-secondary education and the ability and opportunity is a right for everyone. Although, there is not a vehicle for everyone. Athabasca University provides that. By doing that, it provided me, at this point in my career, to perform HR in an organizations that has a strong purpose.

Jacobsen: With regards to your position, what tasks and responsibilities come along with it?

Polege: That’s a great question, because I am still figuring it out. The great thing aside from leading the HR team and HR function is really engaging relationships within the university. There’s the culture within the university. There are those of us who work in the university, and our engagement and commitment to it. That’s what I was saying earlier to our core purpose. Part of my role would be to helpall of us connected to that and those of us who have that same passionate drive, so working with our union partners ad real community relationship internal to the university as well as external and the government and processes that come along with that.

Jacobsen: What is your general strategy for engaging those relationships internal to the university?

Polege: One of my key deliverables is to create a strategic HR plan. That’s where it will be fleshed out moreso. Initially, really just getting out there and meeting people, starting with my tea, also, it is pushing out and attending as many sessions or as many meetings, committees, working with our union partners. We’ve madea purpose and a point of connecting with the union leadership. We have a meeting with AUPE next week. So, establishing that relationship, being open, visible, and available, over time, I am a big believer in storytelling. There’ll be a significant component of communication and increasing communication. Not one-way but two-way communication.

Jacobsen: In terms of narrative-building, what do you mean particularly by that?

Polege: I don’t know if I have an answer for that. I think I am too new in to contextualize that, yet.

Jacobsen: If students want help through human resources, what are their common asks, queries?

Polege: Again, I haven’t really seen that side of it, yet. I have really been orienting myself to our processes and our people, internally. Certainly, I see HR as a whole as a service. So, we provide a service to all of our clients of whom would be students. Some of that governance that we talk about also includes oversight form the students. In particular, in my previous role, it would be things like privacy, health and safety, diversity is a huge component. I know it has been big in the university and something in HR that we contribute to. So, I think from a student perspective as much as I would like to have a definitive answer. I am still getting orienting, which is still something we need to get better at. We have to get better at onboarding people as they get into the organization, which leads me to how does HR orient with the orientation of students in AU and what is available for them. So, they are getting the full benefit of what the academy can offer.

Jacobsen: How do you want to build that culture and diversity and another term that comes along with that, inclusivity, with people working with you and to build a more robust system to help orient systems to the AU culture and system?

Polege: So, more that will be fleshed out in the strategic HR plan. You have those tenets in your plan. Diversity and inclusion as a fundamental belief, certainly in mind, is that there iscertainly strength in that diversity. People are welcomed in, assessed, and contribute based on themselves as individuals. So, we need to do a better job from an HR perspective in the community, in the university community. We need to make sure we are breaking down barriers that may be. The biggest component of that is taking off our lenses and looking for those barriers and listening to what people have to say, staff and students. Because, often, barriers to inclusivity are not known, not seen. You can’t see them. It is not until you really start to digress into conversations and experiences that you really start to see them come to life amd be able to see plans.

Jacobsen: Any final thoughts?

Polege: I am really excited. It is my first time working in a university. The environment is very different. It is really exciting. I am looking forward to reducing and going along with the transformation that the university is embarking on.

Jacobsen: Thank you for your time.

Polege: [Laughing] Those were hard questions.

Jacobsen: [Laughing].

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2023-11-17

Douglas Sturrock on Fort Langley and Rugby in Canada

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11/17

*Interview conducted October 13, 2016.*

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Okay, book on Fort Langley [Ed. Oh, please.], October 13th, fifth interview with Doug Sturrock. So, Doug, tell us a little bit of the background to get into Fort Langley.

Douglas Sturrock: I grew up in Kitsilano. As I kid, I went to school in Kistilano Secondary School. I lived in Kistilano until 1990, married twice. First marriage was 1962. Second marriage was in 1983. My second wife and I lived in Kitsilano until 1990. Then we moved to West Vancouver. We lived there for 14 years. Then we came to Fort Langley in June of 2004. So, we’ve been here 12 years. It’s quite a change from living in Kistiliano and West Vancouver. Kistilano has changed, of course. Where I lived, it was a community. A lot of my neighbours knew each other. In fact, on the block that we lived in, the neighbours knew everybody. Some of them across the street. Some on the next block. We lived in West Vancouver. We lived in a really nice area near the water and Eagle Harbour, just a wonderful, wonderful area. It took us a while to get to know the neighbours there. Mind you, I was still teaching then. I was a teacher for 33 years. We used to get up early in the morning to go earlier to Kistilano. I was gone all day. I was gone a lot. Not a chance to meet your neighbours. The ones we had were really great. Then we moved here. We moved here 2004, as I said. I retired from teaching in 1998. Then we moved here and had the chance to see and talk to and get to know more people. Two of the neighbours, I got to know them quite well. But mostly, we met in Fort Langley at Bob Roger’s place, which is now Veggie Bob’s. Myrna, my wife and I used to come down here. Used to… we still do. Thi sis kind of the first place that we would have something to eat or a cup of coffee. We have been coming here ever since. I really don’t know Fort Langley very much [Laughing], except from my place to Bob’s. And that’s it.

Jacobsen: [Laughing].

Sturrock: We met on the way because your path runs right by my place. I do know Fort Langley a bit. People are here most welcoming, which is really great. That’s what a community should be. We get our cars repaired next door. The Fortless [sic] Carriage, he’s a really neighbourly guy. He’s the old school mechanic. He’s hired a couple of other guys, young men, probably not long out of high school who asre also wanting to be mechanics and are really great when you talk to them. I really don’t know the Fort very well. I have been across to the cemetery a few times with familiar people or names I know, or even don’t know. There’s a great bit of history there. I notice the changes in the last couple of years with the development, down by the river. The Coulter Berry building, it was a big hassle over getting that built. It is another part of this changing Fort Langley. It has an old newness or a new oldness to it. The man with all the money who has bought up all the property has gone on a building spree to change Glover. Unfortunately, to me, it looks like Downtown Vancouver, very highend clothing place. It is not like theold Fort Langley was. A couple of buildings are gone and people who had businesses there are gone. I don’t know if they retired or were forced out. Bob is still here, thankfully. He’s kind of an old school kind of guy. He’s changed his business. He used to sell a lot of vegetables, lots of fruit and vegetables. Kind of the business dropped off, so he developed a business… it’s called Veggie Bob’s, but he doesn’t sell any veggies anymore. It’s got a really classy menu, non-dairy. Some wonderful sandwiches and soups, he still makes the soups. He’s, probably, been making the soups forever and sandwiches to die for. He has enlarged his menu. I spend a lot of time here a couple of times a week, sometimes something to eat like a cup of soup. What else, at the moment?

Jacobsen: You described how you go to Fort Langley. You described two marriages. Some things you didn’t give, I believe, but I do know. You have a child.

Sturrock: Yes, a son, he is an artist.

Jacobsen: What is his relationship with Fort Langley?

Sturrock: Our son is Logan. My son from the first marriage. I had two kids from the first marriage. Logan is from the second marriage. The three of us, wife, Logan, and I, lived in West Vancouver and sold in 2004. Logan graduated from West Vancouver Secondary School. He didn’t know what we wanted to do for the rest of his life, so he took some part-time jobs for the next couple of years. When we were in West Vancouver, he was planning on moving out from home, away from home then, to Vancouver to live with a buddy of his, school buddy. They found a place to rent, finally. At that time, Myrna and I decided to come to Fort Langley. It was primarily her idea because she is an artist. She had a very good artist who lived in West Vancouver; she met her there and found out that she grew up in Langley. She said this could be a good place to move to: Fort Langley. We talked it over and ended up moving here. As she got involved in the artist community right away, she got involved for about six months next door at the Fort Gallery and helped it grow. Then she got it as a part-time job, but it became a full-time job. She didn’t want that, so she quit. She is still an artist. Logan, in the meantime, after spending time in Vancouver and some other areas of Vancouver, he decided to go back to school. So, first of all, he and his buddy went on a holiday to Europe. They were there for four months He came back and said, “I want to be an artist.” Although, he was always an artist since 2-years-old with crayon. He’s been, basically, drawing and painting all of his life. He ended up going to Capilano University and transferred to Emily Carr and graduated with a bachelor of fine arts 2 years ago. Now, he is living in Vancouver, still; he’s an artist and a DJ. While he was working in Downtown Vancouver, he got into being a DJ part-time and he carried on with that. Now, he’s quite an accomplished DJ as well as being an artist. He still works in Downtown Vancouver and Kitsilano. He works at a trophy engraving store. There’s a bit of artistic work being done there, mostly in engraving. But he didn’t move to Fort Langley when we did. He stayed in Vancouver. But I’m still here. Myrna’s still here. I am just finishing off writing a book on the history of rugby in Canada. We’re looking to have it printed in, probably, late January, mid-January. I met with the designer yesterday looking at what still needs to be done. We were hoping to have it out by Christmas, but there is still a lot of work that needs to be done. That appears to be more of a realistic time. I spend a lot of time doing that. Lately, it has been a couple of hours every day, getting that submitted, edited, doing some proofreading. We have some other people involved in editing and proofreading as well. That’s my major focus until that is finished. I think that really started seriously in about 2001. Myself and another fellow, a guy by the name Tom Keast. He and I wrote a history of the Meraloma Club, which is a Vancouver sports club out of Kitsilano. When I retired, I spent 2.5 to 3 years doing that. My buddy Tom and I did that. Then I decided to start this book on the history of rugby in Canada. I’d been involved in rugby most of my life. I played in high school. I played at the Meraloma Club. I played at university. I played back to the Meraloma Club. I learned a lot about the club and what I was teaching, and collected information for the sake of keeping it. Eventually, I got my arm twisted to write a history of the club. I never intended to be a writer [Laughing]. I still don’t think I’m a write, but I’m interested. But I wouldn’t say, “I am a good writer.” I am interested in the history of this thing. That’s how I got involved in the history of Canada. I went to the University of Alberta for one year. One of my professors said I should be done, so I wrote a thesis on rugby. I finished that in 1967. But I had a lot of research. Then I started becoming interested in rugby in Canada as well, hence the book. It is the first of its kind in Canada. Nobody has ever written a history on it. It is not a sport anybody writes about, not even the newspapers anymore. Some clubs across Canada have written a bit of history, short histories, of clubs, but not a lot. So, there was a lot of research to be done, when you write across Canada. I made several trips across Canada. The first one, I can probably write a book about that one. I drove from Edmonton to Halifax and back in an Austin-Healy in May of 1968, stopping along the way to meet rugby people, trying to get some information, trying to do research, trying to get them to give me more information about their area or the province. So, I did a lot of research on microfilm, reading microfilm at the University of Alberta. When I came back to Vancouver, I was there 14 months. Off and on, I would go to the Vancouver Public Library. Then I retired. I made a trip to Halifax. There’s a lot of rugby in the Maritime provinces prior to 1989. So, most of the information was in the newspapers there. Then I came back and did a lot of writing. I also interviewed tons of people right across Canada either by telephone, email, or in-person. Eventually, I got to the point where I had enough to expand on my thesis, because I had a basic outline to start with, and information. That information from that first trip I had never used. The book itself is going to be about 1,400 pages. It is going to be about an inch and a quarter thick, in horizontal format, and over 400 images. All with credits to the photographers. It has been a labour of love in a way. Because I have other interests as well. I like to do more reading, but I got a stack of books I haven’t because of other things that I have to do. Of course, the weather in Vancouver is so beautiful. Fort Langley is as well. So, for my two books that I wrote, I only did the research from November to March. Even though, it took a long time. I started the rugby one in 2001. I really didn’t do anything in the Summer time. The travelling I did; I mentioned going to Halifax by car once. I also did another trip to the Atlantic provinces one Summer to visit my sister who was in St. John’s, New Brunswick. I camped all the way, practically all the way there and back in another Austin-Healy. Then in about 2003, I went to the Atlantic provinces again because there was more information that I needed to get in 2010 or ’11. That time, I went to Montreal and Toronto and Winnipeg. I also made other trips to Calgary and Edmonton. I drove there in those times going to libraries and archives. Anybody who is interested in archival work across Canada, if you ever get to Vancouver; the City of Vancouver archives is, probably, one of the best archives across Canada. Some of the archives in the Atlantic provinces aren’t particularly good. I’m not saying it is all their fault. It takes a lot of time, effort, and people to put archives together and find material that is useful. But everybody, no matter where you go is so helpful. Anytime, you are doing work for writing. You need information. Everybody is so helpful.

Jacobsen: Is that a Canadian value?

Sturrock: That’s a good point, Scott. I don’t know. The only other archives I have ever been to. I haven’t been to any archives in California. But I have been to the University of California, Berkeley. I went to the University of Portland library, public library. They also have good stock of microfilm of newspapers, which are really valuable when you are looking to do research because, sometimes, that’s your only research. I know that the archives I have been to Edmonton, Calgary, the provincial archives in Alberta, provincial in Saskatchewan, the RCMP archives outside of Regina, Manitoba archives, Winnipeg archives, Toronto, University of Toronto archives, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia sports all of fame — been to a couple of sports halls of fame. These are kind of all institutions that you have to go to if you are going to be writing about something, where a sport or a topic. Anyways, that’s consumed most of today’s interview [Laughing]: the book and travelling to get there.

Jacobsen: If we can have a denouement, a conclusion, when you are describing your family and your son in Fort Langley and some of the things people can, probably, infer with Canadian values coming out within the interview, do you consider Fort Langley more of a family-friendly place, in other words a place that is good for rasing one’s child or children?

Sturrock: For sure, I see more kids now. I see more families. A lot of them, whether it is a place to raise kids or not. The Langley Fine Arts School produces some very talented people, according to the newspaper. I’ve never met any of them, personally, so I don’t know. I’m assuming it is. When we lived in West Vancouver, there was a woman, our neighbour, who actually sent her daughter here. One of her daughters for a year. Because she took a trip out here and heard about it, and found out the program that they had were outstanding for her daughter. I’d say it was only for 1 year because it was too far to travel. They’d travel from West Vancouver to Fort Langley and back. That’s a lot of driving. It was at a time when the traffic got worse for travelling the freeway, before the bridge. It was just impossible to come out here. It takes over two hours each way, each day.

Jacobsen: The only other case I know — it’s not a direct analogy, but it is an analogy in terms of devotion. There’s a cult in Cloverdale. They’re called “Branhamites.” He was a post-World War II Healing Revival. Bascially, a fraud, a charlatan pretendin to be a healer, as with Benny Hinn and these other frauds and charlatans. It doesn’t happen. When I went with a couple of friends top that church, the services were long and invovled. People would come from Seattle, Washington every Sunday, sometimes twice a week, pretty much to these all-day services. These were giving one if not two whole days including travel, roundtrip, and attendance at the church to attend this stuff. So, Langley Fine Arts School is having not the same degree, but almost a similar pull for people emotionally and in terms of its status as a quality school for dramatic arts, arts, fine arts, and so on.

Sturrock: Yes, there’s a lot of schools like that, not just Fort Langley. The fine arts school, there are a lot of schools that do great work, good teachers, good programs, and attract kids to go. Fort Langley, what I read about the students in the newspaper, in terms of the graduates there, it’s a quality school. It is only one of many. There are several in Vancouver. They tend to specialize. They had a second to none music program. Kids from all over Vancouver came to go to the music program, a great band, a great band teacher, and a choral conductor. They would go into various contests, local contests, provincial contests, even some national ones. That;s just one school. There are several schools across the school that provide musical programs and so the same thing, go to these other events. In a way, it’s kind of a cult thing.

Jacobsen: It’s highly involved, but it’s not ideologically driven.

Sturrock: That’s correct. It is skill-driven. The skill of playing a musical instrument or the skill of acting. The skill of drawing a painting.

Jacobsen: Kids pursuing interests of self-development that the school recognizes and nourishes.

Sturrock: Yes, a lot of them, it is, hopefully, long-term employment to be an actor or a musician or a painter. Initially, they’re attracted for kinds of reasons. Sometimes, they have a talent. Sometimes, it is because their buddy joined. Sometimes, it was the teacher. Something, they heard the bad play and want to play a musical instrument. There are all kinds of reasons for joining. There are always a few who don’t like it and drop out, don’t quit the program necessarily, but say, “No, this isn’t for me.”

Jacobsen: When you think of some of the things we do to bring in tourists like ghosts and the ghost tours, things of that nature. What do you think of the way we use certain mythologies as attractions for tourists as opposed to more benign things like a train station, the old Fort, and walking tours?

Sturrock: I’m not the least bit interested in that stuff. It’s not me. No. Everybody’s different. Everybody has different interests. Some people are attracted to whatever. If it is on the televsion or the newspaper, or you just mentioned ghosts, I ignore it. I am not the least bit interested. My interest in kids would be for young people, say with Halloween. It used to be scary. Now, it’s kind of a neat thing as a tradition to do. But even then, there’s trouble, sometimes. You get young adults. We’ll call them adults, sometimes. They get to be too old and they want to go door to door, and think it’s a big thing. They spoil it for the families. The kids up to a certain age

Jacobsen: If you had to describe Fort Langley in one word, what would it be?

Sturrock: One word. I’d say, one word, “Enjoyable.” I mean, there are words connected to that: friendly, enjoyable, nice place to be, still. I was going to say there’s no fast food, but they just opened one last year. No McDonald’s. No Starbucks. One service station. One cemetery [Laughing]. It’s a quiet place, still; although, it’s become busier. There are more cars now. Once they got the Bedford Landing now, they had more cars, more people. Any development brings more people and more cars. Cars, that’s another topic for the future. There’s good and bad in that. People are spending their money here on the cars. But it’s a lot noisier than it used to be. Although, at night, it’s pretty quiet. Daytime, the traffic is in the daytime. But it’s a really nice place to be. They have some events during the year to try to attract people from outside of Fort Langley, the Cranberry Festival just finished. Unfortunately, it was terrible weather this year. It is a great place to buy crafts and food items as well as connect them with cranberries. You still have May Day here, in May, and parades. Parades always attract a lot of people. People like to look at parades, floats and music, hear the music. Those are community events. Lots of communities have them throughout Canada. Because they were to keep good family events. There aren’t a lot of family events around anymore. You have to go looking for them.

Jacobsen: There are fewer families, per capita.

Sturrock: There are fewer families. Good point.

Jacobsen: There are more net families, but fewer families because of later family formation, later marriage, fewer people getting married per capita, and more divorces, so more divorces reduces net marriages, later marriages delays that as well, and the reduction in family formation are three trends that are aligned.

Sturrock: Right.

Jacobsen: So, that could inform some of the phenomena happening here.

Sturrock: Yes, and there are people who want to have families, man and woman who want to have children, can’t afford it. So, a lot are delaying having a child. They want to have one, but they have to wait a while because they can’t afford to live where they are and having another mouth to feed.

Jacobsen: Some have forfeit three things: marriage, family, and house.

Sturrock: That’s true.

Jacobsen: Therefore, it doesn’t become part of their life plan. Not because they don’t want it, but because they are forced into that situation.

Sturrock: Yes, there is always a segment who pay that price. I’m going to take my break and have a coffee.

Jacobsen: I have to run off to do a writing sessions with a friend in the UK. Thank you for your time.

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2023-11-17

Canadian Armed Forces First Humanist Chaplain

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11/17

A little late on the eight-ball here. However, there’s been a positive development in secular history in Canadian society with the introduction of the first humanist chaplain to the Canadian Armed Forces.

On May 18, 2022, Captain Marie-Claire Khadij was appointed the first humanist chaplain in the Canadian Armed Forces. That’s a landmark, because, as I recall, I wrote on an atheist chaplain attempting to become an official position in the United States Armes Forces: Jason Heap who is a doctor in theological history.

Heap failed twice in their initiative and sued both times. I do not think the second lawsuit went well or with the original intention either. Now, that is instructive. This can be an educational moment for Canada in how to make secular progress and for the United States in how to get humanist chaplains into the military. If religious ones respecting equality in Canada are allowed, then non-religious chaplains should be allowed too.

The Government of Canada press release stated, “Captain Khadij — currently posted with the Canadian Army’s 2ndCanadian Division at CFB Valcartier, Que. — entered the CAF as a chaplain in 2017, initially representing the Roman Catholic faith tradition. Over time, she found that humanism is more aligned with her values. She views spirituality as a search for meaning in life, which some do through religion while others, like herself, seek meaning through humanist values or secular ethics.”

That’s a fair statement. I’m not precisely surprised, but I am happy. The only basis in a multicultural, multiethnic society with a plurality of faiths is equal representation or equal non-representation.

The Canadian Armed Forces’ Royal Canadian Chaplain Service (RCChS) found the core values and beliefs of Humanism, humanist chaplaincy, consistent with its core tenets. Therefore, Captain Khadij was able to move forward with this development.

For such a pluralistic society and largely non-religious society with matched liberalized religiosity if present, Khadij won’t be enough in the Canadian Armed Forces to do this enough. There is a larger need for the provision of non-religious chaplains.

Khadij in the press release said, “The majority of members come simply to speak with us and get support. Most members know that the religious or spiritual tradition of the chaplain does not change the kind of service they receive. Regardless of the chaplain, each member is welcomed, listened to and supported on their journey. And if they have specific faith questions, they can be referred to a chaplain of that specific tradition.”

Humanist Canada played a major role in getting Captain Khadij into the role. That’s a win for humanists throughout Canada. What does this mean for the likes of Heap, for individuals who want to serve in that role while lacking the support?

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2023-11-17

Tauya Chinama on Witchcraft and Humanism in Zimbabwe

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): The Good Men Project

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11/17

Tauya Chinama is a Zimbabwean born philosopher, Humanist, apatheist, academic researcher and educator. He is also into human rights struggles as the founding leader of a Social Democrats Association (SODA) a youth civic movement which lobbies and advocates for the inclusion and recognition of the young people into decision making processes and boards throughout the country anchored on Sustainable development goal 16 (Peace, Justice, Strong Institutions). Here we talk about Humanism and witchcraft superstitions in Zimbabwe.

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: How did you come to a humanist outlook, a scientific view?

Tauya Chinama: Thank you for giving me this opportunity. I will try to be as brief as possible in responding to this brief interview. It started when I was training to be a priest. After finishing my primary and secondary school, I joined the Divine Word missionaries to be formed as a Catholic priest in the neighbouring country to my country. That is in Zambia, where I studied religious studies and philosophy. When I was studying philosophy, I managed to get in contact with so many principles of philosophy. Philosophy has 5 main branches. One of those main branches is logic. I fell in love with logic. Some modules like natural theology. We used to use videos of the likes of Richard Dawkins. I saw the likes of Richard Dawkins. Richard Dawkins inspired me. I saw what he was saying making sense. It challenged the view I had towards religion. I was extremely religious. I was a believer. It faded slowly starting during my years of studying philosophy. I started to doubt. Which means, I became agnostic. Later on from agnostic, I became atheistic. I moved from being agnostic and atheistic. I am now apatheistic. Apatheistic and humanistic, where I say I care about people’s lives, care about people’s values, care about people’s wellbeing, more than to care about a particular deity or a supernatural being. So, my conversion, if I am to use religious terms, to Humanism or to a scientific view happened in the world of formation, when I was formed to be a Catholic priest of which I quit the formation in early 2018. I think I have said enough.

Jacobsen: What was the state of witchcraft beliefs growing up, around you?

Chinama: The state of witchcraft beliefs when I grew up and even where I am to this day; people really and strongly believe in the existence of witchcraft. Normally, when I try to explain to people, I am ostracized. “You have been spoiled by philosophy.” “You are confused.” Some would even say, “You failed to be a priest. You are full of confusion.” They don’t value the scientific way of viewing things. People really believe there is witchcraft. They think it is a reality. There are a lot of stories around to buttress that belief.

Jacobsen: What is the state of witchcraft beliefs in Zimbabwe now?

Chinama: As we speak, it didn’t change much. It changed because we threw away some of the beliefs. The beliefs, last census showed 10% of the Zimbabwean population are non-religious. So, probably, there are in there different shades. You have militant atheist. You have moderate. You have apatheist, as I said. You have agnostics. It is still there. There is a lot of work to be done. Unfortunately, sometimes, we are limited due to lack of necessary resources to execute public awareness to execute a number of things to change how people think. It is a process which does not happen overnight. It is a process that is critical reflection and coming up with strategy on how to change the people’s worldviews, how to change the status quo.

Jacobsen: How large is the humanist community in Zimbabwe?

Chinama: It is not so clear how large it is. But as I said, the census showed 10% of the population somehow are non-religious. It is very hard getting the exact percentage of non-religious people. Non-religious is not something fashionable. You can lose economic opportunity. You can lose people’s support. You can lose people’s trust because people don’t know what Humanism is about, probably because the environment is toxically religious.

Jacobsen: How is combatting various irrationalities, including witchcraft beliefs, in Zimbabwe?

Chinama: Personally, I have been trying my best going to the media, writing, trying to talk to the people. Some they would say, “Yeah, you seem to make sense.” Some would just dismiss you. But I will not give up. It is a process. I am sure after some time we are going to have results.

Jacobsen: What tend to be the more negative consequences of witchcraft beliefs in Zimbabwean society?

Chinama: The consequence is human rights abuse. People are being abused. If you are accused of witchcraft, you are likely to be assaulted. The police don’t do much. The majority of the people accused are marginalized and powerless people in society. People are no longer respected. One of the more negative consequences are human rights are abused. Their dignity is stripped.

Jacobsen: Who tend to be the more vulnerable sectors affected by these superstitions about witchcraft and so on? Dr. Leo Igwe connected us. I understand the context of elderly women and the very young being physically damaged, even killed by community and family, due to accusations of witchcraft.

Chinama: It’s true. Women, especially elder, and people with disabilities are accused of witchcraft. People with ailments are easily accused of witchcraft. So, despite some of the them living with disabilities, being elderly, being impoverished, those problems they face; they face another challenge of their being responsible for their suffering due to the witch accusations. It is so touching. It is so serious. In our education system, a number of teachers believe in that superstition. When a teacher or a parent believes in this, which means the way people are being formed cognitively, obviously, people are being prepared to accept such beliefs.

Jacobsen: What have been your efforts to combat superstition in Zimbabwe?

Chinama: I have been trying my best. Unfortunately, I am still building my profile. My ultimate goal is to be a public intellectual. Being a public intellectual would help me to embark in society in a better way, I am trying my best and doing what I can, doing conversations, talking to people. Recently, I joined the Humanist TV Africa. I hope to bring programs around those issues too.

Jacobsen: How can people support Zimbabwean efforts to combat witchcraft superstition?

Chinama: The best way people can support us is by affording us resources. We have personnel. People are prepared to fight this. We have a number of humanists locally. Some of them, I am working with to structure humanists in Zimbabwe. The likes of colleague Mxolisi Blessed Masuku. Some might not be comfortable for me to mention their names. If we can get something, resources, in terms of literature, probably, some financial resources. Some promotional materials like t-shirts, and then partnering with organizations. We need capacity building.

Jacobsen: Any final thoughts?

Chinama: I think there is a lot that we need to do as humanists in Zimbabwe. I think I can pen a number of articles, and videos and audios. I have been working a podcast with my brother, a fellow humanist Masuku. Our podcast is called Humanist Hubris.

Jacobsen: Thank you for the opportunity and your time, Tauya.

Chinama: I thank you very much for giving me this opportunity. I hope my contributions make a lot of sense. I hope some people will get this information and share with you, and help us in Zimbabwe and be good partners for us to be successful.

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2023-11-16

Rosane Waters on the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11/16

*Interview conducted on July 27, 2017.*

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: This is an interview with Rosane from CASA (Canadian Alliance of Student Associations). Rosane, what is your brief background? How did you find out about CASA?

Rosane Waters: Sure, I studied undergrad at Brock in history, which is a CASA member. I did a master’s degree in history as well. I have always been interested in the intersection between history and politics. I see the two as very related. Following that, I did an internship in the Ontario legislature. Then, I worked for under a year for the Ontario government at Elections Ontario as a public servant doing policy work, basically. Then, I was still curious about the historical studies that I had done in my undergrad. And masters years. So, I ended up going back to school and doing a Ph.D. at McMaster. I actually, very shortly after defending my thesis, was very lucky to give birth to a beautiful daughter. I was very fortunate to be able to spend some time at home with her. By that time, my family was living in Ottawa. I was looking for something interesting to do to get back into the workforce, looking for something that I would be able to use the research and analytical skills I feel that I had developed during my studies and alongside my interests in politics and current affairs, and interests in a lot of the type of issues students tend to work on around affordability and accessibility. Obviously, my background means I care about these things and feel strongly about the value of PSE (post-secondary education) across the board. So, I was starting to look for work. This job came up. It is an organization I had heard a little bit about and did a fair deal of research into, and I realized it aligned with my values and things I was interested in working on. I was fortunate enough to get the job.

Jacobsen: What do you think is the biggest reason people don’t know about CASA? Why do you think it is important that people know about it?

Waters: I think that’s a great question. I think CASA is an organization where there are a certain number of people who are actively involved in it because they are the people engaging in the committee work, driving the policy, developing the advocacy and asking things. They have a close feel for that. At the same time, those are the same individuals who have a lot of responsibilities on their campuses as well. The average student doesn’t necessarily have the direct, regular engagement that those who serve as delegates do. Having said that, I certainly hope that students will… I think it benefits in advocating for grants and loans and benefits students across the board. I think it is essential people understand and can engage with the organization. I know that we tend to, as a member-driven organization, look to our student delegates for direction in terms of the types of policies that are really important right now on campuses, as well as having that direct student engagement. This is where our ideas and understanding come from in terms of what matters to students and in terms of the needs and interests of students. That’s a huge thing. It is making sure students know they can engage with CASA as well and can share their ideas and expertise to make sure we really represent them.

Jacobsen: Between the CASA Foundations 2017 conference in late May and the policy and start conference in late July, there were correspondences and organization around priority theme selection. Based on the needs of students and the student leaders based on their analysis of it, what were some of the top themes? What direction do they seem to be taking?

Waters: Basically, the process that we followed was at our foundation’s conference, where we have all of the delegates involved and able to talk about the issues to be able to find common ground across campuses or places where they feel improvements can be made. A number of ideas came out of that, ranging from student research, supporting student research, improving educational materials and things related to open educational resources, to supporting students, whether Indigenous students, taking on non-financial barriers, financial barriers continue to be a big one, supporting international students came up as a consistent issue. Now, we are in a position where the board has put forward some proposals, and we’ll see what the membership decides to focus on. The benefit of an organization like ours, too, is based on years of membership. They’ve developed expertise on the board on all kinds of issues that matter to students. This year’s membership will select priorities for this year’s membership, but we have the opportunity to advocate on a wide range of issues. There are always a lot of submissions, consultations, and so on, to work on papers, to engage on social media and traditional media, and that kind of thing as well. It will be a busy year. I look forward to getting to work on these things.

Jacobsen: What is the take-home message for student associations that are not part of CASA that could observe or, possibly, become a part of it in the long term?

Waters: I hope that the message is that the federal government, though not the direct overseer of post-secondary education in the same way the provinces are, does have a huge role to play, factors in in terms of billions of dollars invested, whether it is through research through the Tri-Council agencies or the most direct mechanism through Canada Student Loans or all kinds of range of all kinds of ways. I hope that the messages that engage with the federal government and that students have a voice at the federal level are extremely important. With all those investments, it is important students have a voice in the shape they take, and CASA is a vehicle for that.

Jacobsen: Thank you for your time, Rosane.

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2023-11-16

Nuns to Nones, to Sins of Nuns

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11/16

Nuns, nothing but the purity of virginal self-sacrifice for their Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, unburdened by the allegations ubiquitous over decades about the priest class within the Roman Catholic Church — until now.

The Roman Catholic Church has been facing profound sexual scandals by those deemed the intellectual and ceremonial protectors of the Faith, the priest class. Unfortunately, as we’re seeing, there’s tremendous publicity about this intellectual and ceremonial status, and then the reality, unfortunately. I wouldn’t claim to be a moral exemplar or, necessarily, want to be one. It’s disingenuous. I, like most of you, am just a Canadian citizen with concerns.

It is important, however, to point to systems of power, often unquestioned, and wealth and ask critical questions or simply speak the truth for an accuracy in the historical record. The Roman Catholic Church was a co-arm of the Government of Canada in oppression of the Indigenous. Not only those, but the young in general too, I do not mean ideologically alone. This goes without statement.

In 2004, a commission from that time found over 4,000 priests faced accusations of the sexual abuse of youth in the last 5 decades, at that time. The story is more complicated. For one, some of those accusations will be false, either in actuality or degree of reality.

Now, the Roman Catholic Church has been declining in Canadian society for decades. The most precipitous decline has been between 2001 and 2021 based on solid census data, Statistics Canada. The data was 12,793,125 Roman Catholics in 2001 at 43.2% of the population and then 10,799,070 at 29.9%. So, in both absolute numbers and in percent of the population, the Roman Catholic Church is dying off.

How will this affect public policy, politics, and so on? The moral stature of the Roman Catholic Church has been devastated internationally with the effects of these crimes coming to light, which were deliberately withheld from the Catholic laity and from the public. To me, in some sense, that’s neither good nor bad, but the truth needs speaking.

It goes to an old Carl Sagan point: Where does this leave us (cosmically and) in Canada? It means simply this: we’re on our own. For any justice and moral developments, it sits with us. And yet, those news items continue to hit the public. Naturally, those declines in the total number of Catholics in Canada have a corresponding problem with acquisition of a new class of nuns.

There were 47,000 nuns in Quebec alone in 1961. That declined to less than 6,000 by 2018. There are some false triumphs in small reportage, e.g., about ‘radical’ new young nuns joining the ranks.

Marlena Loughheed, a spokesperson for the Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto, for an article by Sebastian Leck in 2017 said becoming a nun has an attraction of experiencing faith in a way that is “real and that’s robust” for younger women. But again, this is opining, mush. We have to be realistic. The reality: Massive religious absolute numbers decline and intellectual class decline.

So, this brings us to the original stipulation at the top of the article, i.e., the image of nuns. Not only is this class of women declining precipitously over decades, they have encountered a few potshots in the media.

As Molly Hayes in The Globe and Mail noted, “A 97-year-old nun has been criminally charged in a historical sexual-assault case connected to a notorious residential school in Northern Ontario.” No one should be above the law.

Tyler Griffin in the Toronto Star described the arrest and charge of the 97-year-old nun going back decades. To be clear, the nun was charged, Francoise Seguin of Ottawa.

“The incidents are alleged to have taken place in the 1960s and 70s at St. Anne’s residential school in Fort Albany First Nation and Bishop Belleau school in Moosonee, Ont., as well as a detention facility in Sudbury, Ont., said OPP spokesperson Bill Dickson,” Griffin said.

The nun is supposed to be in Moosonee on December 5 for court. Seguin is not a one-off either.

Brett Forester reported how several Canadian nuns have been getting similar stories coming out about them. To be clear, secular people don’t like these stories. There may be flippant jokes around hypocrisy, which is grounded in the truth; an institution proclaiming high moral ground, all the while oppressing and committing crimes then trying to hide the facts.

The fact of the matter for secular people: There shouldn’t have to be these events in the first place. Churches could be moral exemplars, could be institutions representative of a philosophy of love and forgiveness, of their Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Yet, it’s not there.

It takes dissidents like Rev. Gretta Vosper to drag the churches into the 21st century. For her, it is the United Church of Canada. For the Catholic Church, who is it? Is it Tammy Peterson? She seems like a nice lady, smart person, but her approach is different than what is necessary.

The Roman Catholic Church continues to shrink, and will continue its declines reflective of its moral decline, because of the simple fact: Moral degeneration within its ranks over decades from the founding of the country and failure to account for crimes.

Regular Canadians are not stupid; they’re just busy with getting by the days of the week at work and at home. They know this. They know people who have been affected or know of people who have been affected by the crimes of the Roman Catholic Church in the country.

The question remains: In spite of the inevitable decline of the Roman Catholic Church and most Christian denominations in Canada, as the Christian population will likely be less than half of the population somewhere in 2024, maybe 2025, what will be the morally uplifting response of the older generations of Christians for newer generations of Christians within the multicultural, multiethnic, and multireligious country everyone cherishes Canada for — and the international community of Member States of the United Nations knows Canada as now?

As a non-religious person, I have hope in the moral renewal of the Roman Catholic Church in Canadian society. Proper accounting for crimes of some priests and nuns against individuals and the Church against Indigenous peoples can be the first major, practical step in doing so.

Canada deserves better; the victims deserve better; Catholic hierarchs deserve better; and, most importantly, the laity of the Roman Catholic Church deserve better.

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2023-11-16

The Late Bays Blackhall on Some Fort Langley History

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11/16

*Interview conducted August 11, 2016.*

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Let’s go a little bit over your family and personal history. Just general picture stuff.

Bays Blackhall: I was born in Victoria at the Royal Jubilee Hospital and lived out of Mount Tolmie, where my grandfather owned part of the mountain, part of Mount Tolmie. Then my father and mother after they were married moved up to Cowichan. I went to Queen Margaret’s School. You can get rid of some of this if you want. I went to kindergarten where I still have some friends, the Vogel family, eventually, Hunter (Vogel) was the [first] Mayor of City of Langley. So, that was a kind of a strange coincidence. We had been friends all of our lives. We went to kindergarten with them. I went to Queen Margaret’s School. That was the girls’ school and very Anglican and British. We had best friends there for years and years, and played on the grass hockey time, and tennis, and swimming, and horseback riding was the major thrust of the school. My sister and I shared a large horse called Serious [Ed. unsure on spelling]. Wait a minute, excuse me, after that, we, first of all, moved to Cultus Lake during the war because my father was in charge of the camp up there. After that, we were sent back to the private school because we were badly behaved and ran off with cowboys up in Cultus Lake.

Jacobsen: [Laughing].

Blackhall: So, the governors were sent home and we were sent back to Queen Margaret’s. After grades 9 and 10, I moved over to West Vancouver and finished my schooling in West Vancouver high school, and thence to UBC (University of British Columbia).

Jacobsen: Now, you are getting your education in UBC. What degrees?

Blackhall: Double degree in English and Psychology.

Jacobsen: Where did you apply that education if at all after you finished schooling, or where you worked?

Blackhall: You can’t really asked where I worked because from the time I was in grade 10. I worked as a waitress, at a fish cannery. My father always thought it was a good idea if we got jobs. So, we worked everywhere for a long time. When I graduated from UBC and after my internship at Shaughnessy, I worked as an aphasia therapist, which is in head injuries and stroke cases for about 5 years until we had our first child. Then we moved to North Vancouver and I had private patients for a short time and found it a bit difficult having children and private patients. I then became a volunteer and volunteered ever since.

Jacobsen: Now, you’ve come into the ‘Town of Eccentrics’ or the town of Fort Langley.

Blackhall: [Laughing].

Jacobsen: So, what is your own history with Fort Langley? What is your own perspective on Fort Langley? Those are associated questions, I think.

Blackhall: It is. And of course, as everyone will probably verify, a lot of people don’t know the origin of Fort Langley. So, I became very interested and became one of the members of the Heritage Society, which we formed in the ’70s and started helping with the preservation of all the old buildings around the Fort and around Fort Langley, around Langley itself. The same time I was working at the Fort as a friend of the Fort, which we founded. At the same time, working in the Fort Langley Community Improvement Society, which was the old community hall that was in the center of the old village. My time was very well taken up. I had to quit and work out in Fort Langley. My very close, old friend had moved out as a neighbour to us, the Robertsons [Ed. Unsure as to spelling.], which is another story because Sue Northcott and her sisters both live out in this area too. They are the daughters of my friend, Bell Robertson, and they were our neighbours and we were brought up in Duncan with them. So, it is a sort of confused history. But we worked at the VanDusen gardens for a little while in Vancouver, but it became too far to go — and so we signed up at the Museum. We were there, the Langley Centennial Museum, for about 15 years. All these things together, I can’t remember. Each time covers a part of another time like the friends of the Fort and the museum, and now the legacy foundation. They lump into one large just keep busy. Plus, we built our house out on the 20 acres, which we bought. We haven’t finished it yet. So, it has taken a long time, but I do have a large garden. I cycle every morning on Allard Crescent, which has another wonderful history. [Laughing] Everything brings another memory.

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2023-11-16

Mike Starr on Some Fort Langley European Colonial and First Nations History

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11/15

*Interview conducted September 29, 2016.*

Mike Starr: So, I was saying. The cedar tree, for example, is not just a resource, but it’s like a relative. So that the legend of the first cedar. There was an enormous man who always shared fish. The people really loved him. He grew old and eventually died. The Creator spoke to the people of the village and said, “I don’t want you to put him in a box in the tree, as you would usually bury your dead. I want you to bury him in the ground.” From where he was buried, a new tree came up. This is the cedar tree. The cedar, just like the generous man, is very generous. The roots are used to make baskets. The bark is used to make clothing. The heartwood is used to build longhouses. Even the cedar boughs are used to make softer beds, they’re, often, used for spiritual ceremonies. You wave the boughs as you go through the house to bless a house. You use cedar boughs. You might even put some small sprigs of cedar boughs up above doorways to keep the evil spirits out of the rooms. Other aspects, the First Nations culture was an oral culture until the time of contact. There was no written language. Although, there is a story at Xa:ytem (Haytem), by Mission. There is a sacred First Nations site that was a historic site that was open to the public for a while. There are three stones. The stones were transformed from people, from elders, chiefs, who were given the gift of writing from the Creator and did not share that gift with their people. So, their people were kept with a non-written society, basically, an oral culture. Because they didn’t share that gift. The Creator transformed them into stones. There are number of these transformer stones in the Fraser Valley that are all sacred sites. They all have lessons in them. There’s another legend about the Fraser River. The legend of the might Fraser. Apparently, it used o be crystal clear. The people were taking too many fish. Because it was clear. They could see all the fish and could easily scoop them all up, and were taking too many, more than they need. So, the Creator took a big pole way up the Fraser River and started stirring the mud up. Stirred and stirred and the Fraser became a muddy river, where you couldn’t see the fish, unless, they were right at the surface. People were taught not to take more than they needed. These stories from the oral culture teach lessons. They teach a way of relating to the land and to each other too. This is the spirituality. You can get some more, especially on the pre-Contact prophets who prophesied about the coming Europeans. In the book, A Stó:lō-Coast Salish Historical Atlas, it’s big, big book. It has a lot of nice illustrations and maps, very interesting about First Nations spirituality and contact, and changes of colonialism, diseases — European diseases that came in, just everything you want to know. It was created by Stó:lō people. I have, basically, exhausted my knowledge of First Nations spirituality. [Laughing]

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: [Laughing].

Starr: Is there anything else you were curious about?

Jacobsen: A bunch, but I don’t want to abuse that time, you already gave me an hour and a quarter.

Starr: Is there, maybe, one more topic?

Jacobsen: The Europeans when they came over and were colonists. There were Protestants. There were Catholics. That’s, maybe, 73% [sic] of the population. In fact, the number has decreased over time, which means the number has been higher in the past.

Starr: Right, right.

Jacobsen: Given that, they have their own conflicts, but there are broad based agreements within that own spirituality, that particular religious view. So, you’ve given a perspective on a little of First Nations or Coast Salish spirituality. What about the colonialists’ spirituality, and how it, possibly, influenced their perspectives on First Nations, or even on those that were necessarily purely European in some sense?

Starr: You, probably, got to distinguish between adherence of the Catholics who worked at the Fort and the Protestants who worked at the Fort, and the priests who came later, because the priests were wanting to teach and, sometimes, to enforce changes in culture due to their religious beliefs. So, monogamy was a big one. I talked about James MacMillan having four different wives.

Jacobsen: So, also, the status of women, probably, both cultures at that point.

Starr: Yes.

Jacobsen: Wow.

Starr: Slavery, this was about the time that Fort Langley was busiest, which was the time when there was the movement — the anti-slavery movement — led by… was it William Wilburforce in Britain? Who saw a conflict between his faith and slavery. There were slaves here. It’s really hard to decode between indentured servants and slaves. There are people who insist, “No, it is an entirely different thing: indentured servants in slavery.” In practice, sometimes, it was the same thing. You’ve got Hudson’s Bay company using indentured servants. You’ve got First Nations people who took slaves, basically, when they had a conflict with another First Nations group. If they were the winners, they might take slaves and keep them. So, apparently, some of the women who married the men at Fort Langley had slaves from other First Nations groups who came with them. Pretty complex stuff, the Kwantlen First Nation people today are very uncomfortable with it. They might not use that word of slaves. Yet, we haven’t been able to find another word that really fits.

Jacobsen: If you could take a two-sentence statement, let’s say the word is to a reader, not necessarily what they’re looking for. What is a two-sentence statement of what was done on either side?

Starr: These are unpaid servants whose pay is their room and board, but they’re required to do everything that their master ask them to do. They’re not free to go back home to their own village. So, it’s pretty much the definition of slavery. Yet, there are so many connotations attached to that word that many people are uncomfortable using the word to cover these variety of situations.

Jacobsen: Everyone has their uncomfortable history, apparently.

Starr: Monogamy was one of the things. Burying in the ground rather than up in the tree. Some of the things were not, perhaps, necessarily… they were more cultural than spiritual, I guess, is what I’m trying to say, when we still have that struggle. Missionaries who go to foreign lands. If the people convert and want to follow your God, then what do you tell is essential to do? They want to know, “What do I do now?” Over the years, that’s changed. It used to be: You get rid of your three extra wives and start having a bath once a week, put a fence around your property. There are all these things that are cultural things that weren’t necessarily part of the essential spirituality. So, I think we have a much different perspective today on what is essential. Many Christians in Africa or even in South American have a mix of their old cultures’ spiritual beliefs that mix in with their Catholicism or Protestantism. That was the case here. Things changed over time from when the first was first established to when the colony was getting up and running.

Jacobsen: Thank you for your time.

Starr: You’re welcome.

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2023-11-16

Rayyan Dabbous on Faith in Predictive Scientific Models

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): The Good Men Project

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11/15

Rayyan Dabbous is an author, journalist, and PhD student at the University of Toronto. His recent books include DIY Creative Activism (2019), Psychoanalysis of a Teenage Novelist (2020), and Torontino (2022). He recently edited the anthology George Sand: Philosophical Dialogues. Here he discusses his research on faith in predictive scientific models of human affairs.

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: So, we met at an economics for journalists training seminar or workshop (conference) for several days from November 2nd to 5th of this year, 2023. As happens with any get together like that of talented people, you talk about their research, their work, where they’ve been, what they’ve done. And we met each other, Rayyan. You started talking about being at the University of Toronto a bit. I looked into it. I thought this area of “response to faith in predictive scientific models in human affairs, politically and psychologically” was very interesting. First question, how are you defining “faith”? How does this apply in your generalized research program?

Rayyan Dabbous: Basically, I am looking mainly at the 19th century, and interestingly many researchers say the idea of probability and scientific thinking really kicked off then. So, the kind of thinking we have today and since the 20th century and the rise of very accurate science then, say Einstein and his gang in physics, and elsewhere in the social sciences, economics included. But of course we can also stretch back to the Romans if we want, even the Arab times. The first economist rose, actually, during the Islamic Empire.

I am focused on the 19th century because it is a very interesting century. At the time, it was becoming secular, but there was this struggle between religion and science. That’s really the climax of the struggle. We know who won in retrospect: science. But there is an argument according to which – and this is not just me, but other people too – the people who won – the 19th century scientist – adopted the ideas of those who lost, i.e. the religious man or the preacher. That’s how probability became fully accepted in the 19th century. In the beginning of the 1800s, thinkers discovered the regularity of numbers – something sensed in the 17th century – and thus how the world works.

If you had the suicide rates of France and Germany – say 47 people killed themselves over one period – the next year things looked regular. It was the same rate from a macro perspective. This was how, among other things, scientists began to believe in the power of probabilistic thinking. There are probabilities we can use. But at the same time, there were irregularities. People generally noticed they could calculate anything about the future and believed in their scientific models. Even though there were things we couldn’t plan. There was an element of surprise. I am looking at both sides. The two women who I am looking at particular were those who developed a nuanced view of scientific prediction, but, at the same time, knew that there was this idea of uncertainty about the future. Not because your calculations themselves were right or wrong about something.

Jacobsen: What I am getting from that, it is faith as an orientation of mind and expectation rather than mathematical modeling.

Dabbous: This is one of the debates. In probability theory, there are two perspectives. Either you got it wrong because, as you said, expectation was wrong, you can go back through the calculation and you can get it right, or it has nothing to do with what you project with the calculation, but has to do with the nature of reality or the nature of probability. The result was not what you thought it was, not because you thought you were wrong, but because there is an element of surprise in reality. By “reality,” I mean human affairs, communications systems. But some thinkers, philosophers and scientists, also believe that’s not just human affairs, but how the universe works. Einstein, in particular, had a clash, even, with this other philosopher, Henri Bergson. In any case, we still sometimes think the universe functions in a deterministic way. But that’s not how it works. There’s always chance. My project is about chance, too. This is where faith comes in.

Jacobsen: This indeterminacy becomes a fundamental axiom around this idea of faith as a concept. Is that correct? It is fundamental to this concept of faith in predictive models or as a critical thought about predictive models in human affairs.

Dabbous: To this day, it is not resolved. They stop at that term, “Indeterminacy.” There is something we just can’t figure out. But some people do want to figure out and know why that’s the case. When can we know? When can we not? People are still working on it today. That’s what I’m trying to do as well. Even with our economics seminar, people can criticize the models we looked at, arguing, “but there’s something called chance!” That’s something an economist will not like, because chance can be everywhere. But this is where we need to think and find a compromise and nuance. When should we account for chance? When should we trust our model?”

Jacobsen: How are scientific models, in terms of predicting human affairs, in politics and psychology useful? At what point do these “predictive models” become more and more subject to indeterminacy? So, the efficacy of them, the usefulness of them, the utility of them, to people who want to make predictions about human behaviours in politics and psychology. What are the limits? What is the boundary?

Dabbous: Great question. Let’s stick to humans but this is also true of all living systems: animals, plants, bacteria, because in living systems we’re generally talking about information processing. Your mind processes information. But also a political system or the people in it process information through media or through hearsay, gossip, and other things. The idea of information processing is key because you could have a deterministic view of information processing. You could say, “If I expose the society to x, y, z, you might end up with a revolution, or another political moment.” Psychologically as well, you could say, “I can expose a person to x, y, and z, you might end up with depression or another kind of neurosis, or something else.”

We can have models about that. Even in economics, we can have a model that says, “There will be a crisis.” But the thing with information, there are a lot of people – and very serious thinkers – who call it a kind of “magical science.” They mean communication science. It has this magical thing about it. If I tell you x, you might take it as y. There may be a million reasons why you took it as y. But we can’t always figure it out.

I can tell you: “Scott, your parents are threatened by this thing, say this political system. Your children might not be safe. I think you should all leave the country.” You can take my comment in a lot of ways. You can become a guerilla fighter. I might have predicted that you would take my comment the opposite way – that you’d have listened to reason, presumably. But there’s so much there. It is such a complex system. You are such a complex system. This is where, to answer your question: “How can we know where the indeterminacy is?”- you need to know the data set. Sometimes, you can guess. “It is a very complex system. But I have similar complex systems.” Like you can base yourself on the Roman Empire to analyze another empire. Sometimes, the math adds up, but, sometimes, it doesn’t.

I believe in science. I believe you should have models to explain reality. This is why it is about faith. You take a leap of faith. That is why it is important to frame it as that, as well. Some people forget that. They take it as fact, or over-trust it, maybe. But that’s the idea. How much trust can you confer? How much faith? I think it’s fascinating. I think there is a lot you can know: take for example medicine. We can know how vaccines generally work. In some specific cases, we don’t. Like certain side effects. There are also effects that are the opposite of what we intend to do. But at the same time, we are learning more and more that the body can be stable on certain points. Medication generally works. This is faith but it’s also progress. It is important to frame it as that.

Jacobsen: What are you predicting – ha-ha – from your central question in this doctoral research?

Dabbous: In the humanities, when you combine the humanities with the traditional sciences, you want to have an ambitious goal and a less ambitious goal, especially within a Ph.D. You will be grilled at the end of it. For me, the more realistic one, if you want, is fully exploring two women I am looking at: George Sand and Lou Andreas-Salomé. I am trying to show – this is more the gender part of it – that what we know about chance and probabilities came mostly from men but that these two women also shaped how we understand them. Sand and Salomé had a very prophetic understanding of how society works, how the mind works. Figuring out their perspectives is my more realistic goal. The more ambitious one is to continue to add to the toolkit we have about how information works, how society works – in general. There is not a consensus. We just have models. People say different things. I want to push the things that we know and add to that toolkit. Why can’t we understand or predict x thing about the human body? Why can’t we still fully understand how memory works, as in Alzheimer’s research? There’s a lot to find out. What I am hoping to do is to add to our knowledge about all of that.

Jacobsen: How do you think some of the economics training that we received, which was really principles, basic math, and economic thinking with some experiments, inot either this research of your professional work moving forward as a journalist?

Dabbous: I wrote in my notebook a few things about that, namely: “Economics is quite like George Sand and Lou Andreas-Salomé.” They were considered harsh by society and their lovers – in how they think, what we should do, how we should achieve social good. This connects to economics. Economists, as we heard, can be harsh too, in what they want societies to go through. There is a truth to that, but we have to think critically about it too. Again comes this idea of magic, faith, and hope. Economists are harsh, but they are unwittingly optimistic. The economists that, at least, we looked at, thought markets will work by themselves. It is like the faith of the 19th century and of these two women. Sand and Salomé also thought we have to go through hardship, but they were also activists and believed something else is out there and which we must strive toward.

Equilibrium, economically, is an interesting concept. Many economists think government intervention will prevent equilibrium from happening. That’s also something I look at, whether in psychology or in psychoanalysis. Salomé was a psychoanalyst who worked with Freud. For them, they also wanted to find an equilibrium mentally and thought we as individuals also sabotage that goal. The same way economists view governments as sabotaging their equilibrium! Of course you can say “we need a revolution,” and end up realizing a revolution was counterproductive, causing reactionary movements instead. But that depends on what is counterproductive, in the long-run. And we can’t know that. It is true of psychology and economics. The economists we listened to admitted, “We can’t predict things 100%.” That was great to hear.

Jacobsen: Rayyan, thank you very, very much for the opportunity to meet, learn from one another, and conduct the interview [Laughing] while you’re in the middle of your flight back from Vancouver to Toronto on your doctoral research, it’s been a pleasure in-person and in the interview.

Dabbous: You’re welcome. Thank you. Same, same.

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2023-11-15

Pith 738: Canada Declining

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11/15

Canada Declining: Incomes and quality of life are declining relative to other advanced economies, a long trend.

See “Second-Rate Country.”

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2023-11-15

Pith 737: Long-War Paradigms

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11/15

Long-War Paradigms: Computer systems integrated globally, a new era; perpetual information war everywhere.

See “Communication Theory.”

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2023-11-15

Pith 736: Young Miko

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11/15

Young Miko: Some of the sickest instrumentals and timeliest rhythm in lyrics I have ever heard in my life; holy shit, lady.

See “Dope beats.”

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2023-11-15

Pith 735: Jason’s Waterfall

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11/15

Jason’s Waterfall: be Fall fallin’; and, therefore, it will be flowing away, with him n’ Him.

See “Countdown.”

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2023-11-15

Pith 734: “I’ll find out.”

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11/15

“I’ll find out.”: Because you’ve been obsessed with me for over two years, clearly, honey.

See “Colleagues and such.”

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2023-11-15

Gary McLelland on the World Humanist Congress 2023

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): The Good Men Project

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11/15

Gary McLelland has been with Humanists International since February, 2017. He is the Chief Executive of Humanists International, working for Humanist Society Scotland before as their Head of Communications ad Public Affairs since 2013. McLelland has a BSc (hons) in psychology, a diploma in childhood and youth studies and master’s in human rights law, in which he researched the approach of the European Court of Human Rights and the United Nations’ approach to so-called ‘blasphemy laws.’ Here he talked about the World Congress and General Assembly of Humanists Inernational in Copehagen in August of 2023.

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: It was great to meet everyone again in Copenhagen. This is simply a quick roundup of the big takeaways from the World Congress and the General Assembly. For starters, what were your favourite moments of the World Congress and the General Assembly?

Gary McLelland: My favourite moments are always seeing friends and colleagues who I don’t get to the opportunity see for, maybe, 1 or 2 years from time to time. I spend a lot of my time on Zoom calls and Google Meet calls with our members and associates from all different parts of the world. It is exciting. You can get a sense of people’s excitement and the projects that they are involved in. You can build a certain amount of rapport over these calls. However, there is really no alternative to spending time in person, just hanging out with people and talking to them in a more relaxed environment. For me, it is always a real buzz to see all the people that I spend my time communicating with in person and to see them altogether. It’s always a really good feeling. I don’t know if there is any particularly favourite moments. For me, the whole period of 4 or 5 days. It really just feels like one big event, where you get to hang out and talk about important issues. Sometimes, serious issues, but also I think to reinvigorate and re-energize the common bonds that unite all of our different organizations all ove the world, to feel like you’re part of this bigger, global movement; it is this exciting thing.

Jacobsen: My first experience in Copenhagen was missing the bike lanes – right in front of my eyes, like a clueless idiot – and almost getting hit by an elderly Danish man on a bicycle who exclaimed the first words of Danish I have ever heard, as far as I recall, “Idiot”. Welcome to Denmark! How was your trip to Denmark?

McLelland: [Laughing] I must confess. That this year for the Congress, I think I left the hotel twice. I had very bold ambitions to get up early day, to go for a swim in the harbour, to go for a run around the lakes. I must confess that I think I spent too much time socializing in the evening. So, my morning plans were somewhat curtailed by that. So, I didn’t get to see much of Copenhagen. I went out twice to a couple dinners, but, yes, other than that; I spent my entire time in the hotel, in the conference centre. But! I really can’t complain. That was the purpose for me being there, obviously to work and oversee the General Assembly, but to meet, support, and network our various members and associates. Obviously, it is always lovely being in Copenhagen. As a keen cyclist, I am very much a supporter of their cycling culture and cycling infrastructure. Also, I’ve been very fortunate to have some personal trip to Copenhagen before. So, I have explored all of the beautiful tourism before. Yes, it was not the most touristic visit to Copenhagen for me this year.

Jacobsen: It has been about 9 years since the last World Congress. What were the reasons for the delay outside of the Covid-19 pandemic?

McLelland: Well, yes, as you say, it’s been 9 years since we had the last World Humanist Congress back in 2014. There’s, probably, quite a number of reasons for this. The economics and, indeed, the kind of carbon and climate economics of flying 1,000 people around the world to listen to lectures is, obviously, something I think coming under greater and greater strain for understandable reasons. That’s definitely part of it. There are, actually, more kind of local reasons why the last two congresses – they were meant to take place every year. One was meant to take place in 2017. That would have been in Sau Paolo in Brazil. Another was meant to take place in 2020 in Miami in Florida. There were some local reasons that didn’t happen. Brazil, at the time, went some severe economic challenges. Our member there came under quite a lot of economic pressure. So, the logistics of that event really just weren’t able to withstand those challenges. That event had to be cancelled. At the very last minute, Humanists UK put on an international conference in London, which was really an excellent save of the event.

The event in 2020 in Miami had to cancelled because of the Covid pandemic. As I said, there are these overarching doubts and questions some of us have over the congress. That is not to take away from the fact that what happened in Copenhagen was an overwhelmingly successful and positive event. The feedback from the participants underlines that. The next congress in Washington, D.C. in 2026; I’m sure will also be an incredibly positive and successful event. However, there are, I think, growing challenges to this model of having a big 1,000-person in-person event travelling around the world. I that the pressure for economic reasons to make sure that the event is open to people from all different parts of the world with all different economic opportunities, and also to really make sure that the vast amounts of carbon that are released from the flights can be justified, frankly. There are big challenges to the future of the congresses. It would be, obviously, for the members and associates of Humanists International to discuss and decide about the best way to maintain and energize and invigorate and manage our democratic forums in the future. So, yes, I think that would be a very good question in the short-to-medium-term.

Jacobsen: A lot of North American media presence can be skewed over the last few years by the Twitter presence, at the time, of former American president Donald J. Trump. It was common for people to nervously scroll and look for the next inflammation from the Trump Administration’s social media. However, a lot continues to happen and moves forward in the world. Although, things have calmed down a bit with President Biden. What have been some of the more significant changes in the African, Latin American, European, and Asian contexts for secular humanists, while North America has been, prototypically, self-absorbed?

McLelland: That’s a very big question. I’m, obviously, a resident of North America. Although, I think I am quite clued into North American politics. There have been some very serious challenges to humanist values that we promote. You’ve seen across Latin America and all around in Europe, and so on, the rise of so-called “strong men politics,” e.g., Bolsonaro and so on, and a number of populist leaders across Europe. The weaponization of the so-called “culture wars.” These attempts at fostering a divisive narrative and separating people into pro or anti this, that, or the other thing. That is something that has bee happening globally. It will manifest itself in different ways given the amount of foreign policy power that the US and economic power that the US projects globally. It’s obvious that they will always, to some extent, be one of the most visible in the, certainly, English-speaking world. If you talk to the humanist organizations in India, they will tell you about the really concerning rise of religious inspired strong man politics and populism in India with Modi’s BJP party. It is very much a global phenomenon. Of course, there are examples of this being pushed back against and progressive, democratic movements trying to safeguard institutions and so on. That is something which back in 2019 with our declaration against populism; we tried to bolster and underline as part of the humanist movement. I’m not a political theorist, but I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to draw a line between since 2008 and the severe economic shocks of the credit crunch. We know political and civil unrest is following these massive economic shocks. It is definitely concerning. One of the challenges is that the answer to these challenging times, even after the pandemic: The questioning of global supply chains and whether we need to go back to nationalistic approach to apply and demand, and economics. These are very big questions. I think that what we have to say is beware of those people who will offer you a simple answer to these profound global challenges. That will always be the challenge for us as humanists to give measured, reasonable, and calm, inspiring messages, but in the knowledge that we are up against people who are offering simple, pithy, angry, but, nonetheless, false solutions to these complex problems.

Jacobsen: Copenhagen Declaration on Democracy: a humanist value was adopted as policy at the General Assembly in Denmark, which is huge. It seems obvious, but formal stipulations matter in this regard. You don’t need to argue with anyone too, too much, simply forward them the link to a policy. I still have a project in mind to run through each policy since the inception of Humanists International, but, I think, this will take significant focus and effort and time commitment. Certainly, more than a year. What were other declaration themes or topics considered for this 2023 General Assembly?

McLelland: So, in terms of what was considered for the Congress, there only ever was really a plan to have one declaration broadly on the theme of democracy. There was then some discussions in the drafting committee to the extent that this should be a timeless, aspirational declaration about what humanists believe in democracy, why we believe in democracy, where we see democracy going in the broadest terms. Something that would resonate 10, 20, 30, 50 years, or whether it should be something that is much more of the moment. Something which elucidates our concerns, our fears, our worries, our more local aspirations for some of the challenges mentioned previously. In the end, we agreed – the resolutions committee agreed – to do two statements. The first was a declaration that was moulded by the wider congress. It was this more timeless, aspirational declaration about how democracy is, how to sustain and maintain it, how to recognize and push against anti-democratic tendencies. Then the General Assembly separately adopted a statement which was a much more timely piece, which draws some concerns about the more local and specific concerns we’re facing now. An attempt to link them both together. Taht was definitely one of the aims for this year. Interestingly, going back to the 2020 planned congress, which was obviously cancelled, the theme of that congress was going to be on culture. I think that’s something we as a humanist movement have an incredibly rich, diverse, deep and proud culture, and also an appreciation of wider culture – art, drama, of everything that motivates and moves us in the human experience. But I think there’s a growing appreciation among some leaders that the subjects of our statements and activities, and so on, tend sot be on the harder rational science, policy sides. The harder aspects of life, and that we need to make a space to make known our position and our support and desires for culture. I think that’s one that we will hopefully return to in the near future.

Jacobsen: What has been the feedback on the GA and WC so far?

McLelland: The feedback on the General Assembly and the World Congress so far has been very positive, I must say. There has been a real appreciation to see a good global representation from different parts of the world and the participants. Clearly, it is not a fully, globally diverse group of people given that we’re meeting in Europe. Definitely, I think there has been great efforts on the parts of the organizers with the Norwegians and the Danish humanists and with Humanists International to make sure that we have as many resources as we can to offer travel bursaries to people from less economically powerful parts of the world. So, that has been a powerful thing to get feedback on. The content of the speeches and sessions received really good feedback. People said that it was very comprehensive look at things, almost in a negative way, I think, especially during the parallel breakout sessions. Choosing which one to go to was a very, very difficult choice, they wish that they had had a chance to go to different sessions. That’s a positive, I think, as well as something that we’ll need to reflect on in the coming years. Broadly speaking, all of the feedback has been positive. I think everyone felt everything was very well organized, explained, and understood. I think there has been two good pieces of constructgive feedback. One is that – both related – the language of the congress is conducted in English; it would be helpful, especially for those talks and sessions of a higher academic nature to provide written summaries or papers, ideally, in advance to give those who don’t use English every day a better opportunity to engage with the session. Similarly, I think a reminder to participants, again, for people who are not using English everyday to remember to be patient with those people who maybe need a bit more time with their English and might need to remember to be a bit more patient when people who don’t often use English are trying to make complicated points or speak in public. I think that’s one thing that we need to reflect on.

Jacobsen: What was the inspiration for choosing Singapore for next year’s GA?

McLelland: There wasn’t any particular inspiration for choosing Singapore. Every year or two, we will put out a call for interest from all our member organizations about hosting a general assembly or congress. It is up to the members themselves to bid to host a congress. The Humanist Society Singapore had been keen for a while to do one. They bid to host one next year. Very excellent organization, I would encourage people to go online and check them out. They have been an active member of Humanists International many years. It is not in some way a choice made by Humanists International, but it is more of an expression of the interest of the Humanist Society Singapore.

Jacobsen: Any final thoughts?

McLelland: So, thank you for your time, Scott, I don’t have much more to add. I hope that I will see you and all of your readers in Singapore next year. Do remember to check out the dates and the venue on the Humanists International website, which is humanists.international. You can sign up for email alerts, so you can receive alerts when ticket and bookings are available.

Jacobsen: Thank you for the opportunity and your time, Gary.

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2023-11-15

Gáspár Békés on Humanism and Religion in Hungary

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): The Good Men Project

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11/14

Gáspár Békés is Secretary and a Founding Member of the Hungarian Atheist Association and a persecuted secular journalist. Here we talk in-depth about secularism, Humanism, youth rights, and religion, in Hungary.

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: This is an interview with Gáspár Békés. I want to start by taking a step back in the narrative. What was some background for you, and how did you become more interested and involved in the Secular Humanist outlook in the community?

Gáspár Békés: I always enjoy this question because I think there is a fundamental misconception about atheism or at least an argument that’s being used against atheists or humanists, in general, is that they are militant atheists who are pushing for a cause. People don’t have a problem with the average atheist who is, of course, quiet and the problem is just the militant atheist. This is socially problematic because everybody’s born an atheist or a non-believer, and they’re usually indoctrinated into a particular religion. Most atheists do not think about religion in general as a question. So, I was such an atheist myself and after a while, it became clear to me that some of society’s greatest injustices are connected to established religion or organized religion.

My main focus is always on youth rights. So, from a young age, I experienced or witnessed much abuse in the education system in Hungary, my country of origin. I have seen how this had a detrimental effect on society. So, I’ve noticed that unless we educate our children in a particular manner in the school system that makes them responsible citizens while respecting their rights and nurturing their human rights, we will not have a sustainable society. We will not have a critical mass of critically thinking people who can establish and, of course, maintain a democracy and all of its advantages. I realize that when we deal with children’s rights. One of the worst intersections of children’s rights is when it meets the privileges of established religion. So, the difference of handicap of children meets the advantages of established religion, and that’s how we have, most more recently, 330,000 victims of the Catholic church in France or how we had mass graves in Canada or how in Hungary people get sentenced for harassment by the court when demanding an investigation from the church after being molested by a priest as a child.

So, over the years, it occurred to me that established religion has a detrimental role in society and that it is a fundamental hindrance to progress in society, especially in Hungary, where the regime is using established religion as a weapon to further its illiberal and despotic agenda. So, over the years, this resentment gradually grew in me, and my resolve grew. To do something about it and to step up, I felt like I needed to do something. In Hungary, the secular scene in general is in its early and developing stages, and I wanted to be part of this movement. If nobody else feels it, then I have to step up.

Jacobsen: As we both know, there’s a very long trend now for journalists, independent and not, undergoing harassment, stalking, and abuse of various forms. I’ve experienced it; I don’t talk about it. You’ve experienced it very publicly in Hungary. Why are journalists being targeted in such a significant and pervasive way worldwide? How is this manifest in Hungary right now?

Békés: Well, it’s an interesting question. I want to ask, though: do you mean journalists engaging in secularism or journalists in general? I think there’s a difference.

Jacobsen: That’s an important point. Let’s focus on journalists in general, and then we can narrow it down to journalists doing secularist work.

Békés: Okay. I feel like it’s often mentioned that the media is the fourth pillar of governance or power, and journalists have the responsibility and authority to report on societal things; they influence people and society. Therefore, controlling them or, in a way, exploiting them is, of course, always an essential agenda for many political groups or political parties, governments or regimes. Unfortunately, in many cases, journalists are not granted the same protections as other public figures, such as politicians. Therefore, it seems the easiest way for many stakeholders to threaten or harm journalists. If you would concentrate on specific topics that are less reported on in society, these are from less established journalists who are often freelancers and, therefore, have even less protection than a regular journalist. However, we have seen very established journalists suffer harm legally or physically in Hungary or other countries as well.

Jacobsen: How did the Orbán government come into power and begin to make a change towards the highly nationalistic?

Békés: Well, there’s the version of the actual events that happened in a short period, and of course, then we can look at the societal background of it of how they rose to power, but the short version, of course, is that during the 2008 economic crisis, there was a severe mismanagement of governance by the Social Democratic Coalition. This advanced the crisis further in Hungary, and this government made many mistakes, including a semi-public acknowledgement of widespread corruption, which resulted in protests and the resignation of the Prime Minister. Then, in the 2010 elections, the Orbán government won in a landslide victory, achieving a two-thirds majority. With this two-thirds majority, they had the power to change the Constitution and any law they deemed necessary, and they very publicly announced that this was the beginning of a new era and a peaceful revolution.

They abolished the Constitution and put another Constitution in its place, which has been amended nine times in the last 13 years. They started very early in the first year of their governance to change the law on education, media, elections. They made every effort possible to solidify their power. They completely changed the media landscape as well. They embezzled vast amounts of public funds so that they can have control of the media by buying media outlets en masse, using the public broadcasting services as their party outlets, and, of course, use EU money to fund this and mask this as well.

So, in a way, it was a relatively quick process, and it’s an often under-reported fact that when they changed the education law, they explicitly targeted young people and young people’s groups. So, they abolished the veto power of student councils, they abolished most national student bodies and advisory bodies, and they mandated that all children have zero freedom of religion and that children’s faith is decided by their parents until they’re 14, which is, of course, unconstitutional. It’s against the UN convention on the rights of the child. Still, they put this in because, from a very early time, they had this concept that they would use religion and religious institutions to indoctrinate children into a Christian mentality, which they thought would be equivalent to supporting the government or regime. After all, at this point, I wouldn’t call it the government; I would call it the regime, and I’ll get back to the reason why.

So, that’s how they move to power practically, and of course, there are many different stations or milestones they went through over the years, 13 years to be precise, but this is the short version. And then after this, they won consecutively two-thirds majority because, for example, they use so much public money to campaign for their party that it just exceeds everything that anybody else spends. So, to illustrate, most recently, there was a news article about how the governmental party funds just one of its propaganda sites with five times more money than one of the leading parties in the Spanish elections.

Jacobsen: Wow!

Békés: So, the money is just insane; it’s just vast amounts. We have the highest amount of Church funding per capita from the state in the EU, which is another question, but in a broader term, I would say that this has resulted from a lack of actual regime change after 1989. I would say that after 1989, we had an opportunity to fundamentally change how we operate and design certain societal services and systems such as education, healthcare, academia, governance, and different things. I would say the compromise was in 1989, but not much changed. The common denominator was dislike of the Communists, but that was it. All the politicians were very complacent; they were comfortable leaving things the way they were, most notably the education.

So, the education system, which comes from this personal model of education, meaning very top-down, very authoritarian, pretty much not focusing on critical thinking, was left in place. So, yes, a few things changed, and it wasn’t communist propaganda anymore, but I would say the modus operandi remains. So, children were not taught your rights, you cannot exercise your rights, if you try to exercise your rights, you will be reprimanded, you will be abused physically or mentally or emotionally or verbally by teachers even. There are several official reports of how teachers are being used here in Hungary or how children are being abused in the school system by other students, and nothing is being done about this. So, the system was still very much system based on violence or any form of violence.

So, in this sense, critical thinking skills without the knowledge of how democracy functions or what democracy is, why it is important to them they weren’t equipped to participate meaningfully in elections, let’s say statistically not everyone, of course. But when the elections came, and the Orbán government won the first time with a two-thirds majority only by a few hundred thousand votes, and I would say if those few 100,000 people had been young people who were better educated, it would have made a difference. So, we could have avoided this situation because the regime government, regardless, was blatant about what they wanted to do with Hungary, so it wasn’t a big surprise what they did. This is what people wanted ultimately; this is what they voted for, and of course, the first elections were fair. The remaining ones were not, but the first one was. So, people voted for this, which could have been avoided by a few hundred thousand people who were educated after the change in those more than 20 years.

Jacobsen: How are these people self-identified as Christian nationalists mobilizing not just in Hungary but in Europe generally and in some of North America as well, where in North America there’s a more specific movement of white Christian nationalism? However, it can be different in Europe or Hungary. How is this manifesting and getting steam, so to speak, within a Hungarian context in the European context?

Békés: I can talk more about the Hungarian context, but I also have some insight into the European one. In the US, of course, it’s like Evangelicalism, and in Hungary, Evangelicalism, the word itself, for example, means something entirely different. Evangelicalism is just an average denomination of Christianity, like a protestant denomination. It’s like these small churches with a very extreme ideology. It’s a good question because, first of all, there’s a difference in terminology between, I would say, America and Europe in this sense. So, Evangelicalism doesn’t mean the same thing, but like Christianism is evident, that term is very clear, and I think it’s very understandable, so it’s a good one. Well, I think it is also connected to race in Hungary or ethnicity, to be more exact. I wouldn’t say it is as clear that this is part of the agenda, but certainly, there is an undertone. So, of course, the Orbán regime’s policies involve racism as well; mostly racism against migrants or people of colour but, of course, a bit of anti-Semitism as well. So, these are all obviously in the playbook of white Christian nationalists, and this is undoubtedly connected.

The Hungarian regime is fuelling a lot of these groups, and it’s pushing this type of agenda. So, there’s government support for this activity. It’s unclear how extreme they are supporting, but they incredibly keep mainstream religion. So, the lines are a bit blurred because, in Hungary, I would say the established churches are pretty extreme. In general, I would say that in Europe or other places, we very much focus on white Christian nationalism.

In contrast, the existing churches are already doing extreme damage, and the only difference is that they are established, right? So, we are used to their views or their erosion of democracy or fundamental human rights, and white Christian nationalists are just a new wave of independents who are perhaps sometimes more extreme than established churches, but ultimately, are they? Yes, sure.

I would say established churches are more innovative. Established churches know that they don’t have to overthrow the government; they have to collaborate with the government to gain favours, gain immunity from any criminal proceeding and just live their lives. It’s the best scenario even in France, considered one of the most secular States in the world. It has been found that 330,000 people were molested, and this would mean the disbanding of such an organization or very severe serious life sentences for people involved on all different levels. None of that is happening, and none of that will happen even in one of the most secular States. So, the question is, do you need to be in power specifically, or do you have to have an avatar of a Christian nationalist like Trump to achieve what you want? That’s the scary part. It’s already there.

In Hungary, I would say these groups are a bit overrepresented because the government is pushing an extreme amount of funding into religious groups and in religion. Our only foreign aid program, for example, is called Hungary Helps, and it predominantly, almost exclusively, helps Christian communities around the world, mainly the Middle East. So, for example, rebuilding churches. When the earthquake happened in Turkey recently, the government was quick to announce that they are helping to rebuild the Catholic church in Turkey, which is the most tone-deaf thing I have ever seen in my life. The whole concept isn’t enjoyable, but somebody’s life is more valuable based on their religion. It’s entirely against the principles of humanism, and yet it is happening.

The whole agenda is that we help communities where they are less likely to migrate somewhere else, which is, of course, just completely illogical because most migrants are not Christians but Muslims or non-religious or other denominations. So, the share of Christians in migrants from the Middle East is minimal. So, even if building back churches with help, it wouldn’t make much of a difference, but this is the agenda. This is more of a smoke than an actual fire. They support these communities a lot; for example, all the churches in Hungary are publicly funded, all the priests’ positions are publicly funded in Hungary, and even the priests in the Carpathian Basin outside of Hungary, like Romania and Slovakia, are funded by the Hungarian government. The Hungarian government is building churches in Mexico with public funding and all around the world. I know, for example, Trump was also trying to do a kind of Christian aid program. And these people, they learn from each other.

All these, you know, CPAC conferences and whatnot, and these meetings are not just for a show; they do learn. They learn these different tactics and show how to further their agenda, which is a part of it. Before the elections, all priests got a bonus of about 1000 Euros for obvious reasons so the flock would be guided in the right direction. So, I would say Christian nationalism, in a way, is embedded into the governmental system. There are other groups, but it’s interesting because sometimes there’s a crackdown on different groups; for example, these mega-churches exist. There’s only one big mega-church in Hungary, like in the US, and they are embedded with the government. So, they were made an ally very early on so that they are being bought. For example, the Prime Minister’s son started an Evangelical group like a modern one. Their views were not extreme as far as I could tell, but they were gaining popularity a lot because it was like this young group, a lot of music, faith healings, all the bells and whistles you usually put on at this kind of show, and they just disappeared.

So, my idea is that the established churches just considered this as competition, and they asked the Prime Minister to shut it down, and I think he did. Now, Orbán’s son is a soldier in the military, and his past of youth Evangelism is behind him, it seems, a very abrupt end. There’s a lot of power dynamic and power play behind the scenes of how Hungary manages it; it’s very power-down and top-down control. For example, in Poland, it’s more like a bias; the power dynamic is a bit more even. So, for example, the church helped elect the government but, in turn, asked for a ban on abortions, and they did it. In Hungary, so far, they wouldn’t dare to ban abortions, and there, the dynamic is in a way more even. In Hungary, it’s completely top-down, and of course, the churches do whatever Orbán wants without question. In return, though, they gain complete immunity. So, the government said that there would never be an inquiry into church sexual abuse.

Jacobsen: Oh, Wow!

Békés: Even though, there is documenting of the church abuse cases. I’m sure he found more than 30 victims. There was a book which was a bestseller about this in recent years. Instead of doing anything, the church tried to fire her from her job, so she started writing this book, which didn’t happen, but she was working abroad in Austria, and there was a considerable hate campaign against her, just like me. So, it’s interesting to see that. In Hungary, when they call blasphemy or when they criticize you as an atheist, it’s not really because you’re an atheist; it’s because you charge the powers to be, and if you’re a Christian criticizing the same thing from a secular perspective, you could get the same type and amount of hate. So, this shows that it’s not faith dividing people, but it’s support for secularism or support for dictatorship because it is what it is. The question was a bit broad in the sense of Hungary and internationally, so I’m trying to gather my thoughts here on this. If you can be more specific about Christian nationalism, I can narrow it down.

Jacobsen: Sure. I mean a side question: Canadians who have a concern about Christian nationalism in Hungary may only know about it because a controversial figure in Canada, Jordan Peterson, had a closed-door meeting with him. What happened there?

Békés: Wow, good question. We didn’t know, did we? Jordan Peterson was in a way in the West, but, of course, also in Hungary. I mean without analyzing Jordan Peterson. Jordan Peterson has done it, but obviously, he’s an intelligent guy at his core. Still, he uses this intellect to sell merchandise, sell himself as a celebrity, and cater to a writing agenda. One of his most recent works was this analysis of the Bible trying to fit into modern society. Of course, it was all theologians and religious people. It was like the circle jerk, many intellectuals. Obviously, there has been a lot of like debunking videos or materials on this whole series. Rationality Rules is one of the channels I watch, for example, and he does a great job at picking apart his arguments. I highly recommend it. This is my go-to thing to see when I want to, for some reason, look into the theological or philosophical aspects of religion, which I usually don’t because, honestly, I don’t have the… I don’t usually engage in faith debates; God is real. In that sense, I’m just as much an atheist as anybody else. Everybody’s faith is their own; I care about how it manifests. So, is a reasonable person in a way that’s what they value, and their ethics, and it’s a question, but it’s not very relevant. But of course, when Christian nationalists push for an agenda that’s fundamentally illiberal, that’s a problem.

Once again, I need to find out where it’s coming from. I don’t care if it’s coming from this religion or that religion or something else entirely; that’s beside the point. So, anyway, Jordan Peterson is part of this more extensive network. He is sensational in Hungary as well, and him coming here for many talks, of course, funded by the government or invited by the government; I believe that the government is using him as an external source of validation because you have to see that Hungary as the international stage is very unpopular especially in Europe, like very unpopular. This is just a tip of the iceberg because in closed-door meetings, everybody knows that the government is just a hack. They’re a totem horse of the Russian Empire or empire media exaggeration at this point, but they’re just a tool, and they’re the tool of the Russian government, and they’re not taken seriously. I don’t think any intelligence is being shared anymore with the Hungarian government like we know the visa restriction now in the US. So, they’re not taken seriously; they’re the laughing stock of Europe not just because of their views, but because they cannot be taken seriously; they’re just a loose pattern. Any source of validation from abroad is helping their cause because they’re starved for attention, and they die for some proof. Of course, Jordan Peterson, for the right amount of money, is happy to provide.

Same with the Pope. I mean, the Pope came here twice in recent years. I usually call it Catholic Pride, and they spent billions of Euros to have a huge procession for the Pope, and they bused in people from all around the country so that they can fill in the rows of crowds. They break in all the students from the religion, from the church, from schools to pump up numbers. The other problem is that the entire spectrum of the opposite opposition thinkers didn’t dare to criticize the visit of the Pope, and everybody was like, “Oh my God, this is so great,” and of course, the Pope is not a liberal. His views are more extreme than any far-right party; for example, no far-right party in Hungary would ban abortion or would say that women cannot be in a position of power and yet the Pope says so and still the Pope is seen as this great leader, or at least Jordan Peterson says what he is. And by the opposition, Jordan Peterson is treated as this fringe figure, and the Pope isn’t.

So, I would say that the government and the regime use these people as an external source of validation, and what happened maybe in this close-door meeting, I’m sure Orbán probably made a few gestures of goodwill towards Peterson. I don’t know. Perhaps Orbán is a big fan; I think Orbán is a fan because I think Jordan Peterson is. So, they both are very similar, I believe, Orbán and Peterson. They’re both pretty intelligent people who are very cynical, and of course, they know what they’re using their power for and their influence for, and I think they have a great understanding of that. Perhaps this was even a genuine conversation about mutual respect for how they manipulate people.

Jacobsen: How is your case going right now regarding the appeal?

Békés: Oh wow, yes. Well, it’s a very long case, even for Hungary. So, to compare, another issue which had similar circumstances, although not connected to religion, was already finished about a year ago. So, my luck and unluck was that after my first trial, after the appeal, I went to a second court, like a higher court. The higher court sent it back to the lower court because part of the ruling they didn’t find satisfactory, and they didn’t see that it was explained well enough in the verdict. One aspect wasn’t examined well enough. That’s why there’s an extra round, and now there’s an extremely long waiting time in the court. Last time, I think I had to wait 3-4 months to go to the higher court, and now it’s eight months, which is unlawful.

The law could be more precise, and it’s pretty pervasive, but they do say you are supposed to have a trial, I think, in three or four months. That’s what the law says, but it cannot be enforced because it’s more of a strong suggestion, and you cannot do anything about it. So, my subsequent trial will be in March of 2024. Currently, there’s little going on because any documents that will be submitted may be submitted a few months before that. We have presented a position paper; of course, the City Hall submitted a position paper. So, we’re looking forward to it. Now the City Hall, in an interview, said that it was always their goal to proceed this case to the Supreme Court, so that they can have precedence on how government officials have to behave and how they have to bear in their private lives in terms of like public declarations and things like that, which is, of course, ridiculous because this was never their intention.

First, because it’s now very well documented that this whole decision of firing me wasn’t in a rush, they committed all the legal mistakes they could. I can go into it if you want, but let’s leave it at that for now. So, they save all the mistakes. There was an actual idea that they would improve public service by restricting people’s fundamental freedoms, and they would have done it differently. They needed a lawyer employed at City Hall specializing in employment law. The lawyer representing City Hall is a very close confidant of the mayor, and that is his only quality. He is a lawyer specializing in constitutional law, not practical law but theoretical law. He is the worst public speaker I have ever heard; there are recordings, and he cannot formulate sentences. Of course, the whole case is tough for him to defend, but he cannot formulate sentences well and has a speech impediment. I would never make fun of it, and I’m not. Still, I’m saying that they send somebody who has no experience and has, in a way, a lousy outlook in court, and that’s who they sent because it’s more critical for them to have somebody who’s a trusted ally than anyone good at their job.

So, this is this is a massive problem for them. If this was a well-thought-out plan, it is different from how they would have gone. This is just another excuse to cover up their blatant abuse of constitutional law, their blatant abuse of power, their severe discrimination and then just to put an ideology behind it like, “Oh, this was our big plan.” The case still doesn’t support it. So, I’m pretty confident in this case because, from a legal perspective, we know justice and legality can diverge often.

You never really know in Hungary because the courts are… well, they’re not entirely free. The Supreme Court, for example; I wouldn’t say it’s free, but the lower courts are sometimes yes, sometimes no. In this case, it’s hard even to tell the political agenda of the regime because, even though they started the campaign against me; they might use this as an opportunity to punish City Hall, which is an opposition up to them. I mean, they can be very cynical about this. They can be like whoever remembers that we started this; we can say that this city hall discriminates even its allies, and they just push it through the media. So, they might want me to win. We don’t know, or they might not even care. I don’t know, but of course, on the other hand, they can say, “Yes, we should further decrease the Christian liberal agenda, and we should punish those people who speak out against this.” So, we don’t know; it’s hard to tell how influenced the courts are, and it’s hard to know if they are affected in what way.

So, in that sense, my case is progressing well, as far as I can tell. There have been three court trials, and I have won all three of them. As I said, one was partially sent back, but only one-quarter of the ruling was to be re-examined. Three-quarters of the ruling entered into force, which is already detrimental because what entered into force is, for example, the written reprimand I got a day before my firing was unlawful. So, that was an utterly unlawful instruction by City Hall. Of course, no inquiry followed this by City Hall even though their leading official was submitting illegal documents. So, that is enforced. It’s also implemented that I am officially a progressive liberal by designation, which means that I support secularism, pacifism, and children’s rights as was defined by the case. And one point back to the case law, so the case law is in my favour because other officials have made statements on their Facebook profiles or articles before, and they all won in court. So, freedom of expression is protected even if you’re a public official; if you work in a public institution, whatever you do in your private life is private, so you have freedom of expression.

The law says that as a city official or a public official, you can be a part of a party. So, you can even be a part of a party. You cannot represent the party publicly in a way that you cannot, like to be the spokesperson for a party, or you cannot hold office in a party, but other than that, you can be free to do so, and you can like to go to party publicly. So, the law is pretty straightforward, but it says you cannot create an environment, or you cannot make a statement that reflects badly on the public image of City Hall, which, of course, never happened in my case, but they’re still using this fairly big clause to keep on suing. They’re saying they didn’t fire me for an article I had written years prior. To be noted is what the mayor said in two separate interviews that I was fired for articles years before my employment. Still, in the court, they used a different argument that I was fired for Facebook posts that I made during my time there, and these Facebook posts that I did make reflections on the campaign I was the target of.

I was reflecting on it and trying to call and say that the things I’m being accused of are untrue. Of course, my secular platform is something that’s completely in line with the rules and regulations, so that the whole debate about baptizing children, I didn’t invent that. I just interpreted the law as it should be interpreted. In 1991, I think it was the time of ‘93 when Hungary adopted the UN Child Rights Convention, which explicitly stated that children have a right to religious freedom and belief. So, if you’re baptized into a religion, that freedom is taken away from you.

Jacobsen: That’s correct.

Békés: It’ssymbolic, but it’s taken away. So, this argument is not new; I didn’t invent this. The Baptists invented it. The Anabaptists and the Baptists have been saying the same thing because, actually, in the Bible, nobody is baptized as a child. God himself in the form of Jesus, like we can have this debate, of course, like how much Jesus is himself part of God in a way; he was baptized as an adult. So, if the most holy person as a human being is baptized as an adult and no child is baptized as a child, what is the argument there? So, if it was a fake hysteria, of course, and many people in the comment sections, which is, of course, no way indicative of anything in a way, but it’s interesting to read a lot of Christians are defending my point of view saying that from a factual perspective: yes, the Bible, requires you to baptize as an adult. So, that’s how my case is going. I’m waiting on the ruling. I think public opinion is turning more in my favour. A fairly favourable interview came out a few days ago, and it was good to read many comments and messages from people learning about this case and condemning the mayor very harshly. I’m supporting my case. I’m hopeful about the court trial because the case law so far has been very much in favour of employees. Also, they committed many legal mistakes. I have, of course, for video evidence of the mayor claiming that I was fired for articles years prior, which was forced by default to be illegal. So yeah, I’m hopeful.

Jacobsen: What is the long-term likelihood of the Orbán’s regime in your phrasing lasting?

Békés: It’s a good question, and you mentioned me phrasing it as a regime. I think that’s at the centre of this question. The reason why I use regime is twofold. On the one hand, I use it because it’s not a democracy anymore, and it’s not a democratic government; it’s a post-Democratic government. They changed most of the laws; they wanted to stay in power forever and declared Hungary a liberal and Christian democracy. So, they believe that their rule is the only legitimate rule, and they changed everything in a way that almost makes it impossible for any party to win in that democratic election. They do this very gradually and very openly after a certain point. That’s one of the reasons why I call it a regime.

The other reason I call a regime is that going into a government would imply governance. They’re not governing, which is the scariest part because if you look at other authoritarian regimes, dictatorships like China or Singapore, in a way, there’s a vision, right? There’s a direction. I mean, say at the top, it’s just some rich old dudes who are governing, gaining power, gaining money, doing whatever they want. Sure, but ultimately, there is a vision. It doesn’t exclude them from caring, at least to some extent, about their citizens or the country or upholding their rule or the rule for their children. So, there’s an idea of at least self-sustenance, and there’s none of that in the Orbán regime like they don’t care. I’m not exaggerating. They don’t care, and there are clear examples of how much they don’t care. So, could you take it as you will? This is good or bad, but they don’t care if this regime remains. When solidifying their power and restricting freedoms, they do whatever they can, but when running basic Social Services, they do nothing; they make zero effort. And I’m going to tell you a few examples.

Healthcare: we had the highest death rate per capita in Covid. We have the highest death rates of preventable cancers in Hungary. We have the fourth-highest obesity rate in the world. We perform four times as many amputations as the European average. We no longer have a Ministry of Health, the former Health Minister, because they abolished it. Still, the person responsible in Ministry for this was a Christian Nationalist, and he said that if we would just adhere to the Ten Commandments, we could prevent 90% of deaths from diseases.

Jacobsen: Huh?

Békés: He said that yeah. He was an oncologist, back the fact that they have the highest death rates from cancers. So yeah, they don’t care, like all they want is the loyal people in positions of power. There are a few useful idiots who help run the system who either have this sense that “Oh, I’m going to change the system from within” or “I have to support my family’s money. So, that’s why I’m an underpaid government worker.” I’m sure some people believe there’s still some sense of governance, but there isn’t. People with COVID-19 died for many reasons. Still, one of the reasons was the state of health in general is very low because there are no prevention campaigns for obesity, smoking, or alcoholism. So, this is the amount: for example, substance abusers are extremely high. We are the most alcoholics in the world now. I have to check the exact number because it’s the highest alcohol per capita consumption, but let me check just to be sure.

So, this is one of the things. The second reason was that there were not enough doctors and nurses. So basically, people were starved to death. They lose so much weight, because there’s not enough staff, so that’s the only way they can be managed. My uncle died this way. He survived Covid, but he lost about 30 kilograms. He was starved to death by staff in a public hospital. That happened to many people. He was 69 years old, but not very old. We have one of the lowest life expectancies in Europe. Oh yes, the actual statistics: we have the highest number of alcoholics as a ratio to the current entire population in the entire world is 21.2%. The ratio of alcoholics is every fifth person has alcoholism in Hungary.

Jacobsen: Holy shit!

Békés: It’s wild, and of course, it’s part of the plan because this no prevention is part of no government. Making people addicted is part of the plan because people can be more easily manipulated, and sometimes they either slip up or they have a bet and they say very weird things. So, in 2018, the foreign minister said that it is the government’s job to keep wages artificially low. They said that, and they won the election. It was like, “We can still win the elections even if we die straight to their faces. Wages are very low in Hungary because that’s how they can manipulate people with handouts before the elections.” As for the economy, power is extremely low in Hungary because of all of the handouts and manipulations of the market. We have the highest inflation rate in Europe; we recently had almost a 40% inflation rate on food. So, they are sometimes doing some crude tuning to the system, but most of all, they don’t care, and another example would be the education system. About 10,000 teachers are missing from public education because they’re so underpaid, the working conditions are so bad. All the governments before didn’t care about education, but this government or regime cares even less. It could be much money.

They abolished the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Environment. So, they install these burners on school districts, which, basically, if you order a roll of toilet paper, you have to go through the central authority in every municipality. Still, the central authority has no real qualifications and often has no money. So, it often happens that there is no heating in a school. So, during the energy crisis, the government mandated that a school be only 18° warm. So, imagine 10-year-olds sitting for 6 hours in 18°. It’s extremely low, and most schools didn’t even reach that. Many schools were like 15-14 degrees for entire days. They don’t care. Ten thousand teachers are missing. You know what they’re doing? They’re firing teachers who are striking because, of course, they ban strikes. So basically, you cannot strike anymore. It says you can strike, but you have to be in the school and be with the kids. That’s the strike law, and you have to agree with this Municipal governor of education on your strike. Of course, they don’t grant you the right to strike even in this limited capacity.

So, people who strike have to resort to civil disobedience and are fired. All the teachers who participated in this, which is a few thousand, will be fired at the end of the year. And there are already thousands of teachers saying that if you go to school in Hungary today, you will not be taught by a professional, like if you go into chemistry class and there’s no chemistry teacher. They fake it. There’s like a literature teacher going in or a physical education teacher; you’re better off with Wikipedia at this point. This is not just one school but public education for you in many ways. So, any regime should care about education because that’s how they sustain, but they don’t care, they don’t care. The only thing they do is like the automotive industry before, like we were trying to make autos like the cars before, and now it’s batteries. So basically, they just invited many Asian companies to manufacture batteries for electric cars. They promise tax breaks and don’t have to abide by any environmental regulation.

So, people are already dying in factories, and rivers are already being polluted, but they just change the laws so everybody can just shut up and not change. For example, they don’t have Polish public hearings. There are no public hearings anymore in Hungary. You can post a link as a municipality so people can just write to you, and that’s it. Then you have to make a report because there was a public hearing on one of the battery manufacturing sites that didn’t go well. So, they just changed the law. In Hungary, there’s a state of emergency now for six years versus migration, and it was COVID-19. Now it’s war. So, the parliament is technically suspended. They can pass laws by decree. They don’t need the parliament. Sometimes, they have a parliamentary session, but they don’t go. The government doesn’t go to debates. They just go in to vote, and whenever the opposition is proposing anything, they can propose it in the minority, even like a session, they just don’t go. There’s not even a pretence of caring about the Democratic process. Whatever is mandatory, they might do it, but that’s it.

If there’s a state of emergency, there’s no democracy. As I said, there’s not even a self-sustenance of the regime, and that’s the scariest part. So, back to the question of how long this will last. It could last for a very long time because they have soaked up EU funds so much, and then they just distributed to their entire families and oligarch systems so deep down that it’ll last generations, and this will be consolidating. Maybe after a consolidation period of decades, there might be a better chance or another run at democracy eventually in an organic way, which has happened in other countries, or we are running towards an entire collapse of the system because basic services are not working, for example, ambulance sometimes doesn’t come because there not enough ambulances and crew for the ambulances. You wait for 50 minutes, and nobody comes.

As basic services continue to break down, eventually, it might come to a boiling point where people just revolt in mass. Of course, you can’t rebel if you tell when a revolution is coming or social arrest. There wouldn’t be such a social arrest because you could predict it, and you can’t, but I mean, so far, people were fairly complacent. There were many protests, but they weren’t huge. One hundred thousand people were the largest, 1% of the population. So yeah, people already proved the point that they don’t care or they don’t have the power, or they don’t have the agency, the knowledge to do anything about it mostly in bigger cities more so, but in small villages, not actually. I don’t know how long this will last, but this is unsustainable. So, if it ever comes to the point that this fails, it will be a point where the basic services are broken down to such a degree that we’re basically like a quasi-fail state. We’re already there; it’s already weak. At this point, we’ve already lost about 20 years of development.

All the other countries in the region have developed way further. They have progressed way further than we have in terms of quality of life, economy, or other indicators. So, it’s hard to tell. I wish the sooner, the better in any way, but it’s hard to tell.

Jacobsen: Some of the first things that tend to happen in these situations are women’s bodies becoming subject to governmental questions. How are Reproductive Rights or access to abortion in Hungary right now?

Békés: Well, I’m glad you ask because we are engaged in this with the Hungarian atheist society. Abortions are not banned. Abortions are restricted in a way that you cannot have an abortion via a tablet-induced abortion; you have to have a surgical abortion, a completely surgical abortion. They invented some reason why it’s unsafe. Even though, it’s still a medically supervised procedure. So, they defend that. The question is it’s broad, it’s better than just women’s rights because what they banned, for example, is sterilization. So, for example, you cannot have sterilization in Hungary; it’s illegal as an adult to be sterilized even obviously by your own will. A small disclaimer: you have the right to sterilization after the age of 40 or if you have three children, but other than that, no. This is the strictest restriction on sterilization in the entire European Union, and they introduced this in 2014. It was fairly quiet, to be honest, for two reasons.

First of all, when it comes to women’s rights, women have a wider range of contraceptive methods available than just sterilization. They have the pills. Honestly, there are hormonal and non-hormonal ways of contraception. Of course, I’m very well aware of the challenges of contraception for women, especially when it comes to oral contraception. Still, they have options. Of course, you can ask their partner if it’s a heterosexual relationship and to wear condoms. So, there are options, but for men, the only option is the condom or sterilization. Just a side note for condoms: condoms don’t fit men. I’ve done much research and published articles on how the standard condoms which most leading manufacturers sell do not fit 50% of men. They are brands that manufacture a wider range, which does fit men. Still, they are not being sold almost anywhere except sex shops, and this is a whole another topic for a whole another time, but let’s leave it at that that condoms are all safe when it comes to most market-leading manufacturers.

So, they took away the only other option that men had, and the reason why they did it is because in Hungary at the time, there were no men’s rights organizations. So, like no men’s emancipation movements or men’s rights organization and another disclaimer, I’m not talking about this alt-right incel man’s rights organizations like this counternarrative to feminism. I’m seeing those kinds of movements which highlight that based on your gender, you face different challenges, and of course, this is not a competition. Still, it is more like a mutually reinforcing movement with the feminine base movement; of course, it’s for equality. There is a men’s rights organization like that today in Hungary, but at the time, there wasn’t, and the regime was always pushing in a direction against the least resistance. So, that’s why they’re using religion as well because, for some magical reason, the opposition doesn’t dare to criticize the government on religious matters, or if anything is wrapped in a religious packaging, they don’t dare to criticize it.

For example, there’s a new law in Hungary that the churches can ask for any public building, and the state has to give it to them for free. I’m not exaggerating, like this is actual law. Priests are public servants, so as a public servant, you can discriminate based on gender, sex, and religion, and you have to be a public servant. How can you be a public servant if public service mandates that you perform your duties without discrimination? And, of course, the churches are exempt from the discretion law.

Jacobsen: It’s so bold how they do it.

Békés: Yeah, of course it is and, in this sense, when it comes to religion, they’re very bold and this is interesting because Hungary is one of the least religious countries in Europe. It’s crazy; most people don’t believe in this and hate it. As I said, it’s indicative of what you read online, but still, I mean, most articles, when it’s about some religious propaganda, are just pushing laugh reactions by the thousands. People are mostly secular; they don’t care about the Church; it’s like oppressive, religious, narrative. There’s no social backing to this, and they’re still pushing. Of course, when it comes to restricting freedom of contraception and bodily autonomy, this plays a role. I mean Christian nationalism plays a role in a way. Of course, the government has this pro-natalist argument that you have to have more children and support families and what not. Of course, the children are not being born more because nobody wants to have multiple children in an economic situation when you don’t earn enough. People are not stupid. It doesn’t matter how many public handouts you do. If you know your wage is so low that you cannot support a family, you won’t have a family at all or maybe just one child.

So, birth rates are not going up; they have been at it for ten years, and it’s not going up. So, I would say the government politicians often make remarks like very sexist remarks about women or women’s bodies and for example, I think it was a speaker of the House once said that those women who are like in the opposition, he’s not calling them women anymore. Still, he will call them number two because in Hungary, your state ID, if it has a number and if you’re a woman, it starts with a two; if it’s a man, it starts with the one. So, he would call women number twos in the opposition. I could go on as a whole list about this.

Jacobsen: Wow.

Békés: So, contraception is not supported by public insurance. We have the highest value-added tax in Europe: 27%. So, it’s practically the most expensive to have contraception in Hungary, and if you look at the currentpower party, I think it’s even more blatant. I would say they try to restrict Reproductive Rights whenever they can, but they’re not pushing too far with that because, as I said, Hungary is not a very religious country. Even Poland, which banned abortions, knew it was going to be unpopular, and it still is, but they don’t have the fraction of that kind of support in Hungary, that kind of religious jealousy. So, I don’t think they will push for that anytime soon. Eventually, I don’t know, but for now, no. Do they have an agenda to do it? Of course. And that’s why they banned sterilization. So, I’m now in the process of gearing up toward the lawsuit against the government for sterilization. I will sue the government for restricting, well, in this case, my own autonomy because you have to have, of course, a personal case and like I said somebody has to step up. So, I will sue the government for banning sterilization. I will claim it, of course. It’s my body and my choice. If I want to have a sterilization, I can have it.

Especially with men because with men, it’s reversible, right? With women, it is not reversible, but with men, vasectomies are reversible with about 92% success rate in 15 years. And of course, even if it isn’t, you can still extract sperm surgically. I mean, you can still have children if you want to. So, it’s just to restrict your freedoms. In that sense, I will sue. I’m gearing up. I don’t have the money yet, but it’s going to be a coalition of NGOs. Hungary’s NGOs, our NGOs, are very poor. So, I’m not sure how much money we’ll need. I’m currently in the initial stages of planning this and planning how many work hours I will have to put into this, how much lawyers will cost, the process, legal fees, and whatnot. I think if we can’t have a positive outcome, it might even be in a Hungarian court because proportionately, if abortions are not banned, then this cannot be banned, right?

Jacobsen: Yeah. Do you want to cover any other subject matters in the interview today?

Békés: Well, I mean, I think the secularism, the opposition, and the political parties in Hungary are always very important in how counternarratives are being formed. In Hungary, the biggest problem, I would say, is that even though most people are secular and most people are not religious, we are a very religious country. There’s no agency connected to this. Yes, there is the atheist society. I’m a proud member and secretary of the Hungary Atheist Society, but I wouldn’t say it’s a huge organization. And it doesn’t have to be huge organizations because secularism is something that we should all support and cherish. When you ask people about secularism, they might not know what it means. Still, when you ask if you agree with the separation of church and state in the sense that churches should pay for themselves or if the church should be able to ban Reproductive Rights, they will always say, “No.”

So, people are secular; they don’t realize it. Another problem is that the political parties in Hungary are the so-called opposition. Although it’s questionable how much they are in the opposition, there is still a fact to me that they are completely rolling with this type of agenda, this liberal Christian agenda. So, they’re not criticizing the government on this religious agenda they’re pushing, and a good example was August 20th, was two days ago, and it’s the biggest celebration of Hungary. Now it’s called St Stephen’s Day. Steven the First was the king of Hungary who established the Christian state of Hungary, although the state was already established. It’s a bit of a historical colorization. Still, nonetheless, he was the first king of Hungary, and we have to celebrate a Catholic holiday like it’s St Stephen’s Day. It’s not like the Day of the Constitution, which was in the previous socialist times, and I don’t support that type of regime, but it becomes more inclusive. St. Stephen doesn’t say anything, like I don’t believe in Saints.

Most Protestants don’t believe in saints. So, why is it Stephen’s Day? Why isn’t it like Stephen the first day or the foundation of the Country Day? obviously, there are alternatives, but most importantly, the opposition, one of the most Progressive opposition parties in Hungary, which is like young people, hip and fairly liberal, posted a statue of St Stephen and said, “God bless you, Hungary.” And that’s how they celebrated like God bless you, Hungary, and no secular terminology. Most recently, as I said, there’s this law where churches can gain any public building, the ownership of any public building and one of the local MPs went to a public hearing about this when there were still kind of like public hearings, and she posted about this, that “Oh, because of the government, are public properties being stolen?” But she was using passive grammar, and she did not at one point indicate that it was the Catholic Church who was stealing public funds because she herself is a devoted Catholic. So basically, she wrote this entire post about how public funds are being stolen, or public property is being stolen without mentioning the Catholic Church. So, I told her, “Didn’t you forget to mention who is doing what?” She said she won’t offend the Catholic Church about this.

The entire party shared this post on the Republic page, which is ridiculous. So, they refuse to acknowledge the role of churches or organized religion in the liberal agenda of the regime, and there is no organized movement from the opposition parties to push back on this. Still, there is an organized movement to cater to religious fundamentalism because this is fundamentalism. In my case, when the so-called liberal opposition mayor was firing me, it’s a prime example of what happened. When this happens, it’s more important to cater to religious fundamentalists who have no public backup, and no church or actual religious groups criticized me when I was being attacked. It was only pure governmental propaganda media, and they folded for that because either they are full of people who support the Christian nationalist agenda or they have this illusion that in Hungary, everybody is supporting this type of fundamentalist religion. One of the campaigns we’re trying to organize in Hungary now is they’re trying to collect money to have a representative survey on secularism because there are so many surveys on how many people are religious. Still, as I said, it doesn’t matter because if you ask how many Catholics there are, there might be a few million in Hungary. Still, it doesn’t matter because if you ask these Catholics who have ever used contraception, probably 99% will say, “Yes.”

So, are they Catholics? It’s not my place to say, but it’s not important. What is important is what they believe about secularism. If it is up to the Catholic Church, contraception will be banned, and that’s a fact. We know that it’s what they say. They say contraception is immoral. Abortions will be banned because this Pope said abortion is murder. So, if you ask people what they think about it, they will give secular answers regardless of their religious affiliation. Sure, there will be some skewing in terms of where you belong, but we want to break the ice and show opposition parties and society that most people are secular. They enjoy fundamental human rights, and many people have for centuries because of the Enlightenment. That is the common denominator, and whatever threatens these rights, they’d be fought against, and the opposition parties must fight against any oppression of our civil rights, even if it comes from the church or established religion or the regime’s cooperation because we cannot change the regime directly. Elections are rigged, and it’s no point going into a parliament to make speeches. That’s why it’s not going to work. However, if the regime resigned today for some weird reason, we still wouldn’t be prepared to make a system more sustainable. As I said, the opposition’s educational reform ideas are vague and not Democratic over students. It wouldn’t create a system that creates more critical thinkers. It’s not even a return to the status quo because the opposition doesn’t care much about education, either.

So, when you read their reports and everything, they wouldn’t even give back, for example, the veto rights of student councils either because they don’t want to or because they don’t know that was a thing. So, we’re not even returning to the status quo, and that’s a problem. So, for us to have a chance at changing this regime to something better, they have to prepare. And one of the areas where preparation is needed is secularism and separating church and state. I know those are the two things, but I want to emphasize that the separation of church and state is a point on the agenda that needs to be developed. Opposition parties must understand that this is a very important part of it and must be made aware. One of these surveys we want to do will help to open their eyes a little bit or at least pressure them with sticks or carrots, whichever works.

Jacobsen: Gáspár, thank you for the opportunity and your time today.

Békés: Well, thank you. I hope it was consistent and useful.

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2023-11-15

Evelyn’s Story

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Journal Founding: August 2, 2012

Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 12

Issue Numbering: 1

Section: B

Theme Type: Idea

Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”

Theme Part: 29

Formal Sub-Theme: None.

Individual Publication Date: November 15, 2023

Issue Publication Date: January 1, 2024

Author(s): Evelyn De L’Ombre

Author(s) Bio: None.

Word Count: 1,214

Image Credit: None.

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369–6885

*Original publication here during May, 2018.*

*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*

Keywords: Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood, Christian, Evelyn De L’Ombre, God, high-control, Hospital Liaison Committee, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Watchtower.

Evelyn’s Story

I had stopped going to the meetings for six months. Before that I was fading, but it wasn’t deliberate. The stress of being a Jehovah’s Witness and the daily treadmill on Watchtower’s hamster-wheel was too much for my physical and mental health.

In early 1992 I moved out of my parent’s home and did not tell anyone where I was going. There was no easy way for people to track me, no mobile phones, no Internet with social media profiles. I had met someone and moved in with him.

It was an act of desperation, as I had to get away. The Watchtower organisation was suffocating me. However, while only two months into my newfound freedom, I was involved in a serious motorcycle accident.

I was rushed to the hospital and while in the Emergency Room the medical staff were tasked with whether to x-ray my arm first, which they knew was broken, or check on the severity of my internal injuries.

They decided on an ultrasound to check for internal damages, which confirmed extensive injuries and that I needed immediate surgery. By this time, I was very, very cold and shaking uncontrollably.

Suddenly I needed to throw up and warned the nurses, who were now scrambling to get me a bowl. But it was too late. One nurse received the brunt of it and I began apologizing over and over again. I was abruptly interrupted by a doctor, who told me I needed to be operated on immediately. But, I first had to sign a consent form.

In that moment, the feeling of doom I had been burdened with for my entire life was pressing on my chest and suffocating me. This is it, this is where I die.

In a panic, I explained to the doctor that I could not have a blood transfusion. I quickly saw the frustration in the doctor’s expression. He uttered those words that anyone brought up as a Jehovah’s Witness does not want to hear, “You will die if you don’t have a blood transfusion. There is no other way of doing this.”

I’m sure that it is different for everyone that has been in this situation, but in that moment I didn’t question my faith. I didn’t think about the resurrection, or what Jehovah would think, or if having a blood transfusion was right or not. I just remember thinking that this is a doctor, an expert, and he wouldn’t say this unless it was true. And, I didn’t want to die.

Even though at various points in my life I’d struggled with depression and suicidal ideation, it was like a bolt of lightning to suddenly realize that now I had a choice whether or not to die and I didn’t want to die. In fact the idea of dying terrified me.

I told him in no uncertain terms I did not want my parents to know I had received a blood transfusion. I will say this now to anyone who is reading this: no matter what you are told by the Watchtower organisation, they do not have the right to your medical records or to speak to your doctors without your express permission.

After this, everything was a blur. I remember being told not to be concerned if I woke up in intensive care or if there were loads of machines around me. They rushed my trolley in the direction of the operating room. This amazing team of medical staff then proceeded to save my life.

When I woke up, my parents were at my bedside. I was not aware of how long I had been unconscious, I was just glad that I was alive.

If you were in this situation, what sort of things do you think your parents might say to you? To a child who had nearly died and one they had not spoken to in three months. They were looking at me, their child, albeit a young adult, in a hospital bed, hooked up to numerous machines, with strange tubes and wires attached to me. What would be the first words out of your mouth if your child had nearly died?

After telling me that they were worried about me, the questions started:

Did you have a blood transfusion?
Have you had sex with your boyfriend?

I expected to be questioned, but not immediately upon waking up. I was in terrible pain and my brain was fuzzy due to the morphine. So I denied everything. I looked at my parents and did not believe they had any love for me whatsoever.

They seemed more concerned with whether or not I had broken their religious rules. Their feigned love and acceptance of me in their life was conditional. I now could never go back to being a Jehovah’s Witness.

Shortly after the interrogation, my surgeon visited me and said they had needed six pints of blood and without it I would have died. My spleen was ruptured and in addition to removing it, the surgeon removed part of my pancreas and appendix.

As I recovered in the hospital, I thought about what I’d have to do if I wanted to continue on as a JW. Once I had been released from the hospital I would have had to meet with the elders in the congregation, and I would have had to detail every single sin I had committed, including receiving a life saving blood transfusion.

There was a small chance I might have just received a reproof, but I doubted that. Even if I had sincerely “repented”, I’d done so many things wrong they would have viewed any demonstration of repentance as just words. So I would have been disfellowshipped and shunned by all my friends and family for at least six months to a year, and obligated to attend all their meetings. Only then I might have been considered sufficiently repentant to be reinstated.

Back then, as crazy as it sounds now, I didn’t doubt that JWs had “the truth”. It never occurred to me that I had been raised in “the lie”. I just felt that I wasn’t worthy of being a JW and that I wasn’t good enough or faithful enough for God to want me in his organization. So I resigned myself to never living forever in the paradise earth. I would never see my grandparents again in the resurrection.

Only now, at almost 50 years of age, do I realize I should not have been put in this position. I realize that my wonderful children are only alive thanks to the hard work and dedication of a small team of medical workers and the blood transfusion that they gave me.

Now, and with the help of my loving children, I am basking in the luxury of healing from the fears and induced phobias imposed upon me as a child while growing up as a Jehovah’s Witness.

Do not go gentle into that good night

Don’t succumb to the peaceful release of death.

Old age should burn and rave at close of day;

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

– Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night, Dylan Thomas 1914-1953

Links for Evelyn De L’Ombre’s blog and YouTube:

http://evelyndelombre.com/

http://youtube.com/c/EvelynDeLOmbre

Bibliography

None

Footnotes

1. Kerry Louderback-Wood, Journal of Church and State. https://ajwrb.org/jehovahs-witnesses-blood-transfusions-and-the-tort-of-misreprersentation
2. These “no blood” cards are often signed during group meetings where it is not difficult to imagine that some sign under “duress”, especially as they know their cards will probably be inspected by JW elders at the meeting.

Citations

American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): De L’Ombre E. Evelyn’s Story. November 2023; 12(1). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/evelyns-story

American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): De L’Ombre, E. (2023, November 15). Evelyn’s Story. In-Sight Publishing. 12(1).

Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): DE L’OMBRE, E. Evelyn’s Story.In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 12, n. 1, 2023.

Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): De L’Ombre, Evelyn. 2023. “Evelyn’s Story.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (Winter). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/evelyns-story.

Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): De L’Ombre, E “Evelyn’s Story.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (November 2023). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/evelyns-story.

Harvard: De L’Ombre, E. (2023) ‘Evelyn’s Story’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 12(1). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/evelyns-story>.

Harvard (Australian): De L’Ombre, E 2023, ‘Evelyn’s Story’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/evelyns-story>.

Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): De L’Ombre, Evelyn. “Evelyn’s Story.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.12, no. 1, 2023, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/evelyns-story.

Vancouver/ICMJE: Evelyn DL. Evelyn’s Story [Internet]. 2023 Nov; 12(1). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/evelyns-story.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

2023-11-13

Scott’s Story Time: Boundaries, Child and Parental Alienation

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): The Good Men Project

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11/13

En route, he finished another 2/3rds of a mickey of fireball. He was in terrible condition. After some theatrics in arriving with luggage — thought he’d stay (?), and trying to drunk punch my mom, he barged in and tried to go upstairs. One niece was out with friends. Another was home, now awake. Nephew was asleep, and stayed asleep.

So, I was comforting my awoken niece while they paused him on the stairs because this was not okay, to spend the night drunk in front of grandchildren. A prior boundary had been set. Next, all I hear is several thuds followed by a crash. My sister screamed a bloodcurdling tone never heard before or since, “Dad! Dad!”

They were unsure if he had broken anything, so encouraged him to stay lying down while police came. He was indignant on the floor, wailing repeatedly while squirming back and forth on his back, “Let me die, let me die, please let me die!”

My earliest memory, ironically — same house, was my parents fighting when I was about 8 at the top of the stairs. I ran downstairs and cried — memory blank. Now, he’s at the bottom, wailing into the abyss for death’s hand to end him.

Life can be dark poetry, cryptic.

Ambulance eventually came. Cleared him, police came. He refused to leave. He wanted to go to the bathroom. Police walked him to the downstairs bathroom. He shit and pissed himself on the way there. He had one shoe on, like alcoholic Cinderella. He refused to leave. I walked him to the vehicle. Police said to get in. He accosted the officer. It was a charge. He went to the ‘drunk tank.’ One nightmare over.

That’s life.

As my cousin said that my dad said to his brother, my uncle, “You stole my life.” Because he had everything my dad destroyed by his choices from age 8 onward, for me, at least. It took time to realize these consecutive flashpoint experiences are, in fact, abnormal.

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2023-11-12

Pith 733: Freedom and Constraint

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11/12

Freedom and Constraint: Rights struggles contain three variables; the rights, their violations (negation), and rights’ balasts.

See “Tip.”

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2023-11-12

Nobody’s Nobel, Everybody’s Peace

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11/12

There’s a sense in which human rights advocacy can be graded by degrees. Some can be informative. Others, advocacy from afar in articles, interviews, donations, professional work. Still more, they can be people in collectives working for dignity and equality. Even more, others can be awardees and/or lightning rods of edges of human rights advocacy. One of those people is Narges Mohammadi.

Mohammadi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2023 by the Norwegian Nobel Committee. She has fought for equality and dignity of women in Iran. She has been convicted 5 times, arrested 13 times, sentenced to 31 years in prison plus 154 lashes. Currently, she is in prison.

Since the Isalamic regime took power in Iran in 1979, people have protested against the brutality and oppression fo the Iranian morality police and the theocratic system. There can be inflection points. One was the murder of Mahsa Jina Amini in September, 2022.

Amini’s murder unleashed the largest political demonstrations since 1979.

20,000 protestors were arrested, thousands were injured, and 500 protestors were killed. Demonstrators created the slogan “Zan — Zendegi — Azadi” meaning “Woman — Life — Freedom.”

Mohammadi has a history in work for gender equality. As a physics student in the 1990s, she wrote for reformation oriented publications as a columnist. She has been involved with the Defenders of Human Rights Center in Tehran, which was founded by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi.

Mohammadi’s arrests started in 2011 for helping activists who had been jailed. She then fought against the death penalty. She was re-arrested in 2015 for fighting against the death penalty.

Once in prison, she began fighting against the sexualized violence and use of torture against political prisoners in Iranian prisons. In protests in Evin prison, in Tehran, Mohammadi assumed leadership of protests, expressing solidarity with inmates.

Even with strict impositions on communications, she got an article out, which went to the New York Times. It was published on the 1-year anniversary of Amini. The central theme has been, while in prison; if more of these political prisoners are inmates, then the more powerful they become.

More recently, she has engaged in a hunger strike. The reason: The prison guards would not take her to the hospital; unless, she wore a headscarf. She and seven other prisoners — those other prisoners out of solidarity — refused to wear the headscarf.

The concern is Mohammadi has a heart condition; the reason for the need to visit the medical professionals. Even still, her fight continues. As with most of these people, the fights would continue with or without the awards.

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2023-11-12

Inflection Point in Religious Equality in Canada

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): The Good Men Project

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11/12

Muslims were murdered. They were murdered by a young adult Canadian man on June 6, 2021. A male named Nathaniel Veltman. Hatred kills. This important moment in Canadian contemporary history attests to the hatred some fellow Canadians face and the impacts of high levels of hate against others. This matters to the humanist community.

The work by Center For Inquiry Canada and a number of humanist organizations in Canada matter to the lives of humanists for equality, dignity, respect, and advancement of scientific thinking. Our work applies here too.

In some frames, the work of humanists matter more for ethnic minorities and other philosophical minorities in the nation, because of the emphasis on human rights and empirical philosophy as a foundation for equality in a democratic system of governance.

In theory, every adult gets a vote. The sociopolitical sphere, also in theory, should follow from this equality: No one skips the line. The rub in multicultural, multiethnic, religiously pluralistic societies is, precisely, that: cultures, ethnicities/‘races’, and religions differing & coexisting.

Humanists encounter discrimination, simply look at the Humanists At Risk program from Humanists International. This should give humanists a sensitive gauge on hate movements and their effects. I’ve interviewed a fair number of non-religious people. There are trends.

Two interviewees within a half of a day to three days have been taken into jail with, at least, one given a confirmed death penalty in Pakistan — halting any interview coming out. A third happened, recently, in Ghana, who works on LGBTI rights.

I took this moment to reflect. When I was working with Muslim colleagues, I encountered the anti-Muslim sentiment second-hand within the secular communities, simply for collaboration with Muslims. It’s real — duh.

To our credit, often, I don’t see this in the secular communities much if at all; however, the moment sticks in memory. I argue the vast majority, if not all, humanists condemn the taking of innocent life. This extends to the murder of an entire family: Salmon Afzaal (46), Madiha Salman (44), Yumna Afzaal (15), Talat Afzaal (74), were murdered, and the 9-year-old son who survived with injuries.

Veltman’s trial, as reported in the BBC, Al-Jazeera, CBC News, and Associated Press, is revealing. This was a premeditated murder of Muslims by a young Euro-Canadian male. Why?

The 22-year-old young man was “inspired by white nationalist beliefs” and “acted deliberately… with premeditation.” Prosecutor Sarah Shaikh said, “…[Veltman] left his home with a specific purpose in mind: to find Muslims to kill.”

Veltman wrote a manifesto self-identifying as a White Nationalist. He planned for 3 months, bought a Dodge Ram two weeks before the attack, and then rammed into and killed the majority of the family except one injured. This 9-year-old Afzaal son will be left with this trauma for the rest his life, and living as such without his immediate family, in echo, for the rest of his life.

If there is anything resembling a religious impulse in humanists, it’s a sense of moral duty to protect other human beings from harm, especially life and death harm.

According to prosecutor Shaikh, Veltman told police after the attack, “I know what I did, I don’t regret what I did. I admit that it was terrorism. This was politically motivated, 100%.”

Allegedly, he told investigators that the purpose of using a truck was to send a message to others that trucks can be used to kill Muslims. In a wider sense, this can be seen as premeditated dehumanization with premeditated political purpose, white nationalist and white supremacist purpose.

Veltman pleaded not guilty to four charges of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder.

– –

For the purposes of this article, I asked two Muslim colleagues of note, Dr. Kathy Bullock and Imam Syed Soharwardy to comment. Imam Soharwardy is the Founder of the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada and the Founder of Muslims Against Terrorism. Dr. Bullock is the Past Chair, Islamic Society of North America-Canada (ISNA-Canada) and Lecturer in the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto at Mississauga, and President of Compass Books. Imam Soharwardy was born in Karachi, Pakistan; as it happens, the Afzaal family were Pakistani-Canadian. I asked Imam Soharwardy and Dr. Bullock about awareness of anti-Muslim bigotry.

Soharwardy said:

The awareness of anti-Muslim bigotry will not only help violence and hate towards Muslims but it helps reduce racism and discrimination against other visible minorities. It will help in developing a better and more cohesive society for everyone.

Dr. Bullock said:

If we want to tackle an issue that harms parts of our community, we need to be aware it’s happening. We need to understand what it looks or feels like to the affected members. Ignorance of the problem of anti-Muslim bigotry, or denial that it exists, leaves those on the brunt of it to cope by themselves.”

Awareness takes effort on the part of the wider community, because anti-Muslim bigotry (bigotry of any kind) is often invisible to those who don’t experience it. Since it seems invisible, it can be hard to believe it’s there. We have to understand it through vicarious means. We need to amplify Muslim voices. And we have to be careful not to accept narratives about Muslims written by others, especially in the media realm. Media is, in the end, a business, and it trades on easy negative stereotypes. Historically Muslims have been imagined in the West through a host of negative imagery, from being the Anti-Christ to men who are violent terrorists that oppress women and submissive women threatening women’s empowerment.

We often feel that government is unreachable and that it’s difficult to bring positive change. Yet we can always work within the circles of people who are closest to us. If we don’t sit in silence while someone makes a racist comment, if we speak up against it, or if we simply leave the room to show we are not part of it, we can bring about positive change that will reduce anti-Muslim bigotry — indeed bigotry of any kind.

I asked about spilling over of the anti-Muslim bigotry into different denominations and minority religions.

Dr. Bullock said:

Anti-Muslim hate is directed to anyone who fits a narrow stereotype of what the dominant community thinks a “Muslim” looks like, whether or not the recipient is actually Muslim. For men, the turban and the beard are signifiers. For women, a headscarf. Hate also reflects racism connected to skin colour. The more one is “white” or “white-passing,” the less hate one receives. Hindus experience anti-Muslim racism because of skin colour and Sikhs because of skin colour and turbans. White Muslims, especially women in headscarves, experience racism, as the clothing erases their “whiteness.” It’s more about the connection to whiteness than about denominations of Islam.

Imam Soharwardy said:

The anti-Muslim bigotry encompasses all Muslims regardless of their denominations or sects. In fact, anti-Muslim bigotry spreads out toward Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, and other visible minorities including visible Christians (e.g. Pakistani, Indian or Middle Eastern Christians).

I didn’t want to waste their limited time, so I limited the questions to each to three. I finished by asking about a conference or alliance-building with awareness of these kinds of bigotries.

Imam Soharwardy said:

Yes, unity conferences are the most important step. Islamic Supreme Council of Canada holds such conferences across Canada multiple times of the year, especially during Ramadan, Christmas, and Hanukkah.

Dr. Bullock said:

Absolutely yes. And these kinds of conferences and gatherings are happening. More are needed.

This is an important, historic case in Canadian law and culture. Humanists have a moral role to play here.

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2023-11-12

Pith 732: Here’s the big idea

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11/12

Here’s the big idea: Every moment is interconnected, faceted, even autobiographically; in that sense, everything’s small.

See “Drip Drop.”

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2023-11-12

Pith 731: “Florida Man”

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11/12

“Florida Man”: is proof positive; women are the superior sex on the mean, probably median and mode, too — undeniable.

See “Rejects.”

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2023-11-12

Pith 730: Fellas, kindness

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11/12

Fellas, kindness: If you’re het, then you betta respect; kindness in the soul is timeless on the whole.

See “Timeless, sellas.”

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2023-11-12

Pith 729: The Dynamic Ontic, the Object Universe

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11/12

The Dynamic Ontic, the Object Universe: cares little for human affairs; therefore, it shows utmost respect for us.

See “Autonomy.”

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2023-11-12

Pith 728: Rap Stars

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11/12

Rap Stars: It’s seen as ‘urban’ because it’s seen as ‘black’; they’re storytellers, at their best on struggle, triumph.

See “Rose thorns.”

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2023-11-11

Fabrizio Lopez de Pomar on Publications of Peruvian Humanists

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): The Good Men Project

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11/11

Fabrizio Lopez is the Editorial Fund Director for the La Sociedad Secular Humanista del Perú. Here we talk about Peru, Humanism, atheism, psychology, and critical thinking.

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Today, we are here with Fabrizio Lopez from Peru. We got connected through Piero and Adrian. I interviewed them at the World Humanist Congress (Humanists International) in early August. It was sort of a rushed interview, but we got some really good content because I don’t think Peru has been covered enough in the international humanist landscape. So, I think getting some of these interviews out and, maybe, giving some funding would be helpful in its own small way. Also, the articles will just be online forever. So, that’s also another help.

That’s my becoming involved with the Peruvian group and also being introduced to you. How did you become involved with the Humanist Association of Peru?

Fabrizio Lopez de Pomar: First, thanks for this opportunity. I really appreciate your attention in Peru. Thank you very much. Well, about my involvement in Humanism in Peru, some years ago, I published my undergraduate thesis in Psychology. My thesis was about magical thinking in Psychology; in students and in professionals in psychology. So, after my publication, Víctor García-Belaúnde, I know you know him, invited me to participate in this organization because he realized that in my thesis and in my talks. I was committed to spreading scientific thinking, humanist values, and fight against pseudo-science. So, I think my thesis was the opportunity to get involved here in the organization. After that, I participated in different projects. Nowadays, I’m one of the directors, but I will always be grateful to Victor because he saw some potential in me. Since then, I’ve been involved and really committed to trying to spread the humanist values and the scientific thinking in a country like Peru. In a few moments, I will give more details about what it means to spread humanism in a country like Peru.

Jacobsen: One thing I notice about, typically, global South humanists, generally speaking, is a hardiness. In the sense that, they’re dealing with a much more difficult circumstance. I don’t mean simply on socioeconomics or quality of life relative to other countries. I simply mean being in much more religious societies and having to stake one’s claim of intellectual territory and social territory in that context, much more difficult. And those who survive that, don’t get beaten down too much to stop, they come out much more steadfast in their ability to withstand the assaults from every angle in a society.

Lopez: I agree. For example, if I want to develop some more about Peru, trying to spread the humanist body in Peru, it makes us acknowledge that this is a country with a fragile democracy. I’s a culture that is practically religious in its entirety. So, non-believers make up 6% right now. Only 6% of us are non-believers; we don’t have any religious beliefs. So, this implies that magical religious thoughts predominate. As we know, this magical thinking correlates with extra scientific beliefs and challenges critical thinking. So, on one hand, we have this fragile democracy – and just for the record here we have had six presidents in the last seven years.

Jacobsen: Oh my Gosh!

Lopez: I repeat; we had six presidents in the last seven years. Imagine that. So, the discontent with the governmental authorities is very high. It’s widespread. Trying to write about democracy, it’s like wishful thinking trying to convince people.

Jacobsen: You have our prayers from Canada. [Laughing]

Lopez: [Laughing] I frequently read national newspapers and international magazines as part of my job as a researcher. I want always to be updated about current situations in my country and the world. So, we can listen to or read that analysts pointed out that something that may be obvious is that it’s becoming hard to believe in democracy because it does not deliver results from the perspective of people who don’t like democracy. So, yes, in this region, Argentina, for example, we will have the presidential elections in a few weeks. So, I mentioned that our democracy is fragile. We have a lot of work to do trying to regulate this situation trying to play a role trying to build a bridge between the scientific literature and how to understand politics here, how to help society to cooperate to try to enhance their critical thinking and also the empathy.

As a psychologist, I believe that this is my perspective. I believe the work lies in training the new generations to master rationality and empathy in such an ambiguous world that requires individuals who can tolerate frustration, ignorance, and imperfection of human institutions. That’s why one of my personal projects, this free talk that I try to spread is called “parenting for the future of humanity.” In this talk, I present humanist values in a way and try to draw a guideline, a practical guideline to how to use some parenting styles to address our current problems, especially our global risk or existential risk. This risk that will be a threat to humanity in the long term. So, what I’m trying to say is that I’m trying to look at different ways to raise awareness in a society, where, I will repeat the magical religious thinking that predominates.

Now, our last report said that, as I mentioned, non-believers make up 6%. So, it’s difficult to talk about value. I try to talk about moral values and spirituality with a nonreligious foundation. It’s difficult to talk. I started studying magical thinking 10 years ago. So, on the road, I try to improve my personal skills and my psychological skills to reach people, at least the Peruvian people with this culture, trying to understand their magical thinking, but trying to change it for this scientific thinking with the hope that this can help us to realize that democracy also needs a lot of critical thinking to learn to how to assess different sources of information. I don’t want to talk a lot. So, this is the main challenge that as a humanist we have here in Peru.

Jacobsen: How are humanists slandered in Peru? In other words, what are the epithets used? What are the terms used by religious demagogues to fearmonger about humanists?

Lopez: If I understand it right, what do the non-humans call us?

Jacobsen: Yes, in the sense, they want to keep their followers away from you and to not think about the issues of rationality, humanist values, and so on. I’m relating this more to a North American phenomenon where people might get slandered as secular humanists, might get slandered as demonic. That’s a little more extreme in the example, but those examples exist. Immoral and amoral, things of that nature.

Lopez: Yes of course. Those are labels that also are used against us depending on the religious perspective. Some use demonic; we’re demons, but depending on the religion. Where I found more resistance is when we are trying to raise awareness about the importance of pure experts in one topic, and what I found is a lot of distrust in authorities, a lot of distrusting of scientists. Of course, from my psychological point of view, there’s a lot to do about learning to trust again in authorities. It’s like when you broke up in your relationship and you swear that you are not going to believe again in love, like, “Love is bullshit. I don’t believe in it anymore.” You have to learn to trust again. You will have maybe all reasons to trust forever in a relationship again, but trying to grow psychological means to learn to trust again. Even though, people can fail you again. So, from a sociological point of view, our society needs to learn to trust again. This is from my point of view. That’s what I want to do with my research building. I’m planning to apply for a Ph.D., trying to learn how we can use our best knowledge and psychology to make societies more cooperative, how to raise not only awareness but also how to enhance our self-knowledge and a lot of variables that I want to study to make us not only more able to think in a rational way, but also to improve our empathy.

I have some hypotheses. I want to try in my research field. but I think that we are very disconnected nowadays. It’s hard to believe in other parties. Sometimes this work is very discouraging for me, but I’m more optimistic. I think that if we keep this exercise of being around people like us who really want to improve things and with a lot of creativity. We can, maybe, come up with something new and try to improve things. Here in Peru, what I’m actually doing is as I mentioned before, spreading these talks about parenting for the future of our species, but in the next weeks; I’m going to give this talk to a very big school here. So, I’m going to talk with the professor and with the teachers. So, for me, it’s a great opportunity. This is a religious school by the way, but, for me, it’s a great challenge to try to spread our values or humanist values in a way that I can convince them and present enough arguments compelling them to try to consider that we can build a better world without religious tales. So, this for me is one of my principal objectives in my life, the purpose of my life: to build moral values without religion.

Jacobsen: In the 2021 census for Canada, the national statistics for demographics on religion, and the belief in Christianity shrunk rapidly since 2001. It was, as of 2021, about half of the population. Now in Canadian Society, those halves don’t take religion seriously anyway. So, even though, it’s a large portion of the population. It’s not a sincere threat to the sociocultural fabric and can be beneficial depending on the values taken into account because there are inter-faith, inter-belief efforts for social causes; the things of this nature. In Peru, as you were noting, it is overwhelmingly religious. How seriously do Peruvians take their religion? Since in Canada, it can be a mild political tool. In Peru, is religion a political tool?

Lopez: Yes, I think that’s the short answer. Religion here is a political tool. Religions participate in the political life. So, that’s how seriously Peruvians take religion. It’s part of life. It’s part of political decisions. You can’t be a politician here and say that you are not a nonbeliever, then you are going to lose forever. So, you have to hide your atheism. In my case, I don’t hide my atheism. If the opportunity comes, I say, “I’m an atheist,” especially in the field. I want to contribute a little bit that is moral. The moral field or maybe you can call spirituality, the natives of spirituality, how to build spirituality grounded in science and psychotherapy. By the way, I try to spread knowledge from psychotherapy, which I think is a field that deserves more attention if we want to build a society without religion. So yes, I think that here in Peru; we Peruvians take very seriously religions in all decisions and that’s also why it’s very challenging here to try to propose different points of view without religion.

Jacobsen: Sure. So, for the Peruvian humanists, you have a publication. So, how did those get started?

Lopez: I think was some couple of years ago when we realized that we need to spread these ideas and these values in different ways besides talks or some small or medium events. So, we realized that we needed another tool. That’s when we created this editorial fund to generate our own books and journals. We have two journals; Futuro Hoy and Revista Humanista. The first one is about how new technologies are changing our lives in these societies. So, in that journal, we focus especially on technology and – let’s say – social psychology, for example. The other journal, Revista Humanista, is totally focused on spreading humanist values. We try to choose topics that we consider important for the moment. Our publication is about democracy. So yeah, that’s how we create this tool because we need to spread more of these ideas and we always need more hands and more minds that want to help us try to move these ideas and these values. It’s not always easy to find authors and writers that want to collaborate with us. So, that’s another challenge if I may say.

Jacobsen: How are the publications themselves presented? Are they print and online or online only or print only?

Lopez: They are only online.

Jacobsen: So, the expenses actually are reduced in light of that.

Lopez: Yeah, those are free journals for the public. They’re free for people.

Jacobsen: Are there other secular or atheist or agnostic or humanist or ethical society groups that you coordinate or collaborate with in Peru?

Lopez: We have our other organization; APERAT. It’s an organization of atheists in Peru. So, Henry maybe is a name that you may be or maybe someone that you met… He was in the World Congress event with Adrián and Piero. Henry is the president of the Peruvian Association of Atheists (APERAT), this association of atheists in Peru. We work together in almost every event, but, as far as I know, they don’t have a journal or anything like that.

Jacobsen: So, for the publications and the communities, those two are it.

Lopez: Yes, as far as we know. Also, some books, we publish it from our editorial fund. I’m actually working on another book. I recently published a book about short tales. It’s a science fiction, but, now, I’m working on a book about magical thinking; a set of essays about magical thinking, astrology, conspirational thinking, and supernatural beliefs. It is a product of my 10 years in this field. So yes, we’re planning to publish this book from our editorial fund. I hope we can publish this book and have some attention.

Jacobsen: That’d be wonderful. I mean we certainly we’ll have that in the article. I mean when I looked around for humanist publishers, there’s one in Canada; it’s small. It’s had its ups and downs. So, the reach is limited. There is one in Norway. However, the Norwegian group is massive and gets government funding. They may be the most well-financed humanist group in the world, maybe, outside of Humanists UK. They just have community, public support, legal support, and financial support on their side. So, it’s a much different picture for them to be able to have a platform. However, when I talk to the main person for that publishing platform, their language is only Norwegian. So, it’s limited in its reach. I’m assuming the national language is either Spanish or Portuguese in Peru. So, that’s the language that you’re going to be writing these journals in as well. So, that’s another thing if people are reading this. If they have the time and effort, they could reach out to offer translations of articles to help bring in traffic from a more international audience or a Spanish, non-Portuguese speaking audience.

Lopez: Yes. Something we do for our journals is to ask for foreign authors’ permission to translate their articles into Spanish. And of course, we publish everything in Spanish. I think the biggest challenge for our journals is the financial topic. This is a job for which there is no financial compensation, at least for the moment. So, this affects the frequency of production as you can imagine. I think that’s the biggest challenge. Well, the other one is trying to gather enough authors and writers who want to collaborate with us in Spanish. When we don’t have Spanish contributors, we look for it outside and we translate some articles. That’s our current situation.

Jacobsen: I can entirely sympathize. I’ve done lots and lots of article writing and interviews for free. I mean just massive amounts of time and effort and focus and coordinating and networking for the international communities of just atheists, agnostics, Satanists… every one you can think of. It’s really a fulfilling work. Yet, to your point, it’s very time-consuming without monetary return. So, you have to become very creative in the ways in which you generate income while partaking of this international community that doesn’t have church tithing or mosque zakat, land grants or bursaries, etc. It’s a much different situation. So, the fact that you are surviving and doing well and getting publications up entirely out of volunteer effort basically, is a testament to the Peruvian humanists and atheists over there.

Lopez: All for the cause.

Jacobsen: [Laughing] Yes. How can people help? How can they donate time, money, skills, expertise, you name it?

Lopez: I think honestly, first of all maybe money. I think that will help us a lot to gather more Peruvian professionals, very talented people who can help us with some compensation. So, I think money for me the first thing that can help us a lot to improve our situation here. And of course, new hands or new minds are always welcome, but trying to put in order, I think the first place is some financial help. I think that we need to improve our marketing area. We can call it that way. We need to become more visible to our society, to our own Peru Society. I think that we are not known yet as much as we would love to be. So, that’s something that we discuss in our group of directors, our directory, about how can we be more available to society and I think we need to invest more in sharing, like for example, these kinds of interviews or sharing more about who are the people behind humanist in Peru. I think that we are not doing so much in that line. So, I think that we are missing opportunities to say to the Peruvian Society, “Hi, we are a different option in the public debate from non-religious explanations or points of views.” I also think that financial support can help us to finally do something about this marketing issue. I don’t know if I’ve expressed myself clearly or if what I said makes sense.

Jacobsen: It does. Fabrizio, thank you very much for your time today.

Lopez: Oh, thank you, Scott. I really appreciate it. I hope we can talk more.

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2023-11-10

Said Najib Asil on Journalism in Afghanistan

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): The Good Men Project

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11/10

Said Najib Asil is an award-winning Afghan journalist with nearly two decades of experience in journalism. He served as the head of Current Affairs at TOLOnews, Afghanistan’s largest media network channel in Kabul. In August 2021, he left Afghanistan due to the Taliban’s takeover and has been residing in Canada since January 2022. In September 2022, Najib joined CBC News as a JHR fellow. He earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism in 2010. He has written on his experiences in Kosovo 2.0 in the article entitled “From Kabul to Albania to Toronto.” We met in economics for journalists conference, in Vancouver, British Columbia. Here, he talks about the work for TOLOnews, the context for journalists in Afghanistan.

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Today, we are here with Said Najib Asil from Afghanistan.

Said Najib Asil: I was working back in Afghanistan for TOLOnews, Afghanistan’s largest media network.

Jacobsen: How long did you work for them?

Asil: I worked over a decade for TOLOnews, from 2010 to the 15th of August, 2021, After collapse of the previous government.

Jacobsen: How do you find the media landscape pre-2021 for journalists in Afghanistan?

Asil: Right. If we see the past two years in Afghanistan, we can discern significant changes in the media industry after the Taliban regained control after-August 15, 2021.

But, before that, in 2001, when the U.S. and their allies intervened in Afghanistan, there was a surge in the establishment of prominent media organizations. During that period, we witnessed the presence of four main types of media organizations in Afghanistan. The state media organization, governed by government policies; the private media sector, which had the largest market share in Afghanistan; and international media organizations such as Reuters, BBC, and Al Jazeera, which had a substantial influence, covering diverse stories for Afghanistan and the world. Additionally, there were media organizations affiliated with various political parties, each pursuing its distinct objectives in Afghan politics. Lastly, print media played a pivotal role across various sectors.

Based on the latest reports, I would say more than 12,000 journalists were employed in the Afghan media industry in the past two decades. Approximately 600 media organizations operate in Afghanistan, comprising 194 radio stations, 96 TV stations, 290 newspapers, and 14 news agencies. Among these, around 4,000, constituting 40%, were women staff and Afghan girls who received education in Afghanistan after 2001. They were engaged in various media organizations before the collapse of the previous government in Afghanistan.

So, if we look from that perspective, And now after two years of Taliban ruling the country, I would say more than 400 media organizations were closed after the Taliban took back control in Afghanistan. Based on several reports more than 9,500 journalists lost their jobs or fled from Afghanistan. Furthermore, media expression has gone totally. After two years, for now only some media organizations are active in Afghanistan, but they are just following the policies of the Taliban, and what they are saying. So, more than 60% of Afghan journalists who worked in Afghanistan in the past two decades left the country and right now they are in exile. They are in different countries. Hopefully, what we are seeing now, that those journalists who are in different countries have come together and are establishing some media organizations based on the conditions they have, the refugees.

The most recent example I would like to highlight is Amu TV, founded by Lotfullah Najafiza, the former director of TOLOnews, and his former colleague and friend, Samiullah Mahdi. They established Amu TV as an international media outlet for Afghanistan in Virginia, U.S. After two years in exile, they now have around 70 staff. Their team operates from various countries, including the US, Canada, Europe, Pakistan, and even from Iran and Turkey. This represents a positive step toward freedom of speech and engaging the current freedoms for the people who needed it under the Taliban regime. – So, the current state of freedom of speech and media in Afghanistan aligns with my description.

Jacobsen: Now, Middle East-North Africa, depending on the time, depending on the State or the nation-state, the timing for journalists can be volatile at times and a little more stable at other times compared to like North America or Western Europe, for instance. We get some cases that come forward of people who are jailed, killed, harassed, beaten, and things of this nature. When you were doing current affairs for a solid decade for the largest news network in Afghanistan in a more relatively peaceful time, especially currently, how did you find stories that you picked that might have come with risk to you or your colleagues that you’re responsible for at that time? How did you weigh through that ethic?

Asil: Looking back over the past two decades, the accomplishments that Afghan media and the nation as a whole achieved unfortunately faced significant challenges during that time. One of the major obstacles was the presence of the Taliban. The Taliban opposed the existence of private or government media in Afghanistan, targeting various media organizations, including those I worked for. In 2016, they targeted our staff bus, resulting in the loss of seven colleagues and injuries to around 24-25 others. This tragic incident was not isolated; across different provinces of Afghanistan, we lost numerous journalists, colleagues, friends, and staff during the past two decades in Afghanistan.

Furthermore, I would say, those particular Afghans as akin to warlords who had a presence in Afghan politics since the ’90s. They held considerable influence in Afghanistan, participating in various sectors and provinces. However, they frequently pressured journalists to refrain from reporting on events in their regions, impeding the dissemination of crucial information to the public. Consequently, that period in Afghanistan was marked by numerous challenges.

Jacobsen: When things shut down, when there was a collapse of the government and this was to the Taliban for the second time in your country, how did you find yourself dealing with that individually, given the stature and the institutions and the individuals that you built up for that long period?

Asil: Before the Doha agreement, which the US signed with the Taliban, we knew the situation that would happen in Afghanistan in the coming months. So, there was always fear for all Afghans, especially for those Afghans who work in the media sector, women’s rights, human rights, activists, and university scholars. So, all Afghans were worried. I can say, especially in the two months leading up to the collapse of the previous government, some of our colleagues stayed overnight at the MOBY compound due to security conditions. We remained in our office compound for days, bringing along all the necessary items, such as clothes and other essentials. Enduring this two-month period was particularly challenging. After the 15th of August when the previous government collapsed, most of our colleagues were in the office. We received messages from police that the Taliban entered Kabul City at around 9:00 a.m. So, there was a lot of fear in every Afghan at that time. So, for journalists and all nation, it was very hard.

After 2003, MOBYgroup worked together with the US Embassy and other embassies in Afghanistan on different projects on women’s rights, human rights, elections, and freedom of speech…After the collapse, The U.S. government announced an evacuation for Afghans at risk. Four days later, my boss called me and shared a list of my colleagues names and urged me to head to the Serena Hotel, which was located near our office. With little time, I rushed home to see my mother, sisters, and brothers, taking a brief glance at the entirety of my life over the past two decades—my books, pictures, and everything I had built. Especially in my room, it all flashed before my eyes. Emotionally, it was a whirlwind of memories and a realization of the sudden upheaval in my life.

Then I said goodbye to my family and entire life in Afghanistan. After an hour me and most of my colleagues reached Serena Hotel. At that time, The Qatari military was responsible for Hotel security, then the Qatari forces escorted us to the airport and after three days of being in an airport. Fortunately, the U.S. Army flight facilitated our evacuation to Qatar. After spending four days in Qatar, we proceeded to Albania. These were the stages of our evacuation—from Afghanistan to Qatar and then from Qatar to Albania. During this period, we had refugee cases from the U.S. Embassy, known as P1, P2, or SIV (Special Immigrant Visas). Due to our direct collaboration with the U.S. government on projects back in Afghanistan. One day, the U.S. Embassy representatives in Albania held a meeting with Afghan evacuees. They informed us that we had the option to stay in Albania for a duration of two years or more to process our documents. Alternatively, they were working with allies and partners to assist those who wanted to go to other countries. At that time, most of our colleagues decided to go to Canada because Canada at that time was a great opportunity for Afghans.

After three months of processing our documents through the Canadian embassy in Italy, we finally received our PR confirmation. On January 20, 2021, most of our colleagues arrived in Canada. Since then, we have been living here, far from our friends, colleagues, and family members. The current situation back home remains challenging—no schools, no education, no rights; a dire situation for individuals as a nation.

Jacobsen: Thank you very much for your time.

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2023-11-09

Pith 727: I feel

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11/09

I feel: Anon on and on, and on and on; it’s a feeling, a little off; enough to be on, but something’s off, the feeling.

See “CC.”

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2023-11-09

Pith 726: Metamorfosi

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11/09

Metamorfosi: see for me, por favor da more moi, more amore, ‘fosi say more favour, eh; morph, come see, 4 metaphor for 1.

See “Metamorph.”

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2023-11-09

Pith 725: Eddie Murphy

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11/09

Eddie Murphy: In contradistinction to his claim sex is a physical act, it’s, to most, primarily an emotional act.

See “Self included.”

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2023-11-09

Pith 724: Nelly and Usher

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11/09

Nelly and Usher: were, probably, in spite of massive success, under-rated; some songs are phenomenal.

See “Retroguess.”

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2023-11-09

Pith 723: Relative Declines

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11/09

Relative Declines: ‘West’ nations still decline relative to ‘East’ countries; both decline relative to a third party.

See “What is it?”.

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2023-11-09

Pith 722: West’s Perverse Incentives

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11/09

West’s Perverse Incentives: are to self-sufficiency, so decline in partnering and generativity.

See “Unsustainable Demographics.”

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2023-11-08

Psychological Conflicts of a Jehovah’s Witness Patient

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Journal Founding: August 2, 2012

Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 12

Issue Numbering: 1

Section: B

Theme Type: Idea

Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”

Theme Part: 29

Formal Sub-Theme: None.

Individual Publication Date: November 8, 2023

Issue Publication Date: January 1, 2024

Author(s): Bonnie Zieman

Author(s) Bio: None.

Word Count: 1,617

Image Credit: None.

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369–6885

*Original publication here during October, 2017.*

*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*

Keywords: Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood, armageddon, Bonnie Zieman, Christian, God, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Lee Elder, organ transplants, Watchtower.

Psychological Conflicts of a Jehovah’s Witness Patient

Abstract

When obtaining informed consent from a Jehovah’s Witness for treatments involving blood products, incongruent, inconsistent and uninformed behavior may be observed. This article provides background on why this population may refuse treatment and suggests ways to approach the patient that will optimize outcomes. A licensed psychotherapist and former Jehovah’s Witness weighs in on beliefs, inner turmoil and outside pressures experienced by those refusing blood treatment.

Caring for a Jehovah’s Witness patient, who refuses to allow a blood transfusion presents ethical challenges for medical professionals. However, understanding the refusal of treatment from the patient’s point of view can provide a window of opportunity to reach those who initially refuse treatment.

You may meet a patient who outwardly appears to stubbornly refuse blood products at all costs. But in all likelihood, the person is experiencing a values conflict (conscious or unconscious), which causes considerable emotional turmoil.

Background and Beliefs

The Jehovah’s Witness parent organization, called Watchtower or JW.org, propagates material citing Bible verses to justify their policy that sacredness of blood should influence medical treatment. At the same time, the organization controls members’ access to medical facts, including benefits of blood transfusion therapy and limitations of alternatives. The organization’s policies on blood products shift from time to time. Remarkably, many Jehovah’s Witnesses are oblivious to recent policy shifts that allow administration of 100% of blood in fractionated form, and without spiritual consequence.

It can be safely assumed that any Jehovah’s Witness (JW) patient, who refuses to accept a blood transfusion, has been subjected to a steady routine of calculated indoctrination over a period of years. Most born-and-raised members have assimilated these beliefs, policies and expectations as the organizing principles of their lives.

If a physician’s dominant organizing principle is to preserve life and minimize suffering, a JW devotee’s dominant organizing life principle is strict obedience to God and His organization (JW.org), which demands loyalty, even to the death. Considerable thought-control has been imposed to arrive at this position.

Declining blood, and martyring themselves, they are taught, assures God’s favor and blessing. JWs believe that even if they die, they are stay alive in God’s memory and will be resurrected to life on a paradise earth soon after the impending holocaust they call Armageddon.

JWs experience information control through isolation from alternate, balancing perspectives. They are dissuaded from associating with non-believers, or viewing material that may contradict JW dogma. Because their friendships and family are limited to those who are practicing JWs, defying this authority could result in a complete loss of their social support network, becoming disapproved, and ultimately being shunned.1

They know that if their church becomes aware they accepted a blood transfusion (usually due to posting “support persons” on location at the hospital), they will either experience a physical death by refusing life-saving treatment or a social death if they accept it. Threats of condemnation, expulsion from their church, shunning and public shame are a certainty if JWs defy expectations for their behaviors and choices.

Due to this pervasive control, and since their identity, worldview and spiritual hopes are woven into all the repetitive indoctrination, any contradictory information that causes discomfort and anxiety may be dismissed from their mind and blocked out. Facts may not be considered due to fear and strict black and white thinking. Many will automatically label what the doctor tells them as misguided, ignorant of Biblical principles, and a temptation from The Devil to abandon their obedience to Jehovah God and His chosen organization.

JW patients may be difficult to connect with in a conversation, appearing resigned to their “fate.” They may be reluctant to discuss options, feeling it is useless to even try and explain to ‘outsiders’ what will happen to them if they disobey their God and accept the blood treatment.

Inner Turmoil

JW patients are caught in a terrible bind. If they refuse the life-saving treatment offered, they will likely die. If they flout their beliefs and accept the blood transfusion, they will be shamed and shunned by most, if not all, their friends and family. They risk their relationship with Jehovah God and believe that abandoning their beliefs will lead to everlasting destruction. As well, these patients have already sacrificed a normal life to be a member of a strict, high-control group. All this investment makes it much more difficult to abandon beliefs.

At this point, the JW patient is in the middle of a full-blown existential crisis. Most join and remain in the organization to avoid the angst related to normal human fears and insecurities. Belonging to a group that provides all the answers and offers immortality, they may not feel able to make their life meaningful through their own choices and efforts.

Now, in spite of efforts to hide and protect themselves from having to deal with ultimate concerns of human existence, if they want to prolong their life now, they will have to go against one of their acquired beliefs about how to ensure eternal life.

They cope with this while feeling physically weak and emotionally distraught, and may have difficulty thinking rationally. It is much easier to rely on programmed beliefs and well-rehearsed rationale, rather than facing inner chaos.

Some conflicted JWs may be secretly relieved if they are given a life-saving blood transfusion before the hospital discovers their “no-blood card”. This is a card kept in their wallet as an advance medical directive.2 Since there is disparity in the commitment each individual

JW.org has instituted a policy of sending a 3-elder Hospital Liaison Committee to the hospital when a JW is in medical crisis. JWs who don’t notify their local elders about anticipated or actual medical emergencies for themselves, or other believers, are viewed as spiritually negligent. This committee’s presence and prayers serve to remind the patient of what will happen if they are disobedient. Any patient or family of an unconscious JW will surely feel they are being torn between competing information from the medical community and the JW dogma.

While there are no quick fixes to this dilemma, there are resources such as Advocates for JW’s Reform on Blood (AJWRB.org), tasked with supplying up-to-date references, informational tools and studies online as a life-saving counterpoint to JW doctrines on blood refusal.

Breaking through manipulative mind-control takes time and the ability to reason, reflect and entertain new information; most medical emergencies do not afford the luxury of time, and there is minimal ability to learn something new in a high-stakes situation.

Considerations in Obtaining Informed Consent

The physician’s efforts at this point to provide life-saving information, which outweighs primitive beliefs, may fall on deaf ears. Physicians can only hope that repeated explanations of the risks of refusal to treat may pierce through the religious programming and dread of ensuing punishments. In this case, remember that you are not offering life-saving information and interventions to a typical patient with an open, reasonable mind. You are working urgently to convince people under the effects of mind-control of the seriousness of their situation.

Higher order thinking (analysis, evaluation, organization, synthesis, complex reasoning, critical thinking, problem-solving, applying concepts to novel situations, etc.) may not yet be developed or permitted in people conditioned to receive information from a single source and who unquestioningly obey. JWs may be baptized in youth and held to the same standards as adults prior to any capacity for critical thinking. Moreover, JW culture actively discourages higher learning; the majority of JWs do not have education beyond high school (considered a needless use of resources that can be redirected to volunteering for the organization).

Nevertheless, there are individual differences in the way JWs have absorbed the beliefs of their church. Like cars in separate traffic lanes, the pace of the extremism does vary by individual in the organization. It is to be hoped that there are already doubts in place that may be accessed when a person’s life is threatened.

JW.org frequently changes the guidelines for what blood products and derivatives are allowed and not allowed. So, the patient may not have a clear understanding of what they are accepting or rejecting, and the lack of good alternatives. They may overestimate the effectiveness of blood transfusion alternatives, or lack clarity on logistical and spiritual permissibility of advance donation of their own blood, or blood fractions. There may be earnest or paternalistic clouding of this information by the JW Hospital Liaison Committee (HLC).

All one can do is present the case for life-saving care and hope that some measure of reason prevails. Most hospitals have policies and procedures in place to advocate legally for children under the control of this undue influence.

Regardless of whether the JW patient maintains their refusal or accepts a blood transfusion, the patient will suffer considerable emotional pain. They will ultimately need to debrief with a professional. This must take place out of earshot of the controlling HLC or other visiting JWs – tasked with ensuring compliance and reporting variances. Talking (if they are able) will allow them to benefit from the cognitive reorganization that takes place when one can tell their story of crisis and inner conflict.

A medical professional who cares for a patient who expires due to their refusal of blood, should be offered therapeutic support or counseling.

Efforts to engage JWs in productive informed consent conversations (several may be required) is worthwhile. The more the JW patient knows their options, the more likely they are to exercise them, or at least find some peace in their decision-making process.

Bonnie Zieman, M.Ed.

Licensed Psychotherapist (retired)

Board Member of Open Minds Foundation

Author of:

Exiting the JW Cult: A Healing Handbook

Cracking the Cult Code for Therapists

Shunned: A Survival Guide

Bibliography

None

Footnotes

1. Kerry Louderback-Wood, Journal of Church and State. https://ajwrb.org/jehovahs-witnesses-blood-transfusions-and-the-tort-of-misreprersentation
2. These “no blood” cards are often signed during group meetings where it is not difficult to imagine that some sign under “duress”, especially as they know their cards will probably be inspected by JW elders at the meeting.

Citations

American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Zieman B. Psychological Conflicts of a Jehovah’s Witness Patient. October 2023; 12(1). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/psychological-conflicts

American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Zieman, B. (2023, November 8). Psychological Conflicts of a Jehovah’s Witness Patient. In-Sight Publishing. 12(1).

Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): ZIEMAN, B. Psychological Conflicts of a Jehovah’s Witness Patient.In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 12, n. 1, 2023.

Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Zieman, Bonnie. 2023. “Psychological Conflicts of a Jehovah’s Witness Patient.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (Winter). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/psychological-conflicts.

Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Zieman, B “Psychological Conflicts of a Jehovah’s Witness Patient.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (November 2023). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/psychological-conflicts.

Harvard: Zieman, B. (2023) ‘Psychological Conflicts of a Jehovah’s Witness Patient’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 12(1). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/psychological-conflicts>.

Harvard (Australian): Zieman, B 2023, ‘Psychological Conflicts of a Jehovah’s Witness Patient’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/psychological-conflicts>.

Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Zieman, Bonnie. “Psychological Conflicts of a Jehovah’s Witness Patient.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.12, no. 1, 2023, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/psychological-conflicts.

Vancouver/ICMJE: Bonnie Z. Psychological Conflicts of a Jehovah’s Witness Patient [Internet]. 2023 Nov; 12(1). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/psychological-conflicts.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

2023-11-07

Pith 721: “There are never enough ‘I love yous’”

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11/07

“There are never enough ‘I love yous’”: Lenny Bruce was right; there’s a wider purview, too, where love’s flavours balance.

See “Timings.”

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2023-11-07

Pith 720: Verbotensklaven

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11/07

Verbotensklaven: Freedamned, foundrytrymywhy, a Way, and a lone aloneonloan; free, of what; damned, to why; silently slaving.

See “Talk.”

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2023-11-07

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11/07

The last time he messed up around me before I cut him out of my life, about 8/9 years ago. His girlfriend, former Hell’s Angels wife who he philandered with against my mom, kicked him out of the house in Vancouver. He was already smashed drunk unable to handle himself. He taxi’d down to Fort Langley to our place, which was the time when my sister got divorced and moved back in with us and her three kids. En route, he finished another 2/3rds of a mickey of fireball. He was in terrible condition. After some theatrics in arriving with luggage — thought he’d stay (?), and trying to drunk punch my mom, he barged in and tried to go upstairs. One niece was out with friends. Another was home, now awake. Nephew was asleep, and stayed asleep. So, I was comforting my awoken niece while they paused him on the stairs because this was not okay, to spend the night drunk in front of grandchildren. A prior boundary had been set. Next, all I hear is several thuds followed by a crash. My sister screamed a bloodcurdling tone never heard before or since, “Dad! Dad!”

He had fallen down the stairs. My mother was lying by his side when I went out, pardoning myself from my niece. My sister was crying on the phone with the police. My dad looked up over the railing when I looked down and said, “Fuck you — .” [My absent brother] My mother said, “That’s not — . And you don’t mean that.” He responded, “Fuck you too, Scott.” They were unsure if he had broken anything, so encouraged him to stay lying down while police came. He was indignant on the floor, wailing repeatedly while squirming back and forth on his back, “Let me die, let me die, please let me die!” My earliest memory, ironically — same house, was my parents fighting when I was about 8 at the top of the stairs. I ran downstairs and cried — memory blank. Now, he’s at the bottom, wailing into the abyss for death’s hand to end him.

Life can be dark poetry, cryptic.

That’s life.

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2023-11-07

Pith 714: For the most part

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11/07

For the most part: Horses are better than people in the spectrums of threat readiness and intuition; some of their emotions.

See “Equine.”

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2023-11-07

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11/07

Veltman’s trial, as reported in the BBC, Al-Jazeera, CBC News, and Associated Press, is revealing. This was a premeditated murder of Muslims by a young Euro-Canadian male. Why?

If there is anything resembling a religious impulse in humanists, it’s a sense of moral duty to protect other human beings from harm, especially life and death harm.

According to prosecutor Shaikh, Veltman told police after the attack, “I know what I did, I don’t regret what I did. I admit that it was terrorism. This was politically motivated, 100%.”

Veltman pleaded not guilty to four charges of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder.

– –

Soharwardy said:

Dr. Bullock said:

I asked about spilling over of the anti-Muslim bigotry into different denominations and minority religions.

Dr. Bullock said:

Imam Soharwardy said:

I didn’t want to waste their limited time, so I limited the questions to each to three. I finished by asking about a conference or alliance-building with awareness of these kinds of bigotries.

Imam Soharwardy said:

Dr. Bullock said:

Absolutely yes. And these kinds of conferences and gatherings are happening. More are needed.

This is an important, historic case in Canadian law and culture. Humanists have a moral role to play here.

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2023-11-01

Watchtower Sacrificial Lambs

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Journal Founding: August 2, 2012

Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 12

Issue Numbering: 1

Section: B

Theme Type: Idea

Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”

Theme Part: 29

Formal Sub-Theme: None.

Individual Publication Date: November 1, 2023

Issue Publication Date: January 1, 2024

Author(s): Lee Elder

Author(s) Bio: None.

Word Count: 657

Image Credit: None.

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369–6885

*Original publication here during October, 2017.*

*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*

Keywords: Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood, Bible, Christian, God, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Lee Elder, organ transplants, Watchtower Society.

Watchtower Sacrificial Lambs

Featured on the cover of the May 22, 1994 Awake! magazine are the photos of 26 children, with the caption: “Youths Who Put God First.” Inside the magazine proclaims: “In former times thousands of youths died for putting God first. They are still doing it, only today the drama is played out in hospitals and courtrooms, with blood transfusions the issue.” View a PDF of this quote.

Because Watchtower Society leaders have ruled that having certain types of blood transfusion is a mortal sin, Jehovah’s Witness children are meticulously indoctrinated to believe that those who accept certain blood transfusions to save their lives will be killed by Jehovah God at Armageddon in the very near future, and worthy of everlasting death.

They are also told that blood transfusions do not really save lives, but pollute recipients, give them AIDS, hepatitis and may even transfer to them the personality of a criminal blood donor. Parents are pressured to hold practice sessions with their children and rehearse answers to typical questions a judge or hospital official might ask to assess their maturity and degree of belief. 1 Not content with fear and implanted phobias, extreme coercion is also employed through Watchtower sanctioned shunning. This means failure to uphold the Watchtower’s bizarre policy will most likely result in their Witness friends being unable to greet them, talk to them or eat with them – not even close family members unless they happen to live under the same roof.

Jehovah’s Witness parents are taught that if they save the lives of their children by secretly accepting a blood transfusion, God may punish them right now by making their children stillborn or kill them in the soon-to-come battle of Armageddon, when they will become manure on the ground. Until 1952, the Watchtower Society used similar rhetoric about vaccinations. Until 1980, they said the same thing about organ transplants. Now these medical practices are permitted. Those who were loyal to these Watchtower rules spilled their blood in vain. If you are a Jehovah’s Witness parent, will you sacrifice your child over this issue? If you answer yes, stop and consider how you will feel when the Watchtower finally abandons this bizarre doctrine – a doctrine that they have already gutted into a shadow of what it once was.

Child sacrifice for the purpose of appeasing a God isn’t something new, and has been practiced in many cultures over human history, to prove how devout a parent truly is. In Bible times the Ammonites offered child sacrifices to the god Baal. Some Bible scholars believe that the laws against child sacrifice found in the Bible (See Lev. 18:21; 20:3 and Deut. 12:30-31; 18:10) are evidence that some Israelites were involved as well. The original intent of the story of Abraham attempting to offer up his son Issac, before being stopped by an angel may well have been to put a stop to this barbaric practice.

“And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire unto Molech; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.” – Jeremiah 32:35

Why shouldn’t your child have the blood fraction or component they need to live when so much is already permitted? Where does the Bible explain which blood products or fractions are a matter of conscience and which are not? The simple and obvious answer is that it has nothing to say about the use of blood components. We implore you as a Jehovah’s Witness parent – please do not let your child’s picture end up on this web page as a warning to others. We ask the rest of the Jehovah’s Witness community to please work for reform of this tragic policy and stop the needless deaths of Jehovah’s Witness children.

Bibliography

None

Footnotes

None

Citations

American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Elder L. Watchtower Sacrificial Lambs. October 2023; 12(1). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/watchtower-lambs

American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Elder, L. (2023, November 1). Watchtower Sacrificial Lambs. In-Sight Publishing. 12(1).

Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): ELDER, L. Watchtower Sacrificial Lambs.In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 12, n. 1, 2023.

Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Elder, Lee. 2023. “Watchtower Sacrificial Lambs.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (Winter). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/watchtower-lambs.

Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Elder, L “Watchtower Sacrificial Lambs.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (November 2023). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/watchtower-lambs.

Harvard: Elder, L. (2023) ‘Watchtower Sacrificial Lambs’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 12(1). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/watchtower-lambs>.

Harvard (Australian): Elder, L 2023, ‘Watchtower Sacrificial Lambs’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/watchtower-lambs>.

Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Elder, Lee. “Watchtower Sacrificial Lambs.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.12, no. 1, 2023, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/watchtower-lambs.

Vancouver/ICMJE: Lee E. Watchtower Sacrificial Lambs [Internet]. 2023 Nov; 12(1). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/watchtower-lambs.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

2023-11-01

The Watchtower’s Medical Expert

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Journal Founding: August 2, 2012

Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 12

Issue Numbering: 1

Section: B

Theme Type: Idea

Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”

Theme Part: 29

Formal Sub-Theme: None.

Individual Publication Date: November 1, 2023

Issue Publication Date: January 1, 2024

Author(s): S. Sparrow

Author(s) Bio: None.

Word Count: 965

Image Credit: None.

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369–6885

*Original publication here during September, 2017.*

*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*

Keywords: Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood, Hospital Liaison Committee, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Joachim Bucholdt, medicine, S Sparrow, surgery, Watchtower Society.

The Watchtower’s Medical Expert

The January 2000 issue of the Awake! magazine, published by the Watchtower Society Bible and Tract Society of New York and distributed worldwide, featured articles endorsing bloodless surgery and promoting bloodless medicine as a safe alternative to allogeneic blood transfusions.1

Several physicians are featured in this special issue of the Awake! magazine and it is apparent that these doctors would have been included in the “cooperative doctors” list that is compiled and maintained by the Hospital Information Services of the Watchtower Society.

In November 2002, less than two years after the publication of this particular Awake! magazine, the Watchtower Society claimed to have a database of over 100,000 physicians that would use bloodless methods on Jehovah’s Witness patients:

Hospital Information Services, or HIS, is the arm of Jehovah’s Witnesses headquarters staff that coordinates communication between over 110,000 physicians worldwide. Some 1,600 subgroups termed Hospital Liaison Committees, or HLCs, facilitate this communication on a local level. 2

The article The Growing Demand For Bloodless Medicine and Surgery, opens with a quote from Dr. Boldt, a professor from Germany, who undoubtedly would have been on the Hospital Information Services list of WT approved physicians:

“All those dealing with blood and caring for surgical patients have to consider bloodless surgery.“ – Dr. Joachim Boldt, professor of anesthesiology, Ludwigshafen, Germany.

The article also features this quote from the same doctor:

“Bloodless surgery is not only for Jehovah’s Witnesses but for all patients. I think that every doctor should be engaged in it.” – Dr. Joachim Boldt, professor of anesthesiology, Ludwigshafen, Germany.

At the time that Dr. Joachim Boldt was being featured in a Jehovah’s Witness publication, his research was being used by the medical community to validate the use of hydroxyethyl starch solution as a volume expander to replace a patient’s blood, thereby avoiding the use of, or reducing, allogenic blood transfusions. Boldt’s research, comparing the efficacy of different colloids to albumin, used hydroxyethyl starch suspended in an electrolyte solution instead of the usual saline that had been in use by the medical community since the 1970s.

Volume expanders are essential to surgical procedures that drain and store the patient’s blood during surgery and hydroxyethyl starch had been one of the mainstays of surgical procedures for over two decades.3

In 2002, hydroxyethyl starch suspended in saline (hespan), was facing investigation by the FDA and the FDA was considering putting a black box warning on hespan.4 Eventually, after several FDA hearings and workshops, hespan received a black box warning that alerted medical professionals to an increased risk of bleeding in some patients when using the product.5

However, Hextend, the hydroxyethyl starch solution that Boldt employed in his research, managed to avoid the black box warning during the FDA hearings in the early 2000s, based on the presumption that Hextend’s carrier solution and smaller molecular size could avoid the problems that hespan was facing. This later proved to be false and Hextend as well, now carries an FDA warning stating that increased bleeding and renal failure may occur with its use.6

In 2010, the research that Joachim Boldt had published in favor of hydroxyethyl starch suspended in electrolyte solution was revealed to contain falsified data and/or the research had inadequate ethics approval.7 8 9 The studies that have been retracted for Joachim Boldt now number 96 and according to Retraction Watch, a website that tracks retractions in the scientific community, this number places Boldt as second on the leaderboard for number of studies retracted.10

Over the course of the past four decades, hydroxyethyl starch has been used for the Jehovah’s Witness population, including the newest formula on the market – Voluven.11 This has happened in spite of the known risk of increased bleeding in some patients.12 Increased red cell blood transfusions have been noted in studies that have been conducted into the safety and efficacy of hydroxyethyl starch.13

It is clear that the use of hydroxethyl starch adds extra risk to the patient,14 15 16 and that this added risk was known for many years:

“Research by Dr Gill Schierhout and Dr Ian Roberts of University College London found in 1998 that the use of colloids during surgery increased the risk of death by four percentage points – equivalent to four extra deaths in every 100 patients. A review published 10 years later by Konrad Reinhart and Christiane Hartog of Friedrich Schiller University in Jena, Germany cited two large-scale clinical trials which found that HES could prevent the blood from clotting, which can cause heavy bleeding. Other studies have shown that some colloids can result in complications including heart and kidney failure, fluid entering the lungs and anaphylactic shock.”17

The Hospital Information Services of the Watchtower Society has been irresponsible in promoting a medical procedure that places an at-risk population in a position of further risk. The JW population does not have the safety net of a blood transfusion to compensate for the risk of increased bleeding when hydroxethyl starches are used and yet the Watchtower fails to alert the JWs to this added risk.

Not only has the Watchtower Society advocated for the use of a blood alternative that has added risk, they have also endorsed Dr. Joachim Boldt, a questionable medical researcher in the field of bloodless medicine. Dr. Boldt, the physician featured in the Awake! magazine, conducted medical research on patients without ethical approval, and then falsified the data in order to promote an alternative to blood transfusions.

Promoting notorious medical pretenders is not something new for the Watchtower Society. Dr. Joachim Boldt’s name will go down in Watchtower history alongside other notable quack doctors that the WTS has endorsed over the years such as Albert Abrams, George Starr White, Charles Betts and Bernarr McFadden.18

Bibliography

None

Footnotes

1. Awake!, January 8, 2000. Watchtower and Bible and Tract Society of New York.
2. https://web.archive.org/web/20091120230915/http://www.jw-media.org/gbl/20021118.htm – SABM award recognized the Watchtower Society’s contribution to the field of Blood management.
3. Hydroxyethyl Starch: Here Today, Gone Tomorrow. J. P. Nolan; M. G. Mythen. Br J Anaesth. 2013;111(3):321-324.
4. https://www.fda.gov/OHRMS/DOCKETS/ac/02/transcripts/3867T1.rtf
5. http://www.who.int/medicines/publications/NewsletterNo4_2013EC.pdf
6. https://www.drugs.com/pro/hextend.html
7. Joachim Boldt profile: a glittering career built on charisma and charm. Heidi Blake. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/8360678/Joachim-Boldt-profile-a-glittering-career-built-on-charisma-and-charm.html
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joachim_Boldt
9. http://intensivecarenetwork.com/148-scandal-and-reputation/
10. When you have 94 retractions, what’s two more? Retraction Watch. http://retractionwatch.com/2017/03/01/94-retractions-whats-two/
11. Normovolemic hemodilution using hydroxyethyl starch 130/0.4 (Voluven) in a Jehovah’s Witness child requiring cardiopulmonary bypass for ventricular septal defect repair. Bryan D. Laliberte, , Dilip S. Nath, , John P. Costello, , Mark Nuszkowski, , Richard F. Kaplan. Journal of Clinical Anesthesia, Volume 26, Issue 5, August 2014, Pages 402-406
12. A severe coagulopathy following volume replacement with hydroxyethyl starch in a Jehovah’s Witness. D.N.J. Lockwood, C. Bullen, S.J. Machin. Anaesthesia, 1988, Volume 43, pages 391-393.
13. Effect of intraoperative HES 6% 130/0.4 on the need for blood transfusion after major oncologic surgery: a propensity-matched analysis.Fernando Godinho Zampieri, Otavio T Ranzani, Priscila Fernanda Morato, Pedro Paulo Campos, and Pedro Caruso. Clinics (Sao Paulo). 2013 Apr; 68(4): 501–509.
14. http://pulmccm.org/main/2013/randomized-controlled-trials/hydroxyethyl-starch-fries-kidneys-in-another-large-trial-rct-nejm/ CHEST trial – NZ and Australia.
15. http://clincalc.com/blog/2013/04/fresenius-kabi-its-time-to-pull-the-plug-on-voluven-hydroxyethyl-starch-1300-4/. Fresenius Kabi: It’s Time to Pull the Plug on Voluven (hydroxyethyl starch 130/0.4)
16. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4234780/#ref9 Hydroxyethyl starch: Controversies revisited. Rashmi Datta, Rajeev Nair, Anil Pandey, Nitish Kumar, and Tapan Sahoo.
17. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/8360667/Millions-of-surgery-patients-at-risk-in-drug-research-fraud-scandal.html
18. The Watchtower Society and Medical Quackery, Kenneth G. Raines. https://web.archive.org/web/20160305130554/http://www.freeminds.org/history/quackery.htm

Citations

American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Sparrow S. The Watchtower’s Medical Expert. October 2023; 12(1). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/watchtower-expert

American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Sparrow, S. (2023, November 1). The Watchtower’s Medical Expert. In-Sight Publishing. 12(1).

Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): SPARROW, S. The Watchtower’s Medical Expert.In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 12, n. 1, 2023.

Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Sparrow, S. 2023. “The Watchtower’s Medical Expert.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (Winter). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/watchtower-expert.

Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Sparrow, S “The Watchtower’s Medical Expert.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (November 2023). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/watchtower-expert.

Harvard: Sparrow, S. (2023) ‘The Watchtower’s Medical Expert’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 12(1). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/watchtower-expert>.

Harvard (Australian): Sparrow, S 2023, ‘The Watchtower’s Medical Expert’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/watchtower-expert>.

Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Sparrow, S. “The Watchtower’s Medical Expert.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.12, no. 1, 2023, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/watchtower-expert.

Vancouver/ICMJE: S S. The Watchtower’s Medical Expert [Internet]. 2023 Nov; 12(1). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/watchtower-expert.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

2023-11-01

Pith 708: 2.57×10¹¹

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11/01

2.57×10¹¹: African Elephant, “the animal that surpasses all others in wit and mind”; sorry, Ari, not enough cortex.

See “Cerebrotonic.”

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Copyright

2023-11-01

Pith 707: The Bible, Wrong on Subtle Morals Too

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11/01

The Bible, Wrong on Subtle Morals Too: science says gossip is a social skill, releases oxytocin, builds trust.

See “Survival Advantages.”

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2023-11-01

Pith 706: Most

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/11/01

Most: see, most speak, few feel, some hear, rare few see and feel and hear before speech; almost none penetrate behind them.

See “Light.”

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2023-11-01

Humanism is about helping people

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Journal Founding: August 2, 2012

Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 12

Issue Numbering: 1

Section: B

Theme Type: Idea

Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”

Theme Part: 29

Formal Sub-Theme: None.

Individual Publication Date: November 1, 2023

Issue Publication Date: January 1, 2024

Author(s): James A. Haught

Author(s) Bio(s): James A. Haught, syndicated by PeaceVoice, was the longtime editor at the Charleston Gazette and had been the editor emeritus since 2015. He was thought to have been the first investigative reporter in West Virginia. He won two dozen national newswriting awards and was author of 12 books and 150 magazine essays. He was also a senior editor of Free Inquiry magazine and was writer-in-residence for the United Coalition of Reason. He died on Sunday, July 23, at the age of 91.

Word Count: 571

Image Credit: None

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369-6885

*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*

Keywords: freethought, humanism, James Haught, Jean-Paul Sartre, Jennings Randolph, None, Paul Kurtz.

Humanism is about helping people

Long ago, when I was a congressional press secretary, Jennings Randolph was a wise senator from West Virginia. On his Washington desk, he kept a motto I’ve never forgotten: The most important lesson you can learn is that other people are as real behind their eyes as you are behind yours.

That nugget of insight has deep implications, asserting that pretty much everyone in the world — all 7 billion-plus — more or less shares the same human feelings, fears, wants, hopes, questions, frustrations, pleasures and the like. This, to me, is the heart of humanism: recognizing the worth of everybody, and striving to make life as good as possible for the whole populace.

Humanism means helping people — and secular humanism means doing it without supernatural religion. Secular humanists generally support more human rights, better education, reduction of wars, science, better nutrition and health, racial equality and other strides to improve life.

It began as long ago as Ancient Greece, when some thinkers advocated humanitas, a helpful spirit toward all. During the Renaissance, a few scholar-priests began caring more for people than for the church, so they became religious humanists. Then came the Enlightenment, when rebel thinkers challenged the supremacy of kings and holy men, laying the groundwork for modern democracy, which is rooted in humanism.

Various manifestos have been written to crystallize the need for intelligent people to support human betterment. In 1933, the first Humanist Manifesto was signed by several philosophers, Unitarians, reformers and scholars, including educationist, psychologist and social activist John Dewey. It called humanism a new “religion” to replace magic-based supernatural faiths.

Secular crusader Paul Kurtz spearheaded other declarations, including Humanist Manifesto II of 1973, which asserted: “No deity will save us; we must save ourselves.” It denounced racism and nuclear weapons, calling for scientific progress, universal birth control, world courts, and the right to choose abortion.

(Dr. Kurtz was my guru. He published my books, named me a senior editor of Free Inquiry magazine, and asked me to sign some of his declarations. He even let me drive his Cadillac to Niagara Falls from his headquarters in a Buffalo suburb.)

Philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre declared that his existentialism was a form of humanism. His famed dictum that people are “condemned to be free” might be interpreted to mean that each person is forced to live isolated inside his or her own skull — behind the eyes — unable to experience the inner minds of surrounding people. However, he mostly meant that people are thrown into the world, alone within themselves, not knowing why they exist, with no God to guide them — yet solely responsible for all their actions.

As we act, we can realize the personal validity of others and share common humanity with them. We can work to craft a beneficial civilization that helps everyone. I remember the slogan of a freethought group: “We are not alone in the universe. We have each other.” That’s a noble call for cooperation.

Humanity has made solid progress. In 1900, the average lifespan was barely 30 years; now it’s over 70. When I was born in 1932, the world had a population of a bit more than 2 billion. Now it’s nearing 8 billion, almost quadrupling in my lifetime.

Humanists face the challenge of trying to make life livable for this entire ballooning mass of humans.

This column is adapted from a piece originally published at Daylight Atheism / Patheos, on Aug. 26, 2019.

Bibliography

None

Footnotes

None

Citations

American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Haught J. Humanism is about helping people. November 2023; 12(1). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/humanism-helping

American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Haught, J. (2023, November 1). Humanism is about helping people. In-Sight Publishing. 12(1).

Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): HAUGHT, J. Humanism is about helping people. In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 12, n. 1, 2023.

Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Haught, James. 2023. “Humanism is about helping people.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (Winter). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/humanism-helping.

Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Haught, J “Humanism is about helping people.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (November 2023).http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/humanism-helping.

Harvard: Haught, J. (2023) ‘Humanism is about helping people’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 12(1). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/humanism-helping>.

Harvard (Australian): Haught, J 2023, ‘Humanism is about helping people’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/humanism-helping>.

Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Haught, James. “Humanism is about helping people.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.12, no. 1, 2023, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/humanism-helping.

Vancouver/ICMJE: James H. Humanism is about helping people [Internet]. 2023 Nov; 12(1). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/humanism-helping.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

2023-11-01

Jehovah’s Witnesses and Blood – Tens of Thousands Dead in Hidden Tragedy

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Journal Founding: August 2, 2012

Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 12

Issue Numbering: 1

Section: B

Theme Type: Idea

Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”

Theme Part: 29

Formal Sub-Theme: None.

Individual Publication Date: November 1, 2023

Issue Publication Date: January 1, 2024

Author(s): Lee Elder

Author(s) Bio: None.

Word Count: 2,638

Image Credit: AJWRB.

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369–6885

*Original publication here during August, 2017.*

*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*

Keywords: Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Lee Elder, medicine, Osamu Muramoto, Watchtower Society.

Jehovah’s Witnesses and Blood – Tens of Thousands Dead in Hidden Tragedy

While the Watchtower has never published either actual statistics or estimates of the impact of their blood policy on Jehovah’s Witnesses, it is well-known in the medical community that the policy has caused or contributed to numerous premature deaths among followers who observe the policy.1 2 3

It has certainly been within the ability of Watchtower officials to collect data on the numbers of Jehovah’s Witnesses who have died prematurely because of the blood policy, as they already carefully track the activity of every member. Additionally, Watchtower HLC and HVC representatives are frequently involved in many of these cases. The likely explanation, as to why the numbers have never been released, is that such data would create a liability for the Watchtower Society in much the same way as their database of known and suspected pedophiles has done when it came to light.4

AJWRB medical adviser, Dr. Osamu Muramoto, M.D., and AJWRB Science Adviser Marvin Shilmer looked at the available medical studies and independently developed extrapolations of the impact of Watchtower’s policy in terms of estimated lives lost since the beginning of the Watchtower’s blood transfusion prohibition and a projection of lives potentially lost annually. We begin with a review of these estimates, then adjust them to bring the numbers current.

Dr. Osamu Muramoto, MD – AJWRB Medical Adviser

In 2001, Dr. Muramoto used a study by Kitchens CS: Are transfusions overrated? Surgical outcome of Jehovah’s Witnesses. It was published in the February 1993 issue of The American Journal of Medicine on pages 117-119. The study was based on 1404 “bloodless” surgeries performed on Jehovah’s Witnesses, and showed that 1.4% of these patients died to a lack of blood as either a primary or contributing cause of their death. Simply stated, this means that every time a JW had “bloodless surgery” their chance of death was 1.4% greater due to refusing blood.In an abundance of caution, Dr. Muramoto elected to round down this figure to 1% to allow for some who may have died anyway, so stated another way he determined that for every one hundred “bloodless” operations on Jehovah’s Witnesses, one death could be attributed to blood refusal.

At that time the American Association of Blood Banks reported that approximately 4 million patients received blood transfusions from 12.6 million units of donated blood every year. That meant that 4 million or 15 of every 1000 Americans had conditions requiring blood each year.

There were about 1,000,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses in the United States at the time, so approximately 15,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses would have had conditions that would normally require a blood transfusion. If their rate of death increased by 1% due to blood refusal, this means that about 150 Jehovah’s Witnesses died that year in the United States due to observing Watchtower’s blood prohibition.5

Since Jehovah’s Witnesses are a multi-national religious organization, we have to extend this extrapolation to account for these members in other countries, and we also have to account for the fact that the policy has been in place since 1945. However, since observing the policy was optional until 1961, we have elected to leave out the intervening years (from 1945-1961). Like Dr. Muramoto, we want to error on the side of caution, even though it can be reasonably assumed that many deaths occurred during this period due to the very limited availability of “bloodless” treatment.

We have compiled the Watchtower’s published data on Jehovah’s Witness publishers between the years of 1961-2016. Over this 56 year period, the average number of publishers per year was 3,957,868. Converting the factor determined by Dr. Muramoto this would indicate that 33,246 Jehovah’s Witnesses died during this 56 year period. On an annual basis that works out to an average of 594 deaths per year, with 1220 deaths in 2016.

It is our conclusion this represents a conservative estimate since many of the high-tech treatments and medical equipment currently in use did not exist in earlier years, and to this day does not exist in third world countries where Jehovah’s Witnesses have experienced much of their growth. While actual numbers will never be known, it is probable that the actual number of deaths among the Jehovah’s Witnesses population is higher, perhaps significantly higher.

Marvin Shilmer, AJWRB Science Adviser

In 2012 Marvin Shilmer, a former Jehovah’s Witness official, prepared a second estimate of the impact of Watchtower’s blood policy on Jehovah’s Witnesses and their children.6 In this case he was able to use a more recent study by Beliaev et al, entitled Clinical benefits and cost-effectiveness of allogeneic red-blood-cell transfusion in severe symptomatic anemia, published in VoxSanguinis in 2012.

This was a multicenter observational study pairing Jehovah’s Witness patients (excluding those under age sixteen and those with advanced cancer) who refused red blood cell products with matched patients who received red blood cell (RBC) products. Data was collected from four public hospitals in New Zealand between 1998-2007. During this period, the study found 103 JW patients who suffered severe anemia, and of these 20.4% died (21 patients). The death rate among the matching group who accepted RBC products was just 1.9%. So the net difference in mortality can be directly attributed to following Watchtower blood policy. 20.4 – 1.9 equals 18.45%.

Put another way, this means that if this group of 103 JW’s had accepted RBC products instead of having 21 deaths, there would have been just 2 deaths. Since the study covered a ten year period, and there were 19 JW’s who died unnecessarily, approximately 1.9 deaths per year occurred. Over this 10 year period, the average number of JW publishers was 12,700. 1.9 deaths per year amounts to 0.015% of the JW population. This is consistent with the factor that Dr. Muramoto arrived at in his 2001 analysis based on a separate study.

Both Dr. Muramoto and Marvin Shilmer’s calculations resulted in the same mortality factor (0.015% annually). If we apply that computation to the current population of Jehovah’s Witnesses, it is relatively straightforward to arrive at an updated mortality figure.

According to the Watchtower Society’s published annual report, the average number of publishers during the 2016 service year was 8,132,358. If we multiply that number by 0.015% (0.00015) we arrive at 1,220 Jehovah’s Witnesses worldwide that died prematurely in 2016 as a result of Watchtower’s blood policy. This is a staggering number by any measure, and amounts to more deaths on an annual basis than all of the victims of the People’s Temple massacre in Jonestown, Guyana that claimed 918 lives on November 18, 1978.7

However, the tragedy of the Jonestown Massacre was a one time occurrence. The deaths that the Watchtower’s blood prohibition has been responsible for have been occurring for over 7 decades. The Watchtower’s tragic blood policy can be traced back to its beginnings in 1945. By 1961 Watchtower leaders began to take their policy so seriously that they made failure to observe it an offense worthy of everlasting death. Not content to leave the matter is God’s hands, they began to judge, and officially disfellowship, those refusing to accept their interpretation.

The impact on the lives of Jehovah’s Witnesses forced to observe this policy has been devastating, both on an individual level, and as an organization. We compiled the Watchtower’s annual reports from 1961, the year that taking a blood transfusion became a disfellowshipping offense, up to 2016. During that 56 year period, there were average annual publishers of 3,957,868. If we multiply this figure by 56 (years) and by the annual death factor of 0.015%, there have been approximately 33,246 deaths caused by Watchtower’s policy during that period. It is not an exaggeration to think of this as a tragedy approaching genocide.

Conservative Estimates

Staggering as these numbers are, it is a conservative estimate of the loss of life. As noted above, Dr. Muramoto rounded down the actual increase in mortality from 1.4% to 1%. If we use the 1.4% mortality rate (the actual conclusion reached by Kitchens) this results in casualties that are 40% higher: 1708 deaths caused by Watchtower’s blood policy in 2016, and a total of 46,544 deaths between 1961-2016.

Marvin Shilmer notes that the New Zealand study draws from the records of four hospitals in the more densely populated Northern and midland regions which contain 57% of the country’s population. New Zealand has more than eighty hospitals in less densely populated regions that account for approximately 43% of the county’s population, and they are similarly equipped. If the mortality rate is appropriately prorated for 57% of the nation’s population, it results in an increase of the annual mortality factor to .00026, and the extrapolation indicates 2,114 deaths caused by Watchtower’s blood policy in 2016, and 57,626 deaths between 1961-2016.

While actual numbers can never be known, the most likely toll probably falls somewhere between these various estimates. To offer perspective, consider there were 33,739 U.S. Service members killed in action in the Korean War,8 and 40,934 U.S. Service members killed in action in the Vietnam War.9 If we add up all of the deaths caused by terrorist attacks attributed the Taliban, Al-Qa’ida, Boko Haram, and ISIL between 2000-2013, we arrive at a total of 23,899.10

These numbers will come as a surprise to many, particularly Jehovah’s Witnesses. AJWRB has seen many examples of deaths that have occurred due to the blood ban, and we have documented many of these experiences so that others can understand what has happened and learn from it. The simple truth, however, is that the Watchtower Society is a very large organization with more than 8 million members at present. When one of these cases leads to a premature death, it is always tragic. However, it is seldom newsworthy unless a child, adolescent or pregnant JW is involved. As a result, the vast majority of these cases are not covered by the media and remain unknown.

This is particularly the case when countries like the United States have health privacy laws that restrict doctors from sharing the medical information of their patients. We typically only learn of cases where:

AJWRB members personally report experiences.
Non Jehovah’s Witness family members report to the media.
Physicians or hospitals go to court to obtain a court order to treat a minor JW.

Much of the shock value of these death estimates is related to the sheer global size of the JW community. Let’s illustrate. If the average congregation has about 100 publishers, and the average circuit consists of about 20 congregations, our conservative estimate suggests there is approximately 1 death in that circuit every 3.3 years as a result of the blood policy. The typical JW would expect to see one premature death in their congregation every 66.6 years. If they meet in a Kingdom Hall that has three congregations and personally know 300 JW’s, they might expect to learn of one blood policy related death every 22.2 years. The average JW who has been a member for ten years or less is unlikely to know of a single case.

Despite this, the average Jehovah’s Witness continues to labor under the false belief that blood is not only something to be avoided for religious reasons, but for medical reasons as well. The reason is straightforward: Watchtower has consistently exaggerated the risks of blood transfusions, and stated or implied they are harmful, dangerous and unnecessary.11 Further, they have denied the impact their policy has on the Jehovah’s Witness community that is required to observe their complex policy.

The following quote from the Watchtower’s website on May 9, 2017 illustrates this point:

What evidence does the Watchtower point to in support of this claim? Beyond some studies about bloodless surgery, none that we could find. While it is all well and good that most elective surgery can be performed without blood transfusion, these procedures are seldom the “life or death” challenge faced by physicians treating Jehovah’s Witnesses. The major issues occur with severe trauma, childbirth complications, and chronic diseases of the blood for which no effective substitutes for a blood transfusion exist.

Simply stated, the major killer of Jehovah’s Witnesses who are observing Watchtower’s blood policy is anemia. It is an inescapable fact that when the cells of the body fail to receive oxygen for more than just a few minutes, cell death begins to occur. Jehovah’s Witnesses are very misinformed about this, with most believing that blood and blood products amount to dangerous, even reckless medical treatment.

While much can be said about the potential benefits of patient blood management or blood conservation, removing the safety net of blood transfusions adds significant and unnecessary risk to any elective surgery. Additionally, in some crucial situations like trauma, childbirth, and diseases of the blood, there are no effective substitutes for blood.

While the Watchtower Society states the policy is Biblical, they offer nothing substantive to support their partial ban on blood beyond vague scriptural references to not eating blood. Members are required to support whatever the current policy is, and JW children are also taught the importance of compliance from a very young age. Even non JW family members may be compelled into following Watchtower’s policy, and indoctrination is so complete, there is often significant levels of compliance among former JW’s.

Additionally, failure to comply will result in extreme shunning by other JW members, and lifelong friends who will be prohibited from eating a meal or even speaking to the non-compliant JW who does not follow the policy, or even questions it for that matter. This intrusion into the personal lives of members amounts to coercive control or undue influence, and makes free and informed consent practically impossible. If a man holds a gun to your head, and tells you to do something, what kind of choice do you have? If you do what you are told while the gun is to your head, what role did the gunman play in whatever “choice” you make? The choice an anemic Jehovah’s Witness faces is similar to the choice a child had in Jonestown. Drink the Kool-Aid or be executed. Well meaning physicians and hospitals often fail to comprehend these complex issues, and unwittingly participate in JW’s martyring themselves, and their adolescent children.

Bibliography

1. Are transfusions overrated? Surgical outcome of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Kitchens CS. The American Journal of Medicine. 1993 Feb; p.117-119. http://www.amjmed.com/article/0002-9343(93)90171-K/pdf
2. Clinical benefits and cost-effectiveness of allogeneic red-blood-cell transfusion in severe symptomatic anemia. Beliaev et al. VoxSanguinis 2012 July 103(1):18-24. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22150804
3. Refusal of blood transfusion by Jehovah’s Witness women: a survey of current management in obstetric and gynaecological practice in the UK. Sahana Gupta et al. Blood Transfusion 2012 Oct; 10(4): 462-470. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3496240/
4. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/leaders-jehovahs-witnesses-cover-child-sex-abuse/
5. https://ajwrb.org/wpcontent/uploads/2017/08/BloodDeathsMuramoto.pdf
6. https://ajwrb.org/marvin-shilmers-2012-estimate-of-jw-blood-deaths
7. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/adst/the-jonestown-massacre_b_8592338.html
8. https://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries-memorials/pacific/korean-war-monument-busan#.WYel6ITythE
9. https://www.archives.gov/research/military/vietnam-war/casualty-statistics.html#category
10. https://www.statista.com/statistics/426252/deaths-and-injuries-from-terrorist-attacks-worldwide/
11. https://ajwrb.org/watchtower-blood-propaganda

The risks associated with blood transfusions are real, and well understood. They are also grossly exaggerated by the Watchtower’s “pseudo science”. http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Blood_Transfusions:_How_Safe

Conversely, the number of lives saved by avoiding complications or disease transmission associated with blood are too small to significantly impact the estimates contained in this article. http://www.bmj.com/rapid-response/2011/10/28/risk-blood-transfusion-illegal-breach-confidentiality-addendum-reply-furul

Footnotes

None

Citations

American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Elder L. Jehovah’s Witnesses and Blood – Tens of Thousands Dead in Hidden Tragedy. October 2023; 12(1). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/thousands-dead-tragedy

American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Elder, L. (2023, November 1). Jehovah’s Witnesses and Blood – Tens of Thousands Dead in Hidden Tragedy. In-Sight Publishing. 12(1).

Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): ELDER, L. Jehovah’s Witnesses and Blood – Tens of Thousands Dead in Hidden Tragedy.In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 12, n. 1, 2023.

Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Elder, Lee. 2023. “Jehovah’s Witnesses and Blood – Tens of Thousands Dead in Hidden Tragedy.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (Winter). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/thousands-dead-tragedy.

Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Elder, L “Jehovah’s Witnesses and Blood – Tens of Thousands Dead in Hidden Tragedy.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (November 2023). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/thousands-dead-tragedy.

Harvard: Elder, L. (2023) ‘Jehovah’s Witnesses and Blood – Tens of Thousands Dead in Hidden Tragedy’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 12(1). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/thousands-dead-tragedy>.

Harvard (Australian): Elder, L 2023, ‘Jehovah’s Witnesses and Blood – Tens of Thousands Dead in Hidden Tragedy’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/thousands-dead-tragedy>.

Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Elder, Lee. “Jehovah’s Witnesses and Blood – Tens of Thousands Dead in Hidden Tragedy.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.12, no. 1, 2023, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/thousands-dead-tragedy.

Vancouver/ICMJE: Lee E. Jehovah’s Witnesses and Blood – Tens of Thousands Dead in Hidden Tragedy [Internet]. 2023 Nov; 12(1). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/thousands-dead-tragedy.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

2023-11-01

The Internet gives doubters a home

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Journal Founding: August 2, 2012

Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 12

Issue Numbering: 1

Section: B

Theme Type: Idea

Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”

Theme Part: 29

Formal Sub-Theme: None.

Individual Publication Date: November 1, 2023

Issue Publication Date: January 1, 2024

Author(s): James A. Haught

Word Count: 429

Image Credit: None

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369-6885

*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*

Keywords: atheism, blogs, cyber, dogmas, freethought, humanism, internet, James Haught, religious affiliation.

The Internet gives doubters a home

Perhaps 65 million U.S. adults now say their religion is “none.” However, attempts to mobilize this swarm have mostly fizzled.

People who quit churches, or never attended, are free spirits scattered willy-nilly everywhere, almost untraceable and unorganizable. Well, if in-person gatherings rarely work for skeptics, I think there’s a better “glue” to unite millions of freethinkers worldwide. It’s the colossal internet, the enormous portal for all of humanity, which has acquired even more of a central role in our lives because of the pandemic.

In just a generation, the internet has grown almost too immense to grasp. There are at least 2 billion websites, with about 500 million of them “blogs” delivering pitches and commentaries on every imaginable topic.

Atheism and humanism thrive in this free-for-all chaos, alongside other “isms.” Hundreds of different doubter sites skewer supernatural mumbo-jumbo daily. Most every attack on magical dogmas draws comments from readers, making them active participants in a global skeptic dialogue. It’s a beehive of freethought that buzzes day and night, nonstop. Thus the internet makes a home for all of us who cannot swallow church miracle claims.

Further, there’s scientific evidence that the internet actually creates atheism. It exposes browsers to many sorts of weird beliefs — as well as to attacks on those beliefs.

In 2014, computer scientist Allen Downey published a controversial study claiming that fast-growing internet usage was partly responsible for the fast-growing rise of churchless Americans.

“The internet provides opportunities to find information about people of other religions (and none), and to interact with them personally,” Downey wrote. “Internet use decreases the chance of religious affiliation.”

He estimated that one-fourth of the rise in “Nones” was caused by internet use. Later, researchers at the Baptist-run Baylor University corroborated Downey’s premise. They published a survey report in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion supporting his findings.

“Increases in internet use correlate with a loss of religious affiliation,” lead researcher Paul McClure said, “and I also discovered that individuals who spend lots of time online are less likely to be religious exclusivists, or, in other words, they are less likely to think there’s only one correct religion out there.”

Translation: Inquiring minds of internet users make them doubt claims that only Christians go to heaven — and other such absurdities.

There you have it: The internet provides a worldwide haven for freethought — and it also creates more freethought. If in-person meetings can’t make a sanctuary for doubters, cyberland can.

This column is adapted and updated from a piece originally published on Aug. 12, 2019, at Daylight Atheism/Patheos.

Bibliography

None

Footnotes

None

Citations

American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Haught J. The Internet gives doubters a home. November 2023; 12(1). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/internet-doubters

American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Haught, J. (2023, November 1). The Internet gives doubters a home. In-Sight Publishing. 12(1).

Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): HAUGHT, J. The Internet gives doubters a home. In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 12, n. 1, 2023.

Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Haught, James. 2023. “The Internet gives doubters a home.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (Winter). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/internet-doubters.

Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Haught, J “The Internet gives doubters a home.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (November 2023).http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/internet-doubters.

Harvard: Haught, J. (2023) ‘The Internet gives doubters a home’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 12(1). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/internet-doubters>.

Harvard (Australian): Haught, J 2023, ‘The Internet gives doubters a home’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/internet-doubters>.

Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Haught, James. “The Internet gives doubters a home.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.12, no. 1, 2023, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/internet-doubters.

Vancouver/ICMJE: James H. The Internet gives doubters a home [Internet]. 2023 Nov; 12(1). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/internet-doubters.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

2023-11-01

Why there’s mainstream silence about freethinkers

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Journal Founding: August 2, 2012

Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 12

Issue Numbering: 1

Section: B

Theme Type: Idea

Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”

Theme Part: 29

Formal Sub-Theme: None.

Individual Publication Date: November 1, 2023

Issue Publication Date: January 1, 2024

Author(s): James A. Haught

Word Count: 402

Image Credit: None

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369-6885

*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*

Keywords: agnostics, America, atheists, freethinkers, James Haught, mainstream, Secular Age, silence, skeptics.

Why there’s mainstream silence about freethinkers

The modern freethought movement is gigantic. Numerous skeptic organizations, magazines, websites, books, online blogs, student secular chapters, videos, podcasts and other voices spread the message that supernatural religion is absurd. But America has a strange contradiction: Mainstream magazines, newspapers, television shows, radio programs and other general media rarely allow a direct challenge to supernatural faith.

I think it’s because they’re mostly for-profit commercial businesses dependent on advertising and/or subscribers. They have multitudes of religious customers who would stop paying or listening if insulted, causing severe audience and ad revenue loss. Print media is an especially endangered species these days, barely clinging to life. Hazards must be avoided like the plague.

As a longtime newspaper editor in Appalachia’s Bible Belt, I have known the dilemma firsthand. Years ago, a column syndication agent visited our newsroom. I told him I’d like to write a national atheist column. He choked on his coffee. I knew my proposal was impossible. No newspaper would print such a column. We couldn’t even print it in my own paper. We would lose thousands of subscribers, maybe sink into bankruptcy.

Since for-profit mainstream outlets are forced into silence, our nonprofit freethought movement lives mostly within its own realm, greatly aided by the wide-open Internet. We have freedom to speak in our own domain, but aren’t fully welcome outside it.

However, religion is dying in the United States. American churches have lost 20 percent of their members in the past two decades. About one-fourth of adults now say their religion is “none” — and for young adults, it’s one-third. Eventually, I hope, “Nones” will become the largest category.

In other words, we skeptics are winning the cultural struggle. Scientific-minded honesty is prevailing. Maybe this snowballing trend will eventually force mainstream media to open their doors.

As for now, commercial media outlets don’t dare assert that religion is hokum. But our freethought community can. We don’t depend on religious subscribers or advertisers. We can proceed full steam ahead to proclaim rational truths without risking losses. We are free to act — driven by convictions, not by the profit motive — and thus the “free” in freethought has multiple meanings.

A great social transformation is occurring in America. Supernaturalism is withering away. The Secular Age is blossoming. Our freethought movement is delivering the message because for-profit media cannot.

This column is adapted from a piece originally published on July 22, 2019, at Daylight Atheism/Patheos.

Bibliography

None

Footnotes

None

Citations

American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Haught J. Why there’s mainstream silence about freethinkers. November 2023; 12(1). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/mainstream-silence-freethinkers

American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Haught, J. (2023, November 1). Why there’s mainstream silence about freethinkers. In-Sight Publishing. 12(1).

Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): HAUGHT, J. Why there’s mainstream silence about freethinkers. In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 12, n. 1, 2023.

Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Haught, James. 2023. “Why there’s mainstream silence about freethinkers.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (Winter). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/mainstream-silence-freethinkers.

Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Haught, J “Why there’s mainstream silence about freethinkers.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (November 2023).http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/mainstream-silence-freethinkers.

Harvard: Haught, J. (2023) ‘Why there’s mainstream silence about freethinkers’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 12(1). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/mainstream-silence-freethinkers>.

Harvard (Australian): Haught, J 2023, ‘Why there’s mainstream silence about freethinkers’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/mainstream-silence-freethinkers>.

Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Haught, James. “Why there’s mainstream silence about freethinkers.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.12, no. 1, 2023, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/mainstream-silence-freethinkers.

Vancouver/ICMJE: James H. Why there’s mainstream silence about freethinkers [Internet]. 2023 Nov; 12(1). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/mainstream-silence-freethinkers.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

2023-11-01

The ultimate question for us

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Journal Founding: August 2, 2012

Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 12

Issue Numbering: 1

Section: B

Theme Type: Idea

Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”

Theme Part: 29

Formal Sub-Theme: None.

Individual Publication Date: November 1, 2023

Issue Publication Date: January 1, 2024

Author(s): James A. Haught

Word Count: 568

Image Credit: None

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369-6885

*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*

Keywords: eternity, God, James Haught, pantheistic, Paul Johnson, question, religion, Steve Allen, ultimate.

The ultimate question for us

Seekers of truth face an ultimate question that overrides all others. The answer dictates your entire approach to life.

Is there a supernatural god who may burn you forever in fire after you die? If the answer is yes, it’s the most crucial fact of human life. But if no such god exists, religions have committed millennia of fraud and deception.

British historian Paul Johnson put it this way:
The existence or nonexistence of God is the most important question we humans are ever asked to answer. If God does exist, and if in consequence we are called to another life when this one ends, a momentous set of consequences follows, which should affect every day, every moment almost, of our earthly existence. Our life then becomes a mere preparation for eternity and must be conducted throughout with our future in view.

Television host and performer Steve Allen wrote in Reflections:
I do not understand those who take little or no interest in the subject of religion. If religion embodies a truth, it is certainly the most important truth of human existence. If it is largely error, then it is one of monumentally tragic proportions — and should be vigorously opposed.

Philosophy asks: Is there a purpose to life? Religious believers don’t need philosophy, because their priests tell them the answer: Yes, the purpose of life is to prepare for heaven, and God created the universe and put people here to be tested according to his divine plan.

Skeptics like me cannot swallow that answer. It’s dishonest because it claims to know supernatural things that nobody can know.

So, does God exist? My answer is yes, yes and no, depending on definitions.

First, if God is defined as the driving force of the universe — the stupendous power of gravity that whirls billions of galaxies and solar systems, the awesome energy inside the atomic nucleus that makes stars and hydrogen bombs, the amazing replication ability of DNA that creates all living things — the answer is yes. Those powers exist. Their immensity can be seen in the fact that only as much matter as a dime turned into energy with devastating power at Hiroshima.

Of course, you can’t worship physics or pray to E=MC2, so a pantheistic god is more science than religion.

Second, if God is defined as the compassion and caring found in people (and a few higher mammals), the answer again is yes. The better angels of our nature are a genuine part of humanity — just like the worse angels.

Of course, you can’t worship psychology or pray to human kindness, so the “God is love” approach is mostly a topic for brain research.

Third, if God is defined as the father-creator portrayed by religions and the bible, forget it. No evidence supports a personal deity who cares about people and manipulates worldly events. He’s just a concoction of the imagination, as far as honest thinkers can tell.

Beliefs are baffling. Nobody knows what causes some people to want to believe supernatural claims — or causes heathens like me to doubt them. Our personalities are formed by subtle factors still not fully understood.

But this much is clear: If the answer to the God question — the deepest human question — is no, then religions have been lying since before written history began.

This column is adapted from a piece originally published on July 15, 2019, at Daylight Atheism/Patheos.

Bibliography

None

Footnotes

None

Citations

American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Haught J. The ultimate question for us. November 2023; 12(1). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/ultimate-question

American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Haught, J. (2023, November 1). The ultimate question for us. In-Sight Publishing. 12(1).

Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): HAUGHT, J. The ultimate question for us. In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 12, n. 1, 2023.

Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Haught, James. 2023. “The ultimate question for us.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (Winter). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/ultimate-question.

Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Haught, J “The ultimate question for us.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (November 2023).http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/ultimate-question.

Harvard: Haught, J. (2023) ‘The ultimate question for us’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 12(1). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/ultimate-question>.

Harvard (Australian): Haught, J 2023, ‘The ultimate question for us’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/ultimate-question>.

Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Haught, James. “The ultimate question for us.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.12, no. 1, 2023, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/ultimate-question.

Vancouver/ICMJE: James H. The ultimate question for us [Internet]. 2023 Nov; 12(1). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/ultimate-question.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

2023-11-01

Many struggles won us our religious freedom

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Journal Founding: August 2, 2012

Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 12

Issue Numbering: 1

Section: B

Theme Type: Idea

Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”

Theme Part: 29

Formal Sub-Theme: None.

Individual Publication Date: November 1, 2023

Issue Publication Date: January 1, 2024

Author(s): James A. Haught

Word Count: 789

Image Credit: None

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369-6885

*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*

Keywords: Geneva, James Haught, Michael Servetus, Oliver Cromwell, Quakers, religious freedom, Rights of Man and the Citizen, The Enlightenment, Trinity, Western Civilization.

Many struggles won us our religious freedom

Freedom of religion means that nobody — neither the government nor the surrounding culture — can tell you what to believe. All people are free to reach their own conclusions about faith.

Let’s ponder a few of the many battles that won this precious right.

In past centuries, religious wars, persecutions and cruelties were common. Physician-scholar Michael Servetus, who discovered the pulmonary circulation of blood, was burned at the stake in Calvinist Geneva in 1553 for doubting the Trinity. His own books were used for his pyre. Philosopher-scientist Giordano Bruno was burned in Rome in 1600 for teaching that the universe is infinite, with many stars that might be accompanied by planets.

The Enlightenment gradually changed Western civilization, instilling a new sense that faith is personal, not to be dictated by authorities. It slowly bred the separation of church and state, forbidding the use of government force to impose beliefs.

But many struggles were required to achieve freedom of religion. Here’s one example.

When Quakers first began expressing their emotional beliefs in the 1600s, England’s ruling Puritans under Oliver Cromwell denounced and persecuted them. Many fled to the New World — unfortunately to Puritan Massachusetts, where they were persecuted anew. In 1658, the Massachusetts Legislature decreed that Quakers must be banned, on pain of death. Quakers arriving by ship were seized and jailed, and their books burned. But Quakers stubbornly defied expulsion, returning repeatedly to hold worship services in homes. The persecution intensified.

Quaker resistance finally forced a showdown. In 1659, three unrepentant Quakers were tried on capital charges and sentenced to death. The two men were hanged in the Boston Commons but the woman was reprieved and banished. However, she stubbornly returned to defy the Puritan law, and was hanged in 1660. The following year, a fourth Quaker was also hanged.

By this time, some Massachusetts Puritans were becoming revolted by the cruelty of their colony and tried to soften Quaker punishments. In 1661, King Charles II ordered the colony to halt executions. He sent a royal governor who allowed some believers to hold unorthodox beliefs. It was a breakthrough for freedom of religion.

Peaceful acceptance of all sorts of religious views is in fact a central belief of freethinkers, who contend that government shouldn’t inflict punishments to enforce any doctrine. Separation of church and state was locked into the First Amendment of America’s Bill of Rights.

Virginia’s historic Statute for Religious Freedom, written by Thomas Jefferson in 1777 and finally passed in 1786, declares “that no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinion in matters of religion.”

Similar guarantees of church-state separation were written into France’s Rights of Man and the Citizen, and into the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations.

By coincidence, the first Boston Quakers were hanged on Oct. 27 — the same calendar date that skeptic Michael Servetus was burned in Geneva. So that date eventually was adopted for International Religious Freedom Day, one of many observances little-known to the public. Meanwhile, America has a different Religious Freedom Day, Jan. 16, marking the date that Jefferson’s statute was signed into law.

My state of West Virginia was involved in another religious freedom breakthrough.

During the patriotic fervor of World War II, some Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Mountain State enraged neighbors because they refused to salute the flag and wouldn’t let their children do so in public schools. They said their religion required them to swear allegiance only to God. Witness children in Charleston were expelled from school for their “unpatriotic” behavior. But the American Civil Liberties Union and a fiery old Charleston lawyer named Horace Meldahl fought their case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in favor of the children in a famed 1943 decision (West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette). The court said personal beliefs are “beyond the reach of majorities and officials.” Justice Robert H. Jackson wrote eloquently:

If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion, or force citizens to confess by word or act.

Today, freedom to believe as one wishes is locked securely in the heart of democracy.

This column is adapted from a piece originally published in the Charleston Gazette-Mail on Aug. 7, 2016, distributed nationally by two syndicates and reprinted in Haught’s 11th book, Hurrah for Liberals.

Bibliography

None

Footnotes

None

Citations

American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Haught J. Many struggles won us our religious freedom. November 2023; 12(1). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/religious-freedom

American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Haught, J. (2023, November 1). Many struggles won us our religious freedom. In-Sight Publishing. 12(1).

Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): HAUGHT, J. Many struggles won us our religious freedom. In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 12, n. 1, 2023.

Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Haught, James. 2023. “Many struggles won us our religious freedom.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (Winter). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/religious-freedom.

Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Haught, J “Many struggles won us our religious freedom.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (November 2023).http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/religious-freedom.

Harvard: Haught, J. (2023) ‘Many struggles won us our religious freedom’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 12(1). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/religious-freedom>.

Harvard (Australian): Haught, J 2023, ‘Many struggles won us our religious freedom’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/religious-freedom>.

Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Haught, James. “Many struggles won us our religious freedom.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.12, no. 1, 2023, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/religious-freedom.

Vancouver/ICMJE: James H. Many struggles won us our religious freedom [Internet]. 2023 Nov; 12(1). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/religious-freedom.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

2023-11-01

JW Elders Pressure Non-Believers to Conform

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Journal Founding: August 2, 2012

Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 12

Issue Numbering: 1

Section: B

Theme Type: Idea

Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”

Theme Part: 29

Formal Sub-Theme: None.

Individual Publication Date: November 1, 2023

Issue Publication Date: January 1, 2024

Author(s): Robert Weslowski

Author(s) Bio: None.

Word Count: 1,350

Image Credit: AJWRB.

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369–6885

*Original publication here during August, 2017.*

*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*

Keywords: Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood, Bible, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Robert Weslowski, Watchtower Society.

JW Elders Pressure Non-Believers to Conform

My name is Robert Weslowski Jr. (Bob), and I am from Tucson, Arizona. Back in 1996, my father, Robert, who was 72 years old, entered a local hospital via the emergency room complaining of severe stomach pains. This was not unusual for him as he suffered from severe ulcers for most of his adult life. In spite of his ulcers, my father was otherwise in good health and very active. At the time that my father was admitted to the hospital, he had been living alone as my mother had died the year before. He was a person who liked his privacy and stayed home most of the time.

My mother had been an active Jehovah’s Witness and both my wife and I were Jehovah’s Witnesses (JW) – my wife for over fifty years and myself for twenty-five years. My father was not a Jehovah’s Witness. But, because he had been married to my JW mom for so long, the teachings of the Witnesses had absorbed into his thinking over the years. For a time he studied with a local JW brother who would come to the house. The Bible studies never materialized into baptism. My father didn’t attend meetings but he never objected to his wife going.

Sophie Weslowski, Robert Weslowski Sr., Robert Weslowski, Larry Weslowski

At the hospital, my father was admitted and, after diagnosis, it was determined that his ulcers were indeed the issue. In fact, they were bleeding severely. After several more tests and consultations by various doctors, it was decided that he needed an immediate blood transfusion and probably surgery to remove the bleeding ulcers. The alternative was that he could bleed to death.

The medical staff moved Dad to the Intensive Care Unit to monitor him closely as his condition began to fail. In particular, his blood levels were dropping rapidly. My dad was very weak and barely conscious at this time. The doctor consulted with me and told me that my father needed blood quickly and corrective surgery to stop the bleeding. Dad’s blood levels were so low he could not go into surgery without a transfusion as he most certainly would die.

I tried to speak to my dad so I could honor his wishes and he softly, in a weak voice, said to me, “Do what you think is best”. Of course, what the doctors were telling me what was “best”, was that they wanted to give my dad a blood transfusion to keep his blood levels high for the surgery and to keep him alive! His blood loss was substantial. By this time my dad was not in any condition to sign consent forms for the transfusion or surgery, so the doctors turned to me to ask me to give the consent in writing. I was in such a confused state. On one hand I carried a No Blood card in my wallet and on the other hand my father, who was not a Jehovah’s Witness himself, was critically in need of this blood transfusion and the surgery or he would probably die.

I was faced with what seemed like an impossible decision. I left the room to think things over and I walked outside the hospital to find some place to think. Some of the local JW elders had shown up earlier that morning for support. They had brought up the sanctity of blood and Jehovah’s laws against blood transfusions, and that I needed to adhere to those laws to get the promised reward of eternal life. They soon left after having accomplished their mission, which must have been to remind me of my duty to Jehovah.

I can attest to this: that being at the Kingdom Hall while elders hand out the No Blood Cards, in a rallying session, asking members to sign the blood refusal cards, and that they will witness the signatures, is a far cry from being in a hospital with your family member dying on a bed in front of you, and with doctors telling you that without a blood transfusion your father will soon be dead. Now I had to make a decision for him, not just for me and my life. This was for my own dad. He was dying and should I say “yes”? Was it right for me to say “no” when my father wasn’t a Jehovah’s Witness? Would I be blood guilty with Jehovah if I let the doctors give him a blood transfusion? I didn’t know what to do.

Larry Weslowski & Robert Weslowski

Unknown to me, my brother, who was not a Jehovah’s Witness and lived 100 miles away, had just arrived at the hospital. When I went back up to Dad’s room, my brother was coming out and he hugged me and told me he was sorry, but he had given the permission to go ahead and transfuse my dad and then take him to surgery. My brother was not very close to our father. I was the one who Dad leaned on, especially after our mother had died. But my brother knew that as a Jehovah’s Witness I did not believe in blood transfusions and he felt bad that he had went behind my back. But he also knew he could do what I could not – he gave permission for the needed blood transfusion. I can tell you as I hugged my brother, and felt his tears and mine roll down our cheeks together, the relief was tremendous as that heavy burden lifted off my shoulders. Facing that decision had felt like a weight so huge. I was elated.

When my brother and I went back into the ICU, the doctor was literally on top of our father, trying to find a vein that had not yet collapsed to insert the needle for the transfusion. The doctor finally succeeded finding a vein in his neck. It was the last possible place to look. Our father received a blood transfusion and the surgery was a success. I felt zero guilt. I really do not know what decision I would have made if the decision had been left up to me alone. After being in the Jehovah’s Witness organization for many years I now know that I had been brainwashed but I had not really been tested. And then it happened, my faith was tested. I would like to think I would have caved in and said yes, to go ahead and transfuse my non-JW father. Life and death was in my hands. My own father’s life was in my hands. After all, I reasoned, if I made a mistake and Jehovah is a loving forgiving God, he would have forgiven me.

My Dad lived for another 22 years, dying last August (2016) at 91 years of age. We often spoke about that day and how my brother saved his life. I somehow felt I had failed in letting that decision take so long. I thank God for my brother Larry. How ironic that my brother, who wasn’t that close to our father, came in and saved his life while me, the one son who took care of him almost cost him his life. Some Christian I had been! I left the Jehovah’s Witnesses two years after my father’s medical emergency, as did my wife. After waking up and truly looking through the FOG of Watchtower’s false teachings I can say that this experience was one of the main reasons I started to examine what I had been taught.

The Watchtower’s policy on blood is a quagmire of confusion. On one hand, a person can have all of the different fractions of blood but one cannot put those fractions together and take whole blood. My Dad simply needed red cells – those continue to be forbidden – but Jehovah’s Witnesses can accept hemoglobin which amounts to 97% of the red cell. It is simply crazy! I can only wonder how many innocent lives have been lost, and could have been saved, over this needless and foolish organizational law. Thank God my father’s life was not one of them.

Robert Weslowski, Jr.

Bibliography

None

Footnotes

None

Citations

American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Weslowski R. JW Elders Pressure Non-Believers to Conform. October 2023; 12(1). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/elders-pressure

American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Weslowski, R. (2023, November 1). JW Elders Pressure Non-Believers to Conform. In-Sight Publishing. 12(1).

Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): WESLOWSKI, R. JW Elders Pressure Non-Believers to Conform.In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 12, n. 1, 2023.

Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Weslowski, Robert. 2023. “JW Elders Pressure Non-Believers to Conform.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (Winter). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/elders-pressure.

Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Weslowski, R “JW Elders Pressure Non-Believers to Conform.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (November 2023). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/elders-pressure.

Harvard: Weslowski, R. (2023) ‘JW Elders Pressure Non-Believers to Conform’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 12(1). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/elders-pressure>.

Harvard (Australian): Weslowski, R 2023, ‘JW Elders Pressure Non-Believers to Conform’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/elders-pressure>.

Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Weslowski, Robert. “JW Elders Pressure Non-Believers to Conform.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.12, no. 1, 2023, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/elders-pressure.

Vancouver/ICMJE: Robert W. JW Elders Pressure Non-Believers to Conform [Internet]. 2023 Nov; 12(1). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/elders-pressure.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

2023-11-01

Religions are fantasies made of words

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Journal Founding: August 2, 2012

Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 12

Issue Numbering: 1

Section: B

Theme Type: Idea

Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”

Theme Part: 29

Formal Sub-Theme: None.

Individual Publication Date: November 1, 2023

Issue Publication Date: January 1, 2024

Author(s): James A. Haught

Word Count: 393

Image Credit: None

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369-6885

*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*

Keywords: crucified, Egyptian, fantasies, God, James Haught, Jesus, love, mankind, Old Testament, reform, religions, words.

Religions are fantasies made of words

One of my friends is a devout churchgoer who tries to reform my heathen ways. He sent me an email saying:

God is love — period. He offers us eternal life through his son Jesus Christ who represented God and his love for mankind while he was on Earth. Jesus was crucified, died, buried and rose from death to eternal life by the eternal power of God. Jesus represents all of mankind to God, Jesus’ father and our father. We are one in Christ and Christ is one with the father. Because of this new relationship or new covenant with God, we will experience eternal life with Jesus and God our heavenly father. We will live with eternal bodies in a heavenly realm outside of time. … We know it happens at the point of our deaths, giving all of mankind eternal hope that our physical lives will not be lived in vain, without meaning and purpose.

Those rapturous words bear strong meaning for my friend, giving him a focus for his life. But I ask myself: Does he never consider that it may be just a fantasy concocted out of words, with no actual reality?

Churches and theologians build make-believe imagery, with no tangible evidence to support it. It’s merely a house of cards consisting of rhapsodic words, but no substance. They make a word picture of “eternal bodies in a heavenly realm outside of time,” but the realm itself isn’t real.

Actually, the “God is love” label doesn’t fit the Old Testament monster who killed multitudes of Egyptian children at Passover and drowned nearly everyone in Noah’s flood. And it doesn’t fit the divine creator who designed everything, including cancer, cerebral palsy and spina bifida. Nor the creator who designed tsunamis, hurricanes and earthquakes — and crafted hawks to kill rabbits or cobras to kill children. What sort of loving creator is this?

Stop and think: Thousands of different religions have existed — from Aztecs sacrificing people to an invisible feathered serpent to Hindus praying over models of Shiva’s penis, from Jehovah’s Witnesses awaiting the Battle of Armageddon to Mormons who think an angel showed golden plates to a convicted swindler — and each faith can be considered a mere fantasy made from words. It’s easy to invent word fantasies.

This column is adapted from a piece originally published at OpEd News and Daylight Atheism.

Bibliography

None

Footnotes

None

Citations

American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Haught J. Religions are fantasies made of words. November 2023; 12(1). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/religions-words

American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Haught, J. (2023, November 1). Religions are fantasies made of words. In-Sight Publishing. 12(1).

Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): HAUGHT, J. Religions are fantasies made of words. In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 12, n. 1, 2023.

Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Haught, James. 2023. “Religions are fantasies made of words.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (Winter). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/religions-words.

Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Haught, J “Religions are fantasies made of words.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (November 2023).http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/religions-words.

Harvard: Haught, J. (2023) ‘Religions are fantasies made of words’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 12(1). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/religions-words>.

Harvard (Australian): Haught, J 2023, ‘Religions are fantasies made of words’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/religions-words>.

Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Haught, James. “Religions are fantasies made of words.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.12, no. 1, 2023, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/religions-words.

Vancouver/ICMJE: James H. Religions are fantasies made of words [Internet]. 2023 Nov; 12(1). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/religions-words.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

2023-11-01

Will ‘Nones’ bring a more hopeful future?

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Journal Founding: August 2, 2012

Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 12

Issue Numbering: 1

Section: B

Theme Type: Idea

Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”

Theme Part: 29

Formal Sub-Theme: None.

Individual Publication Date: November 1, 2023

Issue Publication Date: January 1, 2024

Author(s): James A. Haught

Word Count: 451

Image Credit: None

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369-6885

*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*

Keywords: Catholics, Flynn Effect, IQ, James Haught, Nones, Protestantism, religion, Southern Baptists.

Will ‘Nones’ bring a more hopeful future?

Some day, the coronavirus tragedy will be gone, wiped out by scientific vaccines. This part of the 21st century will instead be remembered chiefly as the era when supernatural religion died among intelligent Western people.In other words, the Secular Age is blossoming right now, amid many daily distractions. The evidence is everywhere.

American adults who say their religion is “none” began to explode in the 1990s and climbed to one-fourth of the population. Among those under 30, the churchless ratio is close to 40 percent. Church membership has dropped 20 percent in two decades. A stunning 13 percent of American adults are ex-Catholics. Southern Baptists have lost 2 million members since 2005. Mainline Protestantism has collapsed so much it’s called “flatline Protestantism.” Rejecting religion has become socially acceptable.

The retreat from supernatural faith has been swift and profound. The Atlantic magazine has observed:

History does not often give the satisfaction of a sudden and lasting turning point. History tends to unfold in messy cycles – actions and reactions, revolutions and counterrevolutions — and even semi-permanent changes are subtle and glacial. But the rise of religious nonaffiliation in America looks like one of those rare historical moments that is neither slow, nor subtle, nor cyclical. You might call it exceptional.

Research has established that nonreligious people have higher intelligence than believers do. And the Flynn Effect shows that IQ in the West is rising about three points per decade. People are getting smarter — and smart people are less likely to accept gods, devils, heavens, hells, miracles, prophecies and other magic claims of religion. Rising intelligence means sinking religion.

A Sept. 28 Pew Research report stated:

Religiously unaffiliated adults — a group also known as religious “Nones” — are more likely to express accepting views of homosexuality, less likely to prefer traditional gender roles in marriages, and more likely to identify with the political left than are adults who identify with a religion.

That’s why if America is lucky, the erosion of churchgoing will bring a steady increase in support for humane public policies.

Do you want universal health care as a human right for everyone? And college that is easily affordable for all, without crushing debt? And continuation of women’s right to choose to end pregnancies? And security for gays against cruelty? And police reforms so white officers stop killing unarmed black men? And greater American involvement in the global battle against the menace of climate change? And sensible protections against gun massacres? And matter-of-fact sex education to reduce unwed pregnancies? And solid support for the public safety net that aids less-privileged families?

Nobody can predict the future — but I think a significant hope lies with the Secular Age that is blooming all around us.

Bibliography

None

Footnotes

None

Citations

American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Haught J. Will ‘Nones’ bring a more hopeful future?. November 2023; 12(1). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/nones-hopeful

American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Haught, J. (2023, November 1). Will ‘Nones’ bring a more hopeful future?. In-Sight Publishing. 12(1).

Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): HAUGHT, J. Will ‘Nones’ bring a more hopeful future?. In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 12, n. 1, 2023.

Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Haught, James. 2023. “Will ‘Nones’ bring a more hopeful future?.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (Winter). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/nones-hopeful.

Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Haught, J “Will ‘Nones’ bring a more hopeful future?.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (November 2023).http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/nones-hopeful.

Harvard: Haught, J. (2023) ‘Will ‘Nones’ bring a more hopeful future?’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 12(1). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/nones-hopeful>.

Harvard (Australian): Haught, J 2023, ‘Will ‘Nones’ bring a more hopeful future?’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/endgame-israel&gt;.

Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Haught, James. “Will ‘Nones’ bring a more hopeful future?.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.12, no. 1, 2023, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/nones-hopeful.

Vancouver/ICMJE: James H. Will ‘Nones’ bring a more hopeful future? [Internet]. 2023 Nov; 12(1). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/nones-hopeful.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

2023-11-01

Watchtower’s Approved Blood Transfusions

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Journal Founding: August 2, 2012

Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 12

Issue Numbering: 1

Section: B

Theme Type: Idea

Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”

Theme Part: 29

Formal Sub-Theme: None.

Individual Publication Date: November 1, 2023

Issue Publication Date: January 1, 2024

Author(s): Lee Elder

Author(s) Bio: None.

Word Count: 2,344

Image Credit: AJWRB.

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369–6885

*Original publication here during December, 2016.*

*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*

Keywords: Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood, blood transfusions, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Lee Elder, plasma, platelets, red cells, vaccines, Watchtower Society, whole blood.

Watchtower’s Approved Blood Transfusions

The Watchtower and Jehovah’s Witnesses in general still cling to the “no blood” mantra. As you will see in this section, that claim is extraordinarily dishonest. The Watchtower has approved the use of all red cell, white cell, platelet and plasma derivatives. The list of blood products Jehovah’s Witnesses can choose to use in good conscience has grown larger and larger over the last three decades. If fact, the list has become so extensive, it’s easier to say what they don’t permit:

Whole Blood
Red Cells
White Cells
Platelets

The prohibition of whole blood is practically meaningless, because whole blood is almost never transfused. The position can be summarized by the following diagram:

We will break down each of these components in some detail below as well as look at various medical procedures and blood transfusions currently approved by the Watchtower for Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Red Blood Cells – Not Approved

Photo by N.I.H.

The red cell is by far the largest component of blood, comprising about 45% of its volume. A red cell is a tiny doughnut shaped bag of hemoglobin as shown here. It has no nucleus and serves to transport hemoglobin throughout the body. The membrane accounts for only 1% of the total weight of the red cell.1

Hemoglobin Solution

Hemoglobin (Approved): Hemoglobin is the essential protein responsible for the transport of oxygen and carbon dioxide and is the major component of blood. This Hemoglobin accounts for about 96% of the weight of a red cell. Its approval for use by the Watchtower back in 2000 was startling to long-time observers and most Jehovah’s Witnesses alike. At present Hemoglobin based blood products like Hemopure remain in the research and development stage in most countries (except South Africa), although there are plenty of documented cases of Jehovah’s Witnesses using these products – at times on an emergency compassionate use basis.

White Blood Cells – Not Approved

Nat. Cancer Inst.

There are five different leukocytes or white cells that can be found in the blood stream. These are part of the immune system and fight foreign invaders like viruses and bacteria. In total they comprise about 1% of the blood volume in a healthy person. They are occasionally prescribed for infections that don’t respond to antibiotics. White cells are banned but all the ingredients and derivatives are all permitted.

Interferons (Approved): Anti-viral agent and immune system upregulator.

Interleukins (Approved): An important group of Cytokines essential to the function of the immune system. There are rare conditions which result in deficiencies.

Granuloycye Macrophage – Colony Stimulating Factor (GM-CSF) (Approved): Stimulate the body’s production of neutrophils. Man-made versions are available.

Platelets – Not Approved

Nat. Cancer Inst.

Also referred to as “thrombocytes”, they are specialized blood cells responsible for stopping bleeding. Like the red cell, they have no nucleus. They are the smallest of the blood components, amounting to far less than 1% of blood volume, yet they remain banned. They are used to treat Thrombocytopenia, side effects of chemotherapy or a low platelet count due to lumbar puncture or bone marrow aspiration. The platelet is banned for Jehovah’s Witnesses but like the red and white cell, everything within it are permitted.

Platelet Derived Growth Factor (Approved): Used topically to accelerate wound healing.

Platelet Gel (Approved): Derived from the patients own blood by separating the platelets via centrifuge and special processing. Used for surgical wound healing. This amounts to autologous blood transfusion.

Plasma – Not Approved

Photo by Diver Dave

Plasma is a yellowish fluid containing about 92% water, 7% proteins, clotting factors, salt, sugars, fats, hormones and vitamins. Concentrates of the specifics proteins are prepared from huge pools of Plasma through a process known as fractionation developed during World War II. They are heat-treated and/or solvent detergent-treated to kill certain viruses, including HIV and hepatitis B and C. Plasma derivatives include:

Albumin (Approved): Blood contains about 2.2 % albumin by volume. (White Cells – which are prohibited – comprise about 1% of blood volume). Many Witnesses are puzzled as to why some larger blood components are permitted and some smaller ones are forbidden. The red blood cell stimulant EPO is an albumin based blood product.1

Albumin is often used to treat burns. A typical treatment for third degree burns (30-50 %) requires 600 grams of albumin. Producing this amount requires about 45 liters of whole blood. How can anyone call this “a small fraction?”

It is also obvious that the blood used to derive albumin is not ‘poured out,’ but stored, which is prohibited for a blood transfusion but permitted in this context. It is of some interest to note the following comment from the Watchtower:

“While this physician argues for the use of certain blood fractions, particularly albumin, such also come under the Scriptural ban. . – Awake! 09/08/1956 p. 20

The Watchtower quietly reversed its position on albumin in 1981 leading many to wonder whether the previous ban on its use was from God or from men. No official acknowledgement was made for many years.

Alpha 1-Proteinase Inhibitor Concentrate (Approved): Used to treat Emphysema.

Antithrombin III (Approved): Used to treat Antithrombin III deficiency. A recombinant “man-made” version is now available.

Anti-Inhibitor Coagulation Complex (AICC) (Approved):Used for treating Hemophila A & B to reduce bleeding in acute espisodes.

C1 Esterase Inhibitor (Approved): Used to treat acute abdominal or facial attacks of hereditary angioedema.

Cryoprecipitated AHF (Approved): The portion of Plasma that is rich in certain clotting factors, including Factor VIII, fibrinogen, von Willebrand factor and Factor XIII. Cryoprecipitated AHF is removed from Plasma by freezing and then slowly thawing the Plasma. It is used to prevent or control bleeding in individuals with hemophilia and von Willebrand’s disease, which are common, inherited major coagulation abnormalities. Its use in these conditions is reserved for times when viral-inactivated concentrates containing Factor VIII and von Willebrand factor are unavailable and Plasma components must be used. Note the following link from the Australian Red Cross and its description as a blood transfusion.

That Watchtower realizes this is a major component of blood is shown by their October 21, 2014 letter to all HLC committees in the U.S. wherein they acknowledge and proudly distribute the Dept. of Veterans Affairs Directive 1089(1). Therein Cryoprecipitate is listed among the major components of blood.

Cryosupernatant (Approved): Also referred to as cryo-poor plasma because the Cryoprecipitated AHF has been removed. This single blood product makes up a staggering 99% of blood plasma – hardly a small fraction of blood.

Fibrin Sealant Patch (Approved): Used to control soft tissue bleeding when standard surgical methods are ineffective.

Fibrinogen Concentrate (Approved): Used for treating acute bleeding in congenital fibrinogen deficiency.

Gamma Globulin (Approved): Use to treat Hempatitis A or the measles. Also in some kidney transplants and immune deficiencies.

Hepatitis B Immune Globulin (HBIG) (Approved): Used to treat and prevent Hepatitis B.

Hemophiliac preparations (Factor VIII and IX) (Approved): Effective treatment requires a preparation called factor VIII, which assists in clotting and is made of the pooled blood of many individuals. The WTS has frequently argued that these are small blood fractions. In truth, however, it takes about 9000 kilograms of whole blood to make one 0.1 gram dose of Factor VIII. A person suffering from severe hemophilia typically requires several doses a year.

The Watchtower Society is not ignorant of this:

“Each batch of Factor VIII is made from plasma that is pooled from as many as 2,500 blood donors.” (The Watchtower, June 15, 1985, p. 30)

“Dr. Margaret Hilgartner of the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center said: “A severe hemophiliac is exposed to the blood of 800,000 to 1 million different people every year.”” (Awake! Oct. 8, 1988, p. 11)

More than 250,000 blood donations are required annually to produce the factor VIII, and factor IX that is consumed by the Jehovah’s Witness community. Huge vats could be filled with all of the human blood that is stored and processed to meet the needs of Witness Hemophiliacs. The Watchtower ignores these facts when explaining why it allows use of these “small fractions,” but cynically emphasizes them when it uses AIDS as propaganda against blood transfusions.

Immunoglobulins: There are many different uses of these vital blood products. We touch on some of them below.

Human Immune Globulin (HIG) (Approved): Used to treat and prevent, among other things, Hepatitis A
Rabies Immune Globulin(RIG) (Approved): Used to treat and prevent rabies.
RhO Immune Globulin (RhoGam) (Approved): Given to Rh negative mothers to prevent Hemolytic Disease of the newborn in future pregnancies.
Tetanus Immune Globulin (Approved): (Tetanus Shot)

Profilnine Complex Concentrate (Approved): Used to reverse acquired coagulation factor deficiency with patients with acute bleeding.

Protein C Complex (Approved): Used to treat Congenital Protein C deficiency, thrombosis and purpura fulminans.

Thrombin (Approved):Aids hemostasis in capillaries when standard control is impractical or ineffective.

Permitted Procedures

Plateletpheresis Machine – Photo by ProjectManhattan

Blood Donation: If done strictly for the purpose of further fractionation for allogeneic or autologous transfusion.

Dialysis: Where the blood of a Jehovah’s Witness suffering from Kidney failure is regularly circulated through a Dialysis machine to be filtered and returned to the patient.

Epidural Blood Patch: A small amount of the patients blood is injected into the membrane surrounding the spinal cord to repair leakage from a lumbar puncture.

Heart-lung machine: As we have seen, in a Watchtower article the Society explicitly prohibited pre-operative blood collection for autologous transfusions, but allowed another procedure:

“In a somewhat different process, autologous blood can be diverted from a patient to a hemodialysis device (artificial kidney) or a heart-lung pump. The blood flows out through a tube to the artificial organ that pumps and filters (or oxygenates) it, and then it returns to the patient’s circulatory system. Some Christians have permitted this if the equipment is not primed with stored blood. They have viewed the external tubing as elongating their circulatory system so that blood might pass through an artificial organ. They have felt that the blood in this closed circuit was still part of them and did not need to be ‘poured out.’” (The Watchtower, March 1, 1989, p. 30)

Cell Saver – Photo by the U.S. Navy

Hemodilution/Intraoperative Blood Salvage: During surgery doctors use blood aspiration with automatic anticoagulant mixing, and the blood is collected into a blood reservoir. It is then drained by gravity into the blood bag, and stored in a lowered position until it is filled. When the blood bag is filled, it is raised to the top of the assembly, and the blood is reinfused. Although it is hard to see the blood as still being a part of the circulatory system, almost all Jehovah’s Witnesses accept the procedure once they are told that the Watchtower Society has approved its use, and that it does not violate any scriptural principles despite the fact that it is clearly a blood transfusion albeit autologous.

Labeling or Tagging: The patient’s blood is withdrawn and mixed with medicine, then returned via transfusion.

Plasmapheresis: Similar to Dialysis in procedure but used to treat Myasthenia Gravis and other immune system diseases. The process is also used during plasma donation.

If we add up everything in blood that is separately permitted it amounts to 100% of blood volume. Clearly it is completely disingenuous for the Watchtower or Jehovah’s Witnesses to claim they don’t accept blood transfusions. As we have seen in this section, nothing could be further from the truth. What then does it mean to abstain from blood? There is not and cannot be a straightforward answer to this question. In light of the information just presented, it can be seen that it is not so much a question of abstaining from blood as it is a question of what components of blood must a Witness abstain from and why. Why are Witnesses permitted some blood transfusions and not others?

Much like the religious leaders of Jesus day, Watchtower leaders are caught in a maze of legalism and nit-picking. Their prohibition against storing blood is hopelessly inconsistent. Many Jehovah’s Witnesses would no doubt see that the logic that permits a heart-lung machine, cell salvage or blood fraction also permits storing their own blood – if they were allowed to exercise their own judgment. After all, the only argument against it comes from a rule in the Law of Moses requiring blood from a killed animal to be poured out (Deut 12:24). Following the rule demonstrated that a person understood the animal’s life to come from God. Obviously, then, these considerations cannot apply to autologous blood transfusions, since no one has died. The blood is put back into the person from whom it was taken.

Bibliography

1-Human blood is composed of 55% plasma and 45% formed elements (From chart) 1994 Elaine N Marieb R.N. Ph.D. Essentials of Human Anatomy and Physiology – 4th edition p. 291

“Plasma, which is approximately 90% water, is the liquid part of blood.” Ibid p. 290

“Solutes make up about 10% of the plasma volume of which 7% are proteins.” 1990 Ennio C Rossi, Toby L. Simon, Gerald S. Moss – Principles of Transfusion Medicine p. 307

“The Concentration of Albumin is about 40mg/ml, an amount that represents about 60% of the total plasma protein.” Ibid p. 308

Comment: Since 55% of the total blood volume is plasma and 7% of that plasma is protein and 60% of that protein is albumin, then figuring the percentage that albumin comprises of the total blood volume is accomplished by the following computation: .6 X 7 X .55 equals 2.31 percent.

See the following WTS references for a historical verification of changes in policy:

Albumin: Awake! 09/08/1956 p. 20; WT 11/1/61 P. 669; Awake 6/22/82 P. 25; and WT 10/1/94 P.31; WT 6/1/90 P. 31

Vaccines/Serums: Golden Age, 5/1/29, p. 502, #40; WT 12/15/52 P. 764; Awake! 01/08/1954 p. 24; WT 9/15/1958 p. 575; WT 6/1/74 P. 351-352

Illustration from Awake! 10/22/90, p. 4.

Footnotes

None

Citations

American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Elder L. Watchtower’s Approved Blood Transfusions. October 2023; 12(1). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/blood-transfusions

American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Elder, L. (2023, November 1). Watchtower’s Approved Blood Transfusions. In-Sight Publishing. 12(1).

Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): ELDER, L. Watchtower’s Approved Blood Transfusions.In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 12, n. 1, 2023.

Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Elder, Lee. 2023. “Watchtower’s Approved Blood Transfusions.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (Winter). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/blood-transfusions.

Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Elder, L “Watchtower’s Approved Blood Transfusions.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (November 2023). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/blood-transfusions.

Harvard: Elder, L. (2023) ‘Watchtower’s Approved Blood Transfusions’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 12(1). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/blood-transfusions>.

Harvard (Australian): Elder, L 2023, ‘Watchtower’s Approved Blood Transfusions’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/blood-transfusions.

Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Elder, Lee. “Watchtower’s Approved Blood Transfusions.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.12, no. 1, 2023, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/blood-transfusions.

Vancouver/ICMJE: Lee E. Watchtower’s Approved Blood Transfusions [Internet]. 2023 Nov; 12(1). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/blood-transfusions.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

2023-11-01

Do JWs Really Abstain From Blood?

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Journal Founding: August 2, 2012

Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 12

Issue Numbering: 1

Section: B

Theme Type: Idea

Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”

Theme Part: 29

Formal Sub-Theme: None.

Individual Publication Date: November 1, 2023

Issue Publication Date: January 1, 2024

Author(s): Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood

Author(s) Bio: None.

Word Count: 2,353

Image Credit: None.

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369–6885

*Original publication here during December, 2016.*

*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*

Keywords: Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood, Bible, blood, Christian, God, human rights, Jehovah’s Witnesses, plasma, The Watchtower, Watchtower Society.

Do JWs Really Abstain From Blood?

This document is available as a brochure that can be downloaded and printed for distribution to others.

Many Jehovah’s Witnesses sincerely believe that it is a gross sin to accept a blood transfusion, since the Bible states that we must “abstain from blood.” (Acts 15:29) It is quite understandable that many are confused by the position taken by the Watchtower Society (WTS) with respect to the various blood components or blood products like albumin, erythropoietins, vaccines, immunoglobulins, and hemophiliac treatments. It does not seem possible to explain why it is a violation of God’s law to accept plasma, platelets, red and white cells when all the fractions of these are permitted by the WTS. These contradictions have caused a number of elders and Hospital Liaison Committee Members to quietly resign.

Additionally, the trend in recent years has been to allow more and more blood products. The June 15, 2000 Watchtower, Questions From Readers article opened the door to the use of hemoglobin since it is fractionated from red blood cells. This, coupled with the Watchtower Society’s statement to the European Commission on Human Rights that there are no “controls or sanctions” for a Witness who accepts blood and that minors may not carry “Advance Medical Directives” prohibiting blood transfusions, are strong indications that the WTS may significantly modify their blood policy or abandon it altogether at some point in the future. Additionally, in April of 2000 the WTS admitted that it was no longer disfellowshipping members who accepted blood or prohibited blood components.[foot]Decision on Admissibility of Application 28626/95, p.22, pp.6; Information note no. 148, B. II. (a); Commission Report on Application 28626/95 adopted March 9, 1998, p.4, 17. II. The Council of Europe – European Commission of Human Rights.[/foot]~[foot]Associated Press news story, June 22, 2000 [/foot]

“…when it comes to fractions of any of the primary components, each Christian, after careful and prayerful meditation, must conscientiously decide for himself.”

The Watchtower 6/15/00 p.29-31.

Important questions go unanswered

This illustration is taken from the October 22, 1990 issue of Awake! You will note that plasma constitutes 55% of the blood. Since the Watchtower Society allows Witnesses to accept the separate components of plasma, isn’t it only reasonable to ask why they forbid the use of plasma itself?

Hospital Liaison Committee members have been asked this question by doctors from around the world. They in turn have sought answers from Brooklyn Bethel and various Watchtower branches. Thus far they are simply told to drop the matter and not to question any further. Why can’t the WTS answer this important question?

Between August 1998 and October 2000 these issues were thoroughly debated by WTS representatives and a physician and a dissident JW associated with AJWRB in the Journal of Medical Ethics. We believe every Jehovah’s Witness should read these articles since they demonstrate the WTS’s inability to address these important issues.

Since nowhere in the Bible can one find any support for allowing certain blood fractions or products, it is reasonable to ask:

Where does the Watchtower Society find biblical support for their partial ban on blood?

“Learning from Jehovah God’s creation…

“….practically all blood components pass through the placental barrier.”

Watchtower teaching was that the allowed blood components are limited to only those that pass through the placental barrier during pregnancy and that on this basis a Witness may accept them in good conscience.[foot]Watchtower, 6/1/90 p.31. [/foot] The reasoning is that since Jehovah God allows these blood components to pass from mother to child, it is logical to conclude that God wouldn’t break his own law. This might seem reasonable were it not for the fact that medical science has shown that practically all blood components pass through the placental barrier. Watchtower writers have been forced to abandon this inaccurate reasoning. [foot]Walknowska, J., Conte, F.A., Grumback, M.M. (1969). Practical and theoretical implications of fetal/maternal lymphocyte transfer, Lancet, 1, 119-1122; Simpson JL; Elias S., JAMA 1993 Nov. 17;270(19):2357-61; Isolating Fetal Cells in Maternal Circulation For Prenatal Diagnosis by Joe Leigh Simpson and Sherman Elias; Prenatal Diagnosis, Vol. 14: 1229-1242 (1994); Early Human Development 47 Suppl. (1996) S73-S77. [/foot]

Are only the smallest blood components permitted?

Sometimes it is argued that the blood components allowed by the Watchtower Society are tiny fractions of blood. This line of argument seems impossible to sustain since albumin, which is found in blood plasma and approved for use by the Watchtower Society, makes up a greater percentage of the blood volume (2.2%) than forbidden blood components like white blood cells (1%), and platelets (0.17%), which Witnesses must reject. Furthermore, hemoglobin is a huge blood product weighing in at 14.8% of blood volume. Additionally, hemophiliac treatments (which have been long permitted) require the collection and storage of massive quantities of blood (up to 2500 blood donors for a single treatment), yet the Watchtower Society forbids Witnesses from storing their own blood. Why does a double standard exist?[foot] Watchtower, June 15, 1985, p. 30.[/foot]

Watchtower Society policy permits the use of numerous major blood components. This is easily demonstrated by any serious examination of blood transfusion medicine.

Learning from the context of Biblical statements regarding blood

If one takes the time to carefully study all of the Biblical accounts regarding blood, it becomes quite clear that whenever the wrongful use of blood is mentioned, it is always in the context of eating blood, as the Watchtower itself has acknowledged at various times.

Each time the prohibition of blood is mentioned in the Scriptures it is in connection with taking it as food, and so it is as a nutrient that we are concerned with in its being forbidden.

The Watchtower 9/15/58, p. 575

Is a blood transfusion a feeding on blood?

At one time the Watchtower Society taught that it was.[foot]”Make Sure of All Things”, Revised 4/1/57, p. 47; Watchtower, Sept. 15, 1961, p. 558. Although the WTS will still occasionally imply that a blood transfusion is feeding on blood, this position has been quietly abandoned beginning in the 1960’s, and we usually read statements like “it is wrong to sustain ourselves with blood,” although this expression or idea is not found in the Scriptures.[/foot] Then in the mid-1960s they learned that transfused blood is not digested but retained in the body much like a transplanted organ. Tragically, by then many Jehovah’s Witnesses had already died. Since the Governing Body believed that the end was extremely near,[foot]Watchtower, 5/1/68, p.272 para. 7; Watchtower, Aug. 15, 1968, p. 499; The Nations Shall Know That I Am Jehovah – 1971, 2nd ed. p. 216. [/foot] and that Science would soon provide an effective alternative to blood,[foot]Awake! 6/22/72 p.29-30. 8-Awake! 6/22/82 p.25.[/foot] the blood ban was retained, but more and more of the separate blood products were permitted.[foot]Vaccines see Golden Age, 5/1/29, p. 502, Watchtower 12/15/52 P. 764. Organ transplants see Watchtower, Nov. 15, 1967, p. 702; Watchtower, March 15, 1980, p. 31.[/foot].

“A transplanted heart or kidney cannot be considered to be food and, likewise, transfused blood cannot be used by your body as food either.”

The current policy has been developed in a careless fashion over the years and there are many similarities to the Watchtower’s previous bans on vaccines and organ transplants.[foot]Ibid.[/foot] Simply stated, to receive a nutritional benefit from blood, you would have to eat and digest it so that it could be broken down and used as food. No nutritional benefit accrues from a blood transfusion.

The Watchtower has tried to overcome this fact by arguing that a blood transfusion is no different from being fed intravenously with dextrose or alcohol. These comparisons are misleading, however, because sugar and alcohol can in fact be used by the body as food without digestion. A transplanted heart or kidney cannot be considered to be food and, likewise, transfused blood cannot be used by your body as food either.

Consider two patients who are unable to eat, and are admitted to a hospital. One is given a blood transfusion and the other intravenous feedings, which one is receiving nourishment and will live? Clearly, doctors do not prescribe blood transfusions to treat malnutrition, but rather to replace something your body has lost, usually the red cells needed to transport oxygen and keep you alive.

Since it cannot be established that a blood transfusion is a feeding on blood or the equivalent of eating blood, then the critical link necessary to Biblically support the Watchtower blood policy does not exist.

How does the Watchtower Society justify their partial ban on blood?

No reputable modern doctor or scientist would state that a blood transfusion is a feeding on blood, or the equivalent of eating blood, but rather an organ or liquid tissue transplant as the Society itself now acknowledges.[foot]Awake! 10/22/90, p. 9 [/foot] To overcome this fact the Watchtower has created a new law for Witnesses by stating that it’s wrong to sustain life by means of blood. The problem here is that nowhere in the Bible do we find such a restriction on blood stated in those terms. Is eating and sustaining life the same as the Watchtower argues? Well, there are many things that we do to sustain our lives like drinking, breathing, sleeping, etc. Eating is just one of the things necessary to sustain life. This word shuffle is both dishonest and reckless on the Watchtower’s part, and obscures what the Bible teaches, “going beyond the things that are written.”(1 Cor. 4:6) “…the Watchtower has created a new law for Witnesses by stating that it’s wrong to sustain life by means of blood.”

“So too abstaining from blood means not taking it into your body at all”

Live Forever p.216

Do Jehovah’s Witnesses really abstain from blood?

Most Jehovah’s Witnesses would answer a resounding YES! But as even this brief consideration of the facts has shown, the answer is “no”. Watchtower policy does not “abstain from blood”, with the limited exception of whole blood which is very rarely used anymore. Stop and consider: Can you explain why the Watchtower Society permits the use of blood products like albumin, EPO, hemoglobin, blood serums, Immunoglobulins, and hemophiliac treatments (clotting factors VIII & IX) since these are clearly taken to sustain life? How can this honestly be considered as abstaining from blood? The obvious answer is that it cannot. If the medical use of blood products is wrong, we cannot pick and choose which blood fractions or products we will abstain from anymore than we can engage in a little fornication or a little idol worship. Such reasoning is seriously flawed. The Watchtower has been slowly dismantling this policy for decades because they know it is wrong.

The human cost of maintaining the Watchtower blood policy

In previous decades untold numbers of Jehovah’s Witnesses loyally supported the bans on vaccines and organ transplants. In some cases this loyal support cost them their lives, and we are left wondering how their families must have reacted when the Watchtower Society finally received “new light,” and reversed their previous position.[foot]Vaccines see Golden Age, 5/1/29, p. 502, Watchtower 12/15/52 P. 764. Organ transplants see Watchtower, Nov. 15, 1967, p. 702; Watchtower, March 15, 1980, p. 31.[/foot]

Featured on the cover of the May 22, 1994 Awake! magazine are the photos of 26 children, ages varying up to 17 years, with the caption: “Youths Who Put God First.” Inside the magazine proclaims: “In former times thousands of youths died for putting God first. They are still doing it, only today the drama is played out in hospitals and courtrooms, with blood transfusions the issue.” (page 2) The article on page 9 titled ‘Youths Who Have “Power Beyond What Is Normal”‘ tells the stories of three of these children who died after refusing blood treatment. Were their deaths truly necessary?

Loyal adherence to the blood doctrine has cost thousands of Witnesses their lives. Despite this fact, many elders, Hospital Liaison Committee members and longtime Watchtower observers believe it is only a matter of time before the organization completely reverses their blood policy, and the use of all blood products becomes a matter of conscience.

In the meantime, we encourage you to fully educate yourself on the issues so that you can make an informed and conscientious choice regarding the use of blood or blood products. Seek alternative non-blood therapies under the advice of qualified medical professionals who can best advise you as to the risks and potential benefits of both accepting or rejecting the use of all blood products, regardless of whether or not these products are presently approved for use by the Watchtower Society.

“The blood doctrine has cost thousands of Witnesses their lives. Were their deaths truly necessary?”

Rest assured that your physician sincerely wants to respect your choices regarding medical care. By reviewing and discussing this information with your doctor privately – they can discharge their responsibility to insure that you are making an informed choice regarding the use of various blood products, regardless of what the current Watchtower policy happens to be.

If you feel you are being coerced by Jehovah’s Witness family members, elders or HLC members, please know that your doctor can arrange for your privacy to be enforced, and your treatment choices not disclosed to others. Do not let “undue influence” and misinformation cost your life, or the life of a family member. AJWRB supports your choice, and we are available if you have questions or need assistance.

If you sincerely believe, and support the Watchtower’s partial blood ban policy, and do not feel that you have been unduly influenced or coerced, your physician will also respect your informed choice to accept only the Watchtower approved blood products. The choice is yours to make.

Bibliography

None

Footnotes

None

Citations

American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood. Do JWs Really Abstain From Blood?. October 2023; 12(1). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/abstain-blood

American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood. (2023, November 1). Do JWs Really Abstain From Blood?. In-Sight Publishing. 12(1).

Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood. Do JWs Really Abstain From Blood?.In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 12, n. 1, 2023.

Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood. 2023. “Do JWs Really Abstain From Blood?.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (Winter). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/abstain-blood.

Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood “Do JWs Really Abstain From Blood?.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (November 2023). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/abstain-blood.

Harvard: Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood. (2023) ‘Do JWs Really Abstain From Blood?’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 12(1). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/abstain-blood>.

Harvard (Australian): Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood 2023, ‘Do JWs Really Abstain From Blood?’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/abstain-blood.

Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood. “Do JWs Really Abstain From Blood?.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.12, no. 1, 2023, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/abstain-blood.

Vancouver/ICMJE: Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood. Do JWs Really Abstain From Blood? [Internet]. 2023 Nov; 12(1). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/abstain-blood.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

2023-11-01

Watchtower “No Blood Card”

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Journal Founding: August 2, 2012

Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 12

Issue Numbering: 1

Section: B

Theme Type: Idea

Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”

Theme Part: 29

Formal Sub-Theme: None.

Individual Publication Date: November 1, 2023

Issue Publication Date: January 1, 2024

Author(s): Lee Elder

Author(s) Bio: None.

Word Count: 894

Image Credit: AJWRB.

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369–6885

*Original publication here during June, 2016.*

*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*

Keywords: Advanced Medical Directive, Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood, Bible, Christian, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Lee Elder, Watchtower Society.

Watchtower “No Blood Card”

The “No Blood Card” that Jehovah’s Witnesses carry has experienced significant changes over the years, as you will see in this article. It was simply referred to as “the blood card” for many decades, then came to be called “the Advanced Medical Directive”. Another major change occurred in 2004, when it was combined with a Durable Power of Attorney specific to each state and is at times referred to as the “DPA”.

The first example shown is one of the older versions of the blood card that Witnesses carried back in the 1960’s. You will note its clear and uncompromising statement about the use of blood. It says specifically “I demand that blood, in any way, shape or form, is NOT to be fed into my body…”

This statement is quite interesting for two reasons:

We seldom hear Jehovah’s Witnesses talk in terms of blood transfusions being a “feeding” on blood. This is because they now know that a transfusion is not a feeding on blood, but rather an organ transplant. The old view was based upon outdated medical views that were discarded nearly a hundred years ago. Today, Watchtower writers are forced to speak in terms of how it is wrong to “sustain one’s life” by means of blood. As we have shown, however, the Bible no where talks about blood in this way.
The other interesting thing about the wording in this older card is that it would clearly prohibit a Witness from taking any of the multitude of blood products that have worked their way into the Watchtower’s approved list. It accurately reflects the position taken by the Society in the following quote:

“Whether whole or fractional, one’s own or someone else’s, transfused or injected, it is wrong.” – The Watchtower 09/15/1961 p. 559

What follows below is a more recent “Advance Medical Directive” being used by Jehovah’s Witnesses:

The current blood card, or “Medical Directive” is no longer able to make the same uncompromising statement. Why? Because the Society has gradually modified its once firm position, and now allows every part of the blood to be transfused or injected if sufficiently fractionated. A doctrine that made little sense to begin with, now makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Are you still carrying this document in your wallet? If so, why? It may well become a warrant for your untimely death. Children of Jehovah’s Witnesses, though not even baptized, are called upon to carry a similar card:

Beginning in 2004, the Watchtower announced a major change in how the blood card was to be issued as shown below:

This new policy eliminated the annual service meeting part and distribution of new blood cards that were completed and signed each year to demonstrate the individual’s continuing commitment and belief in the policy. This marked a dramatic departure from the established policy – one that medical professionals relied upon in assessing the actual wishes of an unconscious Jehovah’s Witness who showed up at the emergency room. Why was this done? Note the following:

Note the level of alarm sounded by the Watchtower Society because one card was approximately five years old and more than half were unsigned, not witnessed or out of date. The reports certainly call into question the degree of support among Jehovah’s Witnesses for the blood policy.

Under the new arrangement announced in 2004, the elders would only have to make one thorough sweep of the congregation members to insure their permanent compliance and eliminate this hugely embarrassing situation.

The obvious downside to this new arrangement is that emergency department physicians must now speculate as to the actual degree of commitment from the individual unconscious Jehovah’s Witness patient since their signed Advanced Medical Directive may be quite old and its entirely possible they may not even be a Jehovah’s Witness anymore.

For these reasons, we believe that it is incumbent upon emergency room physicians to verbally verify the level of commitment to the current Watchtower policy. Especially in view of the fact that it is well-known a significant percentage of Jehovah’s Witness secretly oppose the policy and feel coerced into carrying the blood card or risk exposure as apostates with subsequent shunning.1,2,3,4

References

1-Findley LJ, Redstone PM (March 1982). “Blood transfusion in adult Jehovah’s Witnesses. A case study of one congregation”. Arch Intern Med. 142(3): 606–607. doi:10.1001/archinte. te.142.3.606.
PMID 7065795.

2-Kaaron Benson, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute Cancer Control Journal, Vol. 2, No. 4, November/December 1995, “Therefore, while most adult Jehovah’s Witness patients were unwilling to accept blood for themselves, most Jehovah’s Witness parents permitted transfusions for their minor children, and many of the young adult patients also were willing to accept transfusions for themselves.”

3-Gyamfi C, Berkowitz RL (September 2004). “Responses by pregnant Jehovah’s Witnesses on health care proxies”. Obstet Gynecol 104 (3): 541–4. doi:10.1097/01.AOG.0000135276.25886.8e. PMID 15339766. “This review refutes the commonly held belief that all Jehovah’s Witnesses refuse to accept blood or any of its products. In this population of pregnant women, the majority were willing to accept some form of blood or blood products.”

4-Empirical data suggest to us that the current level of dissent may be significantly higher. We base this upon the conversations we have had with Emergency Department Physicians and Anesthesiologists at medical conventions.

Bibliography

None

Footnotes

None

Citations

American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Elder L. Watchtower “No Blood Card”. October 2023; 12(1). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/blood-card

American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Elder, L. (2023, November 1). Watchtower “No Blood Card”. In-Sight Publishing. 12(1).

Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): ELDER, L. Watchtower “No Blood Card”.In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 12, n. 1, 2023.

Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Elder, Lee. 2023. “Watchtower “No Blood Card”.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (Winter). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/blood-card.

Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Elder, L “Watchtower “No Blood Card”.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (November 2023). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/blood-card.

Harvard: Elder, L. (2023) ‘Watchtower “No Blood Card”’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 12(1). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/blood-card>.

Harvard (Australian): Elder, L 2023, ‘Watchtower “No Blood Card”’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/blood-card.

Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Elder, Lee. “Watchtower “No Blood Card”.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.12, no. 1, 2023, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/blood-card.

Vancouver/ICMJE: Lee E. Watchtower “No Blood Card” [Internet]. 2023 Nov; 12(1). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/blood-card.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

2023-11-01

Organ Transplants

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Journal Founding: August 2, 2012

Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 12

Issue Numbering: 1

Section: B

Theme Type: Idea

Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”

Theme Part: 29

Formal Sub-Theme: None.

Individual Publication Date: November 1, 2023

Issue Publication Date: January 1, 2024

Author(s): Lee Elder

Author(s) Bio: None.

Word Count: 2,923

Image Credit: None.

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369–6885

*Original publication here during June, 2016.*

*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*

Keywords: Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood, Bible, Christian, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Lee Elder, Medical World News, organ transplants, Watchtower Society.

Organ Transplants

As with blood, the Watchtower Society (WTS) originally had no objections to organ transplants. In a Questions from Readers section in The Watchtower, Aug. 1, 1961, page 480, the question about organ transplants is answered pointedly:

“• Is there anything in the Bible against giving one’s eyes (after death) to be transplanted to some living person?—L. C., United States.

The question of placing one’s body or parts of one’s body at the disposal of men of science or doctors at one’s death for purposes of scientific experimentation or replacement in others is frowned upon by certain religious bodies. However, it does not seem that any Scriptural principle or law is involved. It therefore is something that each individual must decide for himself. If he is satisfied in his own mind and conscience that this is a proper thing to do, then he can make such provision, and no one else should criticize him for doing so. On the other hand, no one should be criticized for refusing to enter into any such agreement.”

In view of the unorthodox views on medical practices demonstrated by the WTS on earlier questions, it is not surprising that it found some “Biblical principles” addressing this question the next time it came up, in 1967:

“• Is there any Scriptural objection to donating one’s body for use in medical research or to accepting organs for transplant from such a source?-W. L., U.S.A.

. . . When there is a diseased or defective organ, the usual way health is restored is by taking in nutrients. The body uses the food eaten to repair or heal the organ, gradually replacing the cells. When men of science conclude that this normal process will no longer work and they suggest removing the organ and replacing it directly with an organ from another human, this is simply a shortcut. Those who submit to such operations are thus living off the flesh of another human. That is cannibalistic. However, in allowing man to eat animal flesh Jehovah God did not grant permission for humans to try to perpetuate their lives by cannibalistically taking into their bodies human flesh, whether chewed or in the form of whole organs or body parts taken from others.” (The Watchtower, Nov. 15, 1967, p. 702)

Most people would probably be surprised at the idea that an organ transplant is cannibalism, but the WTS argued that this was the case. And again, Jehovah’s Witnesses would have to toe the line. They should rather die or be crippled than accept an organ transplant, and for the next thirteen years, that is exactly what faithful brothers and sisters did. That is until the WTS changed their mind again about organ transplants.

As with the question of vaccinations, quack science was employed to support the idea that organ transplants were wrong. For the WTS, it has always been of primary importance to give us the idea that the rules really benefit us. And just as many Witnesses have been convinced and firmly believe that blood transfusions are evil and bad for them, they were exposed to the same sort of propaganda about organ transplants:

“A peculiar factor sometimes noted is a so-called ‘personality transplant.’ That is, the recipient in some cases has seemed to adopt certain personality factors of the person from whom the organ came. One young promiscuous woman who received a kidney from her older, conservative, well-behaved sister, at first seemed very upset. Then she began imitating her sister in much of her conduct. Another patient claimed to receive a changed outlook on life after his kidney transplant. Following a transplant, one mild-tempered man became aggressive like the donor. The problem may be largely or wholly mental. But it is of interest, at least, that the Bible links the kidneys closely with human emotions.” (The Watchtower, Sept. 1, 1975, p. 519)

In the same magazine, some health reports about certain risks in organ transplants are extrapolated to make it appear like the benefit is virtually zero and the risks are huge. We have seen this pattern in the WTS attempts to demonize vaccinations, we see it used on organ transplants and, as we will see later, it is especially evident in statements about blood transfusions.

An interesting motivation behind this view of organ transplants is a peculiar idea about the heart. Like the above article strongly suggested that a kidney transplant caused emotional change, the WTS argued that we do indeed think with our literal heart. When the Bible mentions heart as a seat for our deepest emotions and wishes, people will understand this symbolically, realizing that these things physically reside in the brain. Not so with leaders of the WTS.

“Most psychiatrists and psychologists tend to overcategorize the mind and allow for little if any influence from the fleshly heart, looking upon the word “heart” merely as a figure of speech apart from its use in identifying the organ that pumps our blood. . . . The heart is a marvelously designed muscular pump, but, more significantly, our emotional and motivating capacities are built within it. Love, hate, desire (good and bad), preference for one thing over another, ambition, fear-in effect, all that serves to motivate us in relationship to our affections and desires springs from the heart.” (The Watchtower, March 1, 1971, p. 134)

Some Witnesses will still remember a drama at the “Divine Name” convention the following summer on this topic, where the point that we really store information in our hearts was illustrated by giant, glowing, talking models of a heart and brain! Needless to say, JW’s with any understanding of science or medicine were deeply embarrassed by these teachings. This surely illustrates the danger of allowing men with such shallow reasoning based on quack science to decide life and death matters for a community of millions of JW’s.

This was not purely an academic question. The prohibition of organ transplants rested on this concept, which again had been important in the long-rejected ban on vaccinations. To instill fear in Witnesses against organ transplants and especially heart transplants, the following quack claims were reported:

“Medical World News (May 23, 1969), in an article entitled “What Does a New Heart Do to the Mind?” reported the following: “At Stanford University Medical Center last year, a 45-year-old man received a new heart from a 20-year-old donor and soon announced to all his friends that he was celebrating his twentieth birthday. Another recipient resolved to live up to the sterling reputation of the prominent local citizen who was the donor. And a third man expressed great fear of feminization upon receiving a woman’s heart, though he was somewhat mollified when he learned that women live longer than men. According to psychiatrist Donald T. Lunde, a consultant to surgeon Norman Shumway’s transplant team at Stanford, these patients represent some of the less severe mental aberrations [italics ours] observed in the Shumway series of 13 transplants over the last 16 months.” The article continues: “Though five patients in the series had survived as of early this month, and four of them were home leading fairly normal lives, three of the nonsurvivors became psychotic before they died last year. And two others have become psychotic this year.”” (The Watchtower, March 1, 1971, p. 134)

The idea that a person would have his personality changed by a new organ was also, as we remember, used to support the vaccination ban. And as we will see later, the same idea is used to increase the anti-blood hysteria among JWs. When the WTS argued the dangers of organ transplants, this quack science was again applied:

“It is significant that heart-transplant patients, where the nerves connecting the heart and brain are severed, have serious emotional problems after the operation. The new heart is still able to operate as a pump, it having its own power supply and timing mechanism independent of the general nervous system for giving impulse to the heart muscle, but just as it now responds only sluggishly to outside influences, the new heart in turn registers few, if any, clear factors of motivation on the brain. To what extent the nerve endings of the body and the new heart are able to make some connections in time is not clear, but this cannot be ruled out as one of the several factors causing the serious mental aberrations and disorientation that doctors report are observed in heart-transplant patients.” (The Watchtower, March 1, 1971, p. 135)

In the same article, the WTS even argued that people who accepted donor hearts lost their personalities, and more than hinted that people who had donor hearts were really heartless!

“These patients have donor-supplied pumps for their blood, but do they now have all the factors needed to say they have a “heart”? One thing is sure, in losing their own hearts, they have had taken away from them the capacities of “heart” built up in them over the years and which contributed to making them who they were as to personality.”

The advice the WTS gave on day-to-day situations based on its literal understanding of heart and mind was sometimes unintentionally humorous:

“To illustrate, suppose the time comes when you must make a decision on buying a new suit or dress. First, the mind is confronted with certain facts. Perhaps older clothes are getting past their usefulness or there is a need for a change for some good reason. The heart comes very much into the picture too, as there is a desire at heart to look presentable. Heart and mind are in agreement that a new dress or suit be obtained. The mind now collects information on prices, quality, styles, and so forth, so that when you go shopping you have a pretty good idea which suit or dress should be purchased. But when you arrive at the store, there in the window is quite an eye-catcher, just waiting for the impulse buyer. It is not really practical for you; it involves much more money; it is rather extreme in styling; but how it tantalizes the heart! “It’s the heart’s delight!” Now what will be done? What decision will be made? Will it be a practical, reasoned-out one, or one according to this new desire of the heart? If you are not very careful, the heart will overwhelm the mind.” (The Watchtower, March 1, 1971, p. 140)

During the period organ transplants and blood transfusions were both prohibited, these things were often equated in the publications. In one case, when an anonymous JW who was a surgeon wrote his life story in the Awake! magazine, he wrote about the dangers of blood transfusions:

“It has been especially gratifying to me to see at firsthand evidence of the truthfulness of the Bible’s directives on blood. The medical profession itself has gradually come to appreciate that blood is not an innocuous lifesaver. Blood transfusion is now recognized as a dangerous procedure — as hazardous as any other organ transplant.” (Awake!, March 22, 1974, p. 21)

He also added:

“Today much is also made of the transplanting of various organs—kidneys, hearts, lungs and livers. . . . Because of what I have reason to believe is the Creator’s view of organ transplants, I have serious reservations as to their Scriptural propriety.” (ibid. p. 23)

Small notes in WTS literature not only told stories about the horrors on blood transfusions, but also gave the same strongly exaggerated accounts of the dangers of organ transplants. In many Awake! magazines, we find under the feature “Watching the World” notes like these:

“Transfusion Horror

Two babies were infected with syphilis by blood transfusions at Germany’s Kiel University Clinic last year, reports Wiesbadener Kurier. Infection spread to the parents. Not knowing the source, at least one of the families involved threatened to break up, each partner accusing the other of being unfaithful. Even though the truth came out in court, the damage was done. “Two people will have told one another things of which they would be ashamed when they learned the truth,” notes the article.

More Transplant Complications

Recently it was reported that the incidence of cancer is 100 times greater among organ-transplant recipients than among the general population. However, the frequency of brain tumors is “about 1,000 times greater,” according to Dr. Wolff M. Kirsch, of the University of Colorado Medical Center. The prolonged immunosuppressive therapy to prevent rejection of the new organ frequently entangles the patient “in a snare of pathological processes,” he says. Prospects for helping such patients are considered “bleak.”” (Awake!, Feb. 22, 1974, pp. 30-31)

It certainly appears that the WTS writers search newspapers and magazines all over the world for these articles, and would of course never give a single reference to positive results of blood transfusions or organ transplants as long as these are prohibited.

This ban on organ transplants could not be sustained in the long run. The direct cause for the change is not given, the WTS merely states that it is “a matter for conscientious decision by each one.”

“• Should congregation action be taken if a baptized Christian accepts a human organ transplant, such as of a cornea or a kidney?

Regarding the transplantation of human tissue or bone from one human to another, this is a matter for conscientious decision by each one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Some Christians might feel that taking into their bodies any tissue or body part from another human is cannibalistic. . . . Other sincere Christians today may feel that the Bible does not definitely rule out medical transplants of human organs. . . . It may be argued, too, that organ transplants are different from cannibalism since the “donor” is not killed to supply food.” (The Watchtower, March 15, 1980, p. 31)

Again, as had happened when the ban on vaccinations had been lifted, there was not one word of apology to those who had been adversely affected. Also, the WTS is hypocritical when it pretends that “sincere Christians may feel” anything but what they have been told to feel. As with the blood prohibition, “sincere Christians” are not free to feel, they are only “free” to do exactly what the WTS tells them to do. When individual JWs risked their lives they did it because they were ordered to do so under threat of being disfellowshipped, and because they believed the WTS spoke for God. We must ask, did Jehovah God change his mind on these matters, or was the society simply wrong?

After the reversal the horror stories about organ transplants ceased, while exaggerated reports on the dangers of blood transfusions continue to this day. With respect to organ transplants, the WTS’ change of heart is shown in this article:

“Bloodless Heart Transplant

Last October, three-year-old Chandra Sharp was admitted to a hospital in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A., with a heart that was not only enlarged but also failing. She was undernourished, her growth stunted, her weight only 19 pounds [9 kg], and she needed a heart transplant. She was given only a few weeks to live. Her parents agreed to the transplant but not to blood transfusion. They are Jehovah’s Witnesses.

This was no issue with the surgeon, Dr. Charles Fraser. The Flint Journal of Michigan reported on December 1, 1993: “Fraser said the Cleveland Clinic and other medical centers are becoming adept at performing many surgeries—including transplants—without the infusion into the patient of other people’s blood. ‘We have learned more about how to conserve blood, and how to prime the heart-lung machine with solutions other than blood,’ said Fraser.” He then added: “Some specialty hospitals have for decades been doing major cardiovascular operations without blood transfusions. . . . We always try to do surgery without (transfused) blood.”” (Awake!, May 22, 1994, p. 7)

In light of the earlier ban on organ transplants – heart transplants in particular – this sudden praise of bloodless heart transplants drips irony. For doesn’t the heart do more than just pump blood? No, this was changed ten years earlier:

“What are we to understand, then, by the word ‘heart’?. . . . What an amazing number of different functions and capabilities are ascribed to the heart! Do all of these reside in the literal heart? That could hardly be so. . . . in nearly a thousand other references to ‘heart’ in the Bible, ‘heart’ is obviously used in a figurative sense. . . . obviously, a distinction must be drawn between the heart organ and the figurative heart.” (The Watchtower, Sept. 1, 1984, pp. 3-7)

In an another ironic twist, we see that less than two years later, the same magazine states:

“The ancient Egyptians believed that the physical heart was the seat of intelligence and the emotions. They also thought that it had a will of its own. The Babylonians said that the heart housed the intellect as well as love. The Greek philosopher Aristotle taught that it was the seat of the senses and the domain of the soul. But as time passed and knowledge increased, these views were discarded. Finally the heart became known for what it is, a pump to circulate the blood throughout the body.” (The Watchtower, June 1, 1986, p. 15)

The article did not remind the reader that the WTS had taught the same as these ancients until just two years before. An inquiring JW who didn’t’remember this prohibition would never find out. The Watchtower Publications Index 1930-1985 is carefully edited to remove any mention of “organ transplants.” Please verify this for yourself. This embarrassing chapter in the Societies history was closed, and only the dead and wounded were left behind.

Bibliography

None

Footnotes

None

Citations

American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Elder L. Organ Transplants. October 2023; 12(1). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/organ-transplants

American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Elder, L. (2023, November 1). Organ Transplants. In-Sight Publishing. 12(1).

Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): ELDER, L. Organ Transplants.In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 12, n. 1, 2023.

Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Elder, Lee. 2023. “Organ Transplants.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (Winter). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/organ-transplants.

Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Elder, L “Organ Transplants.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (November 2023). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/organ-transplants.

Harvard: Elder, L. (2023) ‘Organ Transplants’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 12(1). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/organ-transplants>.

Harvard (Australian): Elder, L 2023, ‘Organ Transplants’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/organ-transplants.

Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Elder, Lee. “Organ Transplants.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.12, no. 1, 2023, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/organ-transplants.

Vancouver/ICMJE: Lee E. Organ Transplants [Internet]. 2023 Nov; 12(1). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/organ-transplants.

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2023-11-01

Blood, Vaccines and Organ Transplants

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Journal Founding: August 2, 2012

Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 12

Issue Numbering: 1

Section: B

Theme Type: Idea

Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”

Theme Part: 29

Formal Sub-Theme: None.

Individual Publication Date: November 1, 2023

Issue Publication Date: January 1, 2024

Author(s): Lee Elder

Author(s) Bio: None.

Word Count: 9,986

Image Credit: AJWRB.

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369–6885

*Original publication here during September, 2014.*

*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*

Keywords: Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood, blood, Christian, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Lee Elder, organ transplants, vaccines, Watchtower Society.

Blood, Vaccines and Organ Transplants

What follows is a collection of quotes from Watchtower Society literature.This information will help you understand the development of the blood doctrine, and document the many changes in policy through the years.

Quotes are presented in chronological order.

“The public is not generally aware of how large an industry is the manufacture of serums, anti-toxins and vaccines, or that big business controls the whole industry…. the boards of health endeavor to start an epidemic of smallpox, diphtheria, or typhoid that they may reap a golden harvest by inoculating an unthinking community for the very purpose of disposing of this manufactured filth….Vaccination summed up is the most unnatural, unhygienic, barbaric, filthy, abhorrent, and most dangerous system of infection known. Its vile poison taints, corrupts, and pollutes the blood of the healthy, resulting in ulcers, syphilis, scrofula, erysipelas, tuberculosis, cancer, tetanus, insanity, and death.”
– The Golden Age, January 3, 1923, p. 214

“It has never been proven that a single disease is due to germs.”- The Golden Age, Jan 16, 1924

“I HAVE named this new discovery, which I believe will be epochal in the history of the treatment of disease, and which I am exclusively announcing in THE GOLDEN AGE prior to its general publication elsewhere, The Electronic Radio Biola, which means life renewed by radio waves or electrons. The Biola automatically diagnoses and treats diseases by the use of the electronic vibrations. The diagnosis is 100 percent correct, rendering better service in this respect than the most experienced diagnostician…. THE principle of operation of the Biola is the collection… of the disease vibrations…. the fluid containing the same waves or vibrations enters the body, meets the disease waves and destroys them…. This is a great step forward, marking the Biola as the most valuable treatment apparatus obtainable today, and well worthy of notice in the columns of a magazine like THE GOLDEN AGE.” – The Golden Age, April 22, 1925

Vaccines are useless, poisonous, a violation of God’s law, and a tool of the Devil.

“Thinking people would rather have smallpox than vaccination, because the latter sows the seed of syphilis, cancers, eczema, erysipelas, scrofula, consumption, even leprosy and many other loathsome affections. Hence the practice of vaccination is a crime, an outrage and a delusion.”
– The Golden Age May 1, 1929 page 502

“ON READING a report in The Golden Age that seventy percent of New York’s children are defective, and eighty-five percent of Chicago’s children, we must all realize that this terrible condition is only of very recent years.

How can it be otherwise? The streets are just lined with M.D. poison squirters. They are seen everywhere with grips full of the most deadly poisons and needles for injecting them. This they do to every child they can corner.

Without doubt the fifteen and thirty percent found O.K. are in most cases those who have escaped the poison squad. First, there is the M.D. vaccinating mania. Then comes the antitoxin for other excuses, etc., until the children are full of the most deadly poisons known. Added to this is the fact that they are compelled to drink milk from cows that have also been subjected to a liberal injection of tuberculin, a most terrible deadly poison. This poison enters directly into the blood circulation. Hence the milk. Then this milk is sterilized, or scalded to the boiling point or nearly so, destroying much of the life-giving nourishment of the milk, but not injuring the poison therein. Scalded milk, for either adults or children, is very constipating. This in turn causes more deaths and resulting ailments than do all other causes combined, I surely believe.” – The Golden Age 07/24/1929 p. 682

“Avoid serum inoculations and vaccinations as they pollute the blood stream with their filthy pus.”- The Golden Age 11/13/1929 pp. 106, 107

“…the vaccination law reduces the father and mother to mere slavery, almost as bad as the colored people were in, when their children were put up on the block and sold. In many slave-sale cases the mother and father were even forbidden to shed tears.

Vaccination is a direct violation of the everlasting covenant that God made with Noah after the flood.” – The Golden Age 02/04/1931 p. 293 (Emphasis ours)

“VACCINATION HAS NEVER SAVED A HUMAN LIFE-IT DOES NOT PREVENT SMALL POX.”
– The Golden Age 02/04/1931 p. 294/297

“The Journal of the A. M. A. is the vilest sheet that passes the United States mail…. Nothing new and useful in therapeutics escapes its unqualified condemnation. Its attacks are generally ad hominem. Its editorial columns are largely devoted to character assassination…. Its editor [Morris Fishbein] is of the type of Jew that crucified Jesus Christ.”

– The Golden Age, September 26, 1934

“Serum for “Christmas”!

A CERTAIN “health” commissioner offered the suggestion a short time ago that no mother could give her child a better present for “Christmas” than diphtheria immunization, meaning an injection of filthy and poisonous serum.

It is said that diphtheria is particularly deadly of late, and that seems likely. Parents cannot give their children the foods needed to build sturdy bodies that can resist the disease. But while parents are not able to get proper foods, they can get the serum injections for their children free.

The Devil is bent on destroying the human family, denying them the necessary comforts of life, and urging them to give their children “Christmas” presents of germ-laden pus. What a travesty of civilization!”
– The Golden Age 03/27/1935 p. 409 (Emphasis ours)

Organ Transplants Spoken of Favorably

“Corneas from the Dead to the Living

AT Moscow in the past year there were 100 cases of grafting of corneas from the eyes of the dead to the eyes of the living but blind. Many of the patients upon whom this operation was performed are now able to read and work.” – The Golden Age 09/23/1936 p. 816

“…the irrefutable logical fact that serums and vaccines are products of contamination…rise in cancer is attributed to the use of serums…for the best part they are but handicaps to inherent healing forces of the human body…these are by-products of pus matter…in reality and action it is worse than the proverbial “seven plagues”…One may go through life without having serious manifestations of what has been injected into his blood-stream, thus thinking he was “immunized”, but, suddenly, it may begin its satanic work on his child, or even ‘unto third and fourth generation’. ” – Consolation 03/22/1939 p. 21 (Emphasis ours)

Blood Transfusions Spoken of Favorably

The following quotation is taken from LUZ y VERDAD (The Golden Age as printed in Mexico) of June 1934, page 91. A quick translation reads as follows:

“Many mothers don’t sell the milk that the nature gave them for their children, do they? For this reason we should not admire those who trade with their blood. After Landsteiner’s discoveries, special entities have been formed that provide blood for necessary transfusions. Only those have the luxury [to give blood] that belong to the group O (zero), because, as has already been said, their blood is compatible to all humans. From statistics we see that in 1929, 7,000 persons sold blood in the hospitals of the United States, [in resonse to] calls in urgent cases and that they saved the lives of many people that had lost their own blood for one cause or another.

In England there are societies whose members offer their blood freely to those that have need. A society that was created in London that is affiliated with the Red Cross is spoken of with praise because its members offer needed blood in urgent cases. The majority of those [who donate blood] are strong and healthy youth, of diverse backgrounds, that contribute in this way in a really generous fashion to the salvation of the sick or injured. They are not paid a cent for their contribution, but society knows them and it respects them as they deserve to be respected.”

For those who know Spanish, here is the original:

“Comercio con La sangre

No venden muchas madres la leche que la naturaleza les dió para sus hijos? Por esto no debe admirarnos que haya quienes comercien con su sangre. Después de los descubrimientos de Landsteiner se han formado entidades especiales que proporcionan sangre para las transfusiones necesarias. Sólo pueden permitirse este lujo las personas que pertenecen al grupo O (cero), por ser, como ya dijimos, su sangre inofensiva para todos los humanos. De una estadística vemos que en 1929 véndieron sangre, en los hospitales de los Estados Unidos, 7,000 personas, llamadas en casos urgentes y que salvaron la vida de muchas personas que por una u otra causa habian perdido su propia sangre.

En Inglaterra hay sociedades cuyos miembros ofrecen gratuitamente su sangre a los que necesitan. Se habla elogiosamente de una sociedad creada en Londres y adherida a la Cruz Roja, cuyos mienbros se presentan en los casos urgentes y ofrecen la sangre necesaria. La mayoría son jóvenes fuertes y sanos, de entidades diversas, que contribuyen asi, en forma realmente generosa, a la salvacion de los enfermos o heridos. No cobran ni un centavo por su contribución, pero la sociedad los conoce y los respeta como lo merecen.”

“The Mending of a heart

In New York city a house wife in moving a boarder’s things accidentally shot herself through the heart with his revolver. She was rushed to a hospital, her left breast was cut around, four ribs were cut away, the heart was lifted out, three stitches were taken, one of the attending physicians in the great emergency gave a quart of his blood for transfusion, and today the woman lives and smiles gaily over what happened to her in the busiest 23 minutes of her life.”
– Consolation 12/25/1940 p. 19

Blood Transfusions officially banned.

“Blood transfusions and blood products are officially banned as “pagan and God-dishonoring.”
– The Watchtower 7/1/45, p. 198-201

Dutch Witnesses Fail to Get New Light in a timely manner

“God has never published a decree which forbids employing medicine, injections and blood transfusions. It is a human invention like the Pharisee’s disregard for mercy and grace. To serve Jehovah with all the mind does not mean to put our intelligence in a box. Principally because there is a human life at stake. The life being of great value is holy to Jehovah.”
– Consolation 09/1945 p. 29 (Dutch ed.) – Emphasis added.

“According to God’s law, humans are not to take into their system the blood of others.” – Awake! 10/22/1948 p. 12

NEW LIGHT ON VACCINES

“Is vaccination a violation of God’s law forbidding the taking of blood into the system? – G. C., North Carolina.

The matter of vaccination is one for the individual that has to face it to decide for himself….our Society cannot afford to be drawn into the affair legally or take the responsibility for the way the case turns out….all objection to vaccination on Scriptural grounds seems to be lacking….We merely offer the above information on request, but can assume no responsibility for the decision and course the reader may take.”
– The Watchtower 12/15/1952 p. 764 (Emphasis added)

Blood Transfusion – Definition

“Transferring blood from the veins or arteries of one person to another. As in intravenous feeding, it is a feeding on blood. An unscriptural practice.”
– “Make Sure of All Things”, 1953, p. 47

Blood serums are wrong, same category as blood transfusions.

“We are told that it takes one and a third pints of whole blood to get enough of the blood protein or “fraction” known as gamma globulin for one injection. And since from the foregoing it must be admitted that such use of human blood is highly questionable, what justification can there be for the use of gamma globulin? Further, those interested in the Scriptural aspect will note that its being made of whole blood places it in the same category as blood transfusions as far as Jehovah’s prohibition of taking blood into the system is concerned.” – See Leviticus 17:10 – 14; Acts 15:20, 28, 29. Awake! 01/08/1954 p. 24 (Emphasis added)

Blood fractions and Albumin are wrong.

“While this physician argues for the use of certain blood fractions, particularly albumin, such also come under the Scriptural ban. In fact, these fractions are being used not only by physicians but also by food processors, and so it would be well to note the labels on such products to see if they contain any blood substances or fractions. When in doubt, it would be best to do without.”
– Awake! 09/08/1956 p. 20 Emphasis added.

“…trouble over the draft in World War II…Approximately 4,500 of Jehovah’s witnesses were sentenced to prison in the District Courts…One of the more serious problems I had to deal with, as I remember, was vaccinations. An order was received from the health department in Washington for all the inmates and guards to be vaccinated. Some of our boys in one prison in particular considered this the same as blood transfusions, and refused to submit. This caused considerable trouble….”I was in prison,” I reminded them, “and I bared my arm and received the shot. Furthermore, all of us who visit our foreign branches are vaccinated or we stay at home. Now vaccination is not anything like blood transfusion. No blood is used in the vaccine. It is a serum. So you would not be violating those Scriptures which forbid taking blood into your system.”

– Faith on the March, by A. H. Macmillan, WTBTS vice-president, published by Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1957, pp. 186, 188, 189 {See The Watchtower, May 15, 1957, pp. 302, 303, 304.}

Blood fractions and serums are now OK.

“Are we to consider the injection of serums such as diphtheria toxin antitoxin and blood fractions such as gamma globulin into the blood stream, for the purpose of building up resistance to disease by means of antibodies, the same as the drinking of blood or the taking of blood or blood plasma by means of transfusions? – N.P., United States.

No, it does not seem necessary that we put the two in the same category, although we have done so in times past. While God did not intend for man to contaminate his blood stream by vaccines, serums or blood fractions, doing so does not seem to be included in God’s expressed will forbidding blood as food. It would therefore be a matter of individual judgment whether one accepted such types of medication or not.”
– The Watchtower 09/15/1958 p. 575 Emphasis added.

Even a brief storing of one’s blood is a scriptural violation.

“Consequently, the removal of one’s blood, storing it and later putting it back into the same person would be a violation of the Scriptural principles that govern the handling of blood….if the blood were stored, even for a brief period of time, this would be a violation of the Scriptures…Again, if one’s own blood would have to be withdrawn at intervals and stored until a sufficient amount had accumulated to set a machine in operation, this too would fall under Scriptural prohibition.”
– The Watchtower 10/15/1959 p. 640 Emphasis added.

“Little do men in general appreciate today that they are under the Creator’s law concerning blood and that they will be punished for violating its sacredness. It is no light punishment, but it will call for their very life.”

– The Watchtower 11/01/1959 p. 645

The receiver of a blood transfusion must be cut off.

“In view of the seriousness of taking blood into the human system by a transfusion, would violation of the Holy Scriptures in this regard subject the dedicated, baptized receiver of blood transfusion to being disfellowshiped from the Christian congregation?

The inspired Holy Scriptures answer yes….According to the law of Moses, which set forth shadows of things to come, the receiver of a blood transfusion must be cut off from God’s people by excommunication or disfellowshiping….if in the future he persists in accepting blood transfusions or in donating blood toward the carrying out of this medical practice upon others, he shows that he has really not repented, but is deliberately opposed to God’s requirements. As a rebellious opposer and unfaithful example to fellow members of the Christian congregation he must be cut off therefrom by disfellowshiping.” The Watchtower 01/15/1961 pp. 63, 64

“Since it was forbidden to take the blood of another creature into one’s own body, it would necessarily follow that it would be wrong to give one’s blood to be infused into the body of another person….We cannot drain from our body part of that blood, which represents our life, and still love God with our whole soul, because we have taken away part of ‘our soul – our blood – ‘ and given it to someone else.”

– Blood, Medicine and the Law of God, 1961, pp. 7,8

Blood components (fractions) once again wrong.

“Is it wrong to sustain life by administering a transfusion of blood or plasma or red cells or others of the component parts of the blood? Yes!…The prohibition includes “any blood at all.” (Leviticus 3:17) It has no bearing on the matter that the blood is not introduced to the body through the mouth but through the veins. Nor does the argument that it cannot be classed with intravenous feeding because its use in the body is different carry weight. The fact is that it provides nourishment to the body to sustain life.”
– Blood, Medicine and the Law of God, 1961, pp. 13, 14 Emphasis added

Blood substances and momentary storage are wrong.

“But regardless of the method used to infuse it into the body and regardless of whether it is whole blood or a blood substance that is involved, God’s law remains the same. If it is blood and it is being used to nourish or to sustain life the divine law clearly applies…Mature Christians… are not going to feel that if they have some of their own blood stored for transfusion, it is going to be more acceptable than the blood of another person…Nor are they going to feel that a slight infraction, such as momentary storage of blood in a syringe when it is drawn from one part of the body for injection into another part, is somehow less objectionable than storing it for a longer period of time.”
– Blood, Medicine and the Law of God, 1961, pp. 14, 15 Emphasis added

Acknowledgement of fetal/mother blood transfer

“While there is no direct flow of blood between the mother and the fetus, yet by osmosis there is some transfer of blood between the mother and the baby through the placenta.” – Blood, Medicine and the Law of God, 1961, p. 25

Watchtower speaks for God

“Jehovah’s witnesses do not argue that blood transfusions have not kept alive patients who otherwise might have died. We do not take it upon ourselves to conduct an objective debate of the advisability of the use of blood in medical therapy. The point is not for us to determine. God himself has ruled on the matter, and it would be presumptuous for us, in the name of medicine or humanitarianism or anything else, to open the issue to debate, to pit human wisdom and experience against the law of God….Although Jehovah’s witnesses will not eat blood as a food, nor in medical use consent to any kind of blood transfusion or, in place of it, an infusion of any blood fraction or blood substance, this does not rule out all medical treatment.”
– Blood, Medicine and the Law of God, 1961, pp. 38, 39, 40 Emphasis added

Watchtower better qualified than doctors to give medical advice.

“These facts render completely untenable the claim by any physician that a patient absolutely must have blood transfused in order to live.”
– Blood, Medicine and the Law of God, 1961, pp. 51, 52, 53

Witness parents indoctrinated and made fearful.

“Jehovah’s witnesses…know that if they violate God’s law on blood and the child dies in the process, they have endangered that child’s opportunity for everlasting life in God’s new world.” – Blood, Medicine and the Law of God, 1961, p. 54 (Emphasis added)

God uses the Watchtower to deliver death penalty warning.

“…resorting to blood transfusions even under the most extreme circumstances is not truly lifesaving. It may result in the immediate and very temporary prolongation of life, but that at the cost of eternal life for a dedicated Christian.”
– Blood, Medicine and the Law of God, 1961, p. 55 Emphasis added

Organ donation is OK

“The question of placing one’s body or parts of one’s body at the disposal of men of science or doctors at one’s death for purposes of scientific experimentation or replacement in others is frowned upon by certain religious bodies. However, it does not seem that any Scriptural principle or law is involved. It therefore is something that each individual must decide for himself.”
– The Watchtower 08/01/1961 p. 480

Blood components (fractions) are still wrong.

“Is it wrong to sustain life by infusions of blood or plasma or red cells or the various blood fractions? Yes!”
– The Watchtower 09/15/1961 p. 557 Emphasis added

“…regardless of whether it is whole blood taken from one’s own body or that taken from someone else, whether it is administrated as a transfusion or an injection, the divine law applies.”
– The Watchtower 09/15/1961 p. 558 Emphasis added

“Whether whole or fractional, one’s own or someone else’s, transfused or injected, it is wrong.”
– The Watchtower 09/15/1961 p. 559 Emphasis added

Be afraid of blood. Be very afraid.

“The poisons that produce the impulse to commit suicide, murder, or steal are in the blood.”…”Moral insanity, sexual perversions, repression, inferiority complexes, petty crimes – these often follow in the wake of blood transfusions.”
– The Watchtower 09/15/1961 p. 564 (Emphasis added)

“While it may produce seemingly beneficial results at the moment, it may ultimately take its toll in disease and stillborn children as a direct result of such an ill – advised course. Even if no physical harm results to the patient or to one’s off – spring, violation of the law of God sin God’s new world.”- The Watchtower 09/15/1961 p. 565

Vaccines are an acceptable contamination, blood fractions are wrong, substances made with blood might be OK.

“Since the Bible forbids the eating of blood, how are Christians to view the use of serums and vaccines? Has the Society changed its viewpoint on this? – J. D., U.S.A.

The Bible is very clear that blood could properly be used only on the altar; otherwise it was to be poured out on the ground. (Lev. 17:11 – 13) The entire modern medical practice involving the use of blood is objectionable from the Christian standpoint. Therefore the taking of a blood transfusion, or, in lieu of that, the infusing of some blood fraction to sustain one’s life is wrong. As to the use of vaccines and other substances that may in some way involve the use of blood in their preparation, it should not be concluded that the Watch Tower Society endorses these and says that the practice is right and proper. However, vaccination is a virtually unavoidable practice in many segments of modern society, and the Christian may find some comfort under the circumstances in the fact that this use is not in actuality a feeding or nourishing process, which was specifically forbidden when that man was not to eat blood, but it is a contamination of the human system. So, as was stated in The Watchtower of September 15, 1958, page 575, “It would therefore be a matter of individual judgment whether one accepted such types of medication or not.” That is still the Society’s viewpoint on the matter. – Gal. 6:5.

However, the mature Christian is not going to try to find in this a justification for as many other medical uses of blood substances as possible. To the contrary, recognizing the objectionableness of the entire process, he is going to stay as far away from it as he can, requesting other treatment where such is available.” – The Watchtower 11/01/1961 p. 670 Emphasis added

“Are idolatry and fornication damaging to the Christian personality? Disastrously so! So too is the taking in of blood, whether through blood foods or blood transfusions…Transfusing blood, then, may amount to transfusing tainted personality traits.”

– The Watchtower 05/15/1962 p. 302 Emphasis added

Another reversal – All blood products are wrong.

“As to blood transfusions, he knows from his study of the Bible and the publications of the Watch Tower Society that this is an unscriptural practice. (Gen. 9:4; Acts 15:28,29) Now it is up to him to carry his own load of responsibility in applying what the Scriptures have to say on this matter. One day he may go to the hospital for surgery. There he explains his position to the doctor. “All right,” the doctor says, “then we will use plasma.” Or the doctor may tell him, “What you need is red cells to carry oxygen. We have red cells that we can use. How about that?” The Christian may not be well versed in medical matters. Shall he call his congregation servant or the Society? That should not be necessary, if he is prepared to carry his own load of responsibility. He need only ask the doctor: “From what was the plasma taken?” “How are the red cells obtained?” “Where did you get this substance?” If the answer is “Blood,” he knows what course to take, for it is not just whole blood but anything that is derived from blood and used to sustain life or strengthen one that comes under this principle. Someone may argue with you that the Scriptures are referring to the “eating” of blood but that blood is not taken into the digestive system during a transfusion. True, but the fact is that by a direct route the blood serves the same purpose as food when taken into the stomach, namely, strengthening the body or sustaining life. It is not the same as a vaccine given to a healthy person to build him up, just as food is given to nourish him.”
– The Watchtower 02/15/1963 pp. 123, 124 Emphasis added

Blood serums spoken of negatively

“…an effective human serum against lockjaw has been developed…Now some of it will be from human blood!”
– Awake! 05/08/1964 p. 30 Emphasis added

“Some may claim that a transfusion is not really drinking blood, so it would be different. But such argument is not valid for conscientious persons, because the Bible says to “abstain” from blood, regardless of how it is taken into the body. If a doctor advised you to abstain from drinking alcohol, would you inject the alcohol into your bloodstream instead? If he told you to abstain from drinking coffee, would you inject it into your body? If you were warned to abstain from smoking, would you take the nicotine and inject it into your veins? Of course, these actions would be senseless. So, too, a Christian has the right, when he reads God’s law warning him to abstain from blood, to do just that – abstain. Injecting the blood directly into his bloodstream is hardly ‘abstaining’ from blood.”
– Awake! 09/08/1964 p. 24

“In the event of a transfusion or other therapeutic measure of that type without consent, the aggrieved party would have the right to sue in the civil courts. Transfusion without consent is technically a ‘battery,’ a tort or civil wrong, and a trespass to the person. The first basic essential then of blood transfusion from the legal aspect is that it can only properly be carried out with real [explicit] consent.”
– Awake! 09/08/1964 p. 25

A softer position on blood serums.

“The Society does not endorse any of the modern medical uses of blood, such as the uses of blood in connection with inoculations. Inoculation is, however, a virtually unavoidable circumstance in some segments of society, and so we leave it up to the conscience of the individual to determine whether to submit to inoculation with a serum containing blood fractions for the purpose of building up antibodies to fight against disease. If a person did this, he may derive comfort under the circumstances from the fact that he is not directly eating blood, which is expressly forbidden in God’s Word. It is not used for food or to replace lost blood. Here the Christian must make his own decision based on conscience. Therefore, whether a Christian will submit to inoculation with a serum, or whether doctors or nurses who are Christians will administer such, is for personal decision. Christians in the medical profession are individually responsible for employment decisions….In harmony with Deuteronomy 14:21, the administering of blood upon request to worldly persons is left to the Christian doctor’s own conscience. This is similar to the situation facing a Christian butcher or grocer who must decide whether he can conscientiously sell blood sausage to a worldly person.”
– The Watchtower 11/15/1964 pp. 680, 681, 682, 683 Emphasis added

“The fact that serums are prepared from blood makes them undesirable to Christians because of the Biblical law against the use of blood. However, since they do not involve the use of blood as a food to nourish the body, which the Bible directly forbids, their use is a matter that must be decided by each person according to his conscience.”

– Awake!, 08/22/1965 p. 18 Emphasis added

Vaccines a personal decision, not contamination.

“The question as to whether you and your children should be vaccinated is something for personal decision. You must decide on the basis of what you feel is the best course for the health of your children as well as for your own health. No one should be criticized for his decision. In view of the many risks involved with vaccinations, the course of wisdom seems to be one of caution.”
– Awake! 08/22/1965 p. 20 Emphasis added

Organ Transplants are cannibalistic!

“Is there any Scriptural objection to donating one’s body for use in medical research or to accepting organs for transplant from such a source? – W. L., U.S.A.

…removing the organ and replacing it directly with an organ from another human, this is simply a shortcut. Those who submit to such operations are thus living off the flesh of another human. That is cannibalistic. However, in allowing man to eat animal flesh Jehovah God did not grant permission for humans to try to perpetuate their lives by cannibalistically taking into their bodies human flesh, whether chewed or in the form of whole organs or body parts taken from others.”
– The Watchtower 11/15/1967 p. 702 Emphasis added

Parent’s must prevent blood transfusions.

“Whereas the Mosaic law with its provisions about fat was abolished when Christ died as a sacrifice, the Apostolic Christian Council of Jerusalem reaffirmed God’s law to Noah and applied it to the true Christian congregation. Christian fathers are obliged to teach this law and enforce it with regard to their minor children, for by God’s law the fathers are the spiritual, religious guardians as well as the domestic parental caretakers of their underage children. The Christian witnesses of Jehovah today recognize that fact and follow the divine rule of conduct. They endeavor to keep their children from violating God’s law to Noah and also the Jerusalem Council’s decree. (Eph. 6:4) Rightly they try to protect their children from taking foreign blood into them.”
– The Watchtower 12/01/1967 p. 724

“There are those, such as the Christian witnesses of Jehovah, who consider all transplants between humans as cannibalism; and is not the utilizing of the flesh of another human for one’s own life cannibalistic?”

– Awake! 06/08/1968 p. 21

Hemodilution is Wrong!

“Operating with Stored Blood

Men of science are constantly developing new methods for performing surgical operations. The Journal of the American Medical Association, dated November 15, 1971, described a procedure for open-heart surgery that employs sever hemodilution. Early in the operation a large quantity of blood is drawn off into a plastic blood bag. Though the bag is left connected to the patient by a tube, the removed and stored blood is no longer circulating in the patient’s system. It is replaced with a plasma volume expander, which dilutes the blood remaining in the veins and which gradually dissipates during the operative procedure. Near the conclusion of the operation the blood storage bag is elevated, and the stored blood is reinfused into the patient….. These techniques are noteworthy to Christians, since they run counter to God’s Word. The Bible shows that blood is not to be taken out of a body, stored and then later reused.”
– Awake 4/8/72 29-30 Watching the World – Emphasis added.

An even softer position on Blood serums. Now a matter for personal decision.

“Serums or antitoxins are used. These are obtained from the blood of humans or animals that have already developed the antibodies for fighting the disease. Usually the blood is processed and the blood fraction (gamma globulin) containing the antibodies is separated and made into a serum. When this is injected into the patient it gives him temporary passive immunity. This is temporary, for the antibodies do not become a permanent part of his blood; when these pass out of his body he is no longer immune to the disease. It can thus be seen that serums (unlike vaccines) contain a blood fraction, though minute….What, then, of the use of a serum containing only a minute fraction of blood and employed to supply an auxiliary defense against some infection and not employed to perform the life – sustaining function that blood normally carries out? We believe that here the conscience of each Christian must decide.”
– The Watchtower 06/01/1974 pp. 351, 352

“Decades ago, the transfusing of one person’s blood into another’s veins became a common practice. Then the transplanting of organscame into vogue. Where might this all lead?…men today contemplate wholesale ‘cannibalizing‘ of bodies. And even that seems too mild a term…This shows where things can lead once men begin to violate Bible standards, including its prohibition of taking the blood of another creature into one’s own body.”

– The Watchtower 10/15/1974 p. 684 Emphasis added

Hemophilia treatments (Factor VII & IX) are wrong!

“Hemophilia Treatment Hazard

Certain clotting “factors” derived from blood are now in wide use for the treatment of hemophilia, a disorder causing uncontrollable bleeding. However, those given this treatment face another deadly hazard: the Swiss medical weekly Schweizer Med Wochenschrift reports that almost 40 percent of 113 hemophiliacs studied had cases of hepatitis. “All these patients had received whole blood, plasma, or blood derivatives containing [the factors],” notes the report. Of course, true Christians do not use this potentially dangerous treatment, heeding the Bible’s command to ‘abstain from blood.’”
– Awake! 02/22/1975 p. 30 Emphasis added

“Could God’s law on blood be set aside in times of emergency? The Bible answers, No. There was no special dispensation for times of stress. We can see this from what occurred with some soldiers of Israel in the days of King Saul. Famished after a long battle, they slaughtered sheep and cattle and “fell to eating along with the blood.” They were hungry and were not deliberately eating blood, but in their haste to eat the meat they did not see to it that the animals were properly bled. Did the fact that this seemed to be an “emergency” excuse their course? On the contrary, their God – appointed king recognized their action as ‘sinning against Jehovah by eating along with the blood.’” – 1 Samuel 14:31 – 35. – Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Question of Blood, 1977, p. 9

“There is no denying that in Bible times God’s law had particular application to consuming blood as food. Intravenous administration of blood was not then practiced. But, even though the Bible did not directly discuss modern medical techniques involving blood, it did in fact anticipate and cover these in principle. Note, for example, the command that Christians “keep abstaining…from blood.” (Acts 15:29) Nothing is there stated that would justify making a distinction between taking blood into the mouth and taking it into the blood vessels. And, really, is there in principle any basic difference?”

– Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Question of Blood, 1977, p. 18

Blood transfusions are organ transplants.

“…whether having religious objection to blood transfusions or not, many a person might decline blood simply because it is essentially an organ transplant that at best is only partially compatible with his own blood.”
– Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Question of Blood, 1977, p. 41 (See “ORGAN TRANSPLANTS”, below) Emphasis added

…”a bottle of blood is a bomb.”…”…donating blood can be compared to sending a loaded gun to an unsuspecting or unprepared person….”

– Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Question of Blood, 1977, p. 41

“Does this brief consideration of only some of the medical risks of blood mean that Jehovah’s Witnesses object to transfusions primarily for medical reasons? No, that is not the case. The fundamental reason why they do not accept blood transfusions is because of what the Bible says. Theirs is basically a religious objection, not a medical one. Nevertheless, the fact that there are serious risks in taking blood simply underscores the reasonableness, even from a medical standpoint, of the position that Jehovah’s Witnesses take.”

– Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Question of Blood, 1977, pp. 48, 49 Emphasis added

“Doctors know that alternative solutions are not really “blood substitutes.” Why not? Because the hemoglobin of the red cells delivers oxygen throughout the body. Nonblood solutions do not contain this.” – Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Question of Blood, 1977, p. 51

“…God’s command to ‘abstain from blood’ rules out ingesting it by the mouth as well as through injections into the veins.”

– The Watchtower 06/15/1978, p. 24

All Blood serums are a matter of personal decision! Hemophilia treatments (Factor VII & IX) are OK.

“Are serum injections compatible with Christian belief?

What, however, about accepting serum injections to fight against disease, such as are employed for diphtheria, tetanus, viral hepatitis, rabies, hemophilia and Rh incompatibility? …This seems to fall into a ‘gray area.’…Hence, we have taken the position that this question must be resolved by each individual on a personal basis….How concerned should a Christian be about blood in food products? …This may call for a degree of care….Christians, individually, must decide what to do.”
– The Watchtower 06/15/1978 pp. 29, 30, 31. See the opposite view in Blood, Medicine and the Law of God, 1961, p. 11; Awake! 02/22/1975 p. 30 Emphasis added

Organ Transplants are no longer Cannibalism!

“Should congregation action be taken if a baptized Christian accepts a human organ transplant, such as a cornea or a kidney?

Regarding the transplantation of human tissue or bone from one human to another, this is a matter for conscientious decision by each one of Jehovah’s Witnesses.”
– The Watchtower 03/15/1980 p. 31

Albumin is now OK, if you’re reading close.

“While these verses are not stated in medical terms, Witnesses view them as ruling out transfusion of whole blood, packed RBCs, and plasma, as well as WBC and platelet administration. However, Witnesses religious understanding does not absolutely prohibit the use of components such as albumin, immune globulins, and hemophiliac preparations; each Witness must decide individually if he can accept these.”
– Awake 06/22/82 p. 25

The battle cry remains the same.

“So too abstaining from blood means not taking it into your body at all.”
– Live Forever p. 216 – 1982

Hemodilution now mentioned favorably!

“It is with this in mind, and not just to honor the requests of Jehovah’s Witnesses, that Denton Cooley [of Houston, Texas] has performed open-heart operations now for over seven years, limiting transfusions wherever possible by substituting hemodilution, diluting the patient’s blood with a glucose and heparin solution. If this method has given excellent results since then . . . one wonders why it has not been extended to present-day surgery.”
– Awake 83 3/22/83 p.16

“The doctor may suggest that you have some of your own blood withdrawn and stored for use, if necessary, during a later operation. Would you agree? Remember that, according to God’s Law given through Moses, blood removed from a creature was to be poured out on the ground. (Deut. 12:24) We today are not under the Law code, but the underlying message is that blood is sacred and, when removed from a creature’s body, is to be returned to God by pouring it out on his footstool, the earth. (Compare Matthew 5:34, 35.) So how could it be proper to store your blood (even for a relatively brief time) and then put it back into your body?”

– United in Worship of the Only True God, 1983, p. 158 Emphasis added

“But what if the doctor says that, during surgery or in the course of other treatment, your blood would be channeled through equipment outside your body, and then, right back in? Would you consent? Some have felt that, with a clear conscience, they could permit this, provided that the equipment was primed with a nonblood fluid. They have viewed the external equipment as an extension of their circulatory system. Of course, situations vary, and it is you that must decide.”

– United in Worship of the Only True God, 1983, p. 158 {Compare this to 1961, above.}

“Loyalty to Jehovah ought to make us resist {blood} resolutely, because we choose to obey God rather than men.”

– United in Worship of the Only True God, 1983, p. 159

“To persons who do not yet know Jehovah, arguments in favor of blood transfusions may at times seem to show high regard for the sacredness of life. But we do not forget that many who argue in this way also condone the destruction of life by means of abortion.”

– United in Worship of the Only True God, 1983, p. 159

“Could a Christian accept a bone-marrow transplant, since blood is made in the marrow? Doctors perform most bone-marrow transplants by withdrawing some marrow from a donor (often a near relative) and then injecting or transfusing it into the sick patient….Of course, marrow used in human marrow transplants is from live donors, and the withdrawn marrow may have some blood with it. Hence, the Christian would have to resolve for himself whether – to him – the bone-marrow graft would amount to simple flesh or would be unbled tissue. Additionally, since a marrow graft is a form of transplant, the Scriptural aspects of human organ transplants should be considered. See “Questions From Readers” in our issue of March 15, 1980….a personal decision has to be made on this matter…” – The Watchtower 05/15/1984 p. 31 Emphasis added

“….our position on blood is nonnegotiable.”

– The Watchtower 04/15/1985 p. 13

Hemophiliac treatments require lots of stored blood.

“Each batch of Factor VIII is made from plasma that is pooled from as many as 2,500 blood donors.” (The Watchtower, June 15, 1985, p. 30)

“Dr. Margaret Hilgartner of the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center said: “A severe hemophiliac is exposed to the blood of 800,000 to 1 million different people every year.””

– Awake! Oct. 8, 1988, p. 11

Brief storage of blood outside the body is now OK, and so is Hemodilution!

“Do Jehovah’s Witnesses allow the use of autologous blood (Autotransfusion), such as by having their own blood stored and later put back into them?

This clearly rules out one common use of autologous blood – preoperative collection, storage, and later infusion of a patient’s own blood….Jehovah’s Witnesses, though, DO NOT accept this procedure….In a somewhat different process, autologous blood can be diverted from a patient to a hemodialysis device (artificial kidney) or a heart – lung pump. The blood flows out through a tube to the artificial organ that pumps and filters (or oxygenates) it, and then it returns to the patient’s circulatory system . Some Christians have permitted this if the equipment is not primed with stored blood….What, though, if the flow of such autologous blood stopped briefly, such as if a heart – lung machine is shut down while the surgeon checks the integrity of coronary – bypass grafts?…a Christian having to decide whether to permit his blood to be diverted through some external device ought to focus, not primarily on whether a brief interruption in flow might occur, but on whether he conscientiously felt that the diverted blood would still be part of his circulatory system.

Galatians 6:5. What about induced Hemodilution?…Some Christians have accepted this, others have refused. Again, each individual must decide whether he would consider the blood diverted in such a Hemodilution circuit to be similar to that flowing through a heart/lung machine, or he would think of it as blood that left him and therefore should be disposed of. A final example of autologous blood use involves recovering and reusing blood during surgery. Equipment is used to aspirate blood from the wound, pump it out through a filter (to remove clots or debris) or a centrifuge (to eliminate fluids), and then direct it back into the patient. Many Christians have been very concerned whether in such salvage there might be any brief interruption of blood flow. Yet, as mentioned, a more Biblical concern is whether the blood escaping into a surgical wound is still part of the person. Does the fact that the blood has flowed from his circulatory system into the wound mean that it should be ‘poured out,’ like the blood mentioned at Leviticus 17:13? If an individual believes so, he would probably refuse to permit such blood salvage. Yet, another Christian (who also would not let blood flow from him, be stored for some time, and later be put back into him) might conclude that a circuit with recovery from a surgical site and ongoing reinfusion. would not violate his trained conscience….When faced with a question in this area, each Christian is responsible to obtain details from medical personnel and then make a personal decision….While modern medicine might be able to help us extend our lives for a time, we certainly would not want to extend our present life by doing anything that would violate our Christian conscience or would displease our Life – Giver.” – The Watchtower 03/01/1989 pp. 30, 31 {compare Awake 4/8/72 29-30 & Blood, Medicine and the Law of God – 1961} Emphasis added

Satan wants us to have blood.

“The faith of Jehovah’s Witnesses is under attack from all sides _ by the clergy of Christendom who hate the Kingdom message we take from house to house, by apostates who collaborate with Christendom’s clergy, by medical authorities who want to impose blood transfusions on us and our children, by atheistic scientists who reject belief in God and the creation, and by those who try to force us to compromise our neutrality. All this opposition is orchestrated by Satan, the ruler of darkness and ignorance, the enemy of accurate knowledge.”
– The Watchtower, Dec. 1, 1989, p. 12; bold added)

“Those who respect life as a gift from the Creator do not try to sustain life by taking in blood.”

– How Can Blood Save Your Life?, 1990, p. 6

“…a transfusion is a tissue transplant.”

– How Can Blood Save Your Life?, 1990, p. 8 Emphasis added

“A healthy person may tolerate a 50 percent loss of red blood cell mass and be almost entirely asymptotic if blood loss occurs over a period of time.”

– How Can Blood Save Your Life?, 1990, p. 14

“The conscience of some Witnesses permits them to accept organ transplants if done without blood.”

– How Can Blood Save Your Life?, 1990, p. 16

“Blood…is the most dangerous substance we use in medicine.”

– How Can Blood Save Your Life?, 1990, p. 19

“…to force blood on a Christian would be the equivalent of forcible sex – rape.”

– How Can Blood Save Your Life?, 1990, p. 20, Emphasis added

“Each year thousands die as a result of transfusions; multitudes more get very sick and face long – term consequences.”

– How Can Blood Save Your Life?, 1990, p. 22

The writer/editor of the blood brochure seems to not be aware that intraopertive collection and induced hemodilution is now OK.

“Witnesses believe that blood removed from the body should be disposed of, so they do not accept autotransfusion of predeposited blood. Techniques for intraoperative collection or hemodilution that involve blood storage are objectionable to them.”
– How Can Blood Save Your Life?, 1990, p. 27 Emphasis added.

“Do Jehovah’s Witnesses accept injections of a blood fraction…Each must resolve the matter personally before God.”

– The Watchtower 06/01/1990 pp. 30, 31 Emphasis added

“Do Jehovah’s Witnesses accept injections of a blood fraction, such as immune globulin or albumin? Some do, believing that the Scriptures do not clearly rule out accepting an injection of a small fraction, or component, taken from blood….In view of the command to ‘abstain from blood,’ some Christians have felt that they should not accept an immune globulin (protein) injection, even though it was only a blood fraction. Their stand is clear and simple – no blood component in any form or amount. Others have felt that a serum (antitoxin), such as immune globulin, containing only a tiny fraction of a donor’s blood plasma and used to bolster their defense against disease, is not the same as a life – sustaining blood transfusion. So their consciences may not forbid them to take immune globulin or similar fractions….That some protein fractions from the plasma do move naturally into the blood system of another individual (the fetus) may be another consideration when a Christian is deciding whether he will accept immune globulin, albumin, or similar injections of plasma fractions. One person may feel that he in good conscience can; another may conclude that he cannot. Each must resolve the matter personally before God.”

– The Watchtower 06/01/1990 p. 30 Emphasis added

“He describes blood as “the most dangerous substance we use in medicine.”

– The Watchtower 07/15/1990 p. 30

“Is it proper for a Christian to receive an injection of a blood fraction, such as immune globulin or albumin? Responding to God’s law, Christians do not accept blood transfusions of the major blood components – plasma, red cells, white cells, or platelets. Some of Jehovah’s Witnesses, however, have conscientiously felt able to receive an injection of one of the small protein fractions of the plasma. Interestingly, some of these proteins naturally pass from the bloodstream of a pregnant woman to the separate blood system of her fetus.”

– The Watchtower 08/15/1990 p. 29

“In 1979 Mr. and Mrs. Malette of Quebec, Canada, were involved in a car accident…she was carrying a signed Medical Directive/Release Card, clearly refusing blood transfusions…The doctor…ignored those instructions…Mrs. Malette sued the doctor and the hospital…she was awarded $20,000.”

– Awake! 09/08/1990 p. 31

“The evidence mounts that blood transfusions are harmful to the immune system.”

– Awake! 11/22/1990 p. 12

In another case a 16 – month – old baby with meningitis was becoming more anemic. As is often the case, the anemia was due to many blood samples being routinely taken for testing purposes. [Compare to How Can Blood Save Your Life?, 1990, p. 14, which says: “A healthy person may tolerate a 50 percent loss of red blood cell mass and be almost entirely asymptotic if blood loss occurs over a period of time.”]

– 1991 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses, p. 37

“…Jehovah’s Witnesses abstain from blood not because it is unhealthy but because accepting it is unholy.” – The Watchtower 01/15/1991 p. 29

“The reality is that blood transfusions are fraught with many risks. They can even be fatal. – The Watchtower 06/15/1991 p. 10

“Appreciation for this value helps Jehovah’s Witnesses to be resolved not to misuse blood, even if a physician sincerely claims that a transfusion is vital. He may believe that potential benefits of a transfusion outweigh the health risks posed by the blood itself. But the Christian cannot ignore an even graver risk, the risk of losing God’s approval by agreeing to a misuse of blood.”

– The Watchtower 06/15/1991 p. 15

“If you have children, are you sure that they agree with and can explain the Bible – based stand on transfusions? Do they truly believe this stand to be God’s will? Are they convinced that to violate God’s law would be so serious that it could put at risk a Christian’s prospect for everlasting life? Wise parents will review these matters with their children, whether they be very young or almost adults. Parents may hold practice sessions in which each youth faces questions that might be posed by a judge or a hospital official. The goal is not to have a youth repeat by rote selected facts or answers. It is more important that they know what they believe, and why. Of course, at a court hearing, the parents or others might present information about the risks of blood and the availability of alternative therapies. But what a judge or an official would likely seek to learn from speaking with our children is whether they maturely understand their situation and options and also whether they have their own values and firm convictions.”

– The Watchtower 06/15/1991 p. 18 Emphasis added

“How strenuously should a Christian resist a blood transfusion that has been ordered or authorized by a court? God’s law must be obeyed!…if a court – authorized transfusion seemed likely, a Christian might choose to avoid being accessible for such a violation of God’s law….If a Christian did put forth very strenuous efforts to avoid a violation of God’s law on blood, authorities might consider him a law-breaker or make him liable to prosecution. If punishment did result, the Christian could view it as suffering for the sake of righteousness.”

– The Watchtower 06/15/1991 p. 31 Emphasis added

“Currently a small amount of albumin is also used in injections of the synthetic hormone EPO (erythropoietin). Some Witnesses have accepted injections of EPO because it can hasten red blood cell production and so may relieve a physician of a feeling that a blood transfusion might be needed….As noted, many Witnesses have not objected to accepting an injection that contains a small quantity of albumin.”

-The Watchtower 10/1/94 p. 31

“Is the RhIG shot made from blood?

Yes. The antibodies that make up the shot are harvested from the blood of individuals who have become immunized or sensitized to the Rh factor…. .Genetically-engineered RhIG not derived from blood may become available in the future.

Can the Christian conscientiously take RhIG?

….This journal and its companion, The Watchtower, have commented consistently on the matter*. ….some Christians have concluded that to them it does not seem a violation of Bible law…” The decision whether to take RhIG remains finally, though, a matter for each Christian couple to decide conscientiously.”

Footnote:

*See The Watchtower of June 1, 1990, pages 30, 31; June 15, 1978, pages 30, 31; and How Can Blood Save Your Life?, published by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc. – Awake 12/8/94 p. 27. Awake 12/8/94 p. 23-26 -Emphasis added

Note: The writer of this article has forgotten that the RhIG injection was forbidden until 1974, and still discouraged until 1978. Incidentally, the injection requires that your blood be cross matched and typed, and you receive the same band on your wrist that other blood transfusion recipients wear. You and your baby may accept the shot or any of the other blood serums, hemophiliac preparations or albumin. The Watchtower says “Go ahead and dip into the blood supply if you care to. But don’t even think about contributing to the blood supply.”

Call it an injection, but make no mistake, it’s a transfusion.

“The doctors decided to provide alternative treatment. Plasma was extracted from the blood, and thus antibodies attacking my blood cells and kidney tissues were removed. I was then given injections of Ringer’s solution together with albumin. I had discussed this treatment with the doctors and gave them written permission to administer it.”
– Awake!, 02/22/1995 p. 21

Some autologous blood transfusions spoken of positively.

“Because of such dangers, the Center for Bloodless Surgery utilizes alternatives to blood transfusions, including the reinfusion. of a patient’s own blood, a technique that some Witnesses may find unobjectionable under certain circumstances.”
– The Watchtower 08/01/1995 p. 30

“Do Jehovah’s Witnesses accept any medical products derived from blood?

The fundamental answer is that Jehovah’s Witnesses do not accept blood. We firmly believe that God’s law on blood is not open to reform to fit shifting opinions. Still, new issues arise because blood can now be processed into four primary components and fractions of those components….Just as blood plasma can be a source of various fractions, the other primary components (red cells, white cells, platelets) can be processed to isolate smaller parts…some Christians reject such products, just as they reject transfusions of whole blood or of its four primary components. Their sincere, conscientious stand should be respected. Other Christians decide differently…they might allow a physician to treat them with a fraction extracted from the primary components….when it comes to fractions of any of the primary components, each Christian, after careful and prayerful meditation, must conscientiously decide for himself.” – The Watchtower 6-15-2000 p.29-31

To the casual reader it would appear that nothing has changed with this article. That “Christians”, meaning Jehovah’s Witnesses, have always had a conscientious free choice regarding blood fractions. Obviously, the earlier quotes paint a very different picture. It is in just this manner the Watchtower Society generally announces such changes. In this particular case, this Questions from Readers article announces the most sweeping reforms to the Watchtower’s Blood Policy in over three decades. In one fell swoop, Jehovah’s Witnesses may now freely elect to use not only plasma proteins but also all other blood fractions. This change accomplished at least two things. One it deflected criticism from AJWRB regarding the inconsistency of the plasma policy and it opened the door to the use of the single largest component of blood – hemoglobin.

A necessary step to permit oxygen carrying based blood substitutes that are made from Hemoglobin like Hemopure. These products even now remain under development. Their use has been fraught with difficulty and complications. One thing remains clear, however. This landmark change in the policy of the Watchtower Society now permits 100% of blood. Everything may be used if it is fractionated.

Concluding Remarks of AJWRB:

As one examines the ever-changing doctrines of the Watchtower regarding vaccines, organ transplants, blood serums, blood fractions, hemophiliac treatments, albumin, and storage of blood outside the body. It is only reasonable to wonder whether Jehovah God changed his mind so many times, or whether we are simply dealing with the befuddled policies of a group of men who know very little about science or medicine.

The Watchtower has stated:

“It should be expected that the Lord would have a means of communicating to his people on the earth, and he has clearly shown that the magazine called The Watch Tower is used for that purpose.“
1939 YEARBOOK OF JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES, P. 85

It is up to you to decide whether you personally can accept such a claim based upon the available evidence.

Bibliography

None

Footnotes

None

Citations

American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Elder L. Blood, Vaccines and Organ Transplants. October 2023; 12(1). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/blood-vaccines-organs

American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Elder, L. (2023, November 1). Blood, Vaccines and Organ Transplants. In-Sight Publishing. 12(1).

Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): ELDER, L. Blood, Vaccines and Organ Transplants.In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 12, n. 1, 2023.

Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Elder, Lee. 2023. “Blood, Vaccines and Organ Transplants.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (Winter). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/blood-vaccines-organs.

Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Elder, L “Blood, Vaccines and Organ Transplants.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (November 2023). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/blood-vaccines-organs.

Harvard: Elder, L. (2023) ‘Blood, Vaccines and Organ Transplants’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 12(1). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/blood-vaccines-organs>.

Harvard (Australian): Elder, L 2023, ‘Blood, Vaccines and Organ Transplants’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/blood-vaccines-organs.

Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Elder, Lee. “Blood, Vaccines and Organ Transplants.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.12, no. 1, 2023, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/blood-vaccines-organs.

Vancouver/ICMJE: Lee E. Blood, Vaccines and Organ Transplants [Internet]. 2023 Nov; 12(1). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/blood-vaccines-organs.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

2023-11-01

Next Financial Crisis: Private Equity

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Journal Founding: August 2, 2012

Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 12

Issue Numbering: 1

Section: B

Theme Type: Idea

Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”

Theme Part: 29

Formal Sub-Theme: None.

Individual Publication Date: November 1, 2023

Issue Publication Date: January 1, 2024

Author(s): Sam Vaknin (Brussels Morning)

Author(s) Bio(s): Sam Vaknin is the author of Malignant Self-love: Narcissism Revisited as well as many other books and ebooks about topics in psychology, relationships, philosophy, economics, international affairs, and award-winning short fiction. He is former Visiting Professor of Psychology, Southern Federal University, Rostov-on-Don, Russia and Professor of Finance and Psychology in CIAPS (Commonwealth for International Advanced and Professional Studies). He was the Editor-in-Chief of Global Politician and served as a columnist for Central Europe Review, PopMatters, eBookWeb, and Bellaonline, and as a United Press International (UPI) Senior Business Correspondent. He was the editor of mental health and Central East Europe categories in The Open Directory and Suite101. His YouTube channels garnered 60,000,000 views and 305,000 subscribers. Visit Sam’s Web site: http://www.narcissistic-abuse.com.

Word Count: 809

Image Credit: Sam Vaknin.

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369-6885

*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*

Keywords: assets, Brussels Morning, equity, finance, Investment Advisers Act, IPO, LBO, private equity, Sam Vaknin, stocks, Wall Street.

Next Financial Crisis: Private Equity

What have we learned from the last banking and financial crisis a mere 15 years ago? Nothing it would seem. Another meltdown is brewing in full sight and no one is batting an eyelid, possibly because a lot of slush is greasing helpful political and regulatory wheels.

The culprit this time is known as private equity. It is managed in funds by financial advisory firms. The directors of these companies – and the firms themselves – invest about 1% of the capital of the funds and hurry to retrieve their “investment” via an assortment of exorbitant fees, charges, and commissions.

Pension funds and other institutional investors are on the hook for the remaining 99% of the capital. The money is ploughed into operating businesses, but this is where the similarity to the much more sober index funds ends.

While index funds buy incremental lots of stocks over many years or decades and diversify their portfolios, private equity funds take over entire targets, lock, stock, and often sinking barrel.

Worse still, private equity funds borrow huge dollops of money to complete these dubious transactions, known as LBOs (leveraged buyouts). This is why most of them are also dubbed “buyout funds”.

While index funds are heavily regulated, shockingly, private equity funds are subject to no regulatory oversight, however cursory. Private equity advisors operate under toothless and nebulous laws such as the Investment Advisers Act in the USA.

Like venture capital and hedge funds, private equity is a cornucopia of rapacious incentive fees, usually a 2-3% management fee, regardless of how dismal the performance is plus 20% of the profits, regardless of how fictitious these are. Such fees are illegal in all other parts of the money management and investment industry.

Moreover: index funds are obligated to provide daily liquidity by redeeming their shares. Private equity funds lock capital investments for many years with no clear or promulgated exit strategy, essentially a hostage-taking situation.

Most such funds have a theoretical termination date, an obligation to liquidate in 7-12 years. But this, too, is a mirage: they simply roll over the invested capital to newly formed private equity funds (secondary or continuation buyouts). In other circles, this would fit the bill of a Ponzi scheme.

Even worse: the very word “equity” is misleading in the context of private equity. The funds seek to offload their purchases in order to realize a profit and so are never long-term, truly committed investors. The median ownership time is 6 years. These funds actually resemble the pernicious “flippers” of Wall Street, albeit they flip their holdings more glacially.

The erstwhile exit strategies of an IPO (initial public offering) or through a sale to a public company are now rare. In effect, possession is cycled between private equity firms in kind of offshore shell game.

To believe the self-serving propaganda of these secretive firms and funds, they provide a valuable service: strategic and operational advice and an optimizing form of restructuring for a swathe of suboptimal businesses. They also afford favorable albeit somewhat incestuous access to the financial sector: banks, hedge funds, insurance companies, and other lenders.

But the truth is that most of these transactions are glorified forms of privileged insider trading. The new management is focused on enhancing the cash flow rather than on maximizing internal value, relations with stakeholders, and product or service quality. They invariably downsize brutally, axe capital investments, and cheapen product inputs.

Typically, a single firm runs multiple private equity funds in various stages of the funds’s life cycle. The implicit leverage is stratospheric and the funds cross-amplify it with their internal transactions. This is known, ominously, as a private equity complex.

The USA is always the harbinger of bad tidings such as asset bubbles. The private equity industry is no exception. About 35% of corporate equity in the States is now outside of public companies and, therefore, invisible and unregulated.

Worse still: the cancer of private equity is now metastasizing in Europe and throughout Asia and eating into more traditional pecuniary sectors and activities, such as broker-dealerships, real estate financing (including mortgages), and credit (lending).

In 2022, private equity funds in the USA alone raised 1 trillion USD and managed a whopping 12 trillion USD in assets. This is equal to 20% of total corporate equity or 5 times the ratio at the turn of this century, increasing by a compounded annual rate of 15%. The economy as a whole grew by a mere 3.6%, annually compounded. The discrepancy between these growth rates reflects, of course, leveraged debt.

The private equity industry is a nuclear timebomb primed to explode at any minute and take us all down with it. Such a conflagration will dwarf the disintegration of 2008-9. Yet, not a single politician or analyst is warning against these new excesses. Such deafening silence is enough to render one a conspiracy theorist.

Sam Vaknin, Ph.D. is a former economic advisor to governments (Nigeria, Sierra Leone, North Macedonia), served as the editor in chief of “Global Politician” and as a columnist in various print and international media including “Central Europe Review” and United Press International (UPI). He taught psychology and finance in various academic institutions in several countries (http://www.narcissistic-abuse.com/cv.html )

Bibliography

None

Footnotes

None

Citations

American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Vaknin S. Next Financial Crisis: Private Equity. November 2023; 12(1). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/private-equity

American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Vaknin, S. (2023, November 1). Next Financial Crisis: Private Equity. In-Sight Publishing. 12(1).

Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): VAKNIN, S. Next Financial Crisis: Private Equity. In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 12, n. 1, 2023.

Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Vaknin, Sam. 2023. “Next Financial Crisis: Private Equity.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (Winter). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/private-equity.

Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Vaknin, S “Next Financial Crisis: Private Equity.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (November 2023).http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/private-equity.

Harvard: Vaknin, S. (2023) ‘Next Financial Crisis: Private Equity’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 12(1). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/private-equity>.

Harvard (Australian): Vaknin, S 2023, ‘Next Financial Crisis: Private Equity’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/private-equity&gt;.

Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Vaknin, Sam. “Next Financial Crisis: Private Equity.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.12, no. 1, 2023, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/private-equity.

Vancouver/ICMJE: Sam V. Next Financial Crisis: Private Equity [Internet]. 2023 Nov; 12(1). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/private-equity.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

2023-11-01

Autobiographical Sketch of Richard’s False Personality

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Journal Founding: August 2, 2012

Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 12

Issue Numbering: 1

Section: B

Theme Type: Idea

Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”

Theme Part: 29

Formal Sub-Theme: None.

Individual Publication Date: November 1, 2023

Issue Publication Date: January 1, 2024

Author(s): Richard May

Author(s) Bio: Richard May (“May-Tzu”/“MayTzu”/“Mayzi”) is a Member of the Mega Society based on a qualifying score on the Mega Test (before 1995) prior to the compromise of the Mega Test and Co-Editor of Noesis: The Journal of the Mega Society. In self-description, May states: “Not even forgotten in the cosmic microwave background (CMB), I’m an Amish yuppie, born near the rarified regions of Laputa, then and often, above suburban Boston. I’ve done occasional consulting and frequent Sisyphean shlepping. Kafka and Munch have been my therapists and allies. Occasionally I’ve strived to descend from the mists to attain the mythic orientation known as having one’s feet upon the Earth. An ailurophile and a cerebrotonic ectomorph, I write for beings which do not, and never will, exist — writings for no one. I’ve been awarded an M.A. degree, mirabile dictu, in the humanities/philosophy, and U.S. patent for a board game of possible interest to extraterrestrials. I’m a member of the Mega Society, the Omega Society and formerly of Mensa. I’m the founder of the Exa Society, the transfinite Aleph-3 Society and of the renowned Laputans Manqué. I’m a biographee in Who’s Who in the Brane World. My interests include the realization of the idea of humans as incomplete beings with the capacity to complete their own evolution by effecting a change in their being and consciousness. In a moment of presence to myself in inner silence, when I see Richard May’s non-being, ‘I’ am. You can meet me if you go to an empty room.” Some other resources includeStains Upon the Silence: something for no one, McGinnis Genealogy of Crown Point, New York: Hiram Porter McGinnis, Swines List, Solipsist Soliloquies, Board Game, Lulu blog, Memoir of a Non-Irish Non-Jew, and May-Tzu’s posterous.

Word Count: 287

Image Credit: Richard May.

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369–6885

*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*

Keywords: autobiographical, Creation, dead flowers, EMF, False Personality, life, May-Tzu, ontological, Richard May.

Autobiographical Sketch of Richard’s False Personality

My most painful experience was coming home from work one night and finding myself unexpectedly dead, sprawled across the bed. In such a moment of attention one loses a lot of identifications. Don’t take your life personally. It doesn’t have anything to do with you.

I certainly don’t think I’ve been born yet. Sometimes I doubt that what religionists call the “Creation” has even taken place. I still sometimes hope to be born before I die. Perhaps it would be possible to rent a life and try it out on weekends?

***

I’m a highly perceptive person, so I was quite disconcerted to discover about a week ago that I had actually been dead for more than six years. Apparently I never really noticed that had I died, because I was so distracted by sending myself e-mails, irradiating my brain with cell-phone EMF, having my Volvo tattooed and putting on I-shadow.

It’s really a life altering experience to suddenly learn that you have been dead for years. None of my closest friends noticed my passing either. Perhaps they had also deceased and were too busy making a living. I guess it’s never very clear these days.

Naturally I just continue to do everything as usual. Sometimes you don’t get serious about life until you’re dead. But maybe not right away even then. There’s really no need to hurry. Now I take a little more time to smell the dead flowers.

At least I’m not an ontological wanna-be. It’s not that I wish that I had ever been, but occasionally for a moment I may wish that I wished that I had been. Nothing has really changed, since I died. In fact I haven’t noticed any difference at all.

Bibliography

None

Footnotes

None

Citations

American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): May R. Autobiographical Sketch of Richard’s False Personality. November 2023; 12(1). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/autobiographical-richard-may

American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): May, R. (2023, November 1). Autobiographical Sketch of Richard’s False Personality. In-Sight Publishing. 12(1).

Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): MAY, R. Autobiographical Sketch of Richard’s False Personality.In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 12, n. 1, 2023.

Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): May, Richard. 2023. “Autobiographical Sketch of Richard’s False Personality.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (Winter). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/autobiographical-richard-may.

Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): May, R “Autobiographical Sketch of Richard’s False Personality.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (November 2023). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/autobiographical-richard-may.

Harvard: May, R. (2023) ‘Autobiographical Sketch of Richard’s False Personality’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 12(1). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/autobiographical-richard-may>.

Harvard (Australian): May, R 2023, ‘Autobiographical Sketch of Richard’s False Personality’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/autobiographical-richard-may>.

Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): May, Richard. “Autobiographical Sketch of Richard’s False Personality.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.12, no. 1, 2023, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/autobiographical-richard-may.

Vancouver/ICMJE: Richard M. Autobiographical Sketch of Richard’s False Personality [Internet]. 2023 Nov; 12(1). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/autobiographical-richard-may.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

2023-11-01

Appointed Servants of Jehovah’s Witnesses

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Journal Founding: August 2, 2012

Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 12

Issue Numbering: 1

Section: B

Theme Type: Idea

Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”

Theme Part: 29

Formal Sub-Theme: None.

Individual Publication Date: November 1, 2023

Issue Publication Date: January 1, 2024

Author(s): Lee Elder

Author(s) Bio: None.

Word Count: 1,424

Image Credit: None.

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369–6885

*Original publication here during August, 2014.*

*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*

Keywords: Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood, blood policy, Christian, Galatians, God, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Jesus, Lee Elder, propaganda, Revelation, Watchtower Society.

Appointed Servants of Jehovah’s Witnesses

We call upon you to summon up the courage to carefully investigate the blood issue. We believe that you will find, as we have, that there is little if any biblical basis for the current policies. The evidence will show that the Bible may forbid the eating of blood, but not the taking of it in to “sustain life.” The scriptures must be re-worded to arrive at such a conclusion. In this regard, the following scriptures come to mind:

*** Rbi8 Galatians 1:8 ***
However, even if we or an angel out of heaven were to declare to YOU as good news something beyond what we declared to YOU as good news, let him be accursed.

*** Rbi8 Revelation 22:18-19 ***
If anyone makes an addition to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this scroll; 19 and if anyone takes anything away from the words of the scroll of this prophecy, God will take his portion away from the trees of life and out of the holy city, things which are written about in this scroll.

You should be aware that numerous efforts have been made by other appointed servants in this association to bring these matters to the attention of the organization in more traditional ways. The Governing Body is well aware of the inconsistencies, and lack of scriptural support for the blood policy. Thus far their position has been to ignore the problem.

It must be acknowledged that there are a number of reform minded brothers at Bethel, and we realize that ultimately these ones must come forward at the appropriate time to bring about the necessary reforms. For them to come forward before a large base of support for reform exists would simply result in their being disfellowshipped as apostates.

We view our efforts as “loyal opposition.” We do not seek control of the society, we seek control of our consciences and our lives. We simply want to see the needless death of our children, family’s, and dear friends stop.

If the society establishes a reasonable timetable for reform, we will pull this site down, and work with them. The WTS policy of ignoring legitimate concerns and those who espouse them is being employed again. However, we do not believe that it will work on this issue.

Many of us find that we can no longer in good conscience make financial contributions to the society. Instead of donating the funds to the society we are spending our resources on Internet sites, mass mailings, legal defense funds, and charities. We encourage you to consider doing the same.

We cannot passively accept the current repressive and autocratic arrangement, or the gross disregard for the scriptures, as evidenced by the poor scholarly work done on the blood doctrine. We will not continue to offer up our children upon the Watchtower’s alter of blood to save them from the embarrassment of having to reverse their policy, and accept responsibility for the policy.

We will use all necessary means to obtain our objectives. What are those objectives? They are as follows:

Jehovah’s Witnesses must be allowed to determine whether or not they will accept various forms of blood therapy, or products without fear of being shunned.
The Watchtower must acknowledge that a significant percentage of Jehovah’s Witnesses, after carefully studying the scriptures and medical science, have concluded that it is not a violation of God’s law to accept blood or blood products since these do not serve as food in the body.
The Watchtower must end it’s campaign of propaganda regarding the use of blood and provide an accurate and balanced presentation of risk.

These are the minimum objectives that we seek, and we committed to obtaining them. The truth will be known. The friends will learn the facts about blood, and there is nothing that can be done to prevent it. This may, of course, cause some to leave, but this should not be feared. What should be feared is the enormous bloodguilt that the leadership of the society has likely incurred, and that some of us may share in. By joining in our efforts to reform this doctrine, you have an opportunity to demonstrate your sincere interest in serving as a shepherd in fulfillment of Isa. 32:2:

And each one must prove to be like a hiding place from the wind and a place of concealment from the rainstorm, like streams of water in a waterless country, like the shadow of a heavy crag in an exhausted land.

Since our position is one supported by the Bible, it is reasonable to assume that we have both Jehovah God’s blessing and his holy spirit directing our efforts. Thousands of people are learning the truth about the blood issue every month, and approximately 80% of those who contact us believe the policy to be in error. The figure would be even higher if those who are supporting the current policy could bring themselves to examine it carefully in imitation of the ancient Beroeans. (Acts 17:10,11) Unfortunately, some brothers are quite simply terrified by the thought of any critical, independent study. The Watchtower has cultivated this phobia among the brothers and sisters.

In any event, the friends deserve to have all of the facts about blood, and the freedom to make their own conscientious choice. God will judge them, we as elders don’t need to. (See Gal. 5:1; Romans 14:12,13)

It would naive for us to think that Jehovah God will excuse those of us from responsibility on the basis that “we were only following orders.” Additionally, those who have ventured this far cannot even feign ignorance. Knowledge brings responsibility.

The following excerpts/quotations provide much food for thought:

From scholar Daniel Taylor’s book, The Myth of Certainty:

The primary goal of all institutions and subcultures is self-preservation. Preserving the faith is central to God’s plan for human history; preserving particular religious institutions is not. Do not expect those who run the institutions to be sensitive to the difference. God needs no particular person, church, denomination, creed or organization to accomplish his purpose. He will make use of those, in all their diversity, who are ready to be used, but will leave to themselves those who labor for their own ends.

Nonetheless, questioning the institutions is synonymous, for many, with attacking God – something not long to be tolerated. . . . Actually, they are protecting themselves, their view of the world, and their sense of security. The religious institution has given them meaning, a sense of purpose, and, in some cases, careers. Anyone perceived as a threat to these things is a threat indeed.

This threat is often met, or suppressed even before it arises, with power. . Institutions express their power most clearly by enunciating, interpreting and enforcing the rules of the subculture.

Every institution has its rules and ways of enforcing them, some clearly stated, others unstated but no less real.

“When a member expresses his private doubts or unbelief as a public chastisement of the leadership or the doctrine of the church, or a confrontation with those seeking eternal light, he has entered upon sacred ground. Those who complain about the doctrine or leadership of the church but who lack the faith or desire to keep God’s commandments risk separating themselves from the divine source of learning.”

Elder James E. Frost, Council of the Twelve Apostles (The Mormon Governing Body)

As appointed servants we quickly recognize the similarities between the Watchtower organization procedures, and those employed by others. Here we are living at the end of the twentieth century, in some of the freest countries in the world, and we must speak in anonymity or risk the loss of association with our friends and loved ones, simply for speaking the truth, or for giving our children a blood transfusion to save their life. Brothers, can this be Jehovah’s will? We think not.

Some have objected to the anonymous nature of this site, but who is it that makes such anonymity necessary? In this regard, we cite the following:

Anonymity is a SHIELD FROM THE TYRANNY OF THE MAJORITY. It thus exemplifies the purpose behind the Bill of Rights and of the First Amendment in particular: TO PROTECT UNPOPULAR INDIVIDUALS FROM RETALIATION — and their ideas from suppression — at the hand of an intolerant society.

Justice John Stevens – United States Supreme Court

Please join us in our efforts to encourage reform of the Watchtower’s blood policies.

Your fellow servants,

Associated Jehovah’s Witnesses for Reform on Blood

Bibliography

None

Footnotes

None

Citations

American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Elder L. Appointed Servants of Jehovah’s Witnesses. October 2023; 12(1). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/appointed-servants

American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Elder, L. (2023, November 1). Appointed Servants of Jehovah’s Witnesses. In-Sight Publishing. 12(1).

Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): ELDER, L. Appointed Servants of Jehovah’s Witnesses.In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 12, n. 1, 2023.

Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Elder, Lee. 2023. “Appointed Servants of Jehovah’s Witnesses.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (Winter). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/appointed-servants.

Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Elder, L “Appointed Servants of Jehovah’s Witnesses.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (November 2023). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/appointed-servants.

Harvard: Elder, L. (2023) ‘Appointed Servants of Jehovah’s Witnesses’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 12(1). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/appointed-servants>.

Harvard (Australian): Elder, L 2023, ‘Appointed Servants of Jehovah’s Witnesses’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/appointed-servants.

Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Elder, Lee. “Appointed Servants of Jehovah’s Witnesses.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.12, no. 1, 2023, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/appointed-servants.

Vancouver/ICMJE: Lee E. Appointed Servants of Jehovah’s Witnesses [Internet]. 2023 Nov; 12(1). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/appointed-servants.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

2023-11-01

Conversation with Tomáš Perna on AI and ANN: Member, World Genius Directory (4)

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Journal Founding: August 2, 2012

Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 12

Issue Numbering: 1

Section: A

Theme Type: Idea

Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”

Theme Part: 29

Formal Sub-Theme: None

Individual Publication Date: November 1, 2023

Issue Publication Date: January 1, 2024

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Word Count: 629

Image Credit: Tomáš Perna.

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369-6885

*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*

Abstract

Tomáš Perna is a Member of the World Genius Directory and a GIGA SOCIETY Fellow. Perna discusses:quantum algorithms enhancing computational efficiency in ANNS in machine learning; the principles of superposition and entanglement; some challenges or hurdles; some light on how quantum-inspired optimization algorithms can be beneficial for ML and the optimization of ANNs; and he density of ANNs.

Keywords: AI, ANN, cognitive states, computational efficiency, gnoseology, Gödel’s theorems, machine learning, mathematical model, quantum, superposition principle, synaptic slots, Tomáš Perna.

Conversation with Tomáš Perna on AI and ANN: Member, World Genius Directory (4)

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Can you discuss the potential of quantum algorithms in enhancing the computational efficiency of ANNs in machine learning?

Tomáš Perna: Ad 1) Quantum algorithms and AI/aNN are two different things naturally. I accent it from that reason that, while, from its mathematical model point of view, unlike in the case of algorithms, the AI regards every problem as decidable one. The computational efficiency is irrelevant.

In order to understand the math. model of AI in the quantum connotations, I will describe shortly the ideas/thesis, on whose the mathematical model of the AI and aNN system is based:

Every logically consistent system, in which it is possible to prove a certain statement must have a mathematical model (Gödel’s theorems).
The consistent AI-system reaches such cognitive states of the aNN (CSG), which, with respect to its gnoseological background, ensure the stability of the trinity : el. charge-inhibitory and excitatory potentials only with respect to synaptic slots, the existence of whose is respected by the model.
The CSG are represented by wave functions satisfying the fundamental equations of the quantum mechanics, when ML plays the role of the so called quantum barriere at the state of relevant control by gnoseology. The relevant gnoseology is consequently represented here by the solutions of certain quantum field equations.
There are two basic CSG: CSG(5′) and CSG(3′) determining the directionality of C(AI) “synthesis’ of loops in a machine language coherently with respect to loops in natural language. So, there is a polynomially bounded code of AI, surprisingly creating its so called black box possessing automatically the fundaments of consistent AI/ML/DM configuration.
Contrary to such implied complex nature of the whole optimization, its output is simple, being determined by the correct choice of the number of neurons, their layers and the number of iterations for all well posted problems, being solved by using AI.
In other words, the mentioned three correctly chosen numbers ensure the relevance of the emerged patterns using data without a danger of originating of phantom effects within the evolution of the system, into which a corresponding problem is embedded. Only under such condition, the aNN really converge and AI is not getting mad due to overlearning, etc.

Jacobsen: How do the principles of superposition and entanglement in quantum mechanics play a role in the optimization of ANNs?

Perna: Ad 2) Modeling AI with the quantum background, the entanglement and superposition principle of the CSGs will lead you to the emerging of the group of automorphisms of the C(AI), via which you can study the properties of the AI in an action of solving a given problem.

Jacobsen: What are some challenges or hurdles that researchers face when attempting to implement quantum world equations in optimizing ANNs?

Perna: Ad 3) As it maybe follows from the above given, the main task is to connect the context of the problem being solved by AI with the quantum entanglement. How great can be their mutual logical intersection ?

Jacobsen: Could you shed some light on how quantum-inspired optimization algorithms can be beneficial for ML and the optimization of ANNs?

Perna: Ad 4) In respecting an existence of synaptic slots binding the optimal configuration of the trinity: el. charge-inhibitory and excitatory potentials (see the point 2 in the above given model description).

Jacobsen: In the context of quantum machine learning, how does the density of ANNs impact the accuracy and efficiency of predictions?

Perna: Ad 5) There is a relative narrow interval of aNN density, which works without phantom pattern learning. You must learn the structure of the math. model of the AI – aNN system to have a chance to chose the aNN density relevantly with respect to the ML-algorithms being used.

Bibliography

None

Footnotes

None

Citations

American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Jacobsen S. Conversation with Tomáš Perna on AI and ANN: Member, World Genius Directory (4). November 2023; 12(1). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/perna-4

American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Jacobsen, S. (2023, November 1). Conversation with Tomáš Perna on AI and ANN: Member, World Genius Directory (4). In-Sight Publishing. 12(1).

Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): JACOBSEN, S. Conversation with Tomáš Perna on AI and ANN: Member, World Genius Directory (4). In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 12, n. 1, 2023.

Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Jacobsen, Scott. 2023. “Conversation with Tomáš Perna on AI and ANN: Member, World Genius Directory (4).” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (Winter). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/perna-4.

Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Jacobsen, S “Conversation with Tomáš Perna on AI and ANN: Member, World Genius Directory (4).” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (November 2023).http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/perna-4.

Harvard: Jacobsen, S. (2023) ‘Conversation with Tomáš Perna on AI and ANN: Member, World Genius Directory (4)’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 12(1). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/perna-4>.

Harvard (Australian): Jacobsen, S 2023, ‘Conversation with Tomáš Perna on AI and ANN: Member, World Genius Directory (4)’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/perna-4&gt;.

Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Jacobsen, Scott. “Conversation with Tomáš Perna on AI and ANN: Member, World Genius Directory (4).” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.12, no. 1, 2023, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/perna-4.

Vancouver/ICMJE: Scott J. Conversation with Tomáš Perna on AI and ANN: Member, World Genius Directory (4) [Internet]. 2023 Nov; 12(1). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/perna-4.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

2023-11-01

Stop the Insanity

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Journal Founding: August 2, 2012

Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 12

Issue Numbering: 1

Section: B

Theme Type: Idea

Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”

Theme Part: 29

Formal Sub-Theme: None.

Individual Publication Date: November 1, 2023

Issue Publication Date: January 1, 2024

Author(s): Lee Elder

Author(s) Bio: None.

Word Count: 1,696

Image Credit: None.

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369–6885

*Original publication here during August, 2014.*

*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*

Keywords: Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood, blood policy, Christian, Hospital Liaison Committee, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Jesus, Lee Elder, plasma, Watchtower Society.

Stop the Insanity

We are asking Jehovah’s Witnesses and concerned family members to send the following letter to their Jehovah’s Witness friends, family and congregation members. The letter has been drafted and approved by Watchtower Elders and HLC officials in different countries.

Please put a list of people you know together, and mail this letter to them. Please make this a priority, and spread the word. The deaths need to stop, and you can make a difference. Please do what you can to spread the word on the letter writing campaign. Forward this communication to interested parties. Place an announcement on your web page if you have one. Thank you for your assistance.

Jehovah’s Witnesses
Elders and Hospital Liaison Committee Members

Date:

Dear Br. or Sister:

We are a group of elders and Hospital Liaison Committee members in different places and countries. We have been able to talk and communicate about our assignment and also share different experiences about the work that has been done. We are very pleased that much good has been accomplished in behalf of our brothers. Many not professing to be Jehovah’s Witnesses have also benefited from the arrangement.

It is widely acknowledged, even by doctors, that blood can be a dangerous medical treatment. Many positive things can be said regarding alternative non-blood therapies, there is no denying that. At the same time the facts are, that our work would not be necessary if medical science were to find a replacement for blood. However, at this time, blood is still a valuable product for saving lives and sometimes we overlook the benefit and the importance of using it.

Even among the HLC members who have many years of experience in their assignment, you can find a complete ignorance of why blood is used. Often times the only thing that many know about blood, is that it is a dangerous medical treatment and should be avoided. Not just because of Biblical reasons, but because they believe that it is bad medicine, and that there are good alternative products available.

A serious question that must be answered is: What is blood? This may seem like a simple question to answer, but it is not, for there are a number of blood components that the Society permits Witnesses to take. Are these components not also blood, and how is it decided which parts of the blood are acceptable, and which are not? Since it is acceptable to introduce these “allowed components” into our bodies, it is understandable that Witnesses and medical personnel are confused by our position. Although this question has been in the minds of many brothers, no one dares to deal with the question publicly. Why?

Albumin is another problem. We accept albumin as a matter of conscience, although the blood contains more albumin than white blood cells, which we must reject. Many doctors are also confused by this position, but they usually are so respectful, and most of them think that there are religious principles involved although a clear contradiction exists. What doctors don’t know, and we are not permitted to explain to them, is that this position is clearly an organizational ruling for the members, and lacks any logical reason or scriptural support.

For those who have spent some time studying the Watchtower Society’s position on the use of blood, one of the most troubling aspects is their allowance of all of the various components of fresh frozen plasma (F.F.P.). Thus Witnesses may elect to accept the various immunoglobulins, the clotting factors, albumin and so forth. They may not, however take all of them at the same time.

The most depressing feature of being a member of a HLC is when our children are involved. Why has the Society completely failed to gain one legal case when it comes to minor children? It is obvious, there is nothing so effective as human blood to transport oxygen and today there is nothing to replace its use in the medical field. We must appreciate the fact that the legal system protects our children. Even for us, as members of HLC’s, we realize that it is much easier to work with the doctors knowing the rules and laws about minor children. Every Jehovah’s Witness should know, although there have been cases where Witness parents have acted against it, that parental authority is not absolute and that there can be no guarantee of bloodless treatment for Witness minors in general. They should understand that the state, has the right to provide treatment believed to be necessary to safeguard a child’s life or health.

When there are effective alternatives available, when there is a choice to be made, that choice should be made by the parent and not by some doctor, social worker, or judge. But here one needs to ask an important question: Who is qualified to make a decision about alternative non-blood management, and will that decision adequately meet or respond to the child’s needs? As members of the HLC’s we have been eye witnesses of cases where cooperative doctors have followed the parents wishes for alternative non-blood therapy, and the results have sometimes been tragic, with just one more unnecessary death being the result.

When we as Jehovah’s Witnesses look back and remember the wounded and dead brothers who did not accept vaccinations, blood serums, organ transplants or hemophiliac treatments, we must acknowledge that they took their stand largely because of an organizational policy and prohibition forced upon them. These positions have now been abandoned by the leadership, and we rarely if ever see brothers refusing vaccinations, organ transplants, or any of the blood components on the Society’s approved list. This fact alone should cause anyone involved in these situations to pause and reflect seriously about the real issues involved. Is the issue truly one of conscience, and if so, whose conscience?

Is the Society’s blood doctrine actually correct? Why do so many brothers enter into an inner conflict about the issue when they consider the biblical facts? Has the Society really provided us with the truth, and all of the Biblical facts regarding blood? Do they realize that in accepting some minor blood components they have created a tremendous contradiction in their once firm stand? Where are the serious and solid arguments against stored autologous blood transfusions? Do they appreciate that their position kills many precious minor children, unless the legal system steps in to provide protection for their life and health? Should our main concern as Jehovah’s Witnesses be to look for medical alternatives, or to confront ourselves with the biblical facts about life and blood?

We are writing you out of a sense of obligation to Christian principles and conscience. We encourage you to visit the internet website entitled: NEW LIGHT ON BLOOD. This site has been carefully researched and will provide you with the Biblical, scientific and historical facts regarding blood transfusions. Here you will find all of the facts, not simply those that support the Watchtower Society’s current position. We would hope that your faith in Jehovah God is strong enough for you to examine both sides of this issue.

Here is the address: https://ajwrb.org

We have addressed our concerns to branch representatives and members of the Governing Body. No responses have been forthcoming. If this matter were not so serious, if precious lives were not being lost nearly everyday, surely we could wait on Jehovah to correct matters in his time. Sadly, we believe that change is being held up because the Society’s legal department fears a backlash of litigation from Witnesses who have lost loved ones over this issue. Whether or not this would in fact be the case does not seem to be the proper basis in determining the right or moral course of action.

When all of the facts are known, it becomes quickly evident that our position on blood is in error. For some of us, a measure of bloodguilt may have been incurred in the discharging of our responsibilities as elders and H.L.C. members. If this is the case, we can hope that Jehovah will be willing to forgive our acts of ignorance. We urge you to get the facts, and prayerfully consider what course of action is appropriate. Thank you for your kind attention.

Your fellow servants,

Jehovah’s Witness Elders & H.L.C. Members

P.S. Some of the questions the Society will not answer:

Why is it that plasma is forbidden when all of its separate components, with the exception of water, are on the approved list for Witnesses to take in order to “sustain life?”

If a blood transfusion is essentially an organ transplant, how can it be viewed as “eating blood,” since no digestion or nutritional benefit accrues? Can it be an organ transplant and a meal at the same time?

If storing your own blood for an autologous transfusion is wrong, than why does the society permit the use of various blood components that must be donated and stored before being used by Jehovah’s Witnesses?

How does the society go about deciding which blood components are major and which are minor? For example, why are white blood cells forbidden, but albumin allowed, since albumin constitutes a larger percentage of blood volume, and milk and organ transplants are full of white blood cells?

If we must abstain from blood completely, as the society says, then please explain why the society tells us that we may accept all derivatives or components of human blood? Is this not contradictory?

Why can Witnesses accept and benefit from the blood that others donate, but not donate blood themselves? Is this not selfish and hypocritical? Would not giving blood to help save others lives be the loving and Christian thing to do?

******************************************************************************************************************
The Associated Jehovah’s Witnesses for Reform on Blood, is a diverse group of Witnesses from many countries, including elders and other organization officials, Hospital Liaison Committee members, Doctors, Lawyers, Child Advocates and members of the general public who have volunteered their time and energies in an effort to reform a tragic and misguided policy that has claimed thousands of lives, many of them children.
Website: http://www.ajwrb.org
******************************************************************************************************************

Bibliography

None

Footnotes

None

Citations

American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Elder L. Stop the Insanity. October 2023; 12(1). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/stop-insanity

American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Elder, L. (2023, November 1). Stop the Insanity. In-Sight Publishing. 12(1).

Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): ELDER, L. Stop the Insanity.In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 12, n. 1, 2023.

Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Elder, Lee. 2023. “Stop the Insanity.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (Winter). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/stop-insanity.

Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Elder, L “Stop the Insanity.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (November 2023). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/stop-insanity.

Harvard: Elder, L. (2023) ‘Stop the Insanity’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 12(1). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/stop-insanity>.

Harvard (Australian): Elder, L 2023, ‘Stop the Insanity’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/stop-insanity.

Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Elder, Lee. “Stop the Insanity.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.12, no. 1, 2023, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/stop-insanity.

Vancouver/ICMJE: Lee E. Stop the Insanity [Internet]. 2023 Nov; 12(1). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/stop-insanity.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

2023-11-01

Conversation with Professor Albert Berghuis on Antiobiotics and the Only Synchrotron in Canada: Professor, Department of Biochemistry, McGill University

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Journal Founding: August 2, 2012

Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 12

Issue Numbering: 1

Section: A

Theme Type: Idea

Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”

Theme Part: 29

Formal Sub-Theme: None

Individual Publication Date: November 1, 2023

Issue Publication Date: January 1, 2024

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Word Count: 5,006

Image Credit: None.

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369-6885

*Interview conducted July 11, 2021.*

*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*

Abstract

Professor Albert Berghuis is a Professor in the Department of Biochemistry at McGill University. Berghuis discusses: Canadian Light Source; X-ray diffraction; 3D modelling through X-rays; evolution of this resistance to various antibiotics; other research institutes; break through a scientific barrier; plazomicin; “emerging bacterial pathogens”; threshold; and Synchrotron.

Keywords: Albert Berghuis, antibiotics, antibiotic resistance, Canadian Light Source, McGill University, Synchrotron, X-ray diffraction, University of Saskatchewan.

Conversation with Professor Albert Berghuis on Antiobiotics and the Only Synchrotronin Canada: Professor, Department of Biochemistry, McGill University

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: So, let’s start with the Canadian Light Source at the University of Saskatchewan. What is this like? Is this a research facility or institute?

Jacobsen: And so, the main point of the research is always based around X-ray diffraction in terms of using that as the methodology.

Jacobsen: Basically, you’re doing 3D modelling through X-rays or structural analysis.

Jacobsen: That’s very cool.

Jacobsen: So, are you working with the math department?

Jacobsen: So, ok, you resist new antibiotics for some bacteria. So, how can you look at it, in some ways? It is quite a big jump. The evolution of this resistance to various antibiotics.

Jacobsen: That’s right. Or a common phrase, my daddy ain’t a monkey, this sort of thing. This standard objections to evolution. It is a similar idea.

Jacobsen: It does answer a little bit of it.

Jacobsen: And so, this project you started five years ago?

Jacobsen: Wow, what was the feeling when you finally got those results?

Jacobsen: So functionally, why must you know the three hundred thousand atoms to get the 40 atoms?

Jacobsen: Yes, that makes sense.

Berghuis: So, unfortunately, and especially when the steering wheel is inside the car if you want to take a picture of that, it does not work. You take a picture of the entire car.

Jacobsen: Yes. Were there any other research institutes that were deep collaborators for the long term on this particular project?

Jacobsen: Yes. One hundred percent does.

Jacobsen: Yes, that’s right. As the particular drug was a plazomicin, is that correct pronunciation?

Berghuis: Yes.

Jacobsen: When is that threshold usually?

Jacobsen: What particular drug is this?

Jacobsen: Are there any areas of the research, the questions that I have not asked that should be addressed as we close today?

Jacobsen: Professor, thank you very much for your time today.

Berghuis: Okey doke. Hopefully, you can synthesize out of all of this rambling.

Bibliography

None

Footnotes

None

Citations

American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Jacobsen S. Conversation with Professor Albert Berghuis on Antiobiotics and the Only Synchrotronin Canada: Professor, Department of Biochemistry, McGill University. November 2023; 12(1). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/berghuis

American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Jacobsen, S. (2023, November 1). Conversation with Professor Albert Berghuis on Antiobiotics and the Only Synchrotronin Canada: Professor, Department of Biochemistry, McGill University. In-Sight Publishing. 12(1).

Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): JACOBSEN, S. Conversation with Professor Albert Berghuis on Antiobiotics and the Only Synchrotronin Canada: Professor, Department of Biochemistry, McGill University. In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 12, n. 1, 2023.

Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Jacobsen, Scott. 2023. “Conversation with Professor Albert Berghuis on Antiobiotics and the Only Synchrotronin Canada: Professor, Department of Biochemistry, McGill University.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (Winter). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/berghuis.

Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Jacobsen, S “Conversation with Professor Albert Berghuis on Antiobiotics and the Only Synchrotronin Canada: Professor, Department of Biochemistry, McGill University.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (November 2023).http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/berghuis.

Harvard: Jacobsen, S. (2023) ‘Conversation with Professor Albert Berghuis on Antiobiotics and the Only Synchrotronin Canada: Professor, Department of Biochemistry, McGill University’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 12(1). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/berghuis>.

Harvard (Australian): Jacobsen, S 2023, ‘Conversation with Professor Albert Berghuis on Antiobiotics and the Only Synchrotronin Canada: Professor, Department of Biochemistry, McGill University’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/berghuis&gt;.

Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Jacobsen, Scott. “Conversation with Professor Albert Berghuis on Antiobiotics and the Only Synchrotronin Canada: Professor, Department of Biochemistry, McGill University.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.12, no. 1, 2023, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/berghuis.

Vancouver/ICMJE: Scott J. Conversation with Professor Albert Berghuis on Antiobiotics and the Only Synchrotronin Canada: Professor, Department of Biochemistry, McGill University [Internet]. 2023 Nov; 12(1). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/berghuis.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

2023-11-01

The Tsimshian 3: Corey Moraes on Meaning and Cultural Knowledge (3)

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: December 1, 2014

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Journal Founding: August 2, 2012

Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 12

Issue Numbering: 1

Section: E

Theme Type: Idea

Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”

Theme Part: 26

Formal Sub-Theme: “The Tsimshian”

Individual Publication Date: November 1, 2023

Issue Publication Date: January 1, 2024

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Interviewer(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Interviewee(s): Corey Moraes

Word Count: 1,318

Image Credit: None.

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369-6885

*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the interview.*

*Interview conducted on May 10, 2020.*

Abstract

Corey Moraes is Tsimshian. He was born April 14, 1970, in Seattle, Washington. He has worked in both the U.S.A. and in Canada. He has painted canoes for Vision Quest Journeys (1997). He was featured in Totems to Turquoise (2005), Challenging Traditions (2009), and Continuum: Vision and Creativity on the Northwest Coast (2009). He earned the 2010 Aboriginal Traditional Visual Art Award and Grant from the Canada Council for the Arts. His trademark artistic works are Coastal Tsimshian style with gold jewellery, limited edition prints, masks, silver jewellery, and wood carvings. Moraes discusses: meaning of Tsimshian; original language; abalone; populated areas; cultural knowledge deterioration; chiefly titles; William Duncan; treaty process; and comprehensive treaty agreement stalled.

Keywords: abalone, Alaska, Asia, Corey Moraes, culture, Europeans, Eyak, Haida, language, Lax Kw’alaams, Prince Rupert, Skeena River, Terrace, Tlingit, Tsimshian, William Duncan.

The Tsimshian 3: Corey Moraes on Meaning and Cultural Knowledge (3)

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: One question I should have touched on. Why does Tsimshian mean “inside the Skeena River”?

Corey Moraes: Our people, all of our terminology, our names for things had to do with where we were, e.g., Lax Kw’alaams means “people of wild roses,” which is what is grown in abundance in the area.

Jacobsen: Is learning the original language a big part of contemporary culture?

Moraes: It is a big part of the future for us to survive as a race and a demographic language. I’ve explained before. We say words or phrases that don’t translate literally into English. So, you’re losing a lot. You’re losing the language.

Jacobsen: What is the backbone of all the carving, e.g., abalone?

Moraes: The backbone of our carving is red cedar and yellow cedar.

Jacobsen: What is abalone?

Moraes: Abalone used to be in abundance. It has since been overhunted and over-gathered, all of which went to Asia.

Jacobsen: Why is that?

Moraes: They have a penchant for abalone meat. The industry here saw they could make much money by catering to Asian tastes. That’s where the lion’s share of it went.

Jacobsen: Are there more populated communities in Terrace, Prince Rupert, or just general Alaska?

Moraes: I need to find out the general population numbers. In going to villages around Terrace, Prince Rupert, and even Southeast Alaska, there is only one place with Tsimshian. The rest is either Tlingit & Haida or Eyak.

I stated this before. I decided to go into an area where they were steeped in cultural knowledge. They are not. The cultural understanding – 20 years ago – is primarily in a significant metropolis like Vancouver.

Jacobsen: Do you think the cultural knowledge has deteriorated further?

Moraes: There is a village mentality, “Who are you to tell me what to do?” They are very secluded. They are very nepotistic. They don’t treat outsiders very well. That includes members who come back to the village.

They don’t want you there, which is sad. Another example, a staunch example, Prince Rupert, is currently, at least within the last year or two, trying to commission artists to create a village atmosphere at their airport. They’re expanding.

They have a Vancouver architect in charge of fleshing out this vision with Tsimshian artists. They specifically want Tsimshian. The top Tsimshian artists, myself included, have backed off the project based on the scope.

So, they will end up with those village artists; they need to learn more about our historical forms to properly represent them in a public forum. That’s what they are going to end up with. I turned it down. Phil Gray turned it down. Morgan Green turned it down.

On top of that, a political aspect interfered with the visual scope of what they wanted to do. It was all centered around Lelu Island, the LNG Pipeline. Myself, I remain neutral on the subject. Phil Gray erected a totem pole on Lelu Island, and since it is not a designated reserve area or considered part of British Columbia, it is still an unceded territory.

He erected it without the approval of the Canadian government, and the government is threatening to remove the totem pole. There’s nothing on that island. There’s nothing on it. They had a shack that the protestors were using.

They’ve since gone against provincial law, and they’re trying to erect a cabin there right now. It is a mess up North. Art could be better.

Jacobsen: For ceremonial purposes, why are chiefly titles still used?

Moraes: You’re talking about hereditary chief titles, as opposed to elected chiefs.

Jacobsen: Yes.

Moraes: Elected chiefs are part of the colonial system. It is like being elected a mayor. But the hereditary chiefs, by and large, the villagers believe in that blood lineage that retains an element of power. Even though I’m afraid I have to disagree with it myself, irrespective that there are hereditary chiefs, they are irresponsible.

Just because your family came from outstanding stock six generations or eight generations back, much of it has been diluted. It goes hand in hand with what I said about the villagers and their accurate knowledge of traditional systems.

Jacobsen: In 1862, William Duncan, an Anglican missionary, established a Christian settlement in Metlakatla. We discussed some of the impacts of European Christian colonialism before.

Aside from the symbolic similarities between the symbolisms used between the religious or the spiritual traditions, why did several Tsimshian join Duncan?

Moraes: Like I said, the similarities between our spiritual systems, like the Nax’Nox, which resembled angels, for example. For example, our creation stories reached the baby Jesus and our desire to be the most progressive nation on the coast.

They thought it was the next logical and decisive step to completely abandon all of their belief systems and grab hold of both ends of Christianity. Because they felt if they did that, they would be the ruling power on the coast.

That was further from the truth. William Duncan had a strong sway over the villagers as it was developing. He wanted to avoid the Canadian government having their hand in his vision for this nation.

So, they scouted out land in Southeast Alaska and found an area that eerily resembled Metlakatla, BC. He convinced a large portion of them to leave with him. So, he could continue this vision unabated without the interruption of the Canadian government and everyone.

This whole thing is thing is even more creepy because my wife is from Metlakatla, Alaska. They call it “New Metlakatla.” In some ways, just like everything else, there are a lot of pros and cons. The pros were that they were evil to achieve what they thought they could do, which was to become more progressive.

It means they accepted a lot of colonial ideas. There are a lot of churches in Metlakatla, Alaska. There are a lot of people. Most people in Metlakatla believe in God’s doctrine and buy into it with just as much enthusiasm as they did leaving.

There is a particular tribe of Metlakatla Alaskan people. They left behind the village ways like there are in Northern BC. There needs to be more forward-thinking. There is a lot of nepotism. What happened there was an army base established there, a US Army base, because of its proximity to Russia.

Alongside military occupation came a lot of business. It was a thriving community for several generations. That all ended. They had their airport. Right? Their downtown had paved roads and established businesses.

I visited Lax Kw’alaams, my home village, for example, in 2001. All of the roads were still dirt, with lots of potholes. Since then, they have paved all of the streets. That’s how long it took for any sort of progressive community.

Jacobsen: Why did it take until 1991 for the Council to officially enter a British Columbia treaty process?

Moraes: Are you talking about Nisga’a?

Jacobsen: It was about the seven bands all together.

Moraes: You’re talking about the allied Tsimshian bands.

Jacobsen: Yes, in 1997, there was a framework for the comprehensive treaty agreement between the original seven bands and the Government of British Columbia. Then, this was stalled in some process at some point. Any background knowledge about that?

Moraes: There’s a lot of placating that the Canadian government does with the tribes by funnelling millions of dollars through the band councils, and a good portion of that, unfortunately, because there wasn’t transparency, meant a lot of misuse of funds.

A lot of those funds went to the head chief and his family, and anyone in the office was his family or his friends – a lot of nepotism. It is almost what the Canadian government wants to see. This divide and conquer mentality. What if we lead them and throw this chunk of money at the bands yearly? The problem will take care of itself.

Bibliography

None

Footnotes

None

Citations

American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Jacobsen S. The Tsimshian 3: Corey Moraes on Meaning and Cultural Knowledge (3). November 2023; 11(1). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/moraes-3

American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Jacobsen, S. (2023, November 1). The Tsimshian 3: Corey Moraes on Meaning and Cultural Knowledge (3). In-Sight Publishing. 11(1). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/moraes-3.

Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): JACOBSEN, S. D. The Tsimshian 3: Corey Moraes on Meaning and Cultural Knowledge (3). In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 11, n. 1, 2023.

Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Jacobsen, Scott. 2023. “The Tsimshian 3: Corey Moraes on Meaning and Cultural Knowledge (3).” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 11, no. 1 (Winter). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/moraes-3.

Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Jacobsen, Scott “The Tsimshian 3: Corey Moraes on Meaning and Cultural Knowledge (3).” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 11, no. 1 (November 2023). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/moraes-3.

Harvard: Jacobsen, S. (2022) ‘The Tsimshian 3: Corey Moraes on Meaning and Cultural Knowledge (3)’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 11(1). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/moraes-3>.

Harvard (Australian): Jacobsen, S 2023, ‘The Tsimshian 3: Corey Moraes on Meaning and Cultural Knowledge (3)’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 11, no. 1, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/moraes-3>.

Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Jacobsen, Scott. “The Tsimshian 3: Corey Moraes on Meaning and Cultural Knowledge (3).” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.11, no. 1, 2023, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/moraes-3.

Vancouver/ICMJE: Jacobsen S. The Tsimshian 3: Corey Moraes on Meaning and Cultural Knowledge (3) [Internet]. 2023 Nov; 11(1). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/moraes-3

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright © Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

2023-11-01

Concluding Thoughts

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Journal Founding: August 2, 2012

Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 12

Issue Numbering: 1

Section: B

Theme Type: Idea

Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”

Theme Part: 29

Formal Sub-Theme: None.

Individual Publication Date: November 1, 2023

Issue Publication Date: January 1, 2024

Author(s): Lee Elder

Author(s) Bio: None.

Word Count: 2,038

Image Credit: None.

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369–6885

*Original publication here during August, 2014.*

*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*

Keywords: Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood, blood policy, disfellowshipping, Hemopure, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Jesus, Lee Elder, medicine, Scriptures, Watchtower Society.

Concluding Thoughts

AJWRB thanks you for taking the time to consider this information on blood. Assuming you are a Jehovah’s Witness and have read all of the information, the next step for you will be to research the scriptures and references cited through out these pages. We feel that it is important that you not take our word on what has been here presented, but that you actually research these matters for yourself.

Although this matter can seem complex, it really isn’t. In the final analysis, for the Watchtower Society’s blood policy to be correct, they must be able to demonstrate with certainty that a blood transfusion is the equivalent of eating blood. As we have seen, they cannot. Such a notion finds no support from the scientific or medical community.

If you are a Jehovah’s Witness, you may be inclined to talk with another Witness at this point. In fact, you may find it hard to contain yourself. Please be cautious, and don’t overwhelm others with the information.

Please understand, this doctrine has cost many lives. We wish there were some hard numbers available, but are unaware of any. If the society possesses such statistics, they are carefully guarded. We can personally document numerous deaths, some among close family members. Perhaps you have had a similar experience, or you are just now being confronted with this issue. Perhaps this challenge will face you or a loved one in the future.

One can certainly imagine the Watchtower continuing to reform its policy on blood. This will most likely happen in gradual steps to lessen the impact on both the Watchtower Society and the Jehovah’s Witness community. Watchtower lawyers and governing body members likely feel this slow process is necessary to avoid costly litigation or a large exodus from the organization. They may also be hoping that developments with artificial blood like Hemopure will save them from their present dilemma. Should such treatments become widely available, we could only rejoice. Unfortunately, this will come too late for many of Jehovah’s Witnesses. It doesn’t have to come too late for you and your loved ones.

When you complete your research, and assuming you reach the same conclusions as we have, you will then find yourself in a dilemma. To openly question or challenge this doctrine could result in a judicial action leading to disfellowshiping if you are a Witness. In any event, we urge you to be cautious, for you risk much.

Many Jehovah’s Witnesses have decided that they cannot in good conscience remain associated with the organization, and have left, or are leaving. Others feel they must stay to help their friends and loved ones, and work for reforms. Yet others are content to simply wait it out and hope that the blood issue does not come up. You must decide the proper course of action for you and your family.

Is it possible for you to disagree with this doctrine and continue being one of Jehovah’s Witnesses? Perhaps. To a large extent this will depend upon your conscience, your personal circumstances, and your ability to harmonize various Bible principles with your situation. If you decide to stay, and are at some point questioned by organizational representatives, what should you do?

Is it necessary for you to admit to the elders what you believe about the Watchtower’s blood doctrine? Does Jehovah require this of you. Consider the following quotation from the Watchtower publication, “Insight on the Scriptures:”

While malicious lying is definitely condemned in the Bible, this does not mean that a person is under obligation to divulge truthful information to people who are not entitled to it… that is why Jesus on certain occasions refrained from giving full information or direct answers to certain questions when doing so could have brought unnecessary harm. (Mt 15:1-6; 21:23-27; Joh 7:3-10)

Furthermore, Jesus counseled:

“Therefore prove yourselves cautious as serpents and yet innocent as doves. Be on your guard against men.” (Matt. 10:16, 17)

Also interesting is this comment from the Watchtower regarding Isaac’s use of deception:

“Isaac likewise spoke of his wife Rebekah as his sister to the men of the city of Gerar…Isaac explained his strategy, saying: I said it [that she is my sister] for fear I should die on her account.” W56 2/1 80

From a scriptural standpoint, it is entirely appropriate for you to withhold certain information when your life is at risk. To do so is not to lie, but rather to employ what the Watchtower Society refers to as theocratic war strategy. Whether or not you personally feel comfortable with such an approach will determine how you respond, but bear in mind, your life both physically and spiritually could be at risk depending on how you respond.

Furthermore, bear in mind that the Watchtower Society knows the truth about blood, and chooses to pursue a policy that frequently results in the death of members of the organization. They have not even directly responded to the information we have presented them, so there is little doubt that they act with “bad faith” in our view.

Finally, they have shown themselves more than willing to simply silence dissenters by disfellowshipping them for telling the truth. With these thoughts in mind, we offer the following suggestions in the event you are questioned or charged.

You might simply state that you have been doing some research in the publications on blood, and that some of the changes over the years confuse you. Remember Jude counseled that mercy should be shown to those who have doubts. The key here is to stay away from strong dogmatic statements like: “The Society’s position on blood is wrong.” You could tell the brothers that you will be careful to discuss your questions with the elders in the future, and apologize for any disturbance you may have caused. Assure them that you value being a part of the congregation.

Then there is the matter of carrying a blood card. This document could cost you your life in an emergency situation. In trauma cases, Witnesses commonly die as a result of massive hemorrhage. Volume expanders can’t carry oxygen to your brain and other tissues, that takes red blood cells. We suggest that you go ahead and fill the card out, then tuck it away for safe keeping. If you are summoned before a judicial committee, you can always go get it before the meeting and put it in your wallet once you get to the Kingdom Hall.

This alone may be enough to deflect any judicial action. We suggest you don’t get involved in trying to convince the elders that the doctrine is wrong. Not unless you want to be disfellowshipped. You also may want to make up your own medical document that states what your wishes are and put this in your wallet. Get it witnessed or notarized. This should take care of getting you life saving treatment in the event a well-meaning friend, relative or elder shows up at the hospital and you are unconscious.

It is likely that you are going to encounter situations that will call on you to act. How can you stand by and watch innocent people lose their lives for nothing? Of course, you will have to decide how to handle these situations. Perhaps you could anonymously contact them by letter, giving them the address to this website. If it is an emergency, perhaps you could give them a copy of the information that is presented on this site through a third-party like a nurse or volunteer at the hospital.

If you find yourself in a situation where you need blood, you will have to be very cautious. Discuss this with your doctor, and tell him you need complete confidentiality. If your surgery is elective you may want to consider an autologous transfusion. Your own blood can be stored for up to 42 days, and some specialized facilities can store your blood for as long as ten years.

Do not advise other witnesses you are having surgery, etc. This will likely invite a visit from them or HLC, and make it much more difficult for you to get the treatment you need. Perhaps you could arrange for a short vacation, and have the treatment in a nearby city. If so, don’t sign in as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses as this could lead to a visit from a member of the Hospital Visitation Committee.

If you find yourself, or a family member in a situation where you need blood, and other Witnesses are present, we suggest you enlist the aid of the hospital. They can inform other Witnesses, including elders and HLC members, that the patient is too sick for any visitors, and they can enforce this.

Needless to say, if you get caught using a blood product not currently approved, you may be questioned. We personally know some elders who feel there is no choice but to consider a Jehovah’s Witness who takes blood as worthy of disassociation and shunning. Of course this is an unscriptural position, but it appears to be pretty common.

One last thing. At some point you will likely ask yourself the question: “If the Watchtower Society is wrong about blood how can they be God’s channel for providing “spiritual food at the proper time?”

Perhaps one of the greatest dilemmas many of us have faced is coming to grips with this question. The answers are unsettling, and if you spend much time on the Internet, you will quickly learn that the WTS has other problems in addition to its doctrine on blood. Perhaps you are already aware of this. Many Witnesses have written to AJWRB concerning other issues related to chronology, shunning, etc. We have no position on these other issues as a group although individual members have their own views concerning these points.

AJWRB has a very focused agenda. The blood prohibition causes us more concern than any other teaching or doctrine of the WTS. The Watchtower’s blood policy can cost you your life or the life of your mate or your children, and it’s does not have a solid scriptural basis. Your death or the death of others will bring no honor to Jehovah for “the dead do not praise God.” Sadly, the Watchtower obviously does not understand this and even has the audacity to brag about the Jehovah’s Witness children who have died supporting its bizarre policy.

Based upon the Watchtower Society’s reform’s and posturing, we are convinced that the doctrine is already in the process of being discarded ala, “the generation of 1914,” “organ transplants,” “vaccines,” etc. Those who die do so for the society to save face.

As for our other beliefs, if there is one constant, it is change. Can you imagine if Br. Russell or Br. Rutherford (1st and 2nd presidents of the Watchtower Society) were alive today? If they conscientiously held to their beliefs, they would be disfellowshipped as apostates, yet today the Watchtower teaches they are reigning with Christ in heaven. How ironic.

Some on becoming aware of this information may decide to walk away from the organization. This is certainly their choice to make and quite understandable. For many in the organization, walking away from friends and families is not an option. They must find a way to make things better for their brothers and sisters, their families and themselves. This is a courageous position to take that can only be admired.

We reiterate that we are not advising individuals to leave the organization, nor are we advising them to stay. This is a choice they must make. Either choice has serious ramifications, and “each must render an account to God.” To assist those who decide to stay, we have made some suggestions that we believe are in harmony with scriptural principles. In the final analysis, however, each individual must decide how to handle the various situations discussed, and should act so as to maintain a good conscience.

We hope that you have found this information helpful and that you will consider doing what you can to help bring about reform on this vital issue. Please consider the suggestions made in the article “Speeding Up the Pace of Reform”.

Bibliography

None

Footnotes

None

Citations

American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Elder L. Concluding Thoughts. October 2023; 12(1). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/concluding-thoughts

American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Elder, L. (2023, November 1). Concluding Thoughts. In-Sight Publishing. 12(1).

Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): ELDER, L. Concluding Thoughts.In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 12, n. 1, 2023.

Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Elder, Lee. 2023. “Concluding Thoughts.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (Winter). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/concluding-thoughts.

Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Elder, L “Concluding Thoughts.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (November 2023). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/concluding-thoughts.

Harvard: Elder, L. (2023) ‘Concluding Thoughts’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 12(1). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/concluding-thoughts>.

Harvard (Australian): Elder, L 2023, ‘Concluding Thoughts’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/concluding-thoughts.

Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Elder, Lee. “Concluding Thoughts.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.12, no. 1, 2023, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/concluding-thoughts.

Vancouver/ICMJE: Lee E. Concluding Thoughts [Internet]. 2023 Nov; 12(1). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/concluding-thoughts.

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In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

2023-10-31

Pith 705: Scent

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/31

Scent: And I still remember how you taste, particularly how you smell; that’s victory enough.

See “You win.”

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2023-10-31

Pith 704: Single mothers

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/31

Single mothers: should be free of the taboo and judgment in speaking to the fact of single parenthood as hard work.

See “Emancipation.”

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2023-10-31

Pith 703: Agnostic sense

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/31

Agnostic sense: I’m still agnostic on if smell is your great captivator, or I’ve got you captive; and I don’t speak Spanish.

See “Sans.”

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2023-10-31

Pith 702: J. Balvin

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/31

J. Balvin: Basically, the man has two great songs for dancing, Colmillo and Mi Gente; and that’s good enough.

See “The night away.”

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2023-10-31

Pith 701: What if?

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/31

What if?: To me, every “What if?” can mean a “What next?”; so, I ask now, “What if?”, as I see a path of ifs for golden reaping.

See “I.”

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2023-10-31

Pith 700: “Good, maybe we can meet”

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/31

“Good, maybe we can meet”: You don’t mean the “maybe,” honey, do you; I’ll see you in a few days.

See “Good November start.”

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2023-10-31

Pith 699: Transition

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/31

Transition: is best when akin to natural processes, doing a little good, leaving a little mark, sloughing off while adding on.

See “Work.”

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2023-10-30

Ask A Genius 613: The Dumbs

Author(s): Rick Rosner and Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Ask A Genius

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2021/07/21

[Recording Start]

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: I was talking about editing. Oh, yeah. So editing.

Rick Rosner: I only want to give a few details if somebody you work for reads this.

Jacobsen: Yes. I write for a place. Some of the articles are great, but other ones could be better. This is more general advice. When you have pieces that aren’t good, you see common patterns, things like everyday use, things like word choice, and things like tone if you think of a more advanced level. So it’s the difference between telling a story of intimate partners “choosing one another.” And then, in another case, using the word “select,” “selection,” or “selecting” because that word “select,” “selecting,” or “selection” is more in a technical, distant sense. It’s almost scientifically dominant, for instance, evolutionary psychology, that we’ll talk about “mate selection.” These individuals “selected” one another. This person was designated.

Rosner: You’re talking about people forming partnerships, and you’re editing articles based on that, and you need to see more logical reasoning.

Jacobsen: I’m seeing sloppiness at different levels. One in terms of basic writing. Others are at higher levels in terms of tone and word choice. So, the word can work. The style is slanted. If they tilted the technique more and picked a more appropriate word, the articles would be outstanding. So I’m looking to ask you as another writer. What are some things that you notice come up in writing?

Rosner: The deal is that it used to be relatively expensive compared to now to publish material. You had to have a printing press. You had to have paper. You had to have a means of distribution. And now it’s cheap to publish material. And the competition in keeping your source of reading material alive, whether it’s a newspaper or something else or some kind of the online component of a newspaper or some website, is clicks and monetizable clicks, which means that writing can be total crap as long as it gets you a click. This is something that is not news; people have known it now for, I don’t know, probably close to 20 years. And it means a bunch of bad writing habits are supported.

Getting the information out there first is enormous. Like, when a death is announced on Twitter or some other social medium, maybe two to five percent of the time, it turns out not to be true. But people need to rush to get the clicks to be the first people to announce it. The rumours, if they confirm people’s worst suspicions about people or institutions, are supported, and they turn out to be another, five, ten, twenty percent of the time not true. The race to get clicks supports many things that are counter to good writing. And I’ve found, over the pandemic, that my ability to read an entire article has degraded, and the number of books I read is down by, I don’t know, probably ninety-five or more percent.

My patience with what I don’t want to know is that I look for what I might want to know is super low now, and so is everybody’s. Google and the rest of the internet have wrecked everybody. People used to have to browse through books and encyclopedias, hoping to be able to put together an informational picture of the question they were trying to get answered. I thought it was a well-researched question like, “How old is the universe?” You can get that question answered given the best knowledge of the time. Via books and encyclopedias, it’s a famous research question. But like more esoteric questions like, “If the universe is this old, how wide is the universe?”, which turns out to be complicated because space is expanding as you’re looking back on the history of the universe.

So the universe you’re looking back on, anyway, the answer is the universe is 14 billion years old; the universe is not, two times 14 billion or twenty-eight billion light-years wide, esoteric mathematical relativistic reasons. But good luck tracking that down in a book or encyclopedia, especially in a way you could understand; you’re some nerdy kid in eighth grade. But now you punch what’s the diameter of the universe into Google, and you’re going to get some misinformation. But if you poke around, you’ll get decent explanations and numbers of the deal. And see, you don’t have to do the slog in the desperate search where, much of the time, you’re not going to get a decent answer, especially like, in my hometown, we were lucky enough to have the public library. It was pretty good.

I don’t know, probably fifty thousand to eighty thousand volumes. And then we have the college library, which has a million books. But if you’re in junior high, you don’t know how to use the college library. But anyway, the natural sources weren’t there. Now, they’re here in abundance. And I, among everybody else, don’t have the patience for long searches. I came up with a game show like, I don’t know, during the Writers Guild strike in 2008 called “Search Party,” which was just people competing to find things on the internet while being tortured, in TV-type ways, Nickelodeon type ways, squirt guns and dropping slime on them. One of the questions was, “What car was Sonny Corleone driving when he got shot in The Godfather?”

And when I came up with that game, it took a bit of searching to find that answer. Now, you punch it into Google, and you could probably find that the first eight sources would have it within a second. So anyway, it’s all about getting the information first and rapidly, and all this works against good readers and writers. And there are still plenty of people who consume well-written books and articles. But the monetization, the structures that made sure that good writers could make a living doing it. Those structures have been under attack for a generation. Any thoughts?

Jacobsen: I agree. I submitted an abstract to a graduate student conference yesterday about the future of independent journalism. You’re correct. There’s been much fractionation of the traditional pathways and institutions for mainstream, like gathering, assessing and writing up information and news. So, in general, we will be left with a decimated landscape for some time.

Rosner: There’s also the cultivation of morons, at least in America and probably other places.

Jacobsen: By cultivation, you mean empowerment of morons?

Rosner: Yes. Conservative think tanks figured out that dumb people, which I don’t know; I mean, there have always been dumb people. There have always been people who’ve tried to rile up racists and dopes. And, like, just homegrown fascists like Father Coughlin and racist fashion, but the think tanks in the 70s just put together – really pinned down a strategy for turning dumb people into a manipulated demographic. An energized big group of people you could politically and… I always forget the word that you could politically… Mobilize, there you go. You can muster the dumbs. And for 50 years, conservatives have been rallying the dumbs, and they’ve painted themselves into a despicable corner where many of the remaining Republicans are fucking belligerent idiots.

And I tweet much stuff that is liberal. And the response is from conservatives are fairly consistently riddled with wrong thinking, bad spelling, bad grammar, just wrong everything. And that’s an ecosystem in which that can thrive. There’s nobody policing the dumbs. There’s nobody with good dumbs to get them to be less dumb. There might be some people. But I don’t know of them. People like the Fox News Primetime, Tucker Carlson, Ingraham, Hannity, Judge Jeanine, their whole primetime lineup. The five at least had Juan Williams token liberal-ish guy to push back, give more to yell about. But he quit. There’s nobody within that system who’s saying that we should police our beliefs and, like, try to choose some less stupid ideas. And so dumbness thrives and infects the rest of the internet—the end.

Jacobsen: Ok. All right.

[Recording End]

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2023-10-30

Ask A Genius 612: Trust in Marriage

Author(s): Rick Rosner and Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Ask A Genius

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2021/07/18

[Beginning of recorded material]

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: What is the fundamental importance of the character trait of trust or trustworthiness in a marriage?

Rick Rosner: Ok. So, various factors go into the longevity of a marriage. And I can mostly talk about the aspects that have gone into mine. We’ve been married for 30 years. Low self-esteem helps maintain a relationship. There are two types of people in terms of relationships and self-esteem. People with high self-esteem, pricks and bitches can behave cavalierly because they think that they can get into another relationship with ease if they fuck up this one. Carole and I don’t have the highest self-esteem, and that’s been helpful. There are cultural anchors, like religion, that it’s essential to stay married. Neither Carole nor I have those religious anchors; we’re not Catholic.

There are things like bad examples from my past. My mom was married twice, and my dad was married three times. It seems like less work and more rewarding to stay married to put the work into staying married. Carole and I could go into couples counselling about once a month for, I don’t know, more than twenty-five years. I have excellent insurance, which facilitates that. I’m working on the relationship now as far as trust goes; I can’t lie very well to Carol. I can lie about little things like, “Did you feed the dog?” But about big things, I can’t. And really, I haven’t had to; I haven’t murdered anybody where I’ve had to cover that up. But for the most part, I find it easier not to lie, not to be put in a position where I have to lie.

But again, I’m in an excellent position not to have to lie because I have no game with women, and I don’t want to go out and have sex with other women. Which isn’t to say, I wouldn’t. But I’d like to try having sex with some other woman. But not within the, “I’m unmarried.” I’m not going to do that. A, because I have no game. And B, I was beating off for a solid 10-plus years before I lost my virginity. And it makes no sense for me, at least, to go out and try to scuttle the marriage by fucking around, especially since I suck at it. I could buy a hooker, I guess, but I suck at that too. I tried purchasing a hooker when I was in my primary days. It takes me a long time to have sex, maybe, because I was beating off for ten years before I lost my virginity.

But, the whole logistics of being with a hooker didn’t work in 1980. And it certainly wouldn’t work forty-one years later. But the deal is, if I feel like cheating, I can just beat off. And you’re a fucking idiot if you have a reasonable libido close to average libido and you think you’re not going to be beating off even in a settled relationship. I mean, maybe, you’re the fortunate person in a relationship whose libido is as high as yours. And with somebody who continues to make you horny, or you continue to make each other horny. But, in that situation, you may be paid for the other person’s high libido. In different ways, that person might be a crazy pain in the ass another way.

Elvis maybe didn’t have to beat off, but he probably did. But there’s almost nobody outside of a sex cult who isn’t going to be beating off sometimes, and you just need to fucking get used to it. And if you resign yourself to having to beat off – you don’t have to phrase it that way, with the pleasure of beating off. And, set aside all the ridiculousness and the potential damage of trying to hook up outside of marriage, you’re saving yourself a lot of pain and misery. So that whole deal where I find it highly unreasonable for me to go look for sex means that that’s one fundamental area where my wife can trust. As far as money, I’ve been lucky enough to have an excellent job for much of my life, so we have savings, so I don’t have to lie about money.

What I’m saying is we’re lucky enough that most of the areas that leave the people in a marriage to lie to each other aren’t areas that are too much of a risk for us. As far as, can you have a relationship where trust is regularly violated? I would think so. Like, if you have a marriage between two beautiful fucking people who can easily fuck other people, maybe that works for them. For much of the 20th century and before, it was, I think, assumed that there was a strong possibility of lying in a marriage. In the first half of the 20th century or say just in America, and probably the world, was just rife with prostitution, it’s perhaps up through the 70s. My dad took the family to New York City when I was a kid around 1970, and we walked through Midtown Manhattan, and there was a little cluster of hookers on every fucking street corner.

If you did the math on that, you’re talking about hundreds of streetwalkers, of street prostitutes, just walking in the streets of Manhattan on a typical night. I first came to L.A. in 1980. There were street prostitutes on Sunset Boulevard, Women on Sunset, and Santa Monica had the boy whores. Now it’s all moved online, I’m sure. But, like, I still think it’s enormous. A hundred years ago, 80 years ago, I think there was a certain level of acceptance that as long as the husband didn’t bring home a venereal disease; it was a possibility that when the husband went out of town on a business trip, that shit might happen, and that’s a significant violation of trust. But I think it fucking happened a hell of a lot.

[Recording End]

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2023-10-30

Ask A Genius 611: Delta Variant, Yo, not Quadrant

Author(s): Rick Rosner and Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Ask A Genius

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2021/07/11

[Beginning of recorded material]

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: We have a Delta variant wave in the United States; what is the Delta variant of COVID? Why is it dangerous? And what’s your prognostication prognosis?

Rick Rosner: All right, so the world has been watching India and particularly England. I think the Delta variant really took hold first. So everybody’s looking at Britain, where COVID numbers are up twenty-six hundred percent daily COVID. And they say the U.S. is about a month behind. Currently, the COVID numbers in the U.S. are up two hundred to two hundred and fifty percent, all Delta in Britain in the high 90s. The number of cases that are Delta variant, mainly in the unvaccinated, some they call it a breakthrough case is yet COVID, even though you are vaccinated. Britain has 66 million people. Twenty million have yet to be vaccinated, a much lower percentage than almost every other country. But it’s fucking scary because Britain now has more than 50000 new cases a day, which, if you do the math, means that more than one out of every four hundred unvaccinated Brits is catching COVID every fucking day. Which is insane and scary.

Now, it’s not. Delta is not killing as high a percentage of people as were dying from earlier waves. Some of the cases, I believe, are in vaccinated people and Delta and somebody who’s fully vaccinated is very unlikely to kill them. I haven’t seen all the stats, but the new case numbers are fucking scary. Everybody expects it to hit the U.S. Anybody who looks at the numbers and doesn’t have some stupid agenda expects Delta to hit. Delta is now fifty-eight percent of all new U.S. cases, and people expect it to become 99 percent of all new U.S. cases, and it hit us hard. Florida is up to four hundred. It’s over 8,000 new cases a day. Republicans States are getting hit harder because some Trump states have as few as one-third of the population vaccinated. A massive amount of vaccine resistance in the U.S. is growing rage, with one-third of the adult population refusing to get vaccinated. Whether that will have any effect, it’s hard to tell.

At the peak of people getting vaccinated, the U.S. was vaccinating three million people a day. Now we’re down to half a million a day because assholes refused to get vaccinated. So we may get hit even harder than Britain is by Delta, which is crazy since we have half the population vaccinated that we should start getting raw new case numbers that are higher. Almost nobody was immunized, and we got a quarter million new cases daily. But if we start getting a fraction of unvaccinated people catching Delta Britain currently has, then that would be four hundred thousand new U.S. cases a day, which is 40 percent higher than we were even during the horrible third one.

The ongoing vaccine resistance means that COVID will have a fat tail that will still be getting COVID a year and a half from now. I haven’t looked in detail at what made the Spanish flu fade away, which started in 1918. It was still virulent in 1919 but didn’t hit that many places hard in 1920, mainly because maybe, maybe primarily, because one-third of the Earth’s population had gotten it, which gave people some stiff resistance. And perhaps it mutated into a less virulent form or a less contagious form. I don’t know, but it’s fucking ridiculous that it may take something like that to make COVID fade away. If it does in the next couple of years, because of the vaccine resistance, it looks like COVID will have a fat tail where England had knocked it down to almost nothing or relatively nothing. Two thousand cases a day, compared to fifty-four thousand now. You might go a couple of days with nobody dying from COVID-19 in all of the U.K., and now it’s back hugely. So in the U.S., we’re at eight hundred to a thousand percent increase in new cases over the last month.

In L.A. County, I expect a 10-fold increase in new cases in the U.S. compared to the low levels after the end of the fourth wave by the first week of August. And for us to have a 20-fold increase over June by the end of it and for it to persist as long as the terrible third wave continued, which was five or six months. So, almost until the end of the year, it won’t. It won’t kill as many people as died in the U.S. third wave. This wave might only kill one hundred and fifty thousand Americans because it’s less virulent. But I don’t know guys like Tucker Carlson. You have to be vaccinated to work at Fox News, and the 90-year-old guy who owns Fox News and other conservative news outlets do much programming with the intent of increasing vaccine skepticism, fear and resistance. And as long as that’s going on, we’ll still have, you know, roughly a quarter of the adult U.S. population unvaccinated, and COVID won’t go away in the end.

[End of recorded material]

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2023-10-30

Ask A Genius 610: Addendum on Bad Ideas

Author(s): Rick Rosner and Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Ask A Genius

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2021/07/11

[Beginning of recorded material]

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: A quick addendum to the session on bad ideas.

Rick Rosner: Ok, so the deal is we’ve talked about this before, but the analogy or the principle the people like to apply to like Republican diehards believing stupider and stupider shit and the Republican elected officials getting shittier and shittier is the boiled frog. The idea is that if you put a frog in a pot of water and slowly turn up the temperature, the frog won’t notice the change in the temperature. The temperature change will be so gradual that the frog will never see that the water has reached a point, a temperature that will kill it and the frog. People assume this was confirmed by an experiment (?) that you could boil a frog. It’s like turning the water up gradually, and there won’t be an abrupt enough change in water temperature to make the frog nervous enough to jump out of the water. This turns out not to be accurate. And they’ve done the experiment now, and when the water gets hot enough to be unsafe, the frog will say fuck it and will jump out of the pot. So it’s a bad analogy. In another sense, it’s a fine analogy because it illustrates your point, but it doesn’t have. It’s not true in the fact that frogs don’t allow themselves to be boiled—the end.

[End of recorded material]

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2023-10-30

The Role of the parliamentarians and faith or belief leaders can play in addressing the inequalities on account of religion or belief in Tanzania

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: September 1, 2014

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: African Freethinker

Journal Founding: November 1, 2018

Frequency: TBD

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 1

Issue Numbering: 1

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Individual Publication Date: October 30, 2023

Issue Publication Date: TBD

Author(s): Isakwisa Amanyisye Lucas Mwakalonge

Author(s) Bio: Lucas is Assistant Editor, African Freethinker/in-sightpublishing.com (Tanzania), a Lawyer, an Advocate of the High Court of Tanzania, a Notary Public Officer and Commissioner for Oaths. Writer on Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB). Researcher in Constitutional Law, and Human Rights Law. Also, a Humanist-Freethinker activist in Tanzania. (e-mail: isamwaka01@gmail.com).

Word Count: 3,385

Image Credit: Isakwisa Amanyisye Lucas Mwakalonge.

Keywords: belief, Christianity, faith, freethinker, human rights, humanist, inequalities, Intolerance, Isakwisa Amanyisye Lucas Mwakalonge, parliamentarians, Tanzania, United Nations, United Republic of Tanzania.

*Please see the footnotes and bibliography after the article.*

The Role of the parliamentarians and faith or belief leaders can play in addressing the inequalities on account of religion or belief in Tanzania

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania – East Africa.

(WhatsApp +255 766 151395/E-mail: isamwaka01@gmail.com.)

A parliamentarian is a member of a parliament, especially one who is respected for his or her experience and skill. A parliamentarian is also someone who is an expert on the rules and methods used by a group that makes laws or decisions. Parliament is one of the pillars of state in Tanzania; its functions are to enact laws, it is a legislative organ, it is a representative body of Tanzanians, whereby through it, the people’s interests, views, outlooks and demands are expressed while faith or belief leaders are religious leaders. Good examples of them are the imams in Islam, rabbis of Judaism, pastors and reverend fathers in Christianity, chief priests in African traditional religions, and leaders of other belief communities. Inequality or inequalities on account of religion or belief is when a person is treated differently because of his or her religion or belief, or lack of religion or belief, in one of the situations covered by the Equality Act Chapter 15. The treatment could be a one-off action or a result of a rule or policy. And it does not have to be deliberate to be unlawful. In other words, inequalities on account of religion or belief, it is a belief or religion discrimination is discriminating against fellow human beings only because he or she believes or does not even believe in a similar thing as you believe.

The Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief, under Article 2(2), provides:

“For the purpose of the present Declaration, the expression “intolerance and discrimination based on religion or belief” means any distinction, exclusion, restriction, or preference based on religion or belief and having as its purpose or as its effect nullification or impairment of the recognition, enjoyment or exercise of human rights and fundamental freedom on an equal basis.”

In Tanzania, any kind of discrimination against a human being, including discrimination on the basis of religion or belief, is prohibited by the Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania of 1977, under article 13(5), bearing in mind that Tanzania is a secular state, yet there are some elements of inequalities on account of religion or belief in Tanzanian societies, that is why there is a need for them to be addressed so as to expose them and if possible to eradicate them completely.

Therefore, in discussing the role the parliamentarians and faith or belief leaders play in addressing the issue of the inequalities on account of religion or belief, here below are some outlines of basic elements of human rights which are to be considered as the yardstick of both international and regional standards of observance of human rights in which they can be used to influence the domestic laws in improving the standards of human rights at a local level. For instance, at the international level, human rights, including the rights of freedom of religion or belief, are provided and guaranteed by various international human rights documents. A few of them are the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief, while the regional level, there is African [Banjul]Charter on Human and People’s Rights, whereby at the national level there is Constitution. All of these documents aim at providing, protecting, promoting and guaranteeing the enjoyment of freedom of religion or belief or even opting not to believe in any religion; indeed, this is both a human right and a legal right which every human being deserves to enjoy without any discrimination.

Tanzania is a member of the United Nations; thus, it is an undisputed fact that it accepts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 as a norm which is used as a common standard for achieving fulfillment of human rights at the international level, then automatically the nation is bound to adhere to this human rights declaration in which the Tanzanian human rights laws must reflect these international standards. For instance, in the preamble, the declaration is dedicated to promoting the enjoyment of freedom of belief and speech at a global level; that is why Article 2 of the declaration, the first paragraph it is states that everyone is entitled to enjoy all the rights and freedom provided in this declaration including the rights of enjoying the freedom of belief and speech without any distinction of either religion, social origin, race, political or other opinions, colour, social origin or nationality, language or birth, sex or another status, while article 7 of the declaration illustrates this:

“All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.”

And Article 18 states as follows:

“Everyone has the right to freedom of thoughts, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.”

Besides, article 29, in its generality, sets the limitations of enjoyments of human rights, including the rights of freedom of religion and belief, since human rights enjoyment is not an absolute right. Laws and orders of the areas concerned that set respect and freedom of others, as well as the general welfare of the public, must be obeyed.

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) under article 2 of the covenant, among other things provides that human beings should be respected, provided that they are human beings, irrespective of his or her religion. A human being should not be denied or be disrespected only because of his or her religion, while Article 18 (1)emphasizes that everyone shall have the right to freedom of religion or belief, freedom to adopt a belief or religion of his preference, together with freedom of manifestation of his religion or belief in teaching, observance, worshiping or practice while article 18(2) explains this:

“No one shall be subject to coercion which would impair his freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice.”

The United Republic of Tanzania has already signed and ratified this human rights instrument.

The Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief. It is a declaration dedicated to promoting all matters of freedom of religion and belief. For example, article 1 provides a right to either believe or opt not to believe in any religion, together with freedom of worship and the manifestation of someone’s belief or religion, teaching, observance, as practice. While article 2(1) provides that:

(1). “No one shall be subject to discrimination by any state, institution, group of persons or person on the grounds of religion or other belief.”

Article 3, reads:

“Discrimination between human beings on the grounds of religion or belief constitutes an effort to human dignity and a disavowal of the principles of the Charter of the United Nations, and shall be condemned as a violation of the human rights and fundamental freedoms proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and enunciated in detail in the International Covenants on Human Rights, and as an obstacle to friendly and peaceful relations between nations.”

Article 4(1) and (2) states:

1.“All states shall take effective measures to prevent and eliminate discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief in the recognition, exercise

and enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedom in all fields of civil, economic, political, social and cultural life.”

2. “All states shall make all efforts to enact or rescind legislation where necessary to prohibit any such discrimination, and to take all appropriate measures to combat intolerance on the grounds of religion or other beliefs in this matter.”

Till the publication of this essay, Tanzania is still hesitating to ratify this human rights document.

At the regional level in Africa in which Tanzania is within, the right of freedom of religion or belief is provided and guaranteed by the African [Banjul]Charter on Human and People’s Rights. A concrete example is from Article 2 of the charter, whereby, among other things, the article states that every individual has to enjoy human rights and freedom without being discriminated against despite the difference of religion. And Article 8 of the same charter provides this:

“Freedom of conscience, the professing, and free practice of religion shall be guaranteed. No one may subject to law and order, be submitted to measures restricting the exercise of these freedoms.”

This charter has been ratified by Tanzania.

At the domestic level in Tanzania, issues of freedom of religion or belief rights are promoted, provided, guaranteed and protected by the Constitution. Within Tanzania, numerous steps continue to be taken in the promotion and protection of equality amongst citizens. For example, Article 12(1) and (2) of the Constitution grant and protect the equality of human beings regardless of race, sex, colour, tribe or religious affiliations. It also insists that every person is entitled to recognition and respect for his dignity. Article 13(1) and (2) provides the right of equality before the law. The provisions read:

(1) “All persons are equal before the law and are entitled, without any discrimination, to protection and equality before the law.”

(2) “No law enacted by any authority in the United Republic shall make any proposition that is discriminatory either of itself or in its effect.”

The Status of Freedom of Religion and Belief in Tanzania:

Right from the preamble of the Constitution in article 3(1), it is clearly stated that the United Republic of Tanzania is a secular state, but the right of freedom of religion or belief and worship is provided, guaranteed and protected to all people by the supreme law of the land which is the Constitution precisely article 19(1), which provides that:

“Every person has the right to the freedom of conscience, faith and choice in matters of religion, including the freedom to change his religion or faith.”

This implies that every person in Tanzania is free to make a choice in what to believe and what not to believe, essentially in matters of religion and faith. A quotation below has a clear explanation of what the mentioned article 19(1) intends to portray.

“Freedom of religion and conscience this right means that no person should be required to profess any religion or other belief against his or her desire. Additionally, no one should be punished or penalized in any way because he or she chooses one religion over another or indeed opts for no religion at all.”

Therefore, in discussing the role which can be played by the parliamentarians as well as faith or belief leaders in addressing the inequalities on account of religion or belief, here below are some outlines of the basic elements of human rights, which is the yardstick. Henceforward, it is important to make sure that these parliamentarians and belief leaders, when addressing the state of inequalities in religions or belief in their areas and Tanzania, in particular, they must adhere to both international and regional human rights instruments as a benchmark in order to either advise the government to reform or legislate human rights laws which meet the international standards. Secondly, to continue to keep pressure on the government and the parliament to make sure that Tanzania ratifies all international treaties, conventions and declarations which guarantee freedom of religion and belief, such as the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief so soon because this declaration is a road map covering an international aspect on promotion, protection and guarantee freedom of religion and belief globally.

Generally, the roles of the parliamentarians and faith or belief leaders in addressing the inequalities on account of religion or belief are discussed below as follows:

As legislators in the legislative house, the parliamentarians have immense influence on both the government and the public at large because they are a link between the parliament and the public. So, the overall function of the parliament and the parliamentarians is to represent the people’s will in the governance of the state. Apart from being legislators, members of parliament perform a number of functions, and some of them represent their constituencies in the national assembly, speak to the government on behalf of the communities they represent, debating different government bills which are tabled in the House before those bills are passed to become laws, approving government budgets as well as endorse governments plans. They are also responsible for administering and advising government and government agencies in different aspects; sometimes, they ratify treaties. The parliamentarians are also members of different political parties of their choice; in that case, they are responsible for contributing to the development of their parties. For instance, before the parliamentary session starts, they have to sit in party caucuses in order to analyze projected legislation in the following parliamentary sessions. Thus, these members of parliament have roles in preparing to advise the legislature on the betterment of the upcoming bills, which later will be passed into legislation so that those upcoming laws are not discriminatory, especially in matters of belief or religion.

On that note, it is obvious that parliamentarians have a great role to contribute in addressing matters of inequalities on account of religion or belief because they are the lawmakers since they have the influence to encourage and advise the legislature and the executive to legislate laws which eliminates all kinds of inequalities in the nation since they have opportunities to advise the executive through the responsible ministries to bring in the house bills which will later result to the making of laws which eliminates inequalities on account of religion or belief in the republic. Also, they have a great chance of advising the government to ratify international treaties, which eliminate inequalities on account of religion or belief in the nation. They are in a better position to advise the government through the House to domesticate all international laws and treaties which address the elimination of all inequalities on account of religion or belief in the state. They are in a better position to advise the government to establish special government agencies which will be dealing specifically with the elimination of all stuff relating to religion or belief inequalities in Tanzania. They are in the right position to ask the executive through responsible ministries to make policies which address the eradication of inequalities based on religion or belief. They are also in a good position to use the wider platform they have to influence the legislature to legislate laws which discourage inequalities of religion or belief. Considering that the parliamentarians are leaders leading people in their respective constituencies, they are also in a better position to take the lead in providing civic education to their followers to embrace a habit of tolerance and love for all human beings despite the differences in faith. As political leaders, parliamentarians are expected to promote equality, peace, unity and tranquillity in the communities in which they live.

Faith or belief leaders with spiritual responsibilities entrusted to them by their followers and the public at large it is high time now for them to be regarded as a very important group to be involved in addressing issues of the inequalities on account of religion or belief in the societies, because no better changes can flourish without their involvement, for the reason that they have masses behind them, they are highly respected and trusted ones in the societies they live, sometimes they are regarded as divine ones. In that case, they are in a very vital position to the issues like shaping the behaviours and attitudes of the communities in which they live. In some circumstances, they can influence government policies because even political and government leaders have respect for them. They are in a better position to influence or even deny the implementation of some government policies to the public if they do not agree. They are in a good position to either promote or demote human rights awareness campaigns, depending on their wishes. Religious or belief leaders are expected to be the guardians and promoters of good religious values. For instance, they can encourage social units in societies. They can help strengthen social and political organizations in the communities in which they live. They can help promote economic, social and political agendas in their communities, perhaps in collaboration with the government. They can help promote international relations; for instance, there are some religions which have been geographically distributed in more than one country or even continent. Hence, religious leaders of such religions can help to unite their followers beyond their national boundaries with a motto of promoting peace and unity among human beings worldwide.

Religious or belief leaders have a role in providing civic and human rights education to their followers so that they become aware that each nation in the world which is a member of the United Nations must respect the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948, particularly article 18 of the declaration, which is also reflected in article 19(1) of Tanzania constitution whereby freedom of belief and religion is provided. Faith and belief leaders have a role of educating their supporters about the importance of embracing human rights, such as the right to enjoy the freedom of religion and belief, because human rights are universal irrespective of colour, race, nationality or religion. However, not every culture agrees on the concept of universality of human rights principles. Religious people must also be cautioned that enjoyment of freedom of belief and worship is not an absolute right; there are some limitations to enjoying these rights. From such human rights education, belief leaders and followers will come to an understanding that a human being is free even not to believe in any religion if she or they want to do so. With such human rights education belief, followers will understand that all human beings are equal before the law and no one should be discriminated against only because of race, colour, nationality, belief or religious differences. Faith leaders are supposed to educate their followers that each human being deserves dignity irrespective of belief differences. All activities of injustice to people of different faiths are to be discouraged, while love and tolerance must be encouraged to all human beings irrespective of faith or belief differences. Religious leaders are to be on the frontline in helping solve disputes in order to preserve good relationships among believers and avoid violence within the societies in which they live. Faith leaders are supposed to encourage peace among the people; religious or belief leaders have a responsibility to make sure that believers and other people in general enjoy a peaceful life. Belief and Religious leaders are expected to promote equality, unity and tranquillity in the communities in which they live. Believers must be taught about the existence of the rights of freedom of belief as part of human rights. Religious together with faith leaders, are duty-bound to educate their followers about the importance of embracing tolerance, especially to people of a different faith, because each human being has a right to freedom of expression of his or her ideas and a right to a manifestation of what she or he believes.

All in all, both the parliamentarians and faith leaders are the cornerstones of whatever changes are needed to succeed in any human society, including Tanzania, and no changes succeed in their absence. That is why the rule of engagement must be applied in the case of any government or any global agenda if aimed to be successful, such as this agenda of addressing issues of inequalities, especially in matters of religion or belief. Both faith leaders and parliamentarians must be involved so that they also incorporate the communities they lead. Also, it is prudent to engage both parliamentarians and faith or belief leaders in a war to help educate the society in fighting against the inequalities on account of religion or belief.

Bibliography

Books:

Jesse James, Basic Principles of Human Rights and Selected Cases Vol 1. Dar es salaam: Theophlus Enterprises, Dar es salaam, 2015.

Mugaywa Mutamwega, General Studies for Advanced Level 4^th Edition. Dar es salaam: Tanzania School Equipment Center, 2015.

Tanzania Institute of Education, Civics Manual for Secondary School and College Tutors. Dar es salaam: TIE, 2002.

Zombwe M. Gervas, Civics for Secondary Schools Book Two.Dar Es Salaam: Nyambari Nyangwine Publishers, 2008.

Magazines:

The Uganda Christian Lawyers, Fraternity (UCLF), Rights Training Manual for Pastors and Community Leaders, A Practical Guide to Assist Pastors and LC’s to Understand and Apply the Law. September 2014.

Web Sources:

Kashilila Didimu Thomas, “The Roles of Member of Parliament.’’ Tanzania Parliament Factsheet. https: http://www.parliament.go.tz (accessed August.8,2023)

The Role of a Member of Parliament. Queensland Parliament Factsheet. https://www.parliament.qld.au (accessed February. 2, 2023)

http://www.equalityhumanrights.com (accessed July. 13, 2023)

Footnotes

None

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In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

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© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

2023-10-30

Non-Believers Have More Activism Ahead of Them: A Different Kind

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/30

Chuck Green in Nebraska Today made some important comments on the nature of atheist closeting. Even after the successes of the New Atheist movement, which simply meant a more brash, sometimes, and a more open and straightforward, more accurately, statement of non-belief in theological claims, there continues to be a self-silencing of non-believers in the United States, which, by comparison, means most countries of the world. Why?

Green notes how those without a religious affiliation are the fastest grouping population in the United States. One reason, as noted over years of interviews and conversations with these individuals all over the world, is the Internet. The decentralization of informational access provides a basis for individuals to critically evaluate cultural beliefs with others. This, by itself, neuters fundamentalism for many. Global informational cosmopolitanism is the first benchmark of a Type I civilization. Everyone garners mutual understanding, which begets tolerance in diversity.

However, as Green notes, “But the social stigma associated with atheism leaves this population vulnerable to isolation and poor mental health outcomes.”

That’s an ongoing problem. Arguably, since the population of non-believers is increasing precipitously, this has been a declining problem with improved recognition and movements devoted to their visibility, e.g., New Atheism, Firebrand Atheism, reinvigoration of global Humanism in branding – think IHEU to HI – and advances in the global South, advances in science to justify agnostic empiricism, pluralistic multiethnic societies reducing supremacist movements to comedy, and the like. Nonetheless, the stigma and isolation and self-abnegation is a crucial element for consideration. Again, why, especially in the United States?

Green uses research by Assistant Profrssor Dean Abbott who looked into the psychological well-being of “rural-residing and women-identified atheists — in the context of anti-atheist discrimination in the U.S.”

“Both rural and woman-identifying atheists were thoughtful about not sharing large parts of their worldview,” he said.

And that’s significant. People comfortably go to ‘safe spaces’ as entire colleges and universities devoted to religious study, credentialing, and life. They wear crosses, make movies, write books, fund political parties, conduct wedding ceremonies, wear culturally appopriate signifiers, and such. They talk about going to religious institutions every week, praying, and so on. How come this sector of the population feels the need to self-silence? In theocratic societies, it’s obvious: Fear of political pressure, legal consequences, and social reprisal, so various abuses. Even an American example as shown by Dr. Herb Silverman, it was illegal to run for political office.

600 atheists — 300 from each group — took part in the study. If you have an experience with social scientific research, you can realize the depth of the sample size for a study. That’s, in fact, quite enough to get a good idea. The two groups of atheists experienced things in different ways.

Many atheist women found atheism, in and of itself, liberating when coming out of a Christian background. Most of the restrictions are for women in the Christian faith, though the faith was liberationist for its time; it’s almost retrograde now. Green uses the word “expectations” when describing this phenomenon. Women atheists found the general expectations from the faith stultifying, restrictive.

You can find many atheist women like this. Usually, two camps, the majority: they find liberation. A superminority who have come out and left the religion, then declare an aggressive stance against not only illegitimate patriarchal tyranny but also transferred — overextended — to innocent men. It’s a sad sight, hard to defend those unfortunate men having to be the punching bag for these unfortunate, too, women’s processing of trauma. It happens; that’s life.

North American religion has truly been nullified on a number of levels, which explains the attempts at a resurgence for political power and social relevance. Canadian Christianity lost the culture war. It will be, by my math, less than half of the population — and not very serious worshippers — somewhere in 2024. That decline will continue onwards towards a more United Kingdom level for the rest of the 2020s, at least.

An important finding from the study was anti-atheist discrimination was “uncommon.” Yet, those women found the authority of the Christian faith and the norms distressing. A stereotype for women atheists was being “sexually immoral” for simply being atheists, which is clearly nonsense and an attempt at shaming women into conformity. It’s wrong. These stereotypes can be actively encouraged by church leadership.

The rural atheists had different challenges. They feared violence, so “a heightened sense of danger.” One secular opinion writer for their community received a death threat at a local restaurant. Death threats are common in the secular world for writers and prominent people. Even if the issues facing atheists in these rural areas, let alone rural atheist women, were covered and known, the care is, typically, faith-based anyway. This makes the entire social and care landscape geared by and for religious believers, often Christian. That’s another reason for the isolation. Why participate in an unwelcoming community and then getting help includes only faith-based treatment?

Abbott is working, happily, to create a mental health handbook for professionals working with non-religious clients, remembering anti-atheist discrimination was not the issue. It’s a larger set of issues, but specific to geographics, socioeconomics, and gender.

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2023-10-29

Pith 698: Writer know

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/29

Writer know: now, know yourself; know, writer, now know yourself; repeat after me; nowhere is home to you, so home is you.

See “Inward.”

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2023-10-29

Pith 697: Home is

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/29

Home is: a why; neither where nor who; and when nary a sight of it and so a sigh, sit; inward turning, word presenting.

See “Writer know.”

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2023-10-29

Pith 696: My values aren’t yours

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/29

My values aren’t yours: My convictions are experiments in both axiology & lifestyle; why make the judgments?

See “There’s no symmetry.”

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2023-10-29

Pith 695: Grace and Christianity, Women

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/29

Grace and Christianity, Women: The central benefit of the faith was improved status for women, preceding rights movements.

See “And next.”

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2023-10-29

Pith 694: In horse summary

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/29

In horse summary: Are horse girls crazy; for the most part, yes, they’re also passionate, too; a thin lining in a mixed bag.

See “Equine.”

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2023-10-29

Pith 693: Scotty

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/29

Scotty: Chapter 2, okay, what are you doing tonight; I can make it, later around midnight though.

See “Kiss and then don’t tell.”

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2023-10-28

Mario Antonio Liptaj on ETHOS in Slovakia

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): The Good Men Project

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/19

Mario Antonio Liptaj is a Board Member of ETHOS in Slovakia and an activist, and filmmaker based out of Slovakia. Here he talks about Humanism in Slovakia.

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: What is your name?

Mario Antonio Liptaj: My name is Mario Antonio Liptaj. I am a board member of ETHOS, which is a secular humanist organization in Slovakia.

Jacobsen: How long have you been involved in the humanist movement, secular humanist movement?

Liptaj: It is a bit of a difficult question. I think I have been an atheist for as long as I remember. I have labelled myself as such as soon as I read the definition of the word. Obviously, Humanism had that. Even though, I had joined this organization quite a while ago. I hadn’t really been an active member until about 4 or 5 years ago. There were some political controversies concerning the topic of separation of church and state, which is a question that has not yet been resolved in the country. The way in which the country deals with churches and, in particular, the Catholic Church is in opposition to the constitution. In fact, the very first line in the constitution is the ‘Slovak Republic is a sovereign, independent State with rule of law. It does not align itself with any ideology or religion’. Yet, despite this, one of the former governments of the country, for example, signed several treaties with the Vatican giving the Catholic Church special privileges. Even though, I cant directly label them as unconstitutional, as I am not an expert in this field. I do believe, personally, that that is in opposition with the spirit of how the constitution was written.

In practice, this means that, for example, only the main churches are registered as churches in the country, which is a separate problem by itself, get State funding. This State funding is based on data from the census. It has, unfortunately, also been increasing. I believe somewhere around 56 or 58 million Euros a year, for example, goes directly to the Catholic Church. This has been a number thast has been gradually increasing. Despite the fact that the adherents to the Catholic Church, even according to census data, has been dropping over time, irreligious people are the converse. Sorry! [Laughing] I completely sidelined the discussion.

What I was trying to say, the topic of the separation of church and state, and the political controversy of churches being funded from public funds was a topic that, at the time, was in the year 2019. It sort of appeared again in public discourse. So, I decided to organize a protest march in support of the separation of church and state. At first, I did it on my own. Then the ETHOS organization, basically, decided to join me in organizing this march. Then, somehow, through that process, it got to the point where I gradually became more and more involved with them, until becoming a board member as well. It was a bit of a long-winded response. But I hope this answered the question.

This march was also related, again a year later. We have again, but we hope to organize it again next year.

Jacobsen: For ETHOS, what are the main battlegrounds?

Liptaj: Okay, so, there are many of them. Obviously, unfortunately, it is not all about funding. What we see in our country is theocratic elements repeatedly attempting to gain more and more political power through – let’s say – more and more nefarious means, which includes – I don’t want to say anything that counts as libel – influencing school curricula, especially with regards to optional religious education classes that we have in the country, they have repeatedly spread anti-LGBT or anti-abortion propaganda. We have, unfortunately, a growing problem with homophobia in the government and in politics, including repeated attempts in the parliament to restrict gay rights through various means, not to mention repeated attempts at restricting women’s rights to choose, Even though, I believe around 70% of the population actually opposes stricter abortion laws. However, as far as societal problems, we do see, at least, an apparent growth in instances of homophobic hatred, which, unfortunately, culminated in a terrorist attack at a gay bar. That happened last year (2022), where two people, unfortunately, died and a third one was wounded.

Jacobsen: How do you describe the activity within ETHOS?

Liptaj: I would say we only have about 20 registered members at the moment. Even though, our online presence is quite a bit larger and an online following as well. As for the structure, even though, I’m not 100% sure of the average age. Our ages vary. I am probably the youngest registered member, definitely the youngest board member for sure.

Jacobsen: How do you find the other demographics of the organization?

Liptaj: I don’t have the numbers, but, as I said, I’m 26, being the youngest younger board member. I get the feeling that the average age is not quite as high as in some other organizations at the moment. I don’t have the data or anything. As for education, I believe most of us have some form of higher education. Geographically, even though, we have members all around the country. We do usually meet in the capital of Bratislava. That is where we have our meetings. It is informal meetings that happen now and then. This became more infrequent since the start of the pandemic.

Jacobsen: What do you consider decent allies?

Liptaj: We have collaborated with specific members of two political parties so far. We’re now planning to publish a sort of secular guide to the upcoming election, this September

Jacobsen: Smart.

Liptaj: We look at each of the major candidate parties, which are quite large. We look at each of the issues that might concern secular voters, as well as how the parties had voted with regards to both positive and negative proposals in the parliament. How they voted with regards to LGBT rights or women’s rights, or the separation of church and state, or other related issues, that a secular person might care about. So far, it seems as though on those two parties who we have worked on in the past. They have been entirely unproblematic as for these particular issues. We have also worked with other activist organizations as well as, for example, a small church, whcih is the so-called old Catholic Church. They are a small religious organization that are fairly progressive and agree with us on the separation of church and state as well. When it comes to this topic specifically, we have even had the leader of this organization speak at our pro-separation of church and state marches.

Jacobsen: Would you consider religion in Slovakia more of a social concern or more of a political effort?

Liptaj: I think it is a very regional distinction. Personally, I find myself lucky to have grown up in the capital of Bratislava, where I grew up an atheist without any major problems. However, I noticed how different it can be for other people as soon as I began attending high school on the other side of the country, where I met another boy who was from a small town or village who didn’t even know what the word atheism meant and was fairly surprised at the fact that there are people who don’t believe in God. So, I had to explain to him what atheism, which is the main label I use. Although, I do identify with secularist and humanist. They’re all the same to me. But that’s another debate. Anyway, I had to explain to him what atheism was.

Jacobsen: It’s an old joke Richard Dawkins tells, not him but, of another person who stipulated that they had an experience talking to their mother. Their mother had come to them saying, “I don’t mind that you don’t believe in God. I don’t mind that at all, but an atheist!”

Liptaj: [Laughing] I almost forgot.

Jacobsen: You’re seen as in a degenerate state.

Liptaj: Yes, yes, I remember when I told my father I was an atheist. I grew up – I’m not sure – mostly without him. He’s from a small Italian village. When I told him, he was an atheist. He immediately assumed that was a communist. [Laughing] But I’m not sure how relevant that is to the interview. I’m not sure rural villages in Slovakia are that different from rural villages in Italy, such as the one my father is from.

Jacobsen: The Red Scare in the United States was about stereotyping as atheists.

Liptaj: Now, countries that no longer label themselves communist, socialist rather; there can be a similar sort of paranoia about left-wing thinking and socialism. I would label myself a socialist, but it is still very politically and socially controversial to do so – I would say.

Jacobsen: I think a lot of these fears of atheists and secular humanists, and stuff, is more or less an artificial anxiety. Something whipped up for political purposes.

Liptaj: I wouldn’t just say political, especially in many parts of Europe and in the Catholic – and completely in the Orthodox parts of Europe; you see it’s not just politicians, but priests and the Church, itself, to hold onto pwoer. Unfortunately, what we see in Slovakia is a lot of misinformation, hate being spread, it is by priests, by bishops, etc. Actually, I forgot to mention. Directly after the shooting at the gay bar, which was conducted by a young boy who happened to have come out of the same school as me, who’s father was active in the far-right party, and who was himself radicalized, maybe, that’s neither here nor there. Directly after the shooting happened, one of the bishops or a cardinal, Orosch. He has immediately afterwards, after the shooting like a few days later, responded to the shooting by blaming the victims for doing immoral things, by being who they are, naturally. That’s another thing that we immediately responded to, by organizing a protest gathering outside seats of congress in Slovakia, which, actually, the conference of (Catholic) bishops is very controversial in our country because they have been a major source of spreading hatred in the Catholic Church.

Jacobsen: Do they, as with the Americans and, maybe, some Canadian parts, export their ideological leanings to the other parts of the world?

Liptaj: Do you mean, “Do they export, or do Americans export, their religions?”

Jacobsen: Do the Slovak fundamentalists, far-right groups, export their fundamentalism to other parts of the world?

Liptaj: Not as far as I am aware of, but we have been and continue to be a target of many fringe…

Jacobsen: You’re speaking of ETHOS now?

Liptaj: No, sorry, I mean Slovakia, unfortunately, especially in the recent years has been an export target of many fringe and cultish groups. We have seen a rise of activities from groups such as the Scientologists and Mormons, especially the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Jacobsen: That’s a weird trifecta.

Liptaj: Now, new groups are popping up, whose names I can’t remember off the top of my head – targeting especially younger audiences, which I find very concerning. Basically, indoctrinating them. These groups have also been involved in questionable activities and have been labelled as cults.

Jacobsen: From what I’m gathering, the main issue is internal and not external, in terms of the country. Your major issues are religious fundamentalists already in the country.

Liptaj: From my point of view – not so much from religious propaganda, as from repeated attempts by religious fundamentalists to gain political power. The previous government, which is luckily enough not in power anymore, has had several ministers, including the Prime Minister, who had previously been involved with religious fringe groups, including, I believe, the Charismatics.

Jacobsen: The people who have glossolalia/speaking in tongues. That sort of thing.

Liptaj: Yes, which I find concerning, unfortunately, it also had an impact on issues such as abortion rights.

Jacobsen: With regards to the census, what are the activites of ETHOS?

Liptaj: In 2021, we had a nationwide census. Most of the countries every 10 years. We saw that as an opportunity to both inform people about the current structure of how churches are funded in our country, but also, maybe, a way to encourage people to rethink their attitudes towards religion and towards organized religion, specifically. Because the funding of churches by the State is mostly determined by census data, we thought that it was important for people to truly reconsider whether or not they are going to declare their adherence to any particular religious group or organization, since many, unfortunately, don’t realize that by declaring themselves, for example, Catholic; they contribute towards increasing the funding of the Catholic Church from the State, or might not realize that they can even not label themselves according to how they might have been baptised. I have, even after the fact, met a person who wasn’t aware that they were allowed not to declare themselves Catholic. Even though, they have been baptised. That is a free choice. We prepared a campaign, which was a mix of a billboard campaign and an online campaign. I was part of a team that prepared the graphical side of the campaign. We made a website and a hashtag (translating as “No Religion” or “Without Religion”). Luckily enough, we got a major discount for our billboards, since the municipality was about to remove those billboards anyway. So, luckily enough, we caught the attention of a nominally conservative, where we are beginning to see more far-right, but still conservative online journal or media. Unfortunately, we offended them enough so that they wrote an angry article and a hit piece about our campaign and ETHOS as an organization, which, luckily enough, gave us even more attention.

Jacobsen: Yes, it always backfires.

Liptaj: Yes, it does. Actually, if I can correct myself a bit, they first decided to offer to interview us, in the spirit of democracy and free expression. The President of ETHOS, at the time, gave them an interview. It was only after the fact that they turned against us and started attacking us, and our campaign. So, I would consider that campaign a success and the numbers have risen dramatically from, I believe, 13% to the lower 20s, nowadays, of irreligious people. But also, irreligious people being, now, the largest group in the capital and many other regions in the West and in the South of the country. So, I would consider thast a success. That was a campaign.

Jacobsen: What wuld your advice be for other organizationsthat would like to reach out, connect, coordinate, and share information with ETHOS?

Liptaj: I mean, suppose, they can just email us.

Jacobsen: It is always as simple as an email.

Liptaj: I think so. They can also find us social media, particularly Facebook. We have a Facebook page, but, most of all, we find the most information about the current issues in the country on the website. We publish articles, frequently, about the current state of Humanism and Secularism in the country.

Jacobsen: Any final feelings or thought based on the conversation today?

Liptaj: I have a lot of thoughts and opinions, but none come to mind right now.

Jacobsen: Thank you for the opportunity and your time.

Liptaj: No problem. It’s been a pleasure.

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Pith 692: Ship of Theseus

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/28

Ship of Theseus: The human organism is life’s real Ship of Theseus; this explains both structure and mind.

See “Replacement Continuity.”

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2023-10-28

Pith 691: What is suffering?

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/28

What is suffering?: It’s an intuitive sense felt in the body of at-wrongness; therefore, it can be a transmutation agent.

See “Pain-gain.”

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2023-10-28

Pith 690: There’s a sense

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/28

There’s a sense: in which intuition is the foundation of every affirmed fact and theoretical structure; which leads to a question?

See “.”

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2023-10-28

Pith 689: 8:00 am, exactly, babe?

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/28

8:00 am, exactly, babe?: You’ve been thinking about sending that text all week; you leave a mark; I leave an impression.

See “Scotty.”

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2023-10-28

Ask A Genius 609: Transforms in Time, and Not

Author(s): Rick Rosner and Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Ask A Genius

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2021/07/11

[Beginning of recorded material]

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: My general question is around transforms or transformation in two circumstances regarding a definition. One is the idea of a transformation in time. What is that? Two, a transformation in a context in which, as you referenced in an earlier session, something outside of time. What is transformation in a system without time?

Rick Rosner: Okay, so first, let’s do a transformation within time. By change, I’m going to assume you mean with me, as it refers to the continuity of existence of consciousness. Is that a reasonable assumption?

Jacobsen: Sure.

Rosner: Okay, I’ve been writing about this in my novel. Where, as evolved beings, like evolution, as evolved beings we’re pretty much okay with how we are on a moment to moment, day to day basis. There are things about our existence that suck in the long term, but we’re not constantly freaking out about the state of ourselves. That wouldn’t make sense evolutionarily if the organisms are always looking at themselves and going, “Oh, fuck, this is fuck. I can’t believe how fucked the shit is.” Those organisms wouldn’t have excellent survival potential. So we’ve evolved to be more or less okay with how we are, right? To be complacent. So we can go about our business. And that complacency extends to the continuity of our consciousness. And our consciousness is often only sometimes continuous. I mean, think about we’re highly distractible, and we go to sleep, at least once a day for the most part, we’re shut down. We forget stuff. We misremember stuff, we misperceive. There’s much shit that goes on. We’re in many ways discontinuous, but we’re okay with it too. We’re used to it. That’s how we are. And we don’t notice it for the most part. And so, we consider ourselves the same being from moment to moment, day to day, year to year.

Even though, we’re shitty in many ways at being the same consciousness, over long periods… So, the character I’m writing about is part of an enterprise to replicate consciousness outside of the brain. They develop indices, measures, of how much fidelity the external version of the consciousness has. And, it’s early days. So it’s shitty. What our brains and minds are, according to whatever, according to some measures that we haven’t yet developed, aren’t excellent at maintaining continuity. But they’re good enough at maintaining continuity that we’re oky with it because we were evolved to be so. But continuity is, when it comes to consciousness, it’s easy to answer. It’s easier to answer what continuity is about a living being. About the not conscious part, which is, that you’ve got all the same body. You may replace cells. You may replace atoms, the atoms in your body may turn over. I don’t know how. I’ve seen statistics and analysis as to how much of the atoms in your body are the same atoms as ten years ago. That shit doesn’t matter as long as your overall structures remain roughly the same.

And it’s a little trickier about thought, memory, consciousness. But you can consider yourself the same person because your brain is in the same body. It’s the same brain. At a slightly more profound level, you’re able to retrieve a lot of the memories; you might want to retrieve your feelings about stuff. Your judgments have been enough. I mean, the idea that you’re the same person rests on consistency. There’s sufficient consistency that we, in our shitty thickness, are okay with it because, otherwise, it would make us too crazy to be good at surviving. Yeah, that’s a circular answer. But there is your deal.

[End of recorded material]

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2023-10-28

Ask A Genius 608: Ineradicable Substrate

Author(s): Rick Rosner and Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Ask A Genius

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2021/07/11

[Beginning of recorded material]

Rick Rosner: So I’ve been collecting on behalf of my wife and, a little bit on behalf of myself, like stuff from the past two hundred years; I bought my kid a sampler from 1812. A girl named Philadelphia Henderson, I believe—South Eastern England, which came with a genealogy. So we know her mom, and we know her family up to the present day. It even came with a picture of Philadelphia as an old lady. And I’ll go into thrift stores, vintage stores, and I’ll buy old images because we have a bunch of frames. So, I’ll buy old photos to fit the old structures. And it’s clear that it should be clear anyhow. But it’s evident through these pictures how fast we’re swept away. I have a picture. I bought an image for a buck of Betty and George standing at their cash register in March 1955.

They’re almost certainly dead or soon to be dead. Well, let’s see what fricking they look. They were – I don’t know – thirty. So they were born in 1925, so they’re roughly 96 if they’re still around. And if I got their ages right, they probably smoked. Um, anyway, they’re probably gone. But they were here just a few decades ago, standing at the cash register. And we, too, are soon to be swept away, and we can distract ourselves from that for most waking moments and, indeed, most sleeping moments. We have very few thoughts that we remember from when we’re asleep. And we’re swept away. Our pets are swept away, and the universe has few provisions for caring about or stopping that.

We’re on the verge of having the technology to drastically extend the time we have before we die to the point where people are alive one hundred years from now. We’ll be able to live indefinitely and have consciousness continue indefinitely in some form. Though, the very nature, at the deepest levels of the rules of the principles of existence. You don’t get to live forever because it is likely impossible. You’d have to live for infinite years, years without end. Years that end. It needs to be clarified that anything, let alone an individual consciousness, can keep going for endless time. And you also have to examine what the point of living for infinite time would be, and you have to take that. It would help if you took it down to what we want as humans and what we’ve evolved to do. And we’ve grown to want to live and to want to keep living and not to be afraid of ever stopping living.

And you put those things together, and you get the desire to live forever. So you ask most people, and they’ll say they don’t want to live forever. Mainly because we come from a cultural history of living forever being unattainable. More people will change their tune as the technology becomes more accurate, and we can live indefinitely. But as far as what provisions the universe itself and, the principles of existence that lie behind or work in tandem with these, there are some provisions, but they’re pretty sucky. We’ve talked about the set of all possible universes, which could be broken down into the setting of all possible moments that can be contained. It’s the set of all possible moments, and possible moments generally are moments in a string of moments in a possible universe.

And it’s not unreasonable to propose that the elements in the set of all… we don’t know if this set exists in any reasonable form, but the features of this set are unique in that they possibly live; they can live. And because they can live, they probably do exist because they can’t not exist. And do our moments of consciousness have some relationship to this set of possible moments? That by virtue of being possible, live; and this existence, while the moments exist along timelines; if the setting of all moment possible moments exists, then that set is beyond time. Itself doesn’t exist in time, or it’s not time-dependent, though each group element exists within a timeline.

So you can propose in the math that any analysis on this possible set is way beyond anybody, anything anybody’s worked on. So you can’t talk reasonably about it. However, you can make wild guesses that the moments of existence, including personal fact, have this quasi-existence as members of this set that is possibly ineradicable because it is so deeply rooted in the principles of reality that as long as a moment isn’t self-contradictory; it can exist, and thus does exist in a way that exists outside a time, beyond time and ineradicable. All those are wild guesses and should be of little comfort. I don’t know. I mean, it doesn’t help us live, beyond the constraints of our bodies that’ll take technology, and the technology will be shitty until it’s less shitty.

And even as it becomes better and better, there will still be forces that will act to shut us down before we get to live forever and living forever seems impossible. They’re not necessarily. Because if things of arbitrary bigness can exist, universes of arbitrary largeness all the way up to, but not including, infinity. If they can live because you can’t ever reach infinity, you could have entities that could keep going indefinitely, which just never stopped going and keep counting forever. Well, I don’t know. I wonder if this statement is true. I’ll have to look at the set theory or whatever theory it is. Whatever approaches infinities, you can keep counting finite numbers and never stop. You can keep going forever, which is the same. I’m confusing myself, but it makes sense that you could keep existing eternally. You could keep living, never stopping existing, which seems like immortality; but it doesn’t have an infinite lifespan because you can never reach infinity.

So I don’t know; I’ve confused myself. I’ve revealed my ignorance. Also, I don’t know if there’s a difference between existing forever or existing indefinitely and if there’s a difference between existing indefinitely and an infinite lifespan. If that difference between an endless lifespan and keep going without stopping. If there’s a difference between those two things, does that difference mean anything about what we want and will want when we become the following things? The end.

[End of recorded material]

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2023-10-28

Ask A Genius 607: Are we fucked?

Author(s): Rick Rosner and Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Ask A Genius

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2021/07/11

[Beginning of recorded material]

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: We are recording go ahead.

Rick Rosner: Yes, right before we started recording in the previous session, you asked if I’m relieved now that things are better. And I said I’m not relieved because things are not better. And so, let me expand on that. Things are better in that we have a president who’s not incompetent and a terrible person and stupid and insane. What’s not better is that the Republicans are pushing for massive voter suppression. And it’s not clear that they can be beaten back; the push for voter suppression is rooted in most Republicans’ minds who are pushing for it and in people who are honestly going for it versus the people who are cynically going for it. Who would, which includes most of the Republican elected officials who are pushing for it? It’s rooted in the big lie that Biden didn’t win and that there was massive fraud that needs to be fought back with all these voters. All these laws are for voter security.

And it’s clear to anybody who’s not a Republican that there was no sympathy or, at least, no more fraud than there’s been in just about every other election, which means some minor shenanigans here and there, not affecting most races. For instance, among the known shenanigans in Florida, the Republican brand, several found people, not even politicians, just people with names similar to Democratic candidates, and they ran these people in tight races versus the Democratic candidates, like Dennis Vasquez, who is hoping that the similar name people would draw off enough votes from people who weren’t paying attention that the Republican won. And that happened in a couple of states; I think a couple of races in Florida for state offices. But in terms of affecting national offices, it’s unlikely. There’s been no evidence. No legitimate evidence of anything, any massive fraud enough to tip an election has occurred.

Nevertheless, the Republicans are insisting that they won by seven million, won the popular vote by seven million votes. I used to know the statistics. I know there were 57 presidential elections in the history of the U.S., and this was in the top 10 largest popular vote margins. It wasn’t a tiny victory in the popular vote. And so many Republicans are claiming that they’ll just disclose enough fraud to overturn the election. They’ve found nothing. It’s been, what, seven months since the election? No, eight months. There’s nothing in the Constitution or the laws of the U.S. for overturning an election, even if they did discover fraud. There’s just nothing. There’s no reasonable way for the election to be overturned and no reason for it to be overturned. Yet there’s still pushing, and more than 50 percent of people who identify as Republicans are saying that Trump won.

So, reality has had no impact on a big chunk of the electorate, a shrinking chunk because they keep losing Republicans because the Republicans are so terrible. But it’s had no effect on elected Republicans who are pushing voter suppression. The Democrats right now narrowly hold the House. Historically, the party that has the president loses the House in the midterm elections. That’ll likely happen with voter suppression and historical trends that people just kind of vote against whatever party is in power. And if the Republicans take the House, they may be able to push through a bunch more voter suppression. And these laws that they’re trying to push are unlike any laws that have been passed in the history of the U.S., as far as I know. That these laws say that a state legislature, if they find the results in their state in a national election suspicious, can overturn those results. If a Republican Legislature and, say, the state of Oklahoma and a Democrat wins the popular vote, the Republican Legislature can overturn those results and send a different set of electors to vote for the Republican in the Electoral College for president. This means that if some of these laws pass in enough of the U.S.. We may never have a non-Republican president again in the near and medium future. Even though Republicans tend not to win the popular vote because they’re so fucking terrible.

I think they’ve won the popular vote for president once in the last eight elections, but they’ve won the presidency four times out of the last eight presidential elections. My numbers are a little off, but it is not good. So, things are still dire. We bought some breathing room for roughly 18 months to get some legislation passed. The Supreme Court overturned the Voting Rights Act, which was an act that was passed, I believe, in the 90s or, maybe, before it had to be overturned. So, the states that have a record of suppressing votes, particularly of minority and poor voters; that legislation in those states have to pass the national. They have to be examined by some national legislature or the courts or something to make sure that the law is passed in these states with a history of prejudice. The Civil War states and the similar states can’t just pass laws that suppress minority votes. Five years ago, the Roberts Court said that the Voting Rights Act no longer applies because the problems in voting in the Civil War states had been fixed, and that turned out to be not true at all. The problems are perhaps worse than ever, and the U.S. needs to pass another vote right now, and that may not happen. And if it doesn’t pass, then we are probably fucked. But maybe worse than we were when Trump was president. The end.

[End of recorded material]

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2023-10-28

Ask A Genius 606: “Just because it’s funny thinking doesn’t mean that it’s not good thinking.”

Author(s): Rick Rosner and Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Ask A Genius

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2021/07/11

[Beginning of recorded material]

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: All right, the proliferation of good and bad ideas. What are your further thoughts on it?

Rick Rosner: Well, beyond what I said last time, the deal is in America right now, probably other parts of the world, but certainly in America, people who fall for bad ideas, at least bad ideas from conservative media, have been getting tenderized for decades now. Where what you have was left among the number of the percentage of people who are Republicans has been dropping, not precipitously, but the last party affiliation survey had America being 24 percent Republicans, 30 percent Democrats, and 44 percent independents, which a couple of percent, I guess, didn’t say. But you know, that’s way down for both Democrats and Republicans, but Republicans more. And it’s a tricky little nugget of people who will fucking fall for anything. They’ve been, you know, fed Republican material, which is terrible material. It’s bullshit for decades. But these are the ones who are left to believe. And at this point, they’re inclined to believe anything they hear from their preferred purveyors.

Fox News now has even more conservative news channels like OAN and Newsmax. The websites, like Breitbart and beyond. And whatever happens, some conservative pundits will come up with some explanation, no matter how far-fetched, that fits somehow into their worldview. At this point, they’re pretty divorced from holding what they’re told, accountable for reasonableness and agreement with reality. So, the second thing is that bad ideas need a bunch of people in easy touch with each other to support those bad ideas against the resistance of reality. And it’s helpful if you’ve got millions of people who’ve been pre-tested on being receptive to bad ideas. And that’s where we are now, where we did this experiment with Trump for four years, and it’s clear that he was a terrible person. He was awful for the country. We had more people unemployed under Trump than at any previous time in history. Because of COVID, more people died in four years under Trump than in four years under any other president. With most of the people who died. Not because we had more Americans, which means more deaths. But because we had COVID counts for 40 percent of those excess deaths, increased population, 30 percent opioid overdoses, probably at least a quarter of those deaths.

Trump said he’d fix the opioid problem, too. He didn’t do that. He didn’t do anything. The only significant thing he did was the tax cut for rich people. The last time we had an infrastructure bill pass was in December 2015, under Obama. Trump accomplished nothing. And it’s evident except to the people who like Trump. So then you asked me about what makes a bad idea versus a good idea in general. And I’ve been listening to many comedy bits on Sirius radio, where they have several comedy channels all the time. A good joke routine rests on a good observation. And it reflects good thinking; just because it’s funny thinking doesn’t mean that it’s not good thinking. Somebody takes an astute observation and matches it up with some personal anecdotes to back up the thesis of whatever the bit is. So you have things that help a good idea. Be good or familiar. You take something that people are aware of – they know about in the world – and you come up with a good novel idea about them.

Ask A Genius 605: Lexical Valence

Author(s): Rick Rosner and Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Ask A Genius

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2021/07/11

[Beginning of recorded material]

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Does Google Translate understand love?
Rick Rosner: Or, to put it more succinctly, does Google Translate know what love means? I guess that was more succinct. We know that lexicographically, Google Translate has a very good idea of how love and its foreign equivalence fit into various languages. So, for Google Translate, love is part of a huge, intricate big-data lexical network, but that doesn’t equal knowing anything. As you brought up before we started taping, Google Translate has no skin in the game and has no judgments. Love doesn’t affect Google Translate one way or the other, and Google Translate doesn’t have any means of judging what is good or bad for Google Translate. It’s got no emotional loading. I think you said it’s just the prefrontal cortex.
Jacobsen: So, it seems as if there is an associational net without valence or a prefrontal cortex without any bolstering structure.
Rosner: Okay. So that raises the question, given today’s technology, could you make a machine feel pleasure or pain? And I would argue that you probably could, that it’s all a matter of association. Well, for one thing, if something gives you pleasure, your behaviour will be to do things that increase the frequency or intensity of pleasure and the opposite for pain. You could probably build something like that into a machine; you could definitely build a machine that has the behavioural sophistication of a person, but has no ability to think but which will move towards things that are beneficial in a way from things that threaten it or hurt it. You could build a machine that has an associative net, associative via the associations it has with stuff and with its built-in behaviours which are doing that language, that last sentence is doing too much, but you could probably build in the sense of pleasure and pain that works the same way for a machine that it works for us without the bandwidth.
So I don’t know; I don’t think it’s impossible to build value judgments into Google Translate. An elementary sense of aesthetics and a bunch of other stuff, everything we know and feel is associational; it’s part of a network of associations that are triggered by memories and sensory input. Google Translate has an associative network, but it’s very one-dimensional to the point that it doesn’t really know anything. It can tell you 80 different words for love in a bunch of different languages and even sentences that are often associated with love, but it doesn’t know what any of that stuff means. Eventually, and maybe even now, people are going to build further associations into engines like Google Translate that will nudge it more towards what we think of as knowing, which almost the same thing as consciously appreciated is. We could spend a long time differentiating between the two, but really, we’ve just sketched out the rough landscape.
Quick addendum: we know the ingredients of our consciousness, which are all sorts of associative networks communicating with each other, visual networks, lexical networks, and spatial networks, which are closely related to visual networks, but the part of our brain that understands how three-dimensional space works. So all these associative networks being able to retrieve relevant information and the ability to experience pleasure and pain are closely associated with value judgments, the ability to judge how various things impact our knowledge about what’s good and bad. I think that’s basically most of the ingredients. Oh, and real-time processing of a flood of information, both external and internal.
Also, not only being able to retrieve memories but making new ones and the ability to change your mind. So maybe that’s all the elements of consciousness for us, maybe we missed a couple, but once we’ve got the elements of consciousness for us, then you have to talk about which of these elements are essential, like how much of a value judgment structure you need to be conscious. We’ve talked about the AI security guard who just watches warehouses, and so he’s aware of what’s going on on all the cameras and will trigger an alarm if the right elements are there but doesn’t necessarily feel good or bad about what happens in the warehouses and whether that AI security guard can be considered conscious.

[End of recorded material]

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2023-10-28

Ask A Genius 604: Odds, Ends, Odd Ends, and End Odds

Author(s): Rick Rosner and Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Ask A Genius

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2021/07/11

[Beginning of recorded material]

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Go ahead.

Rick Rosner: Yeah, so there are numerous problems, even if achieving technological immortality were feasible. There are metaphysical issues that arise with living indefinitely. One of them is the need to continually acquire more memory to give meaning to your endless existence. Without an unlimited memory, you eventually reach a point where you start cycling through experiences. It’s like being stuck in a repetitive loop, and that doesn’t feel entirely satisfying. Furthermore, in the future, conscious entities and information processing systems will become more powerful and profound.

Apart from running out of memory as a human, you would also lack the capacity to comprehend things compared to these superior entities. Therefore, living indefinitely as a human, or something resembling a human, may not prove fulfilling in the long run. You might desire to evolve into something more, merge with other entities, or become part of an ever-changing information processing structure. This structure constantly sends off conscious beings to embark on various endeavors, only to reunite and merge back into the overall system. The human narrative we hold dear may not be the most satisfying thing for beings in a hundred, two hundred, five hundred, or a thousand years. That could be a good thing if we get the chance to transform into those beings and experience more profound forms of satisfaction. On the flip side, it could be problematic if we don’t have that opportunity. Extended lifespan raises numerous questions, some more immediate than others.

In general, we are the result of evolutionary processes that have no concern for our fulfillment. Evolution lacks a goal; it’s an indifferent process. We, on the other hand, have evolved to desire things that are beyond our reach.

[End of recorded material]

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2023-10-28

Pith 687: The Wordness of Words

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/27

The Wordness of Words: Every qualia has neural correlates; consciousness is the negative image of these correlates, maps.

See “Inverse.”

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2023-10-28

Pith 686: Words

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/27

Words: can be mixed to the letter, like synesthetes with senses; this whirlpool can yield novel definitions and experiences.

See “Qualia.”

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2023-10-28

Pith 685: He said, she said, they said

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/27

He said, she said, they said: He said he saw it, and she did too; they saw akin called “the same”; they call this Real.

See “I don’t too.”

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2023-10-28

Pith 684: Wizardly Chronic Hips

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/27

Wizardly Chronic Hips: I wish I could show you, to experience as I do, to see choice in even experience at will.

See “Yet, what will?”.

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2023-10-28

Pith 683: Subdue

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/27

Subdue: An individual, in theory, can replicate habits of mind found in ‘mental illness’; they can be used.

See “Schizophrenic wordplay.”

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2023-10-28

Pith 682: Life and death

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/27

Life and death: Thoughts, personality, temperament, their temporal ranges in habits of mind; they can be internally induced.

See “Subdue.”

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2023-10-28

Pith 681: Structure now

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/27

Structure now: We live in the period of the universe where temporary structures can exist; tendencies of form then.

See “Life and death.”

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2023-10-28

Pith 680: Schizophrenic Wordplay

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/27

Schizophrenic Wordplay: What you do with words, some speak; others write; some linear; others poetic; mine is neither-wise.

See “Ctoc.”

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2023-10-28

Pith 679: Read me

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/27

Read me: That redness of red doesn’t necessarily have to correspond to being on that object in that place.

See “Justified assumptions.”

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2023-10-28

Pith 678: That colour is not there

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/27

That colour is not there: It’s not even not there; it’s not even in that place; you’re imposing colour on the lost past.

See “Read me.”

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2023-10-28

Pith 677: David Goggins

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/27

David Goggins: Iron Man is made of salt and water, more years in tears than sweat and tears; trauma, racism, to move, and move.

See “B.”

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2023-10-28

Pith 676: Twake Us

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/27

Twake Us: Toomuch asmatter scatter, timerence encryptophobia; keepmind inyourds, a sound, a wave, a pulse, wake me twoinone.

See “Twine.”

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2023-10-28

Pith 675: Minedcount

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/27

Minedcount: My mind, siltrubber stillriverrun, wheels spoketoned; mind’s silt run; speak your wheels on my river.

See “Letits run, rain.”

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2023-10-28

Pith 674: I know not

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/27

I know not: My trace, erasure, and my pace, never; my ledge of know is to no ledge; knowledge is, so isn’t.

See “Tendencies of form.”

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2023-10-28

Pith 673: Carve me

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/27

Carve me: Carve me, crave me, make me, ache with me; play with me, all day so we, can be you, me, and we.

See “Synchronwe.”

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2023-10-28

Pith 672: In my experience

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/27

In my experience: Latin women make both better dancers and better kissers into the early morning, by a substantial margin.

See “Clubs.”

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2023-10-28

Pith 671: I’m the DJ Khaled of kissing and hickies, apparently

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/27

I’m the DJ Khaled of kissing and hickies, apparently: “ANOTHER ONE!”

See “October night and early mornings in Vancouver.”

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2023-10-28

Pith 670: “You’re a really good dancer.”

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/27

“You’re a really good dancer.”: Well, you’re a really good kisser; so, thank you on both counts.

See “October, 4am, Vancouver.”

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2023-10-28

Pith 669: Bad decisions can be good for you

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/27

Bad decisions can be good for you: Yeah, but they’re super cute, and *they* invited *me*, so neener-neener-neener.

See “Sorta have to.”

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2023-10-28

Pith 668: The End Times

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/27

The End Times: Religions ranting about the End of Days, again, so get ready for the excuses of murder and annexation, again.

See “Bible.”

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2023-10-28

Pith 667: Sensibility

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/27

Sensibility: There’s a sense in which neither rich nor devout Christians live differently than the rest of Canada, morally.

See “Moot.”

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2023-10-28

Pith 666: Of course

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/27

Of course: men love the Bible; it gives them divine authority, often unquestioned.

See “Religious sexism”.

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2023-10-28

Pith 665: Don’t idolize the past

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/27

Don’t idolize the past: When you look closer, it wasn’t all that fun or great; the good old days are now in most ways.

See “Retrogrades”.

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2023-10-22

Watchtower Commits Perjury

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Journal Founding: August 2, 2012

Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 12

Issue Numbering: 1

Section: B

Theme Type: Idea

Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”

Theme Part: 29

Formal Sub-Theme: None.

Individual Publication Date: October 22, 2023

Issue Publication Date: January 1, 2024

Author(s): Advocates for Jehovah’s Witness Reform on Blood

Author(s) Bio: None.

Word Count: 612

Image Credit: None.

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369–6885

*Original publication here during May, 2014.*

*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*

Keywords: Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood, Bulgaria, Christian, European Commission on Human Rights, God, Jehovah’s Witnesss, perjury, public health, Watchtower Society.

Watchtower Commits Perjury

In a shocking development, we have learned the Watchtower Society perjured itself before the European Commission on Human Rights. This is a commission that operates under authority of the World Court, and to which the Watchtower Society apparently submitted a false and misleading application regarding objections to legal recognition that were raised by the government of Bulgaria.

By reading the Press release issued by the commission, it will be readily apparent to anyone familiar with Jehovah’s Witnesses, that Watchtower officials lied.

Here is one key paragraph regarding children and the blood issue:

As regards the alleged involvement of children the applicant association submits that children cannot become members of the association but only participate, together with their parents, in the religious activities of the community. In respect of the refusal of blood transfusion, the applicant association submits that there are no religious sanctions for a Jehovah’s Witness who chooses to accept blood transfusion and that, therefore, the fact that the religious doctrine of Jehovah’s Witnesses is against blood transfusion cannot amount to a threat to “public health”. Emphasis ours

It is not unheard of for children to be baptized, and to become members of the association before reaching the age of ten, although most Jehovah’s Witness children are probably in their early teens when they officially become members of the congregation, and subject to its judicial process.
As for a Witness who accepts one of the banned blood products, or a whole blood transfusion, the Watchtower’s historical position has been quite clear:

“…the receiver of a blood transfusion must be cut off from God’s people by excommunication or disfellowshiping….if in the future he persists in accepting blood transfusions or in donating blood toward the carrying out of this medical practice upon others, he shows that he has really not repented, but is deliberately opposed to God’s requirements. As a rebellious opposer and unfaithful example to fellow members of the Christian congregation he must be cut off therefrom by disfellowshiping. – The Watchtower 01/15/1961 pp. 63, 64 Emphasis ours

Anyone can see view the press release for themselves by visiting the archive of the website for the Commission on Human Rights where the Press Release is still maintained. You can also view the friendly settlement between the Watchtower and Bulgaria where they perjured themselves which is still maintained on the commission’s web site – view document.

Is it possible that the European Commission on Human Rights is fabricating all of this as some Witnesses have suggested? No since all the Watchtower Society would have to do is produce the original application to vindicate themselves.

We invited the WTS to respond to these serious charges by contacting us and remain willing to post their official response. Sincere Jehovah’s Witnesses call to mind, and take seriously the words of the Bible. Clearly their leaders do not.

*** Rbi8 John 8:44 ***
YOU are from YOUR father the Devil, and YOU wish to do the desires of YOUR father. That one was a manslayer when he began, and he did not stand fast in the truth, because truth is not in him. When he speaks the lie, he speaks according to his own disposition, because he is a liar and the father of [the lie].

*** Rbi8 James 3:14-15 ***
…do not be bragging and lying against the truth.

*** Rbi8 Colossians 3:9 ***
Do not be lying to one another…

*** Rbi8 1 John 2:21 ***
…no lie originates with the truth.

*** Rbi8 Revelation 21:27 ***
But anything not sacred and anyone that carries on a disgusting thing and a lie will in no way enter into it; only those written in the Lamb’s scroll of life [will].

Bibliography

None

Footnotes

None

Citations

American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Advocates for Jehovah’s Witness Reform on Blood. Watchtower Commits Perjury. October 2023; 12(1). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/watchtower-perjury

American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Advocates for Jehovah’s Witness Reform on Blood. (2023, October 22). Watchtower Commits Perjury. In-Sight Publishing. 12(1).

Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): Advocates for Jehovah’s Witness Reform on Blood. Watchtower Commits Perjury. In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 12, n. 1, 2023.

Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Advocates for Jehovah’s Witness Reform on Blood. 2023. “Watchtower Commits Perjury.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (Winter). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/watchtower-perjury.

Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Advocates for Jehovah’s Witness Reform on Blood “Watchtower Commits Perjury.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (October 2023). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/watchtower-perjury.

Harvard: Advocates for Jehovah’s Witness Reform on Blood. (2023) ‘Watchtower Commits Perjury’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 12(1). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/watchtower-perjury>.

Harvard (Australian): Advocates for Jehovah’s Witness Reform on Blood 2023, ‘Watchtower Commits Perjury’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/watchtower-perjury>.

Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Advocates for Jehovah’s Witness Reform on Blood. “Watchtower Commits Perjury.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.12, no. 1, 2023, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/watchtower-perjury.

Vancouver/ICMJE: Advocates for Jehovah’s Witness Reform on Blood. Watchtower Commits Perjury [Internet]. 2023 Oct; 12(1). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/watchtower-perjury.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

2023-10-22

Debbie Shard’s Story

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Journal Founding: August 2, 2012

Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 12

Issue Numbering: 1

Section: B

Theme Type: Idea

Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”

Theme Part: 29

Formal Sub-Theme: None.

Individual Publication Date: October 22, 2023

Issue Publication Date: January 1, 2024

Author(s): Debbie Shard.

Author(s) Bio: None.

Word Count: 470

Image Credit: None.

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369–6885

*Original publication here during July, 2014.*

*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*

Keywords: Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood, baptized, Debbie Shard, God, Hyde Park Congregation, Jehovah’s Witness, Watchtower Society.

Debbie Shard’s Story

I was raised as a Jehovah’s Witness in a family with a long history as members, going back to 1910. And I grew up truly believing it was the truth. However, there were many issues, as I grew older that disturbed my conscience and so I want to tell my story.

My dad was an elder for many years, when he developed kidney disease. It got so bad that eventually his kidneys stopped functioning and he went on dialysis.

The subject of a transplant came up, and my parents searched the Watchtower publications to see what the society had to say, finding that it was not permissible. So, he did not have a transplant. He was on dialysis for several years, but it was not enough. He died in 1978, and two years later the society changed their policy, to make it a matter of conscience in 1980.

Name: Arvid Einar Moody – Born: Aug 1910 – Died: May 1978 in Cambridge Mass. To view the death certificate, click here.

I believe Dad was baptized in 1929, and I have a picture of his baptism…in fact lots of family pictures of Witness activities including, assemblies, sound cars, etc…as well as the portable phonograph and Rutherford records…also a very large number of books going back to the turn of the century.

Dad was an elder in the Hyde Park Congregation on River St. in Hyde Park, MA. Dad designed the hall. He was the sound servant for our circuit, and most district assemblies in our area. He was well-known in the area, and fairly well-known at headquarters. He was friends with Al Schroeder (Governing Body member), and Charlie Meng of the art department.

Fast forwarding to today, I have a 16-year-old son, who must attend the kingdom hall every other Sunday with his father (who is still a Witness). He does not believe the Watchtower, and does not wish to attend. Undeterred, his father has resorted to calling the police to force him to go, when he resists.

Recently my ex-husband gave my son a blood card to carry in his wallet. My son does not believe as my husband does. But still, my ex-husband demands that my son carry this card, which expresses not my son’s beliefs, but his own…even to the point of risking my son’s life for something that my son does not believe.

On the back of the card, my ex-husband scratched out (our) son and replaced it with (my) son, thus erasing my parental input in the matter. He signed it as though he was the only parent. Obviously, my son will not carry the card, but gave it to me instead.

The incredible control that the organization has over people’s lives still amazes me….and saddens me. May God bless your efforts!

In His Love,

Debbie Shard

Bibliography

None

Footnotes

None

Citations

American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Debbie S. Debbie Shard’s Story. October 2023; 12(1). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/stories-break-hearts

American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Shard, D. (2023, October 22). Debbie Shard’s Story. In-Sight Publishing. 12(1).

Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): DEBBIE, S. Debbie Shard’s Story. In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 12, n. 1, 2023.

Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Shard, Debbie. 2023. “Debbie Shard’s Story.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (Winter). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/stories-break-hearts.

Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Shard, D “Debbie Shard’s Story.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (October 2023). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/stories-break-hearts.

Harvard: Shard, D. (2023) ‘Debbie Shard’s Story’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 12(1). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/stories-break-hearts>.

Harvard (Australian): Shard, D 2023, ‘Debbie Shard’s Story’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/stories-break-hearts.

Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Shard, Debbie. “Debbie Shard’s Story.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.12, no. 1, 2023, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/stories-break-hearts.

Vancouver/ICMJE: Debbie Shard. Debbie Shard’s Story [Internet]. 2023 Oct; 12(1). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/stories-break-hearts.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

2023-10-22

Silenced – The Rado Vluegel Story

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Journal Founding: August 2, 2012

Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 12

Issue Numbering: 1

Section: B

Theme Type: Idea

Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”

Theme Part: 29

Formal Sub-Theme: None.

Individual Publication Date: October 22, 2023

Issue Publication Date: January 1, 2024

Author(s): Rado Vluegel

Author(s) Bio: None.

Word Count: 1,137

Image Credit: None.

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369–6885

*Original publication here during July, 2014.*

*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*

Keywords: Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood, Balaam, blood, God, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Rado Vluegel, Ruben van den Heuvel, Watchtower Society.

Silenced – The Rado Vleugel Story

My name is Rado Vleugel. I was born on January 1, 1973 in the city of Amsterdam while fire crackers where making a lot of noise.

The January 15, 1994 Watchtower page 22 tells something about my history as a Witness of Jehovah:

“Rado, mentioned earlier, was six years old when two pioneers studied the Bible with his parents. When still very young, he regularly accompanied these full-time preachers in the field ministry. Rado himself became a regular pioneer at the age of 17.”

One year after I started pioneering the elders appointed me as a ministerial servant. The same year, when I was still eighteen years old, I was assigned to conduct a congregation bookstudy.

In the autumn of 1998 I purchased a new computer with a built-in modem ready to surf the internet. Within a week I discovered the site of the AJWRB.

For several years I had already had doubts regarding the blood issue. For example, I didn’t deliver the May 22, 1994 Awake! with the topic “Youths who put God first”, about young Witness children who died because they refused blood transfusions.

On the AJWRB-site I found the letter “STOP THE INSANITY”. I felt I had an obligation to translate this letter from English into Dutch. At the end of November 1998 the Dutch translation was finished and uploaded to the AJWRB-site. To inform the brothers and sisters in the Netherlands there was important information for them available on the internet I spoke anonymously with some journalists. Two major Dutch newspapers publicized an article about the AJWRB and my call for reform. In one of these newspapers the spokesman of the Dutch Branch, Ruben van den Heuvel, commented on my actions:

“Happily we have freedom of speech and I say, ‘let this people reveal themselves, then we can start a conversation.’” –Algemeen Dagblad from 11/27/1998.

My identity was revealed a few days later after I appeared disguised with my voice altered on national television talking about the blood issue. The disguise wasn’t good enough. The elders in my congregation where phoned by Witnesses from all over the country that it was me on national television. I was phoned by the elders and told that I had been recognized. Because I had a great fear of being disfellowshipped, I denied that it was me. I regret this lie more than my call for reform.

The day after I denied the fact that I had been on television the elders called again: “Rado, we are now going by car to your parents with the video tape of the broadcast to see if they will recognize you.” There was no place to hide. Before they arrived at my parents house I called my father with the announcement that it was me that had appeared on television. My parents were shocked. The elders showed them the video tape anyway.

As expected a judicial committee was formed. The accusation was apostasy and helping to form a sect. I requested to bring an observer with me. They didn’t permit this (Happily many reform-minded elders who were also active on the internet supported me during the process).

The committee consisted of four elders. All of them were good friends of mine. The atmosphere during the process was a little bit strange. We even made jokes together. The elders asked me if I thought I was inspired by Jehovah. I answered: “If Jehovah used the donkey of Balaam, why should he not use me?” We laughed together.

Although the atmosphere wasn’t very cold and distant, they didn’t listen to my considered arguments. When I asked them probing questions they said: “We don’t comment on these questions, we follow the point of view of the Governing Body.” One illustration I used remained unanswered. This illustration shows the inconsistency of the prohibition of plasma while at the same time the Watchtower Society allows Witnesses to take all of its separate components, with the exception of water. Here is the illustration:

“A physician prohibits a patient to eat soup with the following ingredients: spring water, chicken, garlic and cornflower. At the same time he allows the patient to eat the ingredients separately; but the patient has one restriction: he has to take tap water instead of spring water (spring water = the water of the plasma, chicken = albumin, garlic = immunoglobin, cornflower = factor VIII and IX).

After a few ours of debating I was asked to leave the room so the elders could privately discuss what to do with me. When they called me back the faces of the elders were very sad. They told me that they had decided to disfellowship me. If I had remorse over my deeds I would not be disfellowshipped. Because the Society can’t be the master of the conscience of individuals I decided not to step back again in the footsteps of the Watchtower Society to blindly support an insane and inhumane policy. But I didn’t want to be disfellowshipped!

I appealed the decision of the committee and an appeal committee was formed. Because they where in close contact with the Branch it took a long time before I had to appear before this committee. At the end of February 1999 I had to appear alone before the seven members of this committee without any rights. They also decided to disfellowship me.

I clutched the last straw and appealed to the Society. One thing I wrote in my letter to the Society was:

“I hope the brothers of the Governing Body do not make the same mistake again by confusing a conscientious decision [to accept blood] with apostasy. As the October 1, 1994 Watchtower showed, the decision of “some Christians” to conscientiously accept certain blood-components had the positive influence of the WTS permitting their use for all Witnesses. What if “some Christians” also accept the other blood-components without violating their conscience? I hope that the decision of these “Christians” may have a positive influence on the future decisions of the Governing Body.”

I also clearly referred to the Bulgarian case telling the brothers that it is not fair to disfellowship someone for questioning the blood issue while the Society has made an agreement with the Bulgarian Government stating that Jehovah’s Witnesses can take a blood transfusion without any control or sanction. I asked them to respond in writing. They were too afraid to do that (Where was the promised freedom of speech? Why wasn’t it possible to have a constructive conservation?). After a week or so the elders called me to make an appointment to let me know what the answer of the Society was.

On Saturday March 6, 1999 I heard the final irreversible decision: Disfellowshipping.

Three days later my disfellowshipping was made public to the congregation. That day I lost all my friends.

Sincerely,

Rado Vluegel

Bibliography

None

Footnotes

None

Citations

American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Rado V. Silenced – The Rado Vluegel Story. October 2023; 12(1). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/rado-vluegel

American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Vluegel, R. (2023, October 22). Silenced – The Rado Vluegel Story. In-Sight Publishing. 12(1).

Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): VLUEGEL, R. Silenced – The Rado Vluegel Story. In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 12, n. 1, 2023.

Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Vluegel, Rado. 2023. “Silenced – The Rado Vluegel Story.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (Winter). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/rado-vluegel.

Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Vluegel, R “Silenced – The Rado Vluegel Story.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (October 2023). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/rado-vluegel.

Harvard: Vluegel, R. (2023) ‘Silenced – The Rado Vluegel Story’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 12(1). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/rado-vluegel>.

Harvard (Australian): Vluegel, R 2023, ‘Silenced – The Rado Vluegel Story’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/rado-vluegel.

Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Vluegel, Rado. “Silenced – The Rado Vluegel Story.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.12, no. 1, 2023, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/rado-vluegel.

Vancouver/ICMJE: Rado Vluegel. Silenced – The Rado Vluegel Story [Internet]. 2023 Oct; 12(1). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/rado-vluegel.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

2023-10-22

Stories That Break Hearts

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Journal Founding: August 2, 2012

Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 12

Issue Numbering: 1

Section: B

Theme Type: Idea

Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”

Theme Part: 29

Formal Sub-Theme: None.

Individual Publication Date: October 22, 2023

Issue Publication Date: January 1, 2024

Author(s): Lee Elder.

Author(s) Bio: None.

Word Count: 5,605

Image Credit: None.

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369–6885

*Original publication here during July, 2014.*

*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*

Keywords: Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood, God, Lee Elder, organs, religion, Watchtower Society.

Stories That Break Hearts

The Watchtower’s blood, organ transplant and vaccine bans have had a devastating impact on the lives of many people. Statistics are difficult to come by, but it is likely that thousands of Jehovah’s Witnesses have been disabled or lost their lives as a result of these teachings. We pay tribute to the victims and their families, and we share some of their stories with you.

I was working in a hospital on a OB-GYN floor, when this patient came in with uterine bleeding, passing two to three-inch blood clots – several times five at a time. The doctor had decided to do a hysterectomy but only after her bleeding had stopped. In the mean time, her hemoglobin count was at 6.0, which is low. She was told she would need a blood transfusion.

The night went on and the woman’s lips got very white. The nurse taking care of her told her she would need blood. The patient refused and her mother, who was in the room with her, told the nurse that it was against the bible.

The nurse called the doctor into the room and he tried to convince them that it was important to get the blood transfusion now. The patient being 42-years of age refused. The mother then called the elders of the congregation.

In the mean time, the nurse ordered another H&H to recheck her hemoglobin. This time it came back 4.0.

When the elders arrived, they suggested that she drink “Gatorade”. But the woman, now bleeding severely, could not hold anything down. More Witnesses showed up and they suggested several so-called solutions to try to help, like vitamin K , iron etc. Of course none of suggestions would help carry oxygen through the body. The only thing that could save this woman was blood.

The family was called in and the dying patient made out her will. The family said good-bye to her, including her two sons. They ended up getting a new doctor because they wanted to try “synthetic” blood products. But he told them that would not do the job; that only a red blood cell would do.

The next day they found a doctor that would go ahead and do the hysterectomy. The patient ended up in ICU with a hemoglobin of 1.0, which is not enough to sustain oxygen to her body. Needless to say, the woman died.

It really hurts me to see such ignorance. I had serious thought of becoming a Witness but now there is no way. I see a lot of spontaneous abortions, “where the body can not hold a fetus for some reason”, knowing that nothing can be done. I cry for each and every one of those babies. I also cried for this lady knowing something could be done to save her life. I know in my heart that Jehovah God does not want us to suffer like this. Your web site has brought new light to my thinking, confirming what I have felt was right. Thank you.

I wish to have my name withheld for job security.

From: PAMELA.HILL@rrd.com

Subject: URGENT – Need Loving Comfort

One of our sisters daughter (also in the truth) died a couple of weeks ago after giving birth to a set of twins. She started to hemorrhage and of course refused a blood transfusion. The sister’s name is Christine Branch. If anyone has some encouraging words for her, I will gladly pass them along to her. My e-mail address is pamela.hill@rrd.com. That was the second death within a month under the same circumstances in the same congregation.

Pamela Hill Chicago, Il (USA)
South Congregation

Posted by Still in the truth

I would just like to post a rather sad message. Last Thursday morning a young 12-year-old girl died because she and her parents refused a simple blood transfusion. Her death was a jolt to the congregation. We normally get around 110 attendees every Sunday. Last Sunday there were only 43 publishers that attended.

I have looked up the AJWRB website: ‘New Light On Blood’ and researched it extensively. I urge current JW’s to at least take 5 minutes out and read this site.

I have become disillusioned in the faith and I don’t care if the elders in the congregation somehow catch me here posting this message. I have only been connected to the Internet for 3 weeks and have learned so much about the religion that I have been associated with for 24 years of my life. I feel so betrayed and it has taken me a lot of guts to write this. But after last week’s tragic death I had to investigate.

It’s unbelievable to imagine that only one month ago, if I had been involved in an accident or for some reason needed a transfusion, I would have refused and died WITHOUT ANY QUESTION AT ALL. It really freaks me out.

Is there anyone feeling like me out there? I just can’t seem to go to another meeting again even though I was born in the truth and have stayed in for 24 years. Anyway, I will probably feel really guilty for posting this message to the world, so I better press the Post Message button before I chicken out. But for you honest JWs out there that are investigating the truth, please study the New Light On Blood Site. If we really do have the truth, then we should have nothing to worry about, any apostates, etc.

I AM SO ANGRY I COULD SPIT……OR KILL SOMETHING. MY ONE AND ONLY NEPHEW IS NOW DEAD THANKS TO THE POLICY OF THE WATCHTOWER. HE HAD A RARE CONDITION THAT REQUIRED A BLOOD TRANSFUSION. ALL THE ALTERNATIVES WOULD NOT WORK. MY BROTHER AND HIS WIFE ARE IN ANGUISH AS THEY HAVE LOST THEIR ONLY CHILD. AFTER READING YOUR WEBSITE, I KNEW THE BLOOD POLICY WAS WRONG. I TRIED TO GET MY BROTHER TO READ IT AND CHANGE HIS MIND ON THE ISSUE. BUT TO NO AVAIL, NOW MY NEPHEW IS DEAD!

I HAD BEEN DEBATING FOR SEVERAL MONTHS NOW AS TO WHAT TO DO ABOUT MY STATUS AS A WITNESS. NOW I KNOW. TODAY I WROTE MY LETTER OF DISASSOCIATION AND IF I SEE ANOTHER KINGDOM HALL OR JEHOVAH’S WITNESS EVER AGAIN, IT WILL BE TOO SOON. HOW MANY CHILDREN MUST DIE BEFORE YOU PEOPLE REALIZE THAT THIS RELIGION IS NOTHING BUT A FRONT FOR CONTROLLING FELLOW HUMANS? A RELIGION THAT CAUSES THE DEATH OF INNOCENT CHILDREN. YOU ALL MAKE ME SICK! I AM LEAVING IN DISGUST.

Hello after reading these stories I would like to add my own. When I was 20 years old, I had a ruptured Ectopic Pregnancy. I had been bleeding for about four days internally and when I went to the hospital with my mother, who also is a Witness, I was told that if I did not have a transfusion I would die, leaving my two babies alone. I told them that I would rather die a faithful witness than to take blood and be condemned for eternal life. My mother mind you said that she could not sign for blood, but she went to my worldly husband and told him the situation so that he could sign it. I was so angry with her, but later secretly thanked her. A miracle happened that I did not receive the blood and that I lived without it. But I could have died just the same.

Sincerely Sheila – a questioning witness

P.S. You may use my name because I feel I have nothing to hide. What I said is the truth. Thank you for taking time to read it. Sheila

My grandfather became a part of the Watchtower Society in the early 1900s, and my father is an elder at his local Kingdom Hall.

I started serving as a full-time pioneer in 1971 after dropping out of High School with the encouragement of the brothers. In 1973, I was invited to go to the World Headquarters in Brooklyn to be part of the vast staff of workers who produce the literature.

After leaving Bethel, I married a good Jehovah’s Witness girl, and we set out together trying to please God the best way we knew how. My wife had been a missionary for eight years. She had been sent to different parts of the United States in her work, under the direction of the Watchtower Society.

After returning home, the local elders were using me quite extensively in teaching from the platform. Most Jehovah’s Witnesses agree that anyone who has spent any time at headquarters is special and worthy of greater responsibilities in the local congregation.

Having two boys, we longed for a girl to be born and hoped that having a little girl would complete our happiness. On Aug. 10, 1980, Jenny Leigh Blizard was born. We were so excited but tragedy struck. At five weeks old, Jenny received a small cut on a finger which would not stop bleeding. Local doctors found that Jenny’s blood simply would not clot.

They sent us to San Antonio, Texas, for treatment of Jenny’s condition. She was admitted to Santa Rosa Medical Center’s special care nursery, looking for the treatment that would make Jenny well. Doctors spent days trying to reach a diagnosis.

Finally, a team of doctors informed us that Jenny needed an emergency blood transfusion to save her life. This was a difficult problem for us because the Society does not permit blood transfusions.

We sent the doctors out of the room and told them that we would give them our answer soon. My wife and I prayed and cried out to God for answers. I remember thinking; “Oh Jehovah, how can you ask me to make such a decision – a yes or no whether Jenny lives or dies! What kind of God are you!” Finally my wife and I called the doctors back into the room, and we informed them that we had to obey God’s law and we would have to let Jenny die.

The hospital officials contacted the Texas Child Welfare Dept. and a suit was filed against us for child abuse and neglect. A court order was issued to ensure that Jenny would receive the blood she needed to save her life. The Sheriff’s Department of Bexar County issued us citations and warned the hospital staff not to allow us to remove Jenny from the hospital. They knew full well that Jehovah’s Witnesses have a long history of sneaking patients out of hospitals to avoid blood transfusions at all costs.

My wife and I were secretly relieved that Jenny would get the care she needed to save her life. We felt we had done all we could in trying to stop them from giving her the blood. We never thought the courts would intervene.

Reporters of two San Antonio newspapers, “The San Antonio Express/News” and “The San Antonio Light,” learned about Jenny and exposed the story, though we refused to talk to the reporters. In retrospect, I commend their work.

In the meantime, friends contacted the local elders, who promptly came to visit us. They were relieved to find out that there was still time to plan a way to kidnap Jenny out of the hospital before blood could be administered.

I explained to them that the matter was out of my hands and that I was under court order not to remove Jenny. That did not matter to them. Their main concern was to get her out.

I knew that Jenny would shortly die if I removed her from the machines that were keeping her alive, and I would be charged with murder. I explained this to the elders. They replied, “That’s the chance you have to take! You cannot allow them to give your child blood!”

Without further discussion, I asked them to leave, stating that we could not allow our child to die in this way. “If this is the God I serve, I am through with Him.”

The elders left the hospital angry that we would not submit to their demands “I hope,” one elder even said, “she gets hepatitis from that blood, just to prove that it’s bad!”

When we finally returned home with Jenny, the Witnesses had received word that even though we had protested the blood transfusion, we “allowed” her to take it. This made us outcasts in their eyes. They did not disfellowship us because their law calling for expulsion would have applied only if we had freely given permission for the transfusion.

Jenny’s condition was more serious than what a blood transfusion could permanently correct. The transfusions given to her as an infant did prolong her life, but on March 3, 1987, our six- year-old Jenny passed away.

On Jenny’s memorial stone it is inscribed: “God’s special messenger.” We believe she truly was. Through her illness and brief life, we came to recognize the deception of the Watchtower Society, that it’s teachings on blood were unscriptural and morally wrong, and we share this important knowledge with Jehovah’s Witnesses around the world in the hope that we can prevent unnecessary tragedies in other families.

Paul Blizzard

In 1967 I married Delores. She was a pioneer…and a devout Jehovah’s Witness like myself. When she developed leukemia we found ourselves in a terrible situation. Leukemia is a serious but not necessarily fatal disease, if proper treatment is given.

The doctors told us that she had a 50% chance of recovery if they performed a bone marrow transplant, and she had a brother, two sisters and a father who were good donor candidates. However, at the time any form of organ transplant was viewed as cannibalism by the Watchtower Society, so Delores wouldn’t even consider an organ transplant, and like a good Witness husband, I agreed with my wife’s decision, and encouraged her not to take the bone marrow transplant.

Dolores suffered terribly and died in January 1971 believing that she was a martyr for the “truth”. She was fun, smart, interesting, and loyal to the “truth” to the death. About the only thing left of the “truth” that she died for is the blood transfusion ban that she suffered because of.

In 1980, the Society reversed its ban on organ transplants. At first, I was angry with them for making, then changing, the rules for living and dying. Then I was angry at myself for following their directions relevant to medical treatment, without first checking out the Watchtower’s past history thoroughly. Had I done that, I would have found all sorts of medical suggestions and guidelines, as well as other ridiculous ideas, presented to gullible readers as fact, only later to be changed or discarded.

For instance, I now know that the Society approved of organ transplants in 1949, banned them in 1967, and then approved them once again in 1980. Did God just change his mind? I don’t think so. There have been even more flip-flops on vaccines and blood serums.

Had I investigated The Watchtower, I would have found that much of the writing is dogmatic and simply the uninformed, uneducated, opinion of an anonymous writer, claiming the uninspired direction of God Himself as his only claim to credibility. When the next leader or Watchtower writer came up with a different preposterous viewpoint, and the former logic was disposed of, the leaders would blame the loyal group members for actually believing them in the first place.

In the Watchtower publication “Reasoning from the Scriptures” (WT, 1985) under “False Prophets,” it makes the following comment regarding their changes in policy over the years: “Matters on which corrections of viewpoint have been needed have been relatively minor …” If I were to stand at the foot of Delores grave and read this statement aloud, how could it make sense to any thinking person?

The Society’s advice on medical matters probably cost my wife her life. I hope that others will learn from our experience and not have to suffer as we have. I pray that the Watchtower Society will reverse it’s cruel and heartless policies that have caused so much senseless pain for others.

Gary

From Carol, my personal tragedy. My son died at 15 years of age.

My loving son, 13 years old at the time, came down with a fairly rare sarcoma that settled against his spine and intestines. After initial surgery, in which the surgeon assured me no blood would be used and it wasn’t, a course of chemotherapy was decided upon. As most patients experience on this type of treatment, the blood counts go way down. Sometimes you can get by without being transfused with blood. Our son was not so fortunate.

The chemotherapy was so powerful, his bone marrow was inhibited from making enough new blood to replace the dead blood cells. He got so bad he started to exhibit a condition in which the capillaries leech blood into the surrounding tissues because there is not enough clotting factor as well as red and white blood cells. The doctors said that if blood was not administered soon, he would surely die in a matter of a day or so.

My husband is not a Witness. He knew what my son’s wishes were as well as my own. After discussing the blood issue with us, he said he couldn¹t sacrifice the life of his son because of what he considered a wrong scriptural interpretation (he had left the Society over these disagreements earlier). He signed for the blood transfusion and my son came back to normal soon afterwards. Of course the cancer was too powerful and two years later he died.

My view on blood has softened as a result. While I’ll not allow it for myself, I should think the decision to use blood be left up to each family to decide. The image of my son dying before my eyes has given me the ability to see that scripture just isn’t in black and white sometimes. It can be many shades of gray. My husband took the burden from me on the blood issue. By the doctors giving my son the blood to keep him alive, he was with us another two precious years. Was my husband wrong? I’ll never condemn him and in my heart I thank him for giving me my son for the short time he had left.

I think the Governing Body should re-investigate the scriptures concerning this. I’m not so sure, in light of what is now allowed, that maybe this blanket denial of blood just might be wrong.

Carol’s comments reflect the feelings of many Jehovah’s Witnesses. Years of being taught that blood transfusions are wrong is not easily overcome, and it’s hard to imagine taking something that you have been taught to abhor. Still we recognize that in matters of life or death, individual Witnesses should be allowed to decide for themselves how best to proceed, and that they should not feel coerced into making their decision by others. To hang the possibility of shunning over the head of these ones is morally repulsive.

We can’t help but wonder how the Governing Body would rule on the blood doctrine if it were made up of individuals with families, instead of mostly old men that have never raised a son or daughter.

My spouses cousin (female) was disfellowshipped when she was 15 and literally kicked out of the house. She’s been on her own since then. She’s had a very hard and trying life apart from all her family since then. She’s now 41. Four years ago, she was diagnosed with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) and has relied upon blood transfusions to stay alive to this point.

Her CLL has been put into remission, but now she’s dealing with a condition called Mylodysplasia. This disease has destroyed (along with all the chemo and radiation) her bone marrow. Now she’s living off the blood transfusions literally.

When her family found out she was sick, they requested a meeting with their elders to see if they could have any association with her. (It’s like they’re so mindless they must have permission to go pee). Anyway for a while now, they’ve been talking to her and even visited her a time or two.

Recently her physicians told her she had ‘maybe’ two years at the rate she was going, and the only alternative would be a bone marrow transplant, with her best chance being a related donor (sibling). In the beginning when she approached her brother, he said he’d already researched the subject and that what he’d found so far, he would be willing to be tested.

Well, some time passed. So she called him up to see if he had gone to the Cancer Center to get the blood test and he shocked her with the words that he’d had a ‘meeting’ with some kind of blood committee and since that time he’d come to believe that the whole thing would be against his conscience. (Who’s conscience are we REALLY talking about here). He said that he’d ‘chosen’ to connect the blood transfusion that she would probably have to have sometime after the transplant, with the transplant itself. So in his eyes, they would be one in the same and therefore against his conscience. This devastated her but actually didn’t shock her like it did me. They weren’t the kind loving family when she was a troubled teenager and they’re still not.

Just a couple of weeks ago, the bone marrow institute called to tell her they had found a non-related donor that was a match. The chances of a non-related donor transplant are very dangerous. More than with a matching sibling. She is so scared that it’s horrible to see.

What I would like to know is why is it that when he had done his own research and come to the conclusion that it was something he could do this all changed after his ‘talk’ with the (HLC) blood committee – it was suddenly against his conscience.

Her life is hanging in the balance now. We’ll know how it’s all going to turn out in a very short while.

Posted by Linda

This story is taken from an article in Discover magazine of August, 1988. Beginning at age 42, a Witness woman had surgical removal of recurring bladder tumors over a period of several years. This last time she had waited overly long to see her doctor, was bleeding heavily, and was severely anemic. She insisted that she was not to receive a transfusion and this refusal was respected.

Over a period of a week urologists tried unsuccessfully to stem the bleeding. Her blood count continued to drop. The doctor writing the article describes what took place:

Gradually, as her blood count dropped further, Ms. Peyton became short of breath. The body’s organs need a certain amount of oxygen to function. That oxygen is carried from the lungs to the periphery by hemoglobin molecules in the red cells. . . . The medical team gave Ms. Peyton supplemental oxygen through a mask until she was breathing virtually pure O2. The few red cells she had were fully loaded–but there just weren’t enough vehicles left to transport the fuel her body needed.

Her hunger for air increased. Her respiratory rate climbed. She became more and more groggy, and finally–inevitably–the muscle fibers of her heart declared their desperate need for oxygen. She developed crushing, severe chest pain.

The doctor writing the article relates her feelings on arriving at the patient’s room:

“As I walked into the room. . . I was awed by the scene in front of me. At the center of everyone’s attention was a large woman with an oxygen mask, gasping for air, breathing faster than seemed humanly possible. At the head of the bed were three friends, fellow church [witness] members, coaching her. . . . At her side were several doctors–one monitoring her falling blood pressure, another coaxing some blood from an artery. The fluid that slowly filled the syringe had the consistency of Hawaiian Punch; tests on the same revealed a red cell count of only 9 [normal would have been 40]. Hanging from the bed rail was a bag of cherry-red urine. The woman was dying. Her cardiogram tracings showed the deep valleys that signal a heart in pain. Within a matter of hours the damage they represented would become irreversible.”

The woman went into cardiac arrest. A team of doctors and nurses began cardiopulmonary resuscitation, administered epinephrine and atropine, then an electrical jolt to the heart. It fluttered into activity, then stopped again. More CPR, more epinephrine and atropine, another electrical jolt, more CPR. This went on for one hour until there was no longer any hope or purpose. The patient was dead beyond recovery.

The physician describing this did not characterize the woman as simply a fanatic. She writes:

“She was an intelligent woman, I was told, who totally understood the implications of her decision. But her judgment, it seemed to me, arose from a blind spot imposed by her faith.”

Elisabeth Rosenthal, article titled “Blinded by the Light,” Discover magazine,

August, 1988, page 28-30.

This sister’s health problems were chronic and required surgery from time to time. If the Society allowed her to store some of her own blood before surgery she likely would not have died. As we have seen, there is no valid scriptural objection to such a procedure.

JEHOVAH’S WITNESS DIED AFTER FAMILY REFUSED BLOOD TRANSFUSION

A young Jehovah’s Witness died after a rollerblading accident because her family refused to let her have a life-saving blood transfusion, an inquest heard today.

A doctor said he pleaded with her family to allow her a transfusion which would have given her a 90% chance of survival.

Emelie Grootjes, 19, broke both legs after she lost control of her skates going down a hill on July 31. Emelie, a Dutch student, had been on holiday at the Lockley Park caravan park, Hamworthy, Dorset, with her mother, father, brother and sister, all Jehovah’s Witnesses.

The inquest at Bournemouth, Dorset, was told she was taken to Poole General Hospital where she died from fat embolism syndrome five days later.

East Dorset coroner Nigel Neville-Jones heard that fat and marrow from her shattered bones had entered her blood system before jamming up around her lungs and finally killing her.

Dr Charles Blakeway, a consultant surgeon, described a complicated two-hour operation designed to bind her legs and stop further fat getting into her bloodstream.

He said: “We would normally give a transfusion straight away. “The transfusion was refused from the outset because she was a Jehovah’s Witness. If consent is declined then we are stuck.”

The next day he noticed problems with Emelie and her lungs began to deteriorate. She died later in intensive care.

“The refusal of the blood transfusion contributed to her death in my opinion.” Dr. Barry Newman, head of the intensive care unit, said: “Somebody as young and fit as her, if she had received all the therapies we could give, then I would have given her chances as 90%.

“When I first met her I was made aware that she was a Jehovah’s Witness. Her parents had signed a form saying that she would not take blood or blood products.”

Dr. Newman said that he regretted not telling Emelie the first time he met her of the “brutal facts” that her life could depend on the blood and plasma.

Emelie’s father Mr. Cornelius Grootjes, from Schogen in Northern Holland, said: “We accept other treatment but not blood or blood products. “I think the situation with blood is not so black or white as it looks. I think the doctors did all they could and I am very happy with all that they did.”

Mr. Neville-Jones said that a post-mortem examination had given the cause of death as fat embolism syndrome.

He referred to a High Court Judge’s ruling saying: “The right of the individual is paramount. She was entitled in her rights to refuse the transplants which were offered to her.”

He recorded a verdict that she died as the result of an accident “the consequences of which were contributed by the refusal of blood transfusions on religious grounds”.

Associated Press, 23 Sep 96

When a young Jehovah’s Witness mother died after refusing a blood transfusion, Denmark’s largest newspaper Ekstrabladet ran the following editorial:

“Jehovah’s Murderers”

“THERE ARE MANY WHO HAVE REASON to have a bad conscience because of the 24-year old mother who died on Hvidovre hospital Tuesday.

First, there are the members of Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Hospital Liason Committee who were on the hospital to influence the patient to not accept an absolutely necessary blood transfusion.

Secondly, there are those medical doctors who did not make the most of the loopholes in the Health Committee’s (“Sundhedsstyrelsen”) circular so they could give the patient the necessary blood anyway.

And finally it is the Health Committee’s Michael von Magnus, who – assuredly under pressure from Jehovah’s Witnesses – worked out the relevant circular, which gives doctors unreasonable working conditions in life-threatening situations.

Let’s start with Jehovah’s Witnesses. The sect has the eccentric idea that it is against the will of some god to accept a blood transfusion. This weird idea they are welcome to walk about having fun with, but it’s directly disgusting when they meet up at hospitals and try to influence sick members to not accept blood. Especially then under threats of disfellowshipping from the sect, which often is all the victim’s circle of acquaintances, as well as loss of salvation from the side of Mr. Jehovah.

The result was in this case the tragedy that a young mother died from her newborn child, and for these people there are no excuses. Also, one can speculate whether it is bordering to violating the penal code’s paragraph 240 about ‘contributing to someone’s suicide.’

The medical doctors also failed. Just after the extremely complicated birth they asked the patient if she wanted a blood transfusion, and received no. Therefor they were tied by the circular’s paragraph 14, but when an infection also came, and the situation worsened, they should have explained to the patient how serious the condition was, and asked again. This is obvious from the same paragraph’s second subsection. And if the patient was without her full senses, they could give blood anyway after paragraph 12.

Instead, they asked the guards from Jehovah’s Witnesses, and from them the answer was of course no. This was a mistake, but it can be difficult to keep the outlook in this kind of tense and complex situations.

Finally, it was the Health Committee, first and foremost Michael von Magnus, who created the circular in 1992. We cannot now what reasons he have had, but can simply demonstrate that it gives the doctors completely impossible working conditions when lives are at stake. At the same time as they shall use their medical qualifications at their best, they are also obliged to have on their mind who have permission to do what, and whether they violate the circular’s paragraph 14.

The duty of medical doctors is to save life, not to be a service-organization for a macabre sect’s eccentric ideas. Therefor, this circular should be removed.”

Ekstrabladet, Oct. 21, 1996

It certainly is difficult to read articles like the above, and while we do not agree with all of the writer’s sentiments, we find it enlightening to take note of how the Society and Jehovah God is at times viewed by others as a result of the Society’s blood doctrine.

That each of us should be able to choose what kind of medical treatment we prefer is a basic human right. A right, we might add, that in the final analysis the Watchtower Society denies us.

“Refused Blood -Sect Member Died”

“The 83-year-old woman would rather die happy in her faith than accepting a blood transfusion. She died during a simple operation of the neck of the femur because of loss of blood. The doctor did not give her the necessary blood transfusion. The case is now under investigation by the police. “From the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet Oct 26, 1995.

Short synopsis:

An 83-year-old women died during a normally uncomplicated operation. She was a Jehovah’s Witness, and refused blood by giving a written statement prior to a normally uncomplicated operation. Without a blood transfusion it was impossible to save her life when complications arouse, and the doctor respected her wishes and allowed her to die. The police was still investigating the case…. Regulations on this areas were not clear.

Lawyer and spokesman for Jehovah’s Witnesses in Norway, Håkon Helstedt, stated: “It is just as important to abstain from blood as it is to not kill,” and further stated that members who do not accept the JW’s views on blood should “find themselves another religious community.”

Quotations from original Norwegian article. See also cover story from same source Nov 1, 1995. The same incident was covered in another Norwegian newspaper, Varden, Oct. 27, 1995.

The comments of the Society’s lawyer once again demonstrate the effective job done by the Society in convincing the brothers and sisters that blood transfusions are wrong, even on par with murder. Is it any wonder that most would rather die than accept a transfusion. Who of us wants to be thought of as a murderer.

That such comments lead to the death of many is certain. That Jehovah will overlook the apparent bloodguilt is not.

* Stories and News Items Displayed on this site are deemed reliable, but not guaranteed. *

Bibliography

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Footnotes

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Citations

American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Lee E. Stories That Break Hearts. October 2023; 12(1). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/stories-break-hearts

American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Elder, L. (2023, October 22). Stories That Break Hearts. In-Sight Publishing. 12(1).

Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): ELDER, L. Stories That Break Hearts. In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 12, n. 1, 2023.

Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Elder, Lee. 2023. “Stories That Break Hearts.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (Winter). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/stories-break-hearts.

Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Elder, L “Stories That Break Hearts.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (October 2023). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/stories-break-hearts.

Harvard: Elder, L. (2023) ‘Stories That Break Hearts’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 12(1). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/stories-break-hearts>.

Harvard (Australian): Elder, L 2023, ‘Stories That Break Hearts’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/stories-break-hearts.

Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Elder, Lee. “Stories That Break Hearts.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.12, no. 1, 2023, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/stories-break-hearts.

Vancouver/ICMJE: Lee Elder. Stories That Break Hearts [Internet]. 2023 Oct; 12(1). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/stories-break-hearts.

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2023-10-22

Questions for Those who Believe in the Watchtower Blood Policy

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Journal Founding: August 2, 2012

Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 12

Issue Numbering: 1

Section: B

Theme Type: Idea

Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”

Theme Part: 29

Formal Sub-Theme: None.

Individual Publication Date: October 22, 2023

Issue Publication Date: January 1, 2024

Author(s): Lee Elder

Author(s) Bio: None.

Word Count: 1,548

Image Credit: None.

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369–6885

*Original publication here during July, 2014.*

*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*

Keywords: Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood, Christian faith, God, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Lee Elder, Torah, Watchtower Society.

Questions for Those who Believe in the Watchtower Blood Policy

One of the most effective ways we have found in assisting other Witnesses to analyze the WTS blood doctrine is through the use of questions. The following questions have been used by AJWRB members and physicians in different parts of the world.

If you are investigating the Watchtower’s blood policy we invite you to consider these carefully. Research the publications or discuss your concerns with the elders respectfully, and ask them to help you understand what they personally believe and how they grapple with these difficult issues. You may also wish to discuss them with members of your family or friends as a way helping them to analyze the blood policy and their commitment to it.

Which blood products can a Jehovah’s Witness accept, which blood products can a Jehovah’s Wtiness not accept and where in the Bible is this explained?
Why do all Christian faiths [and even the most orthodox Jews, who are dependent on the Torah (Law), read it daily, philosophize to its context, read it in the original Hebrew (so as to understand the traditional context), and love the Law of God more than their own souls] not forbid the medical use of blood? Is it reasonable that Jehovah’s Witnesses are the only ones who believe this way?
If Genesis 9:3-7 presents an “eternal covenant” that is binding upon all of mankind, why did Paul recommend singleness, and why does the Watchtower permit the use of birth control which would clearly seem to be in violation of the third element of this covenant: “And as for you, be fruitful and become many, make the earth swarm with you and become many in it?” Can we pick and choose which parts of an “eternal covenant” we shall keep? If these parts of the covenant are not binding, how can it be an “eternal covenant?”
Since even a thorough bleeding of a slaughtered animal leaves as much as 50% of its blood in the flesh, how can God grant us permission to eat flesh if it is the actual consumption of blood that is objectionable? Would this not also be a “taking in of blood” to sustain life?
If consuming blood was a capital offense, why were Saul’s men not executed when they fell to eating blood along with the meat? (1 Sam. 14:31-35)
Since an Israelite could eat a unbled animal that died of itself when necessary, (See Lev. 17:15) and the result of this would only be ceremonial uncleanness requiring bathing and washing of the garments. Why does the Watchtower teach we must shun those who accept a blood component (not on their current approved list) to save a life?
Since the requirement that blood be poured out is contained in the Mosaic law, and not repeated in the Greek scriptures, and since Christians are not under the Mosaic Law, why would it be wrong to store your own blood before an operation?
Jesus was willing to perform miracles on the Sabbath in order to save lives, or simply heal the sick, and he did not condemn the woman with the flow of blood for touching him and making him ceremonially unclean. Rather, he condemned the Pharisees for their legalistic view. Wouldn’t Jesus make an exception to a dietary rule to save a human life?
How can the Watchtower view the admonition to “abstain from EATING meat sacrificed to Idols” as symbolizing the greater issue of “Idolatry” and not dietary regulation. While at the same time view “abstain from EATING blood” as literal dietary regulation and not symbolizing the greater issue of “Sanctity of Life”. How can they have this dramatic difference of view when the two dietary remarks occur in the same sentence and verse of the Bible? (Acts 15:29)
Since it has been reasoned that food offered to idols may be eaten, and that some blood components may be used, would a little fornication also be OK?
Would not withholding medical treatment from your child when death is the alternative make you responsible for the death? How can the death of a child be justified based upon a Jewish rule of food preparation?
If a blood transfusion is essentially an organ transplant, how can it be viewed as “eating blood,” since no digestion or nutritional benefit accrues? Can it be an organ transplant and a meal at the same time?
If storing your own blood for an autologous transfusion is wrong, than why does the Watchtower permit the use of various blood components that must be donated and stored before being used by Jehovah’s Witnesses?
On what basis does the Watchtower use the expressions “sustaining life,” or “taking in” with respects to accepting a blood transfusion when those words never occur in the Bible?
What does the expression “abstain from blood” (See Acts 15:29) really mean? What does the context suggest?
Why does the Watchtower have to quote doctors who lived hundreds of years ago to find support for its belief that a transfusion is a feeding on blood? Why don’t modern doctors acknowledge that a blood transfusion is the same as “eating blood?”
Why do Watchtower writers feel compelled to exaggerate the risks of blood transfusions, and make it seem that they are always bad medicine, when nearly all of the experts disagree? Why don’t they publish accurate, recent statistics?
Why doesn’t the Watchtower publish statistics about the risks of refusing a medically necessary blood transfusion when non-blood alternatives have been exhausted or don’t exist?
How does the society go about deciding which blood components are major and which are minor? For example, why are white blood cells forbidden, but albumin allowed, since albumin constitutes a larger percentage of blood volume, and milk and organ transplants are full of white blood cells?
Why is it that plasma, red cells, white cells and platelets are forbidden when 100% of their components are on the approved list for Witnesses to take in order to “sustain life?”
Why does the society use ad hominem arguments and analogies like the one about alcohol and blood being injected into the veins, the error of which can be discerned by considering this analogy: “Consider a man who is told by his doctor that he must abstain from meat. Would he be obedient if he quit eating meat, but accepted a kidney transplant?” Why does the society resort to false analogies to support its position?
If we must abstain from blood completely, as the Watchtower says, then please explain why the society tells us that we may accept all derivatives or fractions of human and animal blood? Is this not contradictory?
Why can Jehovah’s Witnesses accept 100% of blood fractions and benefit from the blood that others donate, but are not donating blood themselves? Would not giving blood to help save others’ lives, including the lives of your spiritual brothers and sisters, be the loving and Christian thing to do?
What should I do? My child is gasping for air. His blood count is perilously low. His heart rate is at 200, and climbing. The doctors have told us that without a transfusion, he will die of respiratory distress and heart failure. Blood expanders will not help at this point, he needs more red blood cells. He is horribly pale and listless and with wide eyes, he looks at me and whispers “Help me, Daddy.” Should I let my child die based on the word of an organization that has changed its mind about organ transplants, vaccinations, civil service, the “sheep and the goats,” the “generation”, 1799, 1874, 1878, 1881, 1914, 1918, 1920, 1925, 1975, etc., etc., etc.? Should I let my child die? Is this really what Jehovah and Jesus expect of me? How will I feel if the blood ban finally becomes just one more old doctrine that is forgotten? Will I be able to forgive myself?
If the American Medical Association issued a recommendation that heart patients abstain from meat, would they mean that those patients should abstain from organ transplants, and in particular, heart transplants?
If the Watchtower Society changed its mind about blood transfusions, as it has about blood fractions, organ transplants, vaccinations, aluminum poisoning, the efficacy of the Electronic Radio Biola, etc., would you go along with the change, or would you continue to shun Christians who exercised their consciences in a way that differed from your own private ideas?
If two patients who are unable to eat are admitted to a hospital; one is given a blood transfusion and the other I.V. dextrose, which one will live? Is it not the one given dextrose? So how can we consider a blood transfusion a feeding on blood since there is practically no nutritional benefit?

Physicians interested in establishing informed consent may want to pose some of these questions to their Witness patients. This list of questions could also be enclosed with the article “Do Jehovah’s Witnesses Really Abstain From Blood” and mailed to friends and relatives.

If you are a not a Jehovah’s Witness and wish to help. Please consider printing this list and asking the questions to Jehovah’s Witnesses on their next visit to your home. This will help to create discussion that the Watchtower wants to avoid and could literally help save the person’s life.

Bibliography

None

Footnotes

None

Citations

American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Elder L. Questions for Those who Believe in the Watchtower Blood Policy. October 2023; 12(1). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/questions-blood

American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Elder, L. (2023, October 22). Questions for Those who Believe in the Watchtower Blood Policy. In-Sight Publishing. 12(1).

Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): ELDER, L. Questions for Those who Believe in the Watchtower Blood Policy. In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 12, n. 1, 2023.

Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Elder, Lee. 2023. “Questions for Those who Believe in the Watchtower Blood Policy.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (Winter). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/questions-blood.

Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Elder, L “Questions for Those who Believe in the Watchtower Blood Policy.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (October 2023). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/questions-blood.

Harvard: Elder, L. (2023) ‘Questions for Those who Believe in the Watchtower Blood Policy’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 12(1). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/questions-blood>.

Harvard (Australian): Elder, L 2023, ‘Questions for Those who Believe in the Watchtower Blood Policy’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/questions-blood.

Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Elder, Lee. “Questions for Those who Believe in the Watchtower Blood Policy.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.12, no. 1, 2023, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/questions-blood.

Vancouver/ICMJE: Lee E. Questions for Those who Believe in the Watchtower Blood Policy [Internet]. 2023 Oct; 12(1). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/questions-blood.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

2023-10-22

Blood Saved Their Lives

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Journal Founding: August 2, 2012

Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 12

Issue Numbering: 1

Section: B

Theme Type: Idea

Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”

Theme Part: 29

Formal Sub-Theme: None.

Individual Publication Date: October 22, 2023

Issue Publication Date: January 1, 2024

Author(s): Lee Elder

Author(s) Bio: None.

Word Count: 2,672

Image Credit: None.

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369–6885

*Original publication here during August, 2014.*

*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*

Keywords: Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood, blood, health, hospital, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Lee Elder, medicine, Scriptures, transfusion, Watchtower Society.

Blood Saved Their Lives

Hi, I am not going to give any names but want all to know the following information. I have been a JWs for 40 years since I was 6 years old, 2 weeks ago I got the reform blood information from the net, and totally agree with what they say as I have experienced it myself and seen so much I could write volumes on it.

Anyhow, last week I printed out all the information 135 pages of it and got it bound up in a volume binder, I photo copied it and did another volume, and gave this to my father to read only to find this very week my Step mother was rushed to hospital with a serious problem, while having keyhole surgery the surgeon accidentally pulled a vain that was stuck to the back of an organ, there is no way that he could have avoided it as he could not see it, and the next thing it burst and blood was gushing everywhere.

My step mother had minutes to live and the doctor got on the phone, but my father is a bit deaf, some how it turned out that I had given him a new phone just few weeks ago which has a very loud ring, and he put this upstairs in the house in the bedroom, and while he was at the top of the house he just heard it ring, as he picked up the phone the doctor told my father, “your wife has 1 to 3 minutes to live, do we give her blood, speak now yes or no.”

My father being very loyal to the WBTS felt he knew what to do, but I had told him about the reform of blood and it had played on his mind as he read some of it, he quickly said yes to blood, hoping & feeling this was the right thing to do. He said afterwards he could not say no as his conscience was not happy about saying NO. If you don’t feel it right, how can you make a stand on it, he said.

The doctors gave 12 units of blood and she was in intensive care for 3 days but pulled through, the doctors said she would have died with in five minutes if they never gave it to her, NOW SHE LIVES! My father read 3 times ALL NIGHT LONG the information and said, I ripped up my blood card after this, and what more he adds “if I had made a stand on blood according to the WBTS policy, and then read this I would have gone nuts and sued the WBTS, no messing about, he was so angry about what the WBTS had failed to tell him on blood.

My step mother does not know she has had blood yet, she is too ill to talk, but my father said when she is ready he is going to read it all to her and then tell her if it was not for this she would be dead. He says that after she reads this she will understand and will agree… I am now making copies of reform material to distribute to all I know.

So for what its worth, the Reform on blood just saved one life!

Thank you brothers,

A friend.

I appreciate the intelligent views here offered by these brave HLC members. Having been a faithful JW for over 30 years, I (with a good 10 years’ struggle with this and other issues) am no longer a practicing Witness, now for a year. However, my love of Jehovah & Jesus are very much intact, as is my prayerful relationship with them.

My 18-year-old son broke both femurs (one crushed and one compound fracture) when, in a wreck, he found the motor of his Geo on his lap. It took the Jaws of Life over 1/2 hour to extract him, whereby he lost most of his blood on Nov. 1, this year. I was out-of-town and had nothing to do with the decision, but my husband (raised a Witness) “conscientiously” allowed a transfusion. I, being a health care professional 14 years, have researched the subject very much (thus it has never bothered me to give RhoGam shots).

By the time I got home, I have to admit I felt many mixed emotions when I saw him in ICU with blood going into his vein (almost sickened literally). We had requested that NO one but us be allowed in–elders were in the hall. I was paranoid enough to demand the nurse to flush his line completely (as I watched critically) with saline, before wheeling him to his room a couple of days later.

I am grateful he is alive. I will tell no one we know, not even family members, lest he/we be ostracized. He is grateful for the decision. I will wait upon Jehovah to enlighten the Society (if this happens). But, it is going to take people such as yourselves to press the matter…such a needless waste of precious life.

Yes there are dangers in accepting transfusions, but until I can be convinced they are biblically wrong, I will remain here in No Man’s Land, willing to accept God’s judgement if I’m way off base (but I am solidly convinced, by prayer and research, otherwise).

Please, for the love of the brotherhood, continue bravely. May your heart and Jehovah guide you.

birthrite@transport.com

Blood Saved My Life

A few years ago, I faced severe illness. It was a slowly progressive illness. As death neared, I was told that an organ transplant potentially could be life saving. Before an organ became available, I became extremely ill, at which time I was placed in an ICU and was told that I needed FFP (fresh frozen plasma). My red cell count was down too, but the immediate problem was that my blood would not clot. I was literally bleeding internally (plasma was oozing out of my blood vessels into the surrounding tissue resulting in great swelling of my body). My body could no longer make the clotting factors or other proteins needed.

A HLC member had told me that administration of albumin was “OK” to help correct the protein problem. I had been getting large doses of albumin for days before I was admitted to the ICU. Still I got worse. The same HLC person now told me in ICU that I could not take the FFP because it was not on the Societies permitted list. He said that factor VIII was OK (it is available separately from FFP). The doctors had told me that I needed more than factor VIII. There were a number of other factors in FFP that I also needed, according to the doctors.

The principle ICU physician arranged (with my approval) to meet at my bedside with the HLC person to discuss the matter of my treatment. The HLC person again stated that any clotting factor was OK as long as it was administered separately from the FFP (he had a little grin on his face as he made that statement). The physician explained that most factors were not available separately, only as part of the FFP. The HLC person readily admitted that was the case (to my surprise and disappointment). The meeting concluded as I indicated that I understood the Societies position as stated by this HLC person. He seemed to be under the impression that I would be going along with his recommendation that I refuse the FFP (actually, I felt confused, bewildered, scared, somewhat desperate, but most of all embarrassed that the JWs with whom I had willingly identified myself seemed so unreasonable, silly and down right ignorant)

A little later that evening the physician returned to ask me what I thought of our discussion with the HLC elder. I admitted to him that I was confused by the seeming inconsistency of his “reasoning.” Only after I indicated to him that the HLC elder’s points seemed hollow and contradictory did this doctor say in effect that his remarks were the worst case of double talk that he had ever heard. We agreed that if all of the FFP components were OK separately, it made no sense to prohibit them together (I thanked Jehovah that as sick as I was on that day, I still had enough mental power to recognize such double-talk).

I gave permission for the FFP and it was administered that same night (under cover of darkness) out of sight of the elders at the suggestion of this caring doctor (he referred to the HLC elder as the “Gestapo”).

I began to improve almost immediately after receiving the FFP. A few days later, an organ became available and I survived the transplant operation. I am again able to make my own clotting factors and other blood components.

Had I chosen to stick to the Societies position (that was my intention until I heard the double talk), I would be dead now. I have not confided this information to the local elders, nor do I intend to do so.

Anonymous

JOHN……HIS STORY

I first met John on an extended training course I was attending in connection with my employment. The company was small and there were just the two of us. As we were staying at the same hotel we were able to spend long periods together and as a JW, I naturally moved the subject around to the Bible. To my surprise and delight it turned out that John had some involvement with the Witnesses and over the weeks we were together I was able to direct his thoughts back towards the “truth”. John was newly married and on the weekends he made a long road trip of over 300 miles to be with his young wife. He clearly was devoted to her and it was plain the separation for the young couple was very hard.

After the training was over I returned from London to the Midlands and John returned to Scotland. We kept in regular contact and met at least once a year at the annual conference the company held for us at its London headquarters. The time past and John proudly telephoned to tell us both he and his wife were to be baptized and become JWs. My wife and I were very happy, it seemed that somehow that initial meeting had been part of some “higher plan”. I soon noticed, however, that John was prone to be very dogmatic on things, compromise was not in his faith. It was after the baptism that we heard that John’s wife was pregnant and we awaited the happy event sharing their joy.

It was late one evening that the telephone rang and when I picked it up I knew there was something dreadfully wrong. Even before John’s hesitant voice spoke, I could hear Carol his wife sobbing in the background. John did not give his usual extrovert greeting, he just said very quietly “It’s John here”. Somehow I knew what he was going to tell me and I felt very cold inside. He did not mention anything about a blood transfusion at first, only the facts leading up to it.

Carol had gone into labor and John had taken her to hospital, he remained with her as the labor progressed. All seemed to be going well until she began to hemorrhage violently. Suddenly their world fell to bits, as JWs they had specified no blood transfusion under any circumstances. Now as a doctor worked to control the bleeding they both confirmed this. After a few moments John was sent outside the room and remained stunned and frightened in a corridor.

After what seemed like eternity a doctor appeared from the room where Carol was fighting for her life and asked him again about giving her blood. John stood his ground. Then the doctor said very quietly “Then you had better say goodbye to your wife.” What confronted John in the hospital bed was a Carol devoid of color, ashen and panting. Clearly her hemoglobin levels were now very low. Her deep rapid ventilation’s confirmed her body was struggling to maintain oxygen levels.

Carol took hold of her husband’s hand and sobbed between gasping for air, “Please John, don’t let me die.” More than two decades have past since John relayed those words down the telephone to me, yet still I feel something of the pain he felt. Quietly I asked John, “Did you allow them to transfuse her?” there was a long silence and a single word, “Yes.” I must have remained silent for several seconds, I expect John was waiting for some “theocratic rebuke” or a gentle click as I put the ‘phone down.

Suddenly something seemed to break inside me, “John,” I said,” you have done the right thing.” I gently asked him if I could speak to Carol. She was sobbing so hard she could hardly speak, they had come home, the baby was with them, they had carried the secret for over a week, lonely and miserable, frightened and confused they had turned to me for help. I consoled her as well as I could, tears in my own eyes. I assured her that all was well and when they were ready to just talk it over with some mature brothers. Later I was very glad to know that they had been dealt with in charity by the congregation.

John will never know the mix of emotions that were boiling inside me as I placed the telephone back in its holder. Somehow he had become the catalyst for all the inward doubts I was holding inside. My keen interest in history had taken me into dusty old bookshops, collecting ancient and sometimes rare copies of early WT publications. I had even devoured volumes of early Watchtower Reprints.

I knew more than John ever would the repeated changes in dates and doctrines. Only a few weeks before my sister-in-law had spoken with profound conviction about the absolute certainty of 1914 as the date of the second coming. I had replied that if they were so certain it was 1914 how come the original date had been set as 1874. My relative had told me that was impossible and the “Society” had always used the date 1914.

Out came my near mint set of Studies In The Scriptures (1905) and the evidence was presented. My sister-in-law was a bright intelligent woman but within a few seconds of reading the statement she closed the book and refused to discuss it. It was as if a shutter came down in her brain. She blocked off the information, she could not cope with it.

What if the whole blood transfusion question was like a date. What if one day the Governing Body would change its view. It had done it on 1874, why not blood transfusion? I had book upon book full of failed speculations. Some of them like The Finished Mystery verging almost on the comic if not lunatic. I had to say that John had done the right thing.

But I was haunted by what John had told me. What if the little baby girl had been harmed. What if Carol’s blood loss was so great the baby within her had been compromised? I thought of the unborn child already distressed from a difficult labor now deprived of oxygen as the level of Carol’s red blood cells spiraled downwards. The only oxygen available to that unborn infant was from her mother. What if brain damage had occurred? Clearly I could never add to their emotional burdens by even mentioning it and it was with a great feeling of relief that they both visited us some time later. A bubbling, bouncing, full of fun little girl played on our carpet. She was unharmed. Yes indeed John had done the right thing.

Richard Cotton

* Stories and News Items Displayed on this site are deemed reliable, but cannot be guaranteed. *

Bibliography

None

Footnotes

None

Citations

American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Elder L. Blood Saved Their Lives. October 2023; 12(1). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/blood-saved

American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Elder, L. (2023, October 22). Blood Saved Their Lives. In-Sight Publishing. 12(1).

Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): ELDER, L. Blood Saved Their Lives.In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 12, n. 1, 2023.

Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Elder, Lee. 2023. “Blood Saved Their Lives.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (Winter). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/blood-saved.

Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Elder, L “Blood Saved Their Lives.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (October 2023). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/blood-saved.

Harvard: Elder, L. (2023) ‘Blood Saved Their Lives’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 12(1). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/blood-saved>.

Harvard (Australian): Elder, L 2023, ‘Blood Saved Their Lives’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/blood-saved.

Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Elder, Lee. “Blood Saved Their Lives.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.12, no. 1, 2023, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/blood-saved.

Vancouver/ICMJE: Lee E. Blood Saved Their Lives [Internet]. 2023 Oct; 12(1). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/blood-saved.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

2023-10-22

Science and Medicine – Watchtower Quotes

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Journal Founding: August 2, 2012

Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 12

Issue Numbering: 1

Section: B

Theme Type: Idea

Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”

Theme Part: 29

Formal Sub-Theme: None.

Individual Publication Date: October 22, 2023

Issue Publication Date: January 1, 2024

Author(s): Lee Elder

Author(s) Bio: None.

Word Count: 3,932

Image Credit: None.

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369–6885

*Original publication here during August, 2014.*

*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*

Keywords: Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Lee Elder, medicine, quotes, science, Watchtower Society.

Science and Medicine – Watchtower Quotes

What follows is a collection of quotes from Watchtower Society literature.This information will help researchers understand the mindset that existed within the Watchtower Society regarding science and medicine at the time the blood doctrine was beginning to crystallize, and in the intervening years. Editorial comments are in red.

Thomas Edison, the inventor and electrician, of phonograph and telephone fame, has been experimenting with the new light “X-Rays.” and has succeeded in taking a photograph through oak eight inches thick. But, as suggested in our last issue, Theosophists and others are claiming the new discovery as a part of their deception outfit. The Scriptures forewarn us that Satan will bring to bear strong delusion in this our day.

Thank God, they shall not deceive “the very elect.” Obedience, faithfulness to the end, is the condition upon which we may make our calling and election sure. In other words, if we are faithful to the Word and Spirit of the Lord, he will carry us through. – The Watchtower 03/01/1896 (Reprints p. 1942) (NOTE: Edison invented the phonograph, but the telephone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell.) Emphasis ours

A new lymph treatment for all germ diseases is announced in New York. The antitoxin is of mineral and carbolic acid compound, called Aseptolin. Great things are hoped for it as an arrester of diseases. No doubt recent discoveries are but preparations for the Millennial blessing, so that when, twenty years from now, the times of restitution shall be fully ushered in, and none except willful sinners will die, it will not appear so strange to mankind, and still leave room for faith respecting the real source of all blessings. – The Watchtower 03/01/1896 (Reprints p. 1942)

SHOULD THE CONSECRATED USE MEDICINES?

This question naturally suggests itself. We are neither commanded nor forbidden to use medicines….Nothing, then, in their covenant of full consecration, prevents the saints more than unbelievers from using natural means for their relief. – The Watchtower 07/15/1896 (Reprints p. 2009)

We give below a simple cure for appendicitis symptoms. The pain in the appendix region is caused by the biting of worms near the junction of the transverse colon with the small intestines, low down on the right side of the abdomen. This remedy is recommended also for typhoid fever, which is also a worm disease. – The Watchtower 01/15/1912 p. 26 (Reprints p. 4963) Emphasis ours.

… We have recently learned of a very effective and simple remedy for cancers which show themselves on the surface of the body. We are informed that a physician, after testing this remedy, paid $1000 for the information, and that he has established a Cancer Hospital which is doing good work. The recipe has come to us free and we are willing to communicate the formula, but only to those who are troubled with surface cancers and who will write to us directly, stating particulars. No fee will be charged, but in order to protect the sufferers, we require a promise that they will not sell the formula to others, nor receive pay for the use of it, nor communicate the formula to anybody. Any one known to be a sufferer can be informed of the terms on which the prescription is obtainable through us. Emphasis ours.

LA GRIPPE AND TYPHOID FEVER REMEDIES

One of the simplest we know of for La Grippe and Typhoid Fever, especially in their earlier stages, is to put the bulk of a pea of cayenne pepper into a little milk, stir it thoroughly and swallow it. Do this twice a day for about three days. – The Watchtower 05/15/1915 (Reprints p. 5689) Emphasis ours.

Diseased Tonsils Cause Stupidity

Stupid children require attention for a different reason. It has been estimated that from 3,000,000 to 5,000,000 American school children have adenoids, diseased tonsils and other glandular defects, which are making them appear stupid and are causing them to be backward in school. The child troubled with adenoids breathes through his mouth, and a lax lower jaw and vacant, sleepy eyes gives an unmistakable expression of stupidity and dullness. The transformation in such children when the adenoids, by a slight operation, are removed, is often very rapid. The child with adenoids is stupid and sleepy, because he is not getting enough oxygen, and his blood is consequently laden with impurities and the cells of his the brain are not properly nourished. – The Golden Age 10/01/1919 p. 19 Emphasis ours

Even years ago it was known by some people that the use of pacifiers by babies is one of the chief causes of diseased and enlarged tonsils and adenoid growths, which result from the suction. – The Golden Age 11/26/1919 p. 153 Emphasis ours

Few people know that the normal functioning of the bowels and a clean intestinal tract make it impossible to become sick….From four to six quarts of warm water injected into the colon is what constitutes an internal bath. It should be taken every day for at least six months… – The Golden Age 03/31/1920 pp. 437, 438

It has been discovered that many dentifrice’s, widely advertised, widely used, and alleged to be excellent for the teeth and gums, are the principal cause of the disease pyorrhea…Take the advice of THE GOLDEN AGE; discontinue all other dentifrice’s, use the cheapest and best dentifrice in the world, common baking soda, and be forever free from pyorrhea. – The Golden Age 06/08/1921 p. 534 Emphasis ours

But the dog-rabies-vaccine imposition is the latest…. Rabies! When it has been shown conclusively that there is no such thing as rabies!– G23 1/1 p. 214 Emphasis ours

It has never been proven that a single disease is due to germs. – G24 1/16 p. 250

“Disease is Wrong Vibration. From what has thus far been said, it will be apparent to all that any disease is simply an “out of tune” condition of some part of the organism. In other words the affected part or the body “vibrates” higher or lower than normal. I have named this new discovery … the Electronic Radio Biola, . . . The Biola automatically diagnoses and treats diseases by the use of electronic vibrations. The diagnosis is 100 percent correct, rendering better service in this respect than the most experienced diagnostician, and without any attending cost.” Advert for WT Electronic Radio Biola, Golden Age, 4/22/25, pp. 453). Emphasis ours

“There is no food that is right food for the morning meal. At breakfast is no time to break a fast. Keep up the daily fast until the noon hour…Drink plenty of water two hours after each meal; drink none just before eating; and a small quantity if any at meal time. Good buttermilk is a health drink at meal times and in between. Do not take a bath until two hours after eating a meal, nor closer than one hour before eating. Drink a full glass of water both before and after the bath.” (Golden Age, 9/9/25, pp. 784-785 )

Pasteurization of Milk is good.

PASTEURIZATION of milk simply means holding milk at 142 to 145 degrees for thirty minutes. It is never boiled. Nothing is added and nothing is taken away. In cities where pasteurization is required there has been a reduction in deaths from diphtheria and tuberculosis to about half the former number, and a still greater reduction in the number of deaths from typhoid fever, scarlet fever and diarrheal diseases. – The Golden Age 07/25/1928 p. 679

A GERMAN subscriber writes in that he understands that the German government has prohibited aluminum ware for cooking purposes. We would be interested to have confirmation of this report, with fuller particulars than are now available. – The Golden Age 07/25/1928 p. 684

…if ten thousand doctors swore on ten thousand Bibles that aluminum ware is harmless to human beings, I would not believe them… – The Golden Age 07/25/1928 p. 695

…since discontinuing the aluminum vessels I hardly know what headaches and indigestion are and my bowels move freely and regularly, every morning and some times at noon and usually every night. – The Golden Age 11/14/1928 p. 114

…the fact that cancer is caused by chemical poisons, and not by germs of any kind or by what is known as virus. – The Golden Age 11/14/1928 p. 115

…I transferred my lot of aluminum from the kitchen to the junk pile. In a short time our food began to digest, the pains left, and we both have very good health for people of our age. – The Golden Age 11/14/1928 p. 115

All human ailments have their start in the intestines. – The Golden Age 11/28/1928 p. 133

What the people need more than food is faith in God, and a set of active bowels which means a healthy brain….Up until now he has been poisoned, stupefied, clogged and hampered by the Devil. He has been a slave to politicians, wholesale food magnates, preachers, railroads, bad cooks, worse doctors, an abnormal appetite, greedy undertakers and aluminum cooking utensils. – The Golden Age 11/28/1928 pp. 136, 137 Emphasis ours

On second thought – keep your tonsils.

ONCE a year there is a wholesale removal of the tonsils of all new inmates of the Odd Fellows Home at Corsicana, Texas. The man who cuts out these tonsils probably feels that he is improving upon the work of the Creator in the original design of these children, but as a matter of fact he is lessening their powers of resistance against disease and positively harming them. – The Golden Age 11/28/1928 p. 142

…”Is aluminum cooking ware injurious to the health?”…”Food should not be allowed to remain overnight or for any period of time in such a vessel.” Golden Age 11/28/1928 p. 145

{The Golden Age prints a retraction (sort of) to an article on aluminum poisoning.} – The Golden Age 11/28/1928 p. 145

…”I must congratulate you upon the splendid work you are doing in helping to educate the public upon the dangers to health of aluminum…I can appreciate the good work you are doing in the public interest, and sincerely trust it will receive due public recognition.” – The Golden Age 11/28/1928 p. 145

…the invisible enemies of the public health, who are determined to keep aluminum on the market for financial reasons. – The Golden Age 01/09/1929 p. 243

“Thinking people would rather have smallpox than vaccination, because the latter sows seeds of syphilis, cancers, eczema, erysipelas, scrofula, consumption, even leprosy and many other loathsome affections. Hence the practice of vaccinations is a crime, an outrage, and a delusion.“(Golden Age, 1/5/1929, p502) Emphasis ours

SO-CALLED medical science has made another “discovery”. That is not extraordinary, for it has made many in ages past and will make many more in ages to come, for “discoveries” are easy to make by an institution founded on ignorance, error, and superstition. Some day so-called medical science will discover that all its “discoveries” have discovered nothing but its own ignorance. – The Golden Age 01/09/1929 p. 245

Some Simple Remedies

Acting on the principle that all disease, except where mechanical lesions are present, is caused by impure blood and obstructed circulation, the logical procedure in every-day ailments is to aid elimination and improve the blood circulation. The following recipes are entirely harmless and have proved effective when all other means have failed…. Appendicitis …elderblossom, peppermint and yarrow; best crushed ginger,…A cure is usually certain in the most severe cases. Do not be afraid of the perspiration caused. You may vomit at first,… Asthma …vervain, horehound, and elecampane… Cancer …Here is an herbal remedy that has cured many very severe cases. Violet leaves, yellow dock, red clover tops… Diptheria …red sage… Epilepsy …onions…valerian root, vervain, wood betony and scullcap… Heart Affections …motherwort, gentian root and scullcap,…Spinal manipulation… Liver Affections …Horehound, agrimony, crushed ginger, gentian,… – The Golden Age 02/06/1929 pp. 304, 305, 306, 307

{article on the dangers of aluminum cookware.} – The Golden Age 05/01/1929 p. 503

{story where aluminum caused the deaths of twin goat kids.} – The Golden Age 10/16/1929 p. 52

Just one joint of the vertebra stiffening up and bringing pressure upon the nerve centers will bring about a draining of the suprarenal glands with the result that our vitality will be used up faster than we can manufacture it, and the first thing we know we begin to get shaky and slow down, so that it is hard work to drag ourselves through the day.

Can this be overcome? Surely so. Just place yourself in the hands of a first-class osteopath or chiropractor, and frequently, within an hour or so after the first adjustment you will begin to feel your vitality coming back….Avoid the loss of organs of the body by surgical operations….Avoid the use of aluminum cooking utensils and alum baking powders,…Sleep on the right side or flat on the back, with the head toward the north so as to get the benefits of earth’s magnetic currents.

Avoid serum inoculations and vaccinations, as they pollute the blood stream with their filthy pus….Stop chewing gum, as you need the saliva for your food….medicines are of little value,… – The Golden Age 11/13/1929 pp. 106, 107 Emphasis ours

…I happen to know that those who are using the exclusive grape diet in connection with other therapeutical measures (such as hydrotherapy, electrotherapy and spinal stimulation, etc.) are much more successful in the treatment of cancer cases… – The Golden Age 12/11/1929 p. 180 Emphasis ours

One more point: The Golden Age (by way of extractions) stated some time ago that approximately 65 percent of earth’s millions were moronists, or had the mentality of a child from 12 to 15 years of age. That being true (and it appears to be),… – The Golden Age 12/11/1929 p. 180 Emphasis ours

Pasteurization of Milk is Bad.

Added to this is the fact that they are compelled to drink milk from cows that have also been subjected to a liberal injection of tuberculin, a most terrible deadly poison. This poison enters directly into the blood circulation. Hence the milk. Then this milk is sterilized, or scalded to the boiling point or nearly so, destroying much of the life-giving nourishment of the milk, but not injuring the poison therein.

Scalded milk, for either adults or children, is very constipating. This in turn causes more deaths and resulting ailments than do all other causes combined, I surely believe. – The Golden Age 07/24/1929 p. 682

…I want to express my appreciation of the good work you are doing in publishing the health articles, also of the truth regarding aluminum kitchen utensils. – The Golden Age 10/02/1929 p. 20

…surely there must be something rotten in its back yard when a magazine professedly devoted to the health interests of the people lends itself as the mouthpiece of the spider in the face of the thoroughly proven unhealthfulness of aluminum kitchen ware. – The Golden Age 10/02/1929 p. 21

Quite likely there is some connection between the violation of human blood [vaccines] and the spread of demonism…. Vaccines cause demonism, and are useless. Golden Age 31 2/4 p.293,294 Emphasis ours

Do you know the germ theory has never been proven? And it cannot be proven, either. If it had been proven, it would not be a theory. It has been truly said that ‘knowledge without evidence is superstition’; and that applies to the germ theory also. It is a leftover superstition of a past age, when men feared that the earth was inhabited with hideous monsters that were hiding everywhere, in the air, in the sea, in the darkness, etc., always ready to jump out and devour him or make life otherwise miserable for him…now that we have come into this enlightened age, we have discarded the hideous monster superstition for want of positive proof, but we are still just as foolish as our forefathers of old. We have turned from a gigantic monster theory, to the germs, which are so small that we cannot hear, see, feel, smell or taste them. Yet they are just as ferocious as the monsters of old, ‘lurking everywhere, ready to attack man and send him to an early grave. According to the inventors of this preposterous idea, the germ’s only aim in life is to make life miserable for man. But fortunately for all of us, it is only an idea. G31 3/18 p. 404

We do well to bear in mind that among the drugs, serums, vaccines, surgical operations, etc., of the medical profession, there is nothing of value save an occasional surgical procedure. Their so-called “science” grew out of Egyptian black magic and has not lost its demonological character…. we shall be in a sad plight when we place the welfare of the race in their hands. – G31 8/5 pp.727,728 Emphasis ours

“The earlier in the forenoon you take the sun bath, the greater will be the beneficial effect, because you get more of the ultra-violet rays, which are healing.” (Golden Age, 9/13/33, p. 777)

Aspirin causes heart disease – G35 2/27 pp.343, 344

DEATHS from cancer have increased steadily since 1900. At that time 63 of every 100,000 persons died from that cause; the present death rate is 102 per 100,000. The rate of progress in the wrong direction has kept step steadily with the increased use of aluminum cooking utensils. – The Golden Age 09/23/1936 p. 803

…there is not one single thing about Satan’s kingdom that is right, not even it’s most-boasted cooking utensils. – The Golden Age 09/23/1936 p. 803

Hydrophobia (Rabies) is more of a mental hoax than a reality . . . Pasteur does not cure hydrophobia; he gives it. The Golden Age 09/23/1936, p. 814 Emphasis ours

Pasteur’s teachings have cost untold millions in health and they have destroyed unnumbered lives in the world….Pasteurization of milk is only good to preserve it, but bad for the consumer…And so one more gasbag blows up. – The Golden Age 09/23/1936 p. 814 Emphasis ours

The physiological action of aspirin, or of any of this general group or class of drugs, is to reduce, or relax, arterial tension and weaken the contractility or elasticity of the muscular fibers of the heart. By the excessive and continuous use of aspirin, the heart muscles become soft and flabby, the heart valves relax and lose the power to properly perform their normal function, and by degrees the blood begins to regurgitate or flow back through the weakened heart-valves with each heart pulsation, thus gradually and unawares producing a valvular heart-lesion, which, when once established, is never cured, but continues to grow worse and worse until death results. Emphasis ours

Acetylsalicylic acid, aspirin, is potentially a dangerous drug, and its unqualified use as a home remedy is a menace to good health, and should be discouraged. – The Golden Age 09/23/1936 p. 822 Emphasis ours

Vaccines are a cruel hoax. – G39 5/31 p.3

“Man on earth can no more get rid of these demonic `heavens’ [the organization of wicked spirits] than man can by airplane or rockets or other means get up above the air envelope which is about our earthly globe and in which man breathes.” [_The Truth Shall Make You Free_, 1943, p. 285]

A Blood transfusion is ‘nutrition’ – W51 7/1 p.415

Hereditary traits are passed by blood transfusions – W61 9/15 p.564

“What are we to understand, then, by the word ‘heart’?. . . . What an amazing number of different functions and capabilities are ascribed to the heart! Do all of these reside in the literal heart? That could hardly be so. . . . in nearly a thousand other references to ‘heart’ in the Bible, ‘heart’ is obviously used in a figurative sense. . . . obviously, a distinction must be drawn between the heart organ and the figurative heart.” (The Watchtower, Sept. 1, 1984, pp. 3-7) Emphasis ours.

“The ancient Egyptians believed that the physical heart was the seat of intelligence and the emotions. They also thought that it had a will of its own. The Babylonians said that the heart housed the intellect as well as love. The Greek philosopher Aristotle taught that it was the seat of the senses and the domain of the soul. But as time passed and knowledge increased, these views were discarded. Finally the heart became known for what it is, a pump to circulate the blood throughout the body.” (The Watchtower, June 1, 1986, p. 15) Emphasis ours.

Like the ancients, the Watchtower Society believed and taught the same sort of silliness about the heart until 1984 – just two years earlier.

Conclusion:

After considering the Watchtower Society’s the Society’s published and often contradictory record of scientific statements and medical advice, one can only wonder why anyone would want to seriously consider them as a source of information and direction on matters of health, science or medicine.

Noteworthy is the following comment:

“A long acquaintance with the literature of the Witnesses leads one to the conclusion that they live in the intellectual `twilight zone.’ … Whenever their literature strays onto the fields of philosophy, academic theology, science or any severe mental discipline their ideas at best mirror popular misconceptions, at worst they are completely nonsensical.” [Alan Rogerson, Millions Now Living Will Never Die: A Study of Jehovah’s Witnesses, p. 116, Constable, London, 1969]

Is it any wonder the Watchtower Society has long ceased to print its older publications. How would the average person, or even the average Jehovah’s Witness react if he had access to such information? How should knowing that the Watchtower’s policy on blood originated in this atmosphere of scientific ignorance and lunacy effect how we view it? Is it any wonder that Bethel libraries are closed to researchers, and even the vast majority of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Bibliography

None

Footnotes

None

Citations

American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Elder L. Science and Medicine – Watchtower Quotes. October 2023; 12(1). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/science-medicine

American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Elder, L. (2023, October 22). Science and Medicine – Watchtower Quotes. In-Sight Publishing. 12(1).

Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): ELDER, L. Science and Medicine – Watchtower Quotes.In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 12, n. 1, 2023.

Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Elder, Lee. 2023. “Science and Medicine – Watchtower Quotes.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (Winter). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/science-medicine.

Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Elder, L “Science and Medicine – Watchtower Quotes.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (October 2023). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/science-medicine.

Harvard: Elder, L. (2023) ‘Science and Medicine – Watchtower Quotes’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 12(1). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/science-medicine>.

Harvard (Australian): Elder, L 2023, ‘Science and Medicine – Watchtower Quotes’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/science-medicine.

Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Elder, Lee. “Science and Medicine – Watchtower Quotes.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.12, no. 1, 2023, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/science-medicine.

Vancouver/ICMJE: Lee E. Science and Medicine – Watchtower Quotes [Internet]. 2023 Oct; 12(1). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/science-medicine.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

2023-10-22

Gestapo Tactics – the Wayne Rogers story

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Journal Founding: August 2, 2012

Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 12

Issue Numbering: 1

Section: B

Theme Type: Idea

Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”

Theme Part: 29

Formal Sub-Theme: None.

Individual Publication Date: October 22, 2023

Issue Publication Date: January 1, 2024

Author(s): Wayne M. Rogers

Author(s) Bio: None.

Word Count: 2,100

Image Credit: None.

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369–6885

*Original publication here during July, 2014.*

*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*

Keywords: Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood, Bible, Francis Bacon, freedom of thought, God, umility, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Lee Elder, religion, Thomas Jefferson, Watchtower Society, Wayne M. Rogers.

Gestapo Tactics – the Wayne Rogers story

Freedom of thought is a right that many people take for granted. There are many people who believe they have freedom of thought but are mistaken. I was one of those. My name is Wayne Rogers. I was raised in the religious organization known as Jehovah’s Witnesses governed by the Watchtower Society. As I sit down to write the story, I have just finished reading some passages from the February 22, 1999 issue of Awake magazine. In it are some powerful statements in support of free thought and inquiry. Consider these quotes:

“Francis Bacon, a seventeenth-century English philosopher, essayist, jurist, and statesman, advised searchers for truth to weigh and consider, and an early U.S. president, Thomas Jefferson, said: “Reason and free inquiry are the only effectual agents against error….They are the natural enemies of error. So if we are genuinely searching for truth, we will ‘weigh and consider’ and pursue ‘reason and free inquiry’.” “Identifying why such an approach is vital, British scientist Sir Hermann Bondi noted: ’Since at most one faith can be true, it follows that human beings are extremely liable to believe firmly and honestly in the field of revealed religion. One would have expected this obvious fact to lead to some humility, to some thought that however deep one’s faith, one may conceivably be mistaken.”

Sadly, my experience tells me that these noble ideals are given lip service, but freedom of inquiry is denied to members of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

I was raised as a Jehovah’s Witness since 1966, the son of an elder. I was convinced all my life that I was in God’s organization where there existed true freedom in Christ and brotherly love. I was baptized in 1983 at an international convention at the Oakland Coliseum. I married a fellow believer in 1987 and strived to let Bible principles guide our marriage for 12 years. I served as a Ministerial Servant in the Highland Oaks/Pleasanton congregation where I was given many responsibilities and occasionally auxiliary pioneered in support of the Watchtower’s preaching work.

Slowly over the years, I began to develop a different view on blood transfusions than the official policy. Many points of scriptural research and personal experience molded my viewpoint. Studies in Bible-based literature such as “The Greatest Man” book, impressed upon me the contrast between Jesus’ love of people, and the strict, oppressive rule-keeping of the religious leaders of the time. I noticed how Christ approved of setting aside certain restrictions in the Law Covenant when human life or suffering was on the line, much to the dismay of the Pharisees.

I noticed that even the Law covenant given by God had certain exemptions so as not to be a danger to the life and well-being of its adherents. For instance, on the issue of the command to abstain from eating blood, the “Insight on the Scriptures” makes this observation: “At Deuteronomy 14:21 allowance was made for selling to an alien resident or a foreigner an animal that had died of itself or that had been torn by a beast. Thus, a distinction was made between the blood of such animals and that of animals that a person slaughtered for food”.

I learned that the scriptures allowed a Jew to eat the unbled flesh of an animal not slaughtered by human hands if necessary, with no penalties other than a requirement to perform a ritual bathing. Thus, while a starving Jew might not desire to feed on the unbled flesh of a dead animal, such was allowed if necessary. The Levitical priestly class, who had all of their food supplied by the citizens, were restricted from eating such unbled animals.

I recall back in 1981 when one of my best friends was suffering from kidney failure. He may have been among the first of Jehovah’s Witnesses to get on the list for an organ transplant. (His story can be found in the Nov 22, 1996 Awake article entitled “It’s only temporary”) The WTS had JUST changed their ruling on the matter, and my friend and his family had decided that it would not violate their consciences. I recall that I had no thought, whatsoever that he was a “cannibal” that sustained his life by feeding on human flesh, although the WTS had taught this up until then. I am firmly convinced that JWs would not be viewing blood transplants as a serious sin if the WTS had not been vilifying the procedure for so many years.

But, being a loyal Witness who wanted to do the right thing, I suppressed my thoughts on the matter of blood transfusions and conformed to the WTS policies. I hoped that eventually there would come to be “new light” on the matter, the same as there was on organ transplants. When the Durable Power Of Attorney forms were starting to be promoted by the WTS, I was concerned about the implications of handing over my health decisions to someone else. I procrastinated on signing this form, even though my wife kept pushing me to do so.

In late 1998, my wife became more insistent that we sign the DPA forms, and also started ordering things like “no-blood” key chains. I could not hold back any longer. I broke down and told her that I did not agree with the WTS views on blood. Needless to say, my wife was stunned! She then stopped me and refused to hear any reasons WHY I disagreed. I started a renewed effort to find information that I could share with her to explain my position. I went to the local hospital library to find information on blood fractions. In the medical journal database, I found references to the AJWRB (Associated Jehovah’s Witnesses for Reform on Blood). Intrigued, I visited their website.

I had always tried to avoid what I thought were “apostate sites” before, but I could not view AJWRB as apostate. I was ecstatic that there were other JWs who felt the same as me on this issue! I read it all in amazement and found that I had already arrived at many of the conclusions presented. I sent Lee Elder an email expressing my support for the work that he was doing, and to send some information to a Circuit Overseer I knew. My wife found the letter I had sent on my computer, printed it out, and gave it to my elders. I was called into a judicial hearing for the first time in my life.

Looking back, I guess I was rather naïve, and thought that my elders were there to help me. I quickly realized that wasn’t the case. The first order of business at the hearings was to make sure I had brought no recording devices. I thought this was strange that if the purpose was to protect MY privacy, why would I bring one? It became apparent that these hearings were more for interrogation than for helping the individual. It all boiled down to the question of whether I accepted that all of the current understandings of the WTS were “food at the proper time” from the “faithful and discreet slave”.

I pleaded that I could not agree to that idea, given the changeable nature of the WTS doctrine. How could the ban on organ transplants be viewed as truth from God, only to later be dropped? I told them that I believed that this teaching was nothing more than someone’s personal opinion that got put into the WT for millions of trusting people to view as “absolute truth”. Incredibly, one of the elders actually said that blood transfusions were really a conscience matter anyway!

Amazingly, the Bible was not opened until after a decision was made. They used the Bible to try to accuse me of being a man trying to cause divisions. I protested that I had not been spreading my views around the congregation, indeed, the elders admitted that they did not feel that I was even trying to push my views on THEM. They replied that I could not be allowed to be in the congregation if in my mind I was supporting the AJWRB. They read some quotes from the elder’s manual that if a brother persists in believing something contrary to the current teachings of the organization, then he has committed apostasy, even if he does not spread his views publicly.

They told me that I was a spiritually dead branch that needed to be cut off. At the previous meeting with them, at my request for what I could do to show my repentance, they suggested that I cancel my internet service provider, which I did immediately. I now reminded them that I had “cut off what was making me stumble”, to which I was told: “well, now we are cutting you off”. I was sentenced to be disfellowshipped.

I went home that night in a daze to tell my wife of the outcome. We were not expecting the worst to happen. I was given a week to appeal the decision and finally decided I would. My wife was furious and felt that an appeal was like slapping the elders in the face. But I knew that I could not let this happen to me without trying to do something to prevent it. The circuit overseer then handpicked three more elders from other cities.

Again, I was asked at the appeal hearing if I had any recording devices, which I did not. Again, I did not try to be argumentative, as I instinctively knew that if I argued with them I would be viewed as unrepentant. I did present some of my case that other doctrines had been changed in the past, and that we should follow the Bible over the words of men. They told me that in order to have unity, witnesses could not interpret the Bible for themselves.

I asked them if they believed that the ban on organ transplants was from God, or from man’s opinion. They replied that they were not there to change my mind, and I wasn’t there to change theirs. Disheartened, I realized that my fate was sealed even before they dismissed us to make their decision. I was pronounced disfellowshipped on Jan 11, 1999 on the basis that my beliefs “separate me from Jehovah’s Witnesses”.

My wife immediately distanced herself from me and treated me with great distrust and suspicion. She refused to even hear the reasons why I had taken my stand. She told me that she could not stop viewing me as an enemy of God. She met with the elders without my presence, and would not tell me what counsel was given to her, for fear, she said, that I would just use it against the Society. She decided to leave me and obtain a separation. I was not allowed to reason with her. If I even brought out the Bible, she would run from the house with her hands over her ears.

In March, the stress finally overcame me, and I wound up in the hospital for a week with a severely painful case of meningitis and shingles. My parents finally came to see me. My mother immediately started condemning me, that I was “worse than an adulterer”, demon-possessed, and “brainwashed by apostates”. She said that if my father had done what I did, she would have left him too. My father has admitted to me that he has noticed a “totalitarian” element in the Organization and that he has had doubts himself, but “you don’t go and tell the elders!” Since then I have been cut off from my family and all my life-long friends, who believe they have no choice but to shun me.

Yes, this account portrays the sad results of myself and countless others who would dare to use “reason and free inquiry” within the Watchtower organization. Yet, even worse than the thousands of broken families, is the needless deaths of thousands of trusting Jehovah’s Witnesses who have loyally followed the deceptive medical policies of the Watchtower Society.

Sincerely,

Wayne M. Rogers

Wayne Rogers served as the Public Affairs Director for AJWRB from 2000-2006. We hope to post an update to the story in the near future. His story, as well as others, well illustrate why members of AJWRB require anonymity to carry out their reform activities in the Watchtower Society.

That they [Jehovah’s Witness] must adhere absolutely to the decisions and scriptural understandings of the Society because God has given it this authority over his people. Watchtower, May 1, 1972, p. 272 [paraphrased]

Bibliography

None

Footnotes

None

Citations

American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Wayne R. Gestapo Tactics – the Wayne Rogers story. October 2023; 12(1). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/wayne-rogers

American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Rogers, W. (2023, October 22). Gestapo Tactics – the Wayne Rogers story. In-Sight Publishing. 12(1).

Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): ROGERS, W. Gestapo Tactics – the Wayne Rogers story. In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 12, n. 1, 2023.

Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Rogers, Wayne. 2023. “Gestapo Tactics – the Wayne Rogers story.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (Winter). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/wayne-rogers.

Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Rogers, W “Gestapo Tactics – the Wayne Rogers story.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (October 2023). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/wayne-rogers.

Harvard: Rogers, W. (2023) ‘Gestapo Tactics – the Wayne Rogers story’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 12(1). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/wayne-rogers>.

Harvard (Australian): Rogers, W 2023, ‘Gestapo Tactics – the Wayne Rogers story’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/wayne-rogers.

Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Rogers, Wayne. “Gestapo Tactics – the Wayne Rogers story.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.12, no. 1, 2023, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/wayne-rogers.

Vancouver/ICMJE: Wayne Rogers. Gestapo Tactics – the Wayne Rogers story [Internet]. 2023 Oct; 12(1). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/wayne-rogers.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

2023-10-22

The Greenhorn Chronicles 51: Bob Marshall, 5-Time World Champion Blacksmith

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Journal Founding: August 2, 2012

Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 12

Issue Numbering: 1

Section: A

Theme Type: Idea

Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”

Theme Part: 29

Formal Sub-Theme: None

Individual Publication Date: October 22, 2023

Issue Publication Date: January 1, 2024

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Word Count: 11,141

Image Credit: None.

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369-6885

*Interview conducted on December 9, 2022.*

*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*

Abstract

Bob Marshall is from Southport, England. He has been crowned World Championship Blacksmith 5 times at the Calgary Stampede five times. He was inducted into the International Horseshoeing Hall of Fame in 1994. Marshall discusses: being a farrier; the term “blacksmith”; the techniques pioneered by the Egyptians; techniques mastered by the Romans adapting from the Egyptians; some rewarding experiences; differentiate between a skilled farrier and a less skilled farrier; the word “lame” and the term “sound”; World Champion five times; a more skilled farrier; training newer farriers; punishments; longevity; finding good farriers or a good farrier shortage; the industry; silica rings; an excellent job conducting their competition grounds and their treatment of the foot care of the horse; grass; Langley, British Columbia; the future; health concerns.

Keywords: blacksmith, Bob Marshall, Calgary Stampede, Egyptians, England, farrier, farriering, furrier, grass, lame, Langley, longevity, Romans, silica, sound, Southport, Spruce Meadows, World Champion.

The Greenhorn Chronicles 51: Bob Marshall, 5-Time World Champion Blacksmith

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: So, today, it is with Bob Marshall. So, regarding being a farrier, did you always work out of British Columbia?

Bob Marshall: No, I’ll tell you how I became a farrier, okay? Is that all right?

Jacobsen: Yeah, sure.

Marshall: Okay. First, I did a five-year apprenticeship with my dad in England, in the North of England. Then, after that, I was offered a job in the South of England, in the Cotswolds. And with the job came a house and so forth, and it was an exceptional opportunity for me because I wasn’t married then. But anyway, we got permission to get married, Adrian and I. We did, and we went down to The Cotswolds in England. And after that, I spent two years there and learned a lot of the… how can I say? I do not want to put my dad down. My dad gave me some excellent basics, absolutely first-class. I was allowed to see a few more high-quality horses. The people I worked with were organized, and I learned a lot from them.

My wife didn’t like it down there after a few years. So we went back to the North of England. I didn’t want to go, but my wife wanted to, and that was her. So I went back there. In the winter, in the north of England, it could have been better as far as horseshoeing goes because everything’s going to close down. There wasn’t much going on, hunting going on down there. Consequently, it was tough for us. Anyway, when I was there, somebody phoned me from Canada. They were the principal of a huge vocational school. In that vocational school, they had a farrier program, but the instructor of this farrier program decided to go off. They were stuck with a beautiful opportunity and offered me the job to go over there as a guest instructor. We scraped the money together. I still need to find out where we got it from, but we got the plane fare and off to Canada.

I get on the plane. Who am I sitting next to? This guy, a professional, was a furrier. I’m a farrier; he’s a furrier [Laughing]. We got talking. His hobby was collecting horseshoes [Laughing]. This is historically weird. Anyway, we got pretty friendly, and when we got to Edmonton, he said, “I’m going to make sure you get in the hotel properly because in Edmonton, at the moment, it is called Klondike Days.” Klondike Days meant that everybody in Edmonton, as we got off the plane, was all dressed in the same outfits they wore during Klondike Days. I thought I’d gone back in time.

Jacobsen: [Laughing].

Marshall: [Laughing] Anyway, I can still remember he got me into this hotel; I think it was 14 dollars for the hotel room. I still believe it. Anyway, [Laughing] shows how naive I was; I’m going up, so I couldn’t get my luggage up. This guy picks it up and says, “Hey, that’s mine.” [Laughing] He said, “I’m just carrying it for you.” I said I’m not used to it. I realized, “Man, I’m from bloody Liverpool, mate, you do not do that” [Laughing]. Anyway, he got me to the hotel room and there he was, there was a phone and television. I said, “I didn’t ask for this. This is extra money.” He said, “No sir, they’re in every room.” I’m just trying to explain how naïve I was out there.

The next day, we got on this bus to Dawson Creek, one straight road. It was an eight-hour journey on a bus. I could not believe it, honestly. We eventually arrived, and the appropriate people greeted me and went to the school. But when they showed me this vocational school, it was a former Air Force Base. It was incredible. I mean, the buildings were massive; all central heated, all air-conditioned, and then they showed me the farrier shop. This is the first time I’ve seen something like it. I mean, all rubber floored. It was massive, like I said; it was air-conditioned, centrally heated, and I thought, “Wow,” there are all the forges lined up perfectly, and that’s how my career started in Dawson Creek.

There is a bit of a humorous side to this. Because there was a war, and many people decided to get into Canada and get out because they didn’t want to go to this war. So they all hid in the bush. I mean hundreds of these people. The Canadian government decided to bring them out of the bush and offer them a trade. So you can imagine what I was getting to teach to be farriers; I mean, these people probably had never appropriately washed for a long time because they came out of the bush, but the Canadian government did a good job. They brought them back, and they offered to give them a trade. That’s where I came in to teach some of these people the art of farriery.

I will jump ahead now to a few years later. I get a phone call from this guy, and he says you probably need to remember me; my name is Tim Biggins. I said, “How could I possibly forget you?” [Laughing] “What is giving you the cause to phone me?” And he said, “Bob, you wouldn’t believe it. What you did with me in Dawson Creek changed my life, I couldn’t care less whether I worked, but you allowed me to know what it was like to earn a good living.” So I said, “What are you doing now?” He says, “You wouldn’t believe it. I am the president of the British Columbia Blacksmiths Association.” You’ve got to be kidding [Laughing]. I said, “Where did that come about?” He said, “I was successful in blacksmithship, not shoeing but blacksmithship, and it went from there.” And I said, “What about your buddy?” A guy called Greg and he says, “You wouldn’t believe what he’s doing.” I said, “Go on, I probably would.” He says, “He is in the Kootenays with draft horses and shows them all.”

He said the two of us had had great experiences, and we are grateful for what you told us. I thought, ‘Man, that’s such a nice thing to say.’ So, I rolled on a bit on that, but that’s part of what this job has done for me. It is just incredible in many different ways. Does that make sense?

Jacobsen: You brought up the term “blacksmith.” What I have noticed, at least in the discipline of show jumping, some of the riders of the newer generation, a farrier is a farrier. To those in their 60s or 70s, those whom I’ve talked to, they will call a farrier a farrier. Sometimes, they will call a farrier, a blacksmith.

Marshall: Yeah. A lot of it depended on the area and so forth, but everybody understood it. He’s a blacksmith to horses. Oh, he’s a farrier to horses… it was pretty clear to everybody involved. I was often called the blacksmith in this place, but it was called the farrier in other barns that go down the road. So it is just one of those things. Both words mean the same thing.

Jacobsen: And are there any other trades that genuinely are as if they’re from the medieval period? You work with heat, steel, a hammer, and a nail. The techniques changed slightly, but the fundamental premises are the same.

Marshall: No, the techniques have stayed the same since the Egyptians. It was just after the Egyptians that they started to forge shoes. The Romans were some of the first to generate shoes and were good at it. They were staying in England, you see some of these stables, and they’ve got some old Roman shoes hanging up on the barn though to show everybody. The horses were more miniature in those days, in Roman days, but all the basics were the same.

Jacobsen: What were the techniques pioneered by the Egyptians?

Marshall: I believe the Egyptians used rope horseshoes; I read about that anyway. They used rope and horseshoes to cover the feet and protect them from being sore. And then they went on from the strings to solid steel.

Jacobsen: What techniques were mastered by the Romans adapting from the Egyptians?

Marshall: The Romans forged their shoes just like we do today.

Jacobsen: Wow.

Marshall: They were excellent blacksmith farriers thing. There are a lot of Roman shoes in the stables just hung up there to show. They were smaller because horses were more miniature. They covered most of the foot, which is what they needed to do. So it was still close. The Romans are clever. I mean, some of the roads they built. There’s a road called the Fosse Way when you come from the Coast of England. You get on the Fosse Way. It is dead straight for about 18-19 miles. There’s no curve in it. How did they manage to do that? It is unreal. And at the end of that, there are some ruins called Chedworth Cathedral, and the mosaic tilings and the concrete were stone pedestals that they put the floors on for the houses and the buildings. It was incredible; at the end of that, there was a giant forge, like a big fireplace. So, it is a centrally heated building built by the Romans. So incredibly clever people; it goes back to having my trade like this so I could travel and look at all this stuff.

Jacobsen: This is great. A lot of my best friends when I was in high school, were people who were retired or near retired. I get this same conversational sense where we’re going to have a theme, but the conversation is going to go any which way it is going to go. So it is lovely for me.

So, as your skills developed, what were some rewarding experiences during that time? As your skill set grew more and more, this is obviously as you are in the workforce more. You are training people, moving along, and going into competitions. How did this develop over time, too?

Marshall: Okay, what’s happening now is we have many farrier competitions. Did you realize that?

Jacobsen: I only found out about a month and a half ago.

Marshall: One of the leading competitions was in Calgary at the Calgary Stampede, where they used to hold the world championships. I competed in that quite a few times, and so forth, which was successful. I met many people from all over the world, and, after that, everybody, all the farriers from all over North America, all over the world, came together. There was this significant unity and a spread of knowledge that was unbelievable. And we had at one time 23 countries competing at Calgary. To exchange ideas, it was just fantastic. Everybody, lots of friends and so forth, and people started to get invited to go to different parts of the world and from then on, it was just like a giant spider’s web; it has just increased. It is just absolutely fantastic.

But going back to the basics of shoeing the horse, it has stayed the same since Roman times. All I’ve used is different steels and so forth. I went aluminum for the racehorses. I have even made titanium shoes, which weren’t necessary, but we did it for the heck of it. But, the standards and message might be different, not so much of a statement but transportation, that’ll be these big fancy trucks with everything you can imagine in there. But what goes on the foot is similar to when I was an apprentice. It is still the same. Going on the horseshoe and going on the foot hasn’t changed much at all.

Jacobsen: How do you differentiate between a skilled farrier and a less skilled farrier? I do not mean things like, ‘The shoe fits.’

Marshall: If it is a skilled farrier with experience, he’ll have the same clients for many years. They’ll shoe the horse. In five weeks, they’re asked to go back again, and so on and so forth. And some farriers have been going to these barns for over 20-30 years. That means that’s a skilled farrier, but the ones not asked to go back again, there’s a reason for it. You can lame a horse or make a horse unsound in no time at all with a fundamental mistake. Once you do that, you are done, especially if it is through ignorance or lack of experience. Is that okay?

Jacobsen: It helps. I hear these terms a lot. I haven’t quite figured out what they mean to different people in the industry: the word “lame” and the term “sound.” What makes a horse lame compared to a horse being unsound?

Marshall: Okay, it is the same as is. If you stick a stone in the bottom of your shoes, you will walk unevenly, won’t you? That’s a simple remedy. That can happen with a horse; a rock could stick in the bottom of its hooves, and the treatment is to take the stone out, but if your horse is shod improperly, that lameness can create a significant problem and give a long time, they owe it to the horse, and sometimes they have to be euthanized, and that’s the way it is. Inside the horse’s foot, there’s an incredible amount of anatomy going on in there, which are susceptible tissues. When you think about it, they have a tactile nose on the bottom of their foot, whereas we have them at the end of our fingertips, almost the same.

A horse can walk on something and feel the ground underneath it to say whether it is safe. Here’s an example: we used to shoe horse horses in England that were called shankers. Now, you probably have yet to hear of that. What these shankers did, they used to catch shrimps with a horse and cart, and the coaches have these massive wheels on them so they can get into the water, and the horses would walk up, so the water was just over the backs of the horse. Those horses obviously couldn’t see the bottom where their feet was, but they could feel it with their tactile nose and sometimes they’ll also stop and it would back up and turn, do another way and probably what it was, was quick sound in front. Now, how do these horses know that? They must have it through that tactile nose in the bottom of their feet, and they sensed it, ‘I’m not going through there,’ the driver would just let them go, and everything was fine. So that’s how sensitive the bottom of the horse’s foot is and how incredible a horse is. I’m not good with words. You probably guessed that already.

Jacobsen: But your examples are apparent.

Marshall: Okay, good.

Jacobsen: Now, one thing my farrier friend did mention was that you are crowned, let’s call it, World Champion five times for your skill in being a farrier. What are the specific kinds of qualifiers tested at these championships to be crowned World Champion?

Marshall: I was crowned five times World Champion by winning at Calgary Stampede.

Jacobsen: And what were the criteria tested for that?

Marshall: Oh, okay. Part of them was many different parts of the competition because it was a three-day deal. Sometimes we had to shoe draft horses. Another time we’d have to shoe light horses, riding horses. Another time we’d have to show what they call the roadster, which is a horse that used to pull carts on the road. There were three different, let’s say, levels there: the riding horse, the driving horse, and the draft horse. You must be skilled to be at a reasonable level with all those three. Luckily, I was trained by some of the best, so it worked out for me.

Jacobsen: Who did you look up to as you became a more skilled farrier?

Marshall: Oh, good point. Yeah, how can I say now? I was in the North of England with my dad, and then, as I said before, I did go down to the South of England for quite a while. Still, I met some exciting farriers when I was starting to compete. I went to this one competition. I said to my dad what the heck are we doing, never competed before. He said, “Just do what you do at home.” I said, “Okay,” so I did what I did at home [Laughing]. There were three divisions in this. There was the open division, which was obviously that quality people. And then there was a prize for the under the 30s and an award for the under 26s, and I’m only 24, so I could get a mention in the under 26s.

Anyway, I just did what my dad told me. I just did the job and did the horse and so forth, and they came to give out the prizes, and they said the first one was a guy called Tom Allison, a respected farrier. Anyway, the next one was RH Marshall. I thought, ‘Who the heck is that?’ So I’m looking around when somebody says, “That’s you, you silly bugger” [Laughing].

There I was a second, meaning I must have won all the others underneath it. It was one heck of a day. That’s where I met this Tom Allison. He said, “Where did you get training?” I said, “My dad just gave me the basics.” He said, “You’ve got a pretty good basic, mate.” [Laughing] We became excellent friends after that. We used to visit and work with him, which slightly refined me. He’d show me all sorts of different things. Again, that’s what the farrier industry is like. You lock on to somebody with these talents; if you are fortunate enough to go with them, that’s pretty good. So that’s how it started, and it was a tremendous friendship.

Jacobsen: Have you ever had people come up looking up to you in a similar manner?

Marshall: Oh yes, I used to do seminars and so forth. They’d come up from all over the place. Of course, I went to Australia eight times for workshops, so it gave me a chance to try to travel and so forth. But like I said – I know I’m repeating myself, but it is one hell of a career. My wife and I still talk about it because I was doing so many seminars worldwide. At one time, I ended up with flight miles for us both to go first class to Australia. And that takes much collecting. And yes, we stopped off in Fiji on the way to Australia. Then next time, we stopped somewhere else, in Hawaii. It is just fantastic.

Jacobsen: When you are training newer farriers, what have been some of the essential skills and methods that you try to get across to them: things to look for, things to do right, not wrong?

Marshall: First of all, what I try and pass on to them is that when you are showing somebody else’s horse, that horse is so vital to them and important to them, you have got to do your utmost to look after it because if you do not, there’s going to be some fault in there somewhere and you will not be asked to go back and so forth. That’s pretty straightforward, but they must also realize that much safety is involved. If you put a shoe on that is too slippery, you could cause some serious injury to somebody or even kill them. Some people have been killed because they’ve had a horse go into a deep hole or something. A deep hole is not much different than losing a shoe and slipping. So that’s your responsibility as a farrier; you’ve got to consider that every time you shoe a horse. You’ve got to put the appropriate amount of shoe on with the tracks it requires without putting too much stress on it.

In other words, let me simplify that, if you put a shoe on that replicates the primary growth of a regular foot, you are not far off. But if you start to put on extensions, which some people do because they’ve got this weird idea about things, or they’ll put something extra wide, so it is supposed to straighten the legs which they do not need straightening because that’s how God put them. So, quite often, you get these people that want to show that they’ve got these silly skills that could try and straighten legs out and so fort, but it doesn’t work. You have to keep the horse sound. Does that make sense?

Jacobsen: Yes.

Marshall: Okay.

Jacobsen: Are the punishments more institutional for people who do lousy ferrying? So they get punished by some organization or more social in that people will stop hiring them?

Marshall: Oh yes, okay. There is a body of the Farriers Association that could give them a bit of warning, but as far as taking them to court and things like that, that doesn’t happen, which sometimes is unfortunate. But that’s just how it is. If you are doing something wrong, you better correct it; otherwise, you will lose your clients. That’s just how it is. If you do something wrong, you must move or change your location sooner or later. And then that levels everything out like in other trades; you keep building houses that keep falling. You aren’t going to do too many, are you? [Laughing]

And you know something? Horses are precious now. I mean, the value is unbelievable. It is 100,000 dollars for a horse now with nothing, just a cheap one. So, every time you get onto those horses, you are dealing with a lot of money. These are their buddies. You have to look after them.

Jacobsen: So, for individuals entering the industry, what are your recommendations for longevity? How do they build up a company?

Marshall: First of all, if you are going to get into the industry, you need to work with somebody qualified and recognized. How’s that? So you must spend at least two years travelling with them, helping them, and getting as much knowledge as possible. And then usually the person looking after them, they’re more talented. The one you are working with or working for, they typically find some clients for you that you can branch out and start doing on your own and then it goes out from that. The good farriers allow the young lads or girls to work with them. Eventually, they’ll say, “Okay, you can tell this client and take that client,” it all works out quite well because what it is is just lots of horses around. Nobody’s struggling for horses these days. Does that make sense?

Jacobsen: Yes. I’ve noticed in some discussions with equestrians of different kinds of stripes that there is a potential issue in some sectors of Canada with two things: one is finding good farriers or a good farrier shortage, and then another is a good vet shortage. Is that accurate to you?

Marshall: Oh boy! Now, you are touching the subject. This is tough for me. It is like any trade, mate. I mean, there’s good and evil in this. There are sure vets in our area; I wouldn’t trust him with a bloody butcher knife, let alone a horse. I do not know how to go from that because when you work for the veterinarian, the farriers and the vets usually get together, and quite often, an excellent vet would turn around and say, “Look, I’m not sure what this is, it is in the foot, I recommend you call your farrier, and I’ll meet him, and we’ll take extra aid and work together and figure it out.” That’s the way to do it.

Unfortunately, like farriers or vets, they decide to do things on their own, and if they’re lucky, they might get some results, but quite often, they do not get good results. And eventually, it’ll work out, but sooner or later, the vet and the farrier must work together. I mean, I’ve got some of that. There are many farriers like that; they get on excellent with the vet, and the vet says, “No, call your farrier. I’ll meet him here,” or “Call the farrier, and if he needs me, call me, and I’ll meet him with my X-rays.” That’s an excellent situation to react to.

Jacobsen: Regarding the industry of farriering in Canada at the moment, what are some of the positives, and what are some of the negatives that you note?

Marshall: It is positive; the whole industry worldwide is buoyant. With all our connections with different farriers from all over the world exchanging ideas, it is a positive.

Jacobsen: What core ideas are exchanged between farriers to improve the industry?

Marshall: Yeah, like I said before, because of the modern technologies and so forth, the ideas that are coming from different countries, it is just unbelievable. For instance, I mean the farrier competitions; I mentioned this before: 23 countries competed at Calgary the last time I competed. So that gives you an idea that the industry’s gone worldwide. So it is incredible. Does that help?

Jacobsen: It does help. I’ve heard similar things from the show jumping world, where, in the 70s, you had several countries competing, but now it is upwards of 80 or more countries competing. So, it has expanded tremendously.

Marshall: Yeah, and a tremendous amount of money involved as well.

Jacobsen: Yes, that’s right. [Laughing] Do you think the costs of horses now are a barrier for some people to compete at the highest level of some of these sports disciplines? Is the cost of a horse, purchasing price, a barrier to many taking part in the highest levels of these sports disciplines: dressage, show jumping, horse racing, and so on? As you mentioned earlier, a horse costs around 100,000 dollars in most places as a starting price. This wasn’t the case before; it was cheaper. Does this naturally prevent entry into some sports?

Marshall: It does, yes, because, like I said, it is a costly sport to get in. When I told 100,000 dollars for a horse, that was cheap; that’s the starting point. To other examples of how extraordinary this profession can be, let me tell you a story about a good friend who’s an excellent farrier. He’s well known, a good rider and horseman, and extremely wealthy. He turned into a multi-millionaire, but he was asked to go to Saudi Arabia to shoe a horse from England anyway. Now, can you imagine the cost of that? That is bizarre. And he told me himself. He says, “Bob, I go there on holiday twice a year. I do not need to go back there. And this is what I told him.” He said, “I go there on holiday; I do not want to go and shoe a horse.” And they just said, “Look, Grant, we’ve had two farriers looking at this horse; he’s expensive. What will it cost you to get out here and help us?” And he just straight off said, “20,000 Euro,” They said, “Book a ticket.”

Jacobsen: Holy hell.

Marshall: Yeah. So he flew over there. This is the best part; being a good horseman and a rider, he looked at it. The two farriers were there that had shod the horse. Grant told me it was exceptionally well fed. There was nothing to do with the shoeing; he went up to the horse’s shoulders, moved it towards the neck, pinched it, and cowered down. He said, “That’s your problem. You need an equine chiropractor; you do not need a farrier.” So he said, “I got my cheque and returned home.” [Laughing]

Jacobsen: [Laughing].

Marshall: That’s just some of the stories that are bizarre in this profession, it is. I mean, the money is just bloody unbelievable.

Jacobsen: What are some of the bizarre stories in your professional history?

Marshall: My bizarre stories? How much time have we got? [Laughing]

Jacobsen: I have all day. I have the day off.

Marshall: It is hard to say. At least some of them are; I mean, as I said before, my primary training was from my dad. I owe so much damn everything to him. He gave me the solid basics. That’s all I started with. It came to a situation where I was asked to do some demonstration. I told you this before, in Washington State. It went from there. The following way, I flew all over the United States, then to Australia, and it just continued. After a while, I didn’t have time to shoe any horses, so I kept a few of my clients, but I was flying around the rest of the time. So, it has been an incredible career in that respect. Does that answer any questions, or am I repeating myself?

Jacobsen: No, not at all. What would you consider your most expensive shoeing experience where you charge the most money?

Marshall: I do not think I’ve been to that stage. `I do not think I’ve charged a lot. Many years ago, I was asked to do a horse in Vancouver, and I said I didn’t know how much I could trust because it was a long way to go from where I lived, and they just said we’d pay you by the hour and I said well okay, it is a 100 dollars an hour and that’s what they did. I forget the total, but it was a good wage for me. That’s the most I ever did. Some of these other guys now here, they shoe three horses in a day. They’re walking away with 1500 dollars. I used to shoe six horses a day on average, so you can imagine how much money is involved in the farriers down in these areas where the horses are like multi-million dollars that everybody’s used to spending lots of money, but they’re just used to it. I do not know whether they’ve been conned into it or not, but they’re just used to it [Laughing].

Jacobsen: How do farriers make their prices? What sets the industry standard?

Marshall: Well, it is just wide open. It is a wide-open market, so it is hard to answer that question. What you do, you have to look at the situation where you are asked to go. You see what the quality of the horses are, you ask what the usual prices are, and if the prices are, say, 400 a set, but asked you to go down there because they wanted something a little bit better. So, now, you can charge 500 a group, for want of a number. And that’s the way it happens, and quite often, some of those people; like I said, they’re just willing to pay. But you better be on the ball if you are going to do that. Does that answer the question?

Jacobsen: Yeah.

Marshall: Okay, You seemed hesitant there when you said yes.

Jacobsen: [Laughing] I’m also thinking about another question to ask based on the response because I’ve been doing interviews for so long. I like to do improvisatory interviews more than scripted. I go more naturally based on the given answers.

Marshall: Oh, okay.

Jacobsen: Do you find that there’s a common industry standard for farriers themselves, or has there yet to be a standard set in the same sense of the cost? It is just wide open.

Marshall: Again, I need help understanding that question. Simplify it for me.

Jacobsen: Sure. Is a minimum standard set for farriers in Canada?

Marshall: In what respect? In respect of what we charge or the quality of the work?

Jacobsen: l would say the quality of the work because we just talked about cost.

Marshall: The quality of the work within British Columbia is basically what you asked; you can go to the ranching industry and still shoe your horses there for 150 dollars a set, which is nothing. You go another 50 miles in one direction, and you’d be paying 300 dollars. It comes down to what the horse is doing. You will only get paid a little if it is a ranch horse. And if horses were shod like ranch horses every day worldwide, the equine system would be much better because they do a good job. When you think about a horse that gallops around all day chasing cows for four or five hours a day, probably 30 miles a day, they’ve got to have some decent shoes on them, which they do. But if you took that same horse out of the show jumping industry and tried to ride it down for four or five hours over the hills, it’d probably break down. Do you understand me? It wouldn’t be able to handle it. So it comes down to many of the basics, its conditioning and what other conditions to do with a job there and chasing cattle is pretty tough.

Jacobsen: How often does a ranch horse need hoof care done?

Marshall: Just like any other really, every four to five weeks because what happens you see is the shoes might not wear out, but the foot grows like our fingernails, so they get long. If they’re not trimmed back, it puts a lot of tension on the tendons and the ligaments of the leg and therefore can cause serious problems. So they have to be done in the summertime between every four and a half to five weeks. In the wintertime, the growth does slow down slightly, so you can extend it another couple of weeks sometimes.

Jacobsen: What are the main problems with a horse’s hoof? Like, you are coming to this as a professional. You see a hoof. What are the issues?

Marshall: There are various problems. First, the main concern would be breeding the horse and whether the feet on the front end…. Usually, you do not get many back-end problems with a foot. Still, on the front end, we can get what is called a club foot, which means that one foot is smaller and more upright than the other. That’s from the leg basically. Mother nature is trying to provide natural treatment for the horse. In other words, you’ve got one leg shorter than the other; the farrier tries to give that by growing one foot a little bit longer to match them all up. And often, people try to intervene with that too much and create more of a problem. Does that answer your question?

Jacobsen: Yes, it does.

Marshall: Okay. Now, compared to when I was an apprentice with my dad, I probably only saw one or two horses with odd feet. Rarely, we saw a club foot. Now, something happened with the industry, whatever it was. I do not know, but, now, it is rare that you find a horse with two feet the same on the front of the horse. It is just gone that bad. There are so many odd feet now; it is unbelievable. It is not all done through the farrier industry. There are systems that do poor breeding, etc. That’s my opinion.

Jacobsen: Which country does the breeding the best?

Marshall: Boy! You put me on the spot now. It is not so much who does the best breeding, but what happens when the foal is born. If it can be looked after as it should be, it should have plenty of room to roam and gallop around on fields. And what we used to do in Britain; if a foal in the thoroughbred industry or the show jumping industry were born, they would send it over to Ireland, where it could be turned out for about a year and a half. Where it can run on some good natural green grass and that would do the job. They’d come back after a year and a half, so now they’re two-year-olds, and they can start working them slowly, but it helps to progress, to get some substance underneath them or within them. Ireland is an incredible place. What it is, they say that something in the grass that makes them stronger. I do not know, but I know they still do that in Englan. They’ll send horses over to Ireland for the air or something.

Jacobsen: What are other issues other than the mismatch of the hoofs caused by the farriers, though, this time?

Marshall: I would say probably the most common fault is that the hoses are shod way too heavy. The shoes are too heavy. They’re too long. They’re just generally way too big. They do not fit the horse. If you trim the foot down, you should replace that piece of foot that you trimmed off with a bit of steel with the exact dimensions all the way around. In other words, if you trim 3/8th of an inch off and then put 3/8th of an inch back with the shoe, people do not do that. They’ll take the 3/8th of an inch off and then put half an inch on and much broader. For instance, measurements instead of taking something 5/8th by 3/8th, they’ll put one inch by half, which is heavier and way too much for the horse to burden. Does that make sense?

Jacobsen: Yeah, I think so.

Marshall: Yeah. So, I’m repeating myself, but it is a matter of whatever you take off, replace it with steel. That’s it, as close as you can. This has worked for about 64 years. So I’m not going to change now [Laughing].

Jacobsen: Are there any things that when you look at a horse’s hoof, it is so bad you cannot do anything with it? Are there any conditions like that?

Marshall: Yeah. You often get what they call seedy toe, a fungus that goes in between the bone of the foot, and the bone of the foot is attached to the wall by a lamina. And what it does is it affects the laminae, and the whole part between the bones on the horse’s division, the outside surface, becomes separate, and there’s a significant big gap in there. That often has to be removed because it cannot survive without oxygen.

But that outside wall has got to be removed before it gets any worse. That can cause significant problems, starting with just a tiny opening in the structures between the wall and the coffin bone and the bone inside. They are just there. It can go fast. They thrive with no oxygen so that whole wall has to be removed and start the new growth again. It is incredible how fast it can happen.

Jacobsen: How does the industry in Canada compare to the American or Western European industries for farriers?

Marshall: I would say, in general, the better quality of farriers is still in Britain, in the British Isles. You can rarely go anywhere in Britain. You can have a horse in the north of England and send it down to the south of England. You can guarantee that it’ll be shod by someone else, and we will do it identically to how you’ve done it. In Canada, that’s not the case. In the United States, this is not the case; they will change things in any way they can to make more money. I hate to say that, but it is true. The more gadgets you put on, the more you can charge; unfortunately, that’s a sad thing. I’m repeating myself because the farriers make a good living anyway. They do not need to do all that stuff, putting bizarre things on. And when you think about it, when they spend that much time and that much money buying all these crazy weird things for the feet, by the time they put them on, they’re not making that much money even if they charge 500 dollars a set because it is cost them so much for all the gadgets. But if you stick to the same old basics and shoe them appropriately, the horses go better, and everybody’s happy.

I know I’m repeating it, but the farriers’ responsibility is to keep the horse sound so it can be ridden in most terrains without causing injury to itself by tripping or slipping because that can create a problem for the rider. They can get seriously hurt. You may have heard of this place, but there is a massive place in Calgary for children. It is probably one of the biggest in the world. They were videotaping it. These horses coming up to a jump. Somehow, when they turned, it twisted. It was a challenging course, and then he started picturing all these shoes coming off the horse and to think that about ten different riders coming up to the jump and then you could see that she was rolling off them. They’re moving away because they were shod with too much shoe. It is like us. We have running shoes to go running in, and you have walking shoes to walk in, and you have dancing shoes to dance in. So you do not go running in the marathon with dancing shoes [Laughing].

It is so simple. It’s ridiculous that people have to start changing things and making it difficult. Like I said, your responsibility is for that rider. They can get seriously hurt. You only need one of the horses to slide, and you can get some significant problems. I might drift off the subject sometimes, but I start thinking of situations, and I drift a bit, so you have to put up with me [Laughing].

Marshall: How is it shoeing a horse using aluminum versus steel?

Marshall: It is lighter. What happens is that an excellent example of this is the horse that my dad used to shoe, that famous one called Red Rum. Now, Red Rum was stabled in our tiny hometown. It raced in Liverpool, which was 20 miles away, a renowned race, gruelling. But anyway, when my dad shod Red Rum, they take the shoes off and put the aluminum ones on; they’re the same size but lighter and make a difference for approximately a day. Then, after that, everything comes back, and the aluminum shoes feel the same as the steel ones for up to 24 hours, but if you are lucky enough, like my dad and the horse, it was only an hour away from the racecourse. So within two or three hours, he was riding with feeling good. It is like you; when you take your shoes off and put a pair of running shoes on, you bounce around a little, don’t you? You feel good. Well, that’s exactly what the horse feels like, but after a while, you walk around in those running shoes for a time, and then they return to feeling like ordinary shoes. And we captured that quality within the hour of them being put on. Does that make sense?

And this is tremendous, I got to say. My dad inspired me when he got to shoe that horse; that was his pride and joy. One of the most prominent people was chasing racers in the world. They’ve run in it five times. And incidentally, out of all the horses that run in it, only seven horses ever run in it five times. The rest they couldn’t run in after the first time. They were tired, worn out, or broken down, and ran in it five times. They buried him at the racecourse and in the finishing post, going past the finishing post.

He was 32 when they put him down, which is another incredible thing. So again, I’m going back to what it is like to be a farrier and to be involved with a horse like that is unbelievable. I was involved with a horse that was in Canada. It jumped the Canadian record in Toronto. It jumped several at the Royal Winter Fair, and that was my pride and joy, and it is so neat to be involved with something like that.

Jacobsen: This is helpful for me to get a side perspective. The primary relationships a farrier will have between the vet and the owner in the professional sphere. What are other secondary relationships farriers have, if any, while working?

Marshall: Secondary relationships with the horse owner?

Jacobsen: When they’re working with the horse when it is first born and onwards, you noted they work with the vet and the owner. Are there any other industries that do not work with them as much but still work with them to ensure things are running smoothly?

Marshall: Oh yes, there probably are some, but those are the three main ones: the veterinarian, the owner, and the farrier. And then the others are only looked after temporarily if they go to a show; they may have a different vet there, but it is only temporary. It is only for that show. Then they come back to the original stable and back to the same people concerned. Same with the farriers; they go to Spruce Meadows in Toronto. They’ll have another farrier shoeing it, but hopefully, if there’s any problem with that horse, they will detect it straight away and then call the farrier that originally shod it to ask why that was done and then go from there, have a professional explanation to each other. But that’s a bit about the owner is the owner. So, the farriers and the veterinarians do vary in other places. As you said, you can’t expect to follow them down to Florida, but telephone communications.

Jacobsen: When a horse is new versus when a horse is retired or old, what are the different things that need to be managed regarding the care of the hoof?

Marshall: Not a lot because they’re doing only some strenuous work once it retires. It is a matter of whether the horse can and whether he’s got the foot that can handle it, which many of them had at that time. It is to take the shoes off, have him barefoot, and let him enjoy his retirement. That’s the best thing. But I have to tell you this: what can happen, and again, it is communication. I had to look at a horse and screw its metals. This stallion was worth a lot of money, but he had a club fhoof which was steeper than the other. One steeper than the other one and, of course, if he was being ridden and jumped and so forth, you had to shoe accordingly. But when he retired, they told me, “Can you do anything with that hoof to make it look more normal?” I said I could, but I told them you can’t jump him. “Oh no, we’re not going to jump because he’s retired.” They said. I said, “Okay, this is against my beliefs, but I will do it, and I’ll be as careful as I can,” which I did. Guess what they did?

Jacobsen: Oh no.

Marshall: They didn’t jump him with the rider on the back, but when people came to buy some of his offspring; they would jump him over a giant fence and ride it. I said, “You idiots,” and he broke down, didn’t he? Yeah. So when they came to me. I said, “We need a good discussion here.”

I said, “You told me you were not going to jump this horse.” She said, “There was no rider on his back.” I said, “Have you got an intelligence problem here?” I lost it with them. I did. I said, “Do not you ever ask me to do that again.” And then sooner or later, I just said, “Look, I do not need to go public with you people.” I left the place. And it is a well-renowned place, Spruce Meadows. I just said, “No, I do not need this.” That’s why I’m a man of principle. It helps to be like that, too.

Jacobsen: I’m thinking of other things to ask you. That’s an important question. In your many decades in the industry, what are the values of the farrier community in Canada? Like to the point you mentioned where you have to be a person of principle, you have to step down and say, “I won’t stand for both lying and mistreating a horse.”

Marshall: Yeah, this is a concern throughout many industries within the horse. Quite often, a farrier is asked to do something that he knows full well is not correct for the horse, but it is obliging the owner or the trainer, usually the trainer. The owner won’t do anything that would hurt the horse, but the trainer sometimes want to push it that little bit more and a good owner would say, “No, I want to talk to my farrier” And another owner might say, “Okay. Whatever the trainer said, do it,” and consequently then you have a problem. Who gets the blame for it in there? The farrier. So, it can be unrealistic; in the farrier industry, it can be done with the owners and the veterinarians. So many veterinarians I’ve worked with have been incredible.

Here’s another example. I was at Spruce Meadows again. There was a German horse there. HHe was lame. And the way that the Germans shod this horse was unbelievably wrong, and I was asked to go there and give my opinion. So I gave it. The owner said, “I do not believe what you are saying.” They just said to step aside. I said gladly, “You carry on, but if you keep doing this with this horse, I will guarantee he’ll be finished within a year.” I looked into it a year later, and he was finished. What they did, they used to wedge his shoes off, make the heels higher than the toe was, and change the angle. It puts pressure on the heel of the foot, which is softer than the steel, and crushes them. If you can imagine having no shoes on and somebody putting in a steel wedge under your heel on one foot and walking around with that, what happens to the bottom of your foot? It just gets displaced. Steel won’t move.

I have been successful because I’m so simple. Well, not simple, but simple marketing [Laughing]. As I said, some of the questions you are asking are difficult to answer because I have yet to have any of those problems you asked, but I’ve seen them. I’m trying to answer the best I can for you.

Jacobsen: Following on the point about horse treatment, most of my experiences with people in the show jumping industry, mainly the sports side, riders and trainers and many people; if they’re working with me as stablehands, for instance, they will talk about the horse racing world as probably the worst in the treatment of horses compared to other industries in equestrianism.

Marshall: Yeah, I can see; the horse industry, as far as the racing industry is concerned, is poor in North America. The surface, first of all, of the race is usually sand or gravel or something like that, and it is not natural for a horse to gallop at high speeds through that environment. They should be run on grass, which is entirely natural. Whereas you compare it with Britain, a lot of the race courses, there is still grass. So, it is a natural thing for the horse to go on. A horse can sink into the ground, but when it comes out of the bed, it has enough traction to keep it going forward, whereas in the gravel and the sand, it goes in too much, and sometimes it sticks in the bottom of the foot makes the foot heavier one than the other one. Consequently, they could run better. That’s why we have a lot of problems in the industry in North America in the racing industry.

Now, they started doing something in the show-jumping industry. They came up with fantastic ideas about this false footing: it looks like snow or white Styrofoam, pieces of white Styrofoam. I do not know what it was, but it caused many problems. I’d retired by then, so what the issues were. They’ve taken it off now, which created a lot of lameness. And the other thing, too, we were talking about what the owners do regarding safety for the horse about soundness. Now, what they’re doing, they’re starting to inject the hocks on a perfectly sound horse to prevent it from having a particular problem in the hind leg.

Now, years ago, those problems were never there. So I asked, “Why is it so necessary now?” What it was, it comes back to what I said before; the training is much too fast on run surfaces, so now they start interfering with injections. In other words, instead of finding out what the problem was in the first place and not doing it anymore, they stick an injection in it so it can’t feel anything. Excellent, these injections!

Jacobsen: Some other footing that I’ve seen has been silica rings. It is a different footing than you might see in the wet dirt or the gravel you are talking about. Have you looked into any of that or heard about any of that, the silica footing?

Marshall: I’m unfamiliar with that, so I can’t comment. I do not know. Whatever it was, it needed to be fixed. You cannot beat the natural surface, which is grass. If they can get like grass, it would be great, but you can’t copy grass because it is not just the grass; it is the roots underneath, right? Certain grasses have a shallow heart, which would be no good. Certain grasses have an extended basis, allowing the horse to go into it and come out of it quickly because it has some specific traction. This is what they have so far had in Britain because they do not race on artificial surfaces; they run on grass. So, somebody over here will get their head out of their ass.

Jacobsen: [Laughing] Which facilities do you think are doing an excellent job conducting their competition grounds and their treatment of the foot care of the horse in terms of stuff like that?

Marshall: They’re all doing the same thing. As I said, Spruce Meadows is one of the biggest in the world, but they only have one grass area. No, I’m telling a lie. No, they do not. The main Grand Prix area is grass, so they’ve done an excellent job of that. But they do other sites for the lower standard horse; it is just underneath the top level, and they’re in a gravelly sand thing. But the main area at Spruce Meadows now is grass. That’s an incredible place to be, and it is one of the biggest in the world.

Jacobsen: What kind of grass are they using?

Marshall: I’m still determining what kind of grass it is, but I know it has a pretty good root. So, if they get long and deep into the grass, that helps. If it is one that skirts off the top, that would be no good. So, whatever the grass is, I do not know the names of the grasses, but it has a pretty good root to it. The way they look after these grass fields is just incredible. They do a tremendous job with it. Have you ever been to Spruce Meadows?

Jacobsen: I have not; I would like to do a tour at some point.

Marshall: Where are you based?

Jacobsen: I’m based in Langley, British Columbia. People reading this should know Canada is so big that people in the same provinces do not even know where each other is.

Marshall: Yeah. I’m about 10 miles West of Hope.

Jacobsen: Oh wow, far.

Marshall: One time in Ireland, they had two racehorses, and they were completely equal, and they were shod precisely the same way, but they were shod with steel. Somebody came along and said, “Look, we want to try something.” This is when they first started using aluminum shoes. So they changed the boots on one horse to aluminum and left the other to steel. They raced them again for three days in a row. Every time they ran it, the one with aluminum finished first and was less tired. And they said, “Okay, they should be aluminum.” And that’s where it all started for two horses in Ireland. Interesting, that.

Jacobsen: Yeah. Where do you think the industry will be going into the future? What else could be developed or enhanced?

Marshall: Where is it going to go in the future?

Jacobsen: Yeah, if it hasn’t changed in so long, I couldn’t see it necessarily having any rapid changes, but any industry can make adaptations.

Marshall: Going back to that question before, why do they have to start injecting the hind end on a horse when there’s nothing wrong with it? That’s going in the wrong direction as far as I’m concerned, and if it is adequately conditioned like it used to be years ago, they wouldn’t need to do that. But now it is the time factor; everybody’s in a hurry to get things done super quick, and some things weren’t meant to be done quickly. Sometimes, they have to be developed in time, which is one thing that gets me when they start injecting sound horses in the back end of the hocks to prevent them from going lame. If they conditioned them, they probably wouldn’t go lame in the first place. That’s old-fashioned, but that’s how the industry’s going; it is coming down to sticking more needles in these horses.

They do not get needles when they’re out; the ranch horses do not, and they go up around all day. It always goes back to those ranch horses; they’re good, solid, and healthy as can be, and what? They enjoy what they’re doing. And if you look at a horse and some of these show jumping facilities and walk around, many horses are uncomfortable. You see them in the soil, and they’re going from one leg to another, one leg to another, and they’re not pleased. It comes down to what I said before: good solid conditioning. It is like our feet; if they’re not conditioned, they’re going in a 26-mile race. You better have some conditioning on you because it won’t take 20 miles before you start fatiguing. So you’ve got to be prepared for it. And that’s the same with the horse industry: preparation. And a horse is meant to look ahead and stretch out.

An example of this would be, in Britain again, they have the resources to get conditioned. Well, they do not chase around a little racetrack on the sand like they do over here; they go out in the fields and gallop for miles across up and down hills. That’s all on grass. That’s how they do it over there; consequently, when the British horses run, they hold more records than any other country. The races are more gruelling, but the horses stand up to it because they have been appropriately conditioned on the correct surface: grass. And not only that, when you are riding a horse because I rode horses for a long time when you are riding a horse, a horse wants to look ahead. I mean, they look way, way ahead. They have incredible vision. When they can see ahead and see it safely, you can feel them stretching out underneath you, and they love it; they enjoy it. They know that that surface is good. And I told you before about the shankers/shankars in England, didn’t I?

Jacobsen: You mentioned the word shankers/shankars before. I do not recall this story off the top.

Marshall: Yeah, what it was, it was that their horses used to go into the tide to catch shrimps and so forth and then walked their water up to the withers in the grass and then back, but sometimes they would stop. Now, they can’t see anything, but only those feet and those tactile knows. They knew that if they went ahead, it would be quicksand. So, the driver or the person in charge just let him go, and they turn around and get out of there. So, like I said, the horse has incredible resources and sensitivity to different situations.

Here’s another example. I was riding my horse one day, and I’ve been over these railroad tracks many times to get to the river. And this time, he stopped, and there was no bloody way; he said, ‘Nope, I’m not going,’ I tried and tried. Nope. Anyway, I decided to walk about the other way and about five minutes later a train went fast. Now, how did he know? It must have been the vibrations that he felt, but how did he know a bloody train would come? He saved my life [Laughing]. He was a horse that only had one eye. He had an injury in his eye. Guess what his name was? I hope I’ve been helpful, mate.

Jacobsen: Yeah. There’s one other question I would have, which would be about the health of the farriers themselves. What health concerns should farriers be aware of in their careers?

Marshall: Okay, that’s a good question. First, most of the problems you get are farriers with back issues. Now, sometimes, it is related to the size of the person. I’m short, so everybody said, “You are okay; you are just short.” I said, “No, I’ve nothing to do with it.” Whether you were shoeing 100 years ago or 50 years ago to now, I wasn’t greedy. You’ve only got so many horses in here before you start to get tired, and on average, five horses a day was a good living, and you could stay pretty healthy. But no, some of these people decide that they’re going to shoe seven or eight or nine horses a day and, consequently, their health fatigues. And by the time they’re 60-70 years old, they’re disabled; they can’t stand up. And that’s the way it is.

It was like the racing industry in England. They’d start working on miles, and they never stopped until they’d finished all the horses, and it was just too much. You are back and can only stand so much, right? A lot of those racing people in England who shod racehorses were finished. And I’m fortunate; I’m close to 80 years old, but I’m still reasonably fit and doing okay. I know many people are like me; they look great but are never greedy. Do you know what the thing is? It is good money, there’s no doubt about it. Shoeing horses is damn good money, so what the hell? But in 10 years, you will know the difference if you keep doing that.

Jacobsen: Are there any areas I haven’t covered that should be mentioned in the interview?

Marshall: I think we’ve covered most of it. If they’re getting into this job, make sure they work with somebody qualified because this is the thing: we do not have an apprenticeship system here. They go to school for 12, 14, or 15 weeks or something like that, and that’s it; they’re out. That’s not enough. What they should do is go to school, learn anatomy, learn all the different aspects of the trade, and then make arrangements to go and work with somebody else for at least another two years and get into the industry itself where they are working with horses in the fields and not just the ones that go into the farrier school.

Whereas, you’ve got lots of time in the farrier’s school; you’ve got all the different things, it is pretty nice and so forth, an excellent area to work and then when you get out into the real world it is not always like that. Sometimes, you can be out in the field, tie it to a fence or something like that when you start, and it is not all that wonderful sometimes. So it takes a while. The apprenticeship system in Britain I did five years with my dad and two years somewhere else; I basically did a seven-year apprenticeship. And here, we do not have apprenticeships. So, we’ve got to do the next best thing; you go to the farrier school for so many weeks, and then you get with another farrier and work with them for at least a couple of years, and then you will be okay. At one time, they just sent him out of the school, and that was it. A bit lost, and not only that, it is dangerous because in the farrier school, they do not usually get horses that are, let’s say, unpredictable; or when you get out in the actual field, it can be unpredictable. I’m lucky. I’ve not been kicked yet, but I’ve had two close calls. Did I tell you about that?

Jacobsen: No, how did those go?

Marshall: When I was 15, I worked with my dad, shoeing this big draft horse. He’d never been done before, and I was working on his backhand and turned around to get underneath him on the back on the feet, and I must have tickled his belly. He jumped up in the air, and when he came down, I turned and tried to stop the foot from going on the ground. I didn’t want to let go of it. But with a draft horse, that doesn’t work, and he flipped me. He came down with two hind feet, one on the other side of my head [Laughing]. He was white, absolutely white. Anyway, I got out. I stood there until I got out, and my dad came in. He says, “What’s the matter, lad?” I said, “He did me a jump from the head.” My dad said, “Be careful.” He did not know how lucky I was. [Laughing] I tell you, mate. It is unreal.

Jacobsen: All right. Well, Bob, thank you very much for your extensive time.

Marshall: Whenever you want to do it, mate. We’ll make it work. Thank you.

Bibliography

None

Footnotes

None

Citations

American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Jacobsen S. The Greenhorn Chronicles 51: Bob Marshall, 5-Time World Champion Blacksmith. October 2023; 12(1). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/bob-marshall

American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Jacobsen, S. (2023, October 22). The Greenhorn Chronicles 51: Bob Marshall, 5-Time World Champion Blacksmith. In-Sight Publishing. 12(1).

Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): JACOBSEN, S. The Greenhorn Chronicles 51: Bob Marshall, 5-Time World Champion Blacksmith. In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 12, n. 1, 2023.

Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Jacobsen, Scott. 2023. “The Greenhorn Chronicles 51: Bob Marshall, 5-Time World Champion Blacksmith.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (Winter). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/bob-marshall.

Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Jacobsen, S “The Greenhorn Chronicles 51: Bob Marshall, 5-Time World Champion Blacksmith.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (October 2023).http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/bob-marshall.

Harvard: Jacobsen, S. (2023) ‘The Greenhorn Chronicles 51: Bob Marshall, 5-Time World Champion Blacksmith’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 12(1). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/bob-marshall>.

Harvard (Australian): Jacobsen, S 2023, ‘The Greenhorn Chronicles 51: Bob Marshall, 5-Time World Champion Blacksmith’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/bob-marshall>.

Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Jacobsen, Scott. “The Greenhorn Chronicles 51: Bob Marshall, 5-Time World Champion Blacksmith.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.12, no. 1, 2023, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/bob-marshall.

Vancouver/ICMJE: Scott J. The Greenhorn Chronicles 51: Bob Marshall, 5-Time World Champion Blacksmith [Internet]. 2023 Oct; 12(1). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/bob-marshall.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

2023-10-22

Blood Serum – Watchtower Quotes

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Journal Founding: August 2, 2012

Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 12

Issue Numbering: 1

Section: B

Theme Type: Idea

Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”

Theme Part: 29

Formal Sub-Theme: None.

Individual Publication Date: October 22, 2023

Issue Publication Date: January 1, 2024

Author(s): Lee Elder

Author(s) Bio: None.

Word Count: 2,774

Image Credit: None.

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369–6885

*Original publication here during August, 2014.*

*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*

Keywords: Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood, Albumin, blood, blood serum, Christian, Christian faith, God, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Lee Elder, Watchtower Society.

Blood Serum – Watchtower Quotes

Blood serum is the clear fluid that remains after the cellular components (red cells, white cells, platelets, clotting factors and fibrinogen are removed. It includes all proteins not used in the clotting process.

What follows is a collection of quotes from Watchtower Society literature. This information will help researchers understand the historical development of the Watchtower Society’s policy on blood serums and document the many changes in policy through the years.

Quotes are presented in chronological order. Our editorial comments are in red. Note that the Watchtower policy changed six times in the twenty year period between 1958-1978.

1954 – Blood serums are wrong.

“We are told that it takes one and a third pints of whole blood to get enough of the blood protein or “fraction” known as gamma globulin for one injection. And since from the foregoing it must be admitted that such use of human blood is highly questionable, what justification can there be for the use of gamma globulin? Further, those interested in the Scriptural aspect will note that its being made of whole blood places it in the same category as blood transfusions as far as Jehovah’s prohibition of taking blood into the system is concerned.” – See Leviticus 17:10 – 14; Acts 15:20, 28, 29.

– Awake! 01/08/1954 p. 24 (Emphasis added)

1958 Reversal – Blood serums are OK. (Change #1)

“Are we to consider the injection of serums such as diphtheria toxin antitoxin and blood fractions such as gamma globulin into the blood stream, for the purpose of building up resistance to disease by means of antibodies, the same as the drinking of blood or the taking of blood or blood plasma by means of transfusions? – N.P., United States.

No, it does not seem necessary that we put the two in the same category, although we have done so in times past. While God did not intend for man to contaminate his blood stream by vaccines, serums or blood fractions, doing so does not seem to be included in God’s expressed will forbidding blood as food. It would therefore be a matter of individual judgment whether one accepted such types of medication or not.”
– The Watchtower 09/15/1958 p. 575 Emphasis added.

1961 Reversal – Blood serums unclear. (Change #2)

The following three quotes are from the booklet “Blood, Medicine and Law of God” released in the summer of 1961. It left some Jehovahs’ Witnesses confused since it appeared that the WTS had once again changed its position on blood serum.

“Is it wrong to sustain life by administering a transfusion of blood or plasma or red cells or others of the component parts of the blood? Yes!…The prohibition includes “any blood at all.” (Leviticus 3:17) It has no bearing on the matter that the blood is not introduced to the body through the mouth but through the veins. Nor does the argument that it cannot be classed with intravenous feeding because its use in the body is different carry weight. The fact is that it provides nourishment to the body to sustain life.”
– Blood, Medicine and the Law of God, 1961, pp. 13, 14 Emphasis added

“Jehovah’s witnesses do not argue that blood transfusions have not kept alive patients who otherwise might have died. We do not take it upon ourselves to conduct an objective debate of the advisability of the use of blood in medical therapy. The point is not for us to determine. God himself has ruled on the matter, and it would be presumptuous for us, in the name of medicine or humanitarianism or anything else, to open the issue to debate, to pit human wisdom and experience against the law of God….Although Jehovah’s witnesses will not eat blood as a food, nor in medical use consent to any kind of blood transfusion or, in place of it, an infusion of any blood fraction or blood substance, this does not rule out all medical treatment.”
– Blood, Medicine and the Law of God, 1961, pp. 38, 39, 40 Emphasis added

1961 – Blood serums unclear.

The following Questions From Readers article in the Watchtower appeared a few months later:

“Since the Bible forbids the eating of blood, how are Christians to view the use of serums and vaccines? Has the Society changed its viewpoint on this? – J. D., U.S.A.

However, the mature Christian is not going to try to find in this a justification for as many other medical uses of blood substances as possible. To the contrary, recognizing the objectionableness of the entire process, he is going to stay as far away from it as he can, requesting other treatment where such is available.”
– The Watchtower 11/01/1961 p. 670 Emphasis added

This article did little to end the confusion but the message seemed to be that vaccines are an acceptable contamination, blood fractions are wrong, and substances made with blood were objectionable. In the coming months, members would ask for and receive more clarification from the Watchtower Society.

1963 Reversal – Blood serums are wrong – all blood products (which would include blood serum) are wrong. (Change #3)

“As to blood transfusions, he knows from his study of the Bible and the publications of the Watch Tower Society that this is an unscriptural practice. (Gen. 9:4; Acts 15:28,29) Now it is up to him to carry his own load of responsibility in applying what the Scriptures have to say on this matter. One day he may go to the hospital for surgery. There he explains his position to the doctor. “All right,” the doctor says, “then we will use plasma.” Or the doctor may tell him, “What you need is red cells to carry oxygen. We have red cells that we can use. How about that?” The Christian may not be well versed in medical matters. Shall he call his congregation servant or the Society? That should not be necessary, if he is prepared to carry his own load of responsibility. He need only ask the doctor: “From what was the plasma taken?” “How are the red cells obtained?” “Where did you get this substance?” If the answer is “Blood,” he knows what course to take, for it is not just whole blood but anything that is derived from blood and used to sustain life or strengthen one that comes under this principle. Someone may argue with you that the Scriptures are referring to the “eating” of blood but that blood is not taken into the digestive system during a transfusion. True, but the fact is that by a direct route the blood serves the same purpose as food when taken into the stomach, namely, strengthening the body or sustaining life. It is not the same as a vaccine given to a healthy person to build him up, just as food is given to nourish him.”
– The Watchtower 02/15/1963 pp. 123, 124 Emphasis added

In addition to once again banning blood serum and anything else from blood, the Watchtower publishes blatantly false medical information by arguing that “blood serves the same purpose as food when taken into the stomach”. For blood to serve as food it must be digested and broke down into amino acids, etc. No digestion occurs in the blood stream.

1964 – Blood serums spoken of negatively

“…an effective human serum against lockjaw has been developed…Now some of it will be from human blood!”
– Awake! 05/08/1964 p. 30 Emphasis added

1964 Reversal – Now, only 21 months later, blood serums are once again OK. This is the fourth complete reversal in seven years. (Change #4)

“The Society does not endorse any of the modern medical uses of blood, such as the uses of blood in connection with inoculations. Inoculation is, however, a virtually unavoidable circumstance in some segments of society, and so we leave it up to the conscience of the individual to determine whether to submit to inoculation with a serum containing blood fractions for the purpose of building up antibodies to fight against disease. If a person did this, he may derive comfort under the circumstances from the fact that he is not directly eating blood, which is expressly forbidden in God’s Word. It is not used for food or to replace lost blood. Here the Christian must make his own decision based on conscience. Therefore, whether a Christian will submit to inoculation with a serum, or whether doctors or nurses who are Christians will administer such, is for personal decision. Christians in the medical profession are individually responsible for employment decisions….In harmony with Deuteronomy 14:21, the administering of blood upon request to worldly persons is left to the Christian doctor’s own conscience. This is similar to the situation facing a Christian butcher or grocer who must decide whether he can conscientiously sell blood sausage to a worldly person.”
– The Watchtower 11/15/1964 pp. 680, 681, 682, 683 Emphasis added

“The fact that serums are prepared from blood makes them undesirable to Christians because of the Biblical law against the use of blood. However, since they do not involve the use of blood as a food to nourish the body, which the Bible directly forbids, their use is a matter that must be decided by each person according to his conscience.”
– Awake!, 08/22/1965 p. 18 Emphasis added

An even softer position on Blood serums.

“Serums or antitoxins are used. These are obtained from the blood of humans or animals that have already developed the antibodies for fighting the disease. Usually the blood is processed and the blood fraction (gamma globulin) containing the antibodies is separated and made into a serum. When this is injected into the patient it gives him temporary passive immunity. This is temporary, for the antibodies do not become a permanent part of his blood; when these pass out of his body he is no longer immune to the disease. It can thus be seen that serums (unlike vaccines) contain a blood fraction, though minute….What, then, of the use of a serum containing only a minute fraction of blood and employed to supply an auxiliary defense against some infection and not employed to perform the life – sustaining function that blood normally carries out? We believe that here the conscience of each Christian must decide.”
– The Watchtower 06/01/1974 pp. 351, 352

1975 Reversal or clarification – Hemophilia treatments (Factor VII & IX) are wrong and apparently not viewed as a blood serum. (Change #5)

“Certain clotting “factors” derived from blood are now in wide use for the treatment of hemophilia, a disorder causing uncontrollable bleeding. However, those given this treatment face another deadly hazard: the Swiss medical weekly Schweizer Med Wochenschrift reports that almost 40 percent of 113 hemophiliacs studied had cases of hepatitis. “All these patients had received whole blood, plasma, or blood derivatives containing [the factors],” notes the report. Of course, true Christians do not use this potentially dangerous treatment, heeding the Bible’s command to ‘abstain from blood.’”
– Awake! 02/22/1975 p. 30 Emphasis added

1978 – Reversal. Hemophilia treatments (Factor VII & IX) are now viewed as a blood serum. (Change #6)

“Are serum injections compatible with Christian belief?

What, however, about accepting serum injections to fight against disease, such as are employed for diphtheria, tetanus, viral hepatitis, rabies, hemophilia and Rh incompatibility? …This seems to fall into a ‘gray area.’…Hence, we have taken the position that this question must be resolved by each individual on a personal basis….How concerned should a Christian be about blood in food products? …This may call for a degree of care….Christians, individually, must decide what to do.”
– The Watchtower 06/15/1978 pp. 29, 30, 31.

See the opposite view in Blood, Medicine and the Law of God, 1961, p. 11; Awake! 02/22/1975 p. 30 Emphasis added

“Do Jehovah’s Witnesses accept injections of a blood fraction, such as immune globulin or albumin? Some do, believing that the Scriptures do not clearly rule out accepting an injection of a small fraction, or component, taken from blood….In view of the command to ‘abstain from blood,’ some Christians have felt that they should not accept an immune globulin (protein) injection, even though it was only a blood fraction. Their stand is clear and simple – no blood component in any form or amount. Others have felt that a serum (antitoxin), such as immune globulin, containing only a tiny fraction of a donor’s blood plasma and used to bolster their defense against disease, is not the same as a life – sustaining blood transfusion. So their consciences may not forbid them to take immune globulin or similar fractions….That some protein fractions from the plasma do move naturally into the blood system of another individual (the fetus) may be another consideration when a Christian is deciding whether he will accept immune globulin, albumin, or similar injections of plasma fractions. One person may feel that he in good conscience can; another may conclude that he cannot. Each must resolve the matter personally before God.”

– The Watchtower 06/01/1990 p. 30 Emphasis added

This is another example of publishing inaccurate or incomplete medical advice. Practically all blood components have been shown to cross the Placental Barrier. See the article “Watchtower Position Crumbles”.

“Is the RhIG shot made from blood?

Can the Christian conscientiously take RhIG?

….This journal and its companion, The Watchtower, have commented consistently on the matter*. ….some Christians have concluded that to them it does not seem a violation of Bible law…” The decision whether to take RhIG remains finally, though, a matter for each Christian couple to decide conscientiously.”

Footnote:

Note: The writer of this article seems to be unfamiliar or simply chose not to acknowledge the bizarre history of the Watchtower’s blood serum policy. Incidentally, the blood based RhIG injection requires that the patients blood be cross matched and typed, and they generally receive the same type of wrist ban worn by other blood transfusion recipients.

Bibliography

None

Footnotes

None

Citations

American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Elder L. Blood Serum – Watchtower Quotes. October 2023; 12(1). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/blood-serum-watchtower

American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Elder, L. (2023, October 22). Blood Serum – Watchtower Quotes. In-Sight Publishing. 12(1).

Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): ELDER, L. Blood Serum – Watchtower Quotes.In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 12, n. 1, 2023.

Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Elder, Lee. 2023. “Blood Serum – Watchtower Quotes.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (Winter). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/blood-serum-watchtower.

Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Elder, L “Blood Serum – Watchtower Quotes.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (October 2023). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/blood-serum-watchtower.

Harvard: Elder, L. (2023) ‘Blood Serum – Watchtower Quotes’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 12(1). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/blood-serum-watchtower>.

Harvard (Australian): Elder, L 2023, ‘Blood Serum – Watchtower Quotes’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/blood-serum-watchtower.

Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Elder, Lee. “Blood Serum – Watchtower Quotes.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.12, no. 1, 2023, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/blood-serum-watchtower.

Vancouver/ICMJE: Lee E. Blood Serum – Watchtower Quotes [Internet]. 2023 Oct; 12(1). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/blood-serum-watchtower.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

2023-10-22

Albumin – Watchtower Quotes

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Journal Founding: August 2, 2012

Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 12

Issue Numbering: 1

Section: B

Theme Type: Idea

Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”

Theme Part: 29

Formal Sub-Theme: None.

Individual Publication Date: October 22, 2023

Issue Publication Date: January 1, 2024

Author(s): Lee Elder

Author(s) Bio: None.

Word Count: 2,052

Image Credit: None.

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369–6885

*Original publication here during August, 2014.*

*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*

Keywords: Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood, Albumin, blood, blood plasma, Christian, Christian faith, God, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Lee Elder, Watchtower Society.

Albumin – Watchtower Quotes

What follows is a collection of quotes from Watchtower Society literature on the subject of albumin. Watchtower writers and representatives are fond of saying that they have “commented consistently” on albumin and other blood fractions. Their published statements clearly prove otherwise as you will see below. This information will help researchers understand the development of the blood doctrine, and document the many changes in policy through the years. Quotes are presented in chronological order. Our editorial comments are in red.

Albumin is wrong – it’s use is banned by scripture

While this physician argues for the use of certain blood fractions, particularly albumin, such also come under the Scriptural ban. In fact, these fractions are being used not only by physicians but also by food processors, and so it would be well to note the labels on such products to see if they contain any blood substances or fractions. When in doubt, it would be best to do without. – Awake! 09/08/1956 p. 20 Emphasis added.

If the albumin is from blood – you must avoid it

If you have reason to believe that a certain product contains blood or a blood fraction, ask the one who sells it. If he does not know, write to the manufacturer. Sometimes labels show whether a blood fraction is used, but not always. For example, a label may say that a certain product contains albumin. Does that mean that it contains a blood fraction? Look up the word albumin in a good reference book, perhaps an encyclopedia in your local library or even a good dictionary. You will learn that albumin is found, not only in blood serum, but also in milk and eggs. The only way to find out the source of the albumin in the particular product in question is to make inquiry of those who prepare it. However, if the label says that certain tablets contain hemoglobin, similar checking will reveal that this is from blood; so a Christian knows, without asking, that he should avoid such a preparation. Clearly, these are matters that each individual can best check on locally. The Watchtower 11/01/1961, p. 669 Emphasis added

Albumin exists in blood plasma

Your plasma also contains albumin. It works to retain water in your bloodstream, thus keeping the plasma in a liquid state and flowing in your system. If you experienced edema or swelling of your body, a blood test might show that your albumin level had dropped, and so let water from your blood escape through capillary walls and accumulate in your body tissue. Awake! 03/22/1976, p. 11,12 Emphasis added.

NEW LIGHT ON ALBUMIN!

Albumin is now OK, if you’re reading close.

“While these verses are not stated in medical terms, Witnesses view them as ruling out transfusion of whole blood, packed RBCs, and plasma, as well as WBC and platelet administration. However, Witnesses religious understanding does not absolutely prohibit the use of components such as albumin, immune globulins, and hemophiliac preparations; each Witness must decide individually if he can accept these.” Awake 06/22/82 p. 25 Emphasis added.

Take note of how the WTS announces this major shift in policy. The average Jehovah’s Witness surely had no idea that God had suddenly changed his thinking about albumin, mysteriously conveyed this message to the Governing Body in Brooklyn, and that the use of albumin was no longer a gross sin requiring an investigation by a judicial committee with possible sanctions (disfellowshipping/excommunication). It would be nearly eight more years before Witnesses would begin to question this dramatic but veiled shift in WTS policy.

But why is albumin OK?

Do Jehovah’s Witnesses accept injections of a blood fraction, such as immune globulin or albumin? Some do, believing that the Scriptures do not clearly rule out accepting an injection of a small fraction, or component, taken from blood…In view of the command to ‘abstain from blood,’ some Christians have felt that they should not accept an immune globulin (protein) injection, even though it was only a blood fraction. Their stand is clear and simple – no blood component in any form or amount. Others have felt that a serum (antitoxin), such as immune globulin, containing only a tiny fraction of a donor’s blood plasma and used to bolster their defense against disease, is not the same as a life – sustaining blood transfusion. So their consciences may not forbid them to take immune globulin or similar fractions….That some protein fractions from the plasma do move naturally into the blood system of another individual (the fetus) may be another consideration when a Christian is deciding whether he will accept immune globulin, albumin, or similar injections of plasma fractions. One person may feel that he in good conscience can; another may conclude that he cannot. Each must resolve the matter personally before God. – The Watchtower 06/01/1990 p. 30 Emphasis added

The Watchtower is clearly aware that the basis for their major/minor blood component policy is completely without merit. All major blood components also pass through the placental barrier as we have demonstrated.

Is it proper for a Christian to receive an injection of a blood fraction, such as immune globulin or albumin?

Responding to God’s law, Christians do not accept blood transfusions of the major blood components—plasma, red cells, white cells, or platelets. Some of Jehovah’s Witnesses, however, have conscientiously felt able to receive an injection of one of the small protein fractions of the plasma. Interestingly, some of these proteins naturally pass from the bloodstream of a pregnant woman to the separate blood system of her fetus. – The Watchtower 08/15/1990, p. 29 Emphasis added

Here we see the full-blown major/minor blood fraction policy of the WTS. You will note how albumin is described as a “small protein fraction.” What you won’t notice is that albumin constitutes a far greater percentage of blood volume than do the forbidden components – white blood cells and platelets.

“…the Japanese Health and Welfare Ministry has tried to clamp down on the trade, saying that it is unreasonable to profit from blood. In fact, the Ministry charges that medical institutions in Japan make some $200,000,000 in profits each year from just one plasma component, albumin.” Awake! 10/22/1990, p. 5

If one looks at all of the blood articles in the October 22, 1990 Awake! magazine, it would appear that the WTS felt the need to reassure Witnesses that despite the fact that is was OK to now use all of the various blood products approved for use by the WTS, the organization was still opposed to the use of blood. It seems likely that the Watchtower Service department must have been quite busy trying to answer questions regarding the albumin policy.

The Questions keep coming!

Questions From Readers

Would it be proper to accept a vaccination or some other medical injection containing albumin derived from human blood?

Frankly, each Christian must personally decide on this.

God’s servants rightly want to obey the directive found at Acts 15:28, 29, to abstain from blood. Accordingly, Christians will not eat unbled meat or products such as blood sausage. But God’s law also applies in the medical area. Jehovah’s Witnesses carry a document stating that they refuse ‘blood transfusions, whole blood, red cells, white cells, platelets, or blood plasma.’ What, though, about serum injections containing a tiny amount of a blood protein?

Witnesses have long realized that this is a matter for private decision in accord with each one’s Bible-trained conscience. This was pointed out in “Questions From Readers” of The Watchtower of June 1, 1990, which discussed serum injections that a physician may recommend if one is exposed to certain diseases. The active components of such injections are not blood plasma per se but antibodies from the blood plasma of those who have developed resistance. Some Christians who feel that they can in good conscience accept such injections have noted that antibodies from the blood of a pregnant woman cross into the blood of the baby in her womb. “Questions From Readers” mentioned this, as well as the fact that some albumin passes from a pregnant woman to her baby.

Many find this noteworthy, since some vaccines that are not prepared from blood may contain a relatively small amount of plasma albumin that was used or added to stabilize the ingredients in the preparation. Currently a small amount of albumin is also used in injections of the synthetic hormone EPO (erythropoietin). Some Witnesses have accepted injections of EPO because it can hasten red blood cell production and so may relieve a physician of a feeling that a blood transfusion might be needed.

Other medical preparations may come into use in the future that involve a comparatively small amount of albumin, since pharmaceutical companies develop new products or change the formulas of existing ones. Christians may thus want to consider whether albumin is part of a vaccination or other injection that a doctor recommends. If they have doubts or have reason to believe that albumin is a component, they can inquire of their physician.

As noted, many Witnesses have not objected to accepting an injection that contains a small quantity of albumin. Still, anyone wanting to study the matter more thoroughly before making a personal decision should review the information presented in “Questions From Readers” of The Watchtower of June 1, 1990. The Watchtower 10/1/1994, p. 31 Emphasis added.

Mia receives a blood transfusion – injection sounds better!

The doctors decided to provide alternative treatment. Plasma was extracted from the blood, and thus antibodies attacking my blood cells and kidney tissues were removed. I was then given injections of Ringer’s solution together with albumin. I had discussed this treatment with the doctors and gave them written permission to administer it. Awake! 02/22/1995, p. 21 Emphasis added.

Note the subtle message here regarding giving the hospital written permission to administer the blood product – albumin.

H.L.C. Members trained to send the message – we use albumin!

Seminars to Improve Relations Between Doctors and Jehovah’s Witnesses

“The liaison committee members have been trained to handle many common questions raised by both hospitals and physicians, occasionally even Witnesses themselves. This might include issues like the acceptability of immunoglobulins or albumin, the use of cryoprecipitate or medical techniques such as hemodilution, extracorporeal circulation, the cell saver, or hemodialysis. Awake 03/22/1995, p. 20

Note: The medical techniques of hemodilution, extracorporeal circulation and the use of the cell saver are all forms of autologous blood transfusion.

Witnesses still not getting the message!

*** From Our Readers ***
Near Death – I am writing regarding the article “Doctors Learned From My Near Death.” (December 22, 1995) Is not erythropoietin buffered with a small percentage of albumin, a blood protein?

P., United States

In some cases, yes, and each Christian must personally decide whether or not to accept medications that contain small amounts of albumin. For a detailed discussion, please see “Questions From Readers” in the October 1, 1994, and June 1, 1990, issues of “The Watchtower.”—ED. Awake! 11/08/1996 p. 30 Emphasis added

Note how the WTS groups EPO (erythropoietin) with “medications that contain small amounts of albumin.” This is nothing more than a shell game, an attempt to disguise the fact that Witnesses accept four of the nine most common forms of blood transfusion, and that albumin is hardly a minor blood component when it’s volume (2.2%) is compared to WTS banned components like white cells (1%) and platelets (0.17%).

As difficult as it was for Witnesses to accept, the WTS had granted them permission to use Albumin. If the use of blood is truly wrong as the Watchtower continues to argue, then why is the use of albumin permissible? Additionally, the ban on albumin was in place for thirty-seven years.

Thinking, rational Jehovah’s Witnesses want to know:

Was this ban from men or was it from God?
If it was from God then why did the WTS change its policy?
If it was from men, then how can God be directing the Watchtower Society?
Millions are looking to the Watchtower for what basically constitutes medical advice on the use of blood products. Is their advice sound?
Have they commented consistently on the use of Albumin?

Bibliography

None

Footnotes

None

Citations

American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Elder L. Albumin – Watchtower Quotes. October 2023; 12(1). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/albumin-watchtower

American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Elder, L. (2023, October 22). Albumin – Watchtower Quotes. In-Sight Publishing. 12(1).

Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): ELDER, L. Albumin – Watchtower Quotes.In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 12, n. 1, 2023.

Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Elder, Lee. 2023. “Albumin – Watchtower Quotes.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (Winter). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/albumin-watchtower.

Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Elder, L “Albumin – Watchtower Quotes.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (October 2023). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/albumin-watchtower.

Harvard: Elder, L. (2023) ‘Albumin – Watchtower Quotes’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 12(1). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/albumin-watchtower>.

Harvard (Australian): Elder, L 2023, ‘Albumin – Watchtower Quotes’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/albumin-watchtower.

Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Elder, Lee. “Albumin – Watchtower Quotes.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.12, no. 1, 2023, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/albumin-watchtower.

Vancouver/ICMJE: Lee E. Albumin – Watchtower Quotes [Internet]. 2023 Oct; 12(1). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/albumin-watchtower.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

2023-10-22

Agency Law and the Watchtower Society

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Journal Founding: August 2, 2012

Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 12

Issue Numbering: 1

Section: B

Theme Type: Idea

Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”

Theme Part: 29

Formal Sub-Theme: None.

Individual Publication Date: October 15, 2023

Issue Publication Date: January 1, 2024

Author(s): Advocates for Jehovah’s Witness Reform on Blood

Author(s) Bio: None.

Word Count: 705

Image Credit: None.

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369–6885

*Original publication here during May, 2014.*

*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*

Keywords: Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood, HIPPA, Hospital Liaison Committee, Jehovah’s Witnesses, legal action, principals, Watchtower Society.

Agency Law and the Watchtower Society

Those considering legal action against the Watchtower Society (hereafter WTS) may wish to explore the potential for holding them liable for negligently providing inaccurate medical advice. The WTS has placed itself in the role of divinely inspired and spirit directed advisor, counselor and agent as a brief survey of their writings demonstrates:

*** w71 9/1 526 Fortify Yourself So as to Maintain Integrity ***
“Contrary to the advice of the organization of Jehovah’s witnesses…”

*** km 2/84 4 Expanding Your Ministry as a Regular Pioneer ***
“God’s Word and spirit, along with the good advice offered by Jehovah’s organization…”

*** g92 5/22 27 The Truth Has Set Me Free ***
“By applying the therapy along with the good advice from Jehovah’s organization…”

*** g81 10/8 14 The Real Brotherhood of Man Today ***
“Bryan Wilson, professor at Oxford University, England, made a study of “the recent rapid growth” of the Witnesses in Japan. He wrote: “Witnesses offer a wide range of practical advice . . . “

By advising millions of persons on a whole range of issues and more specifically how they should go about selecting acceptable and non-acceptable blood products, the WTS may have created an agency relationship with its members. If this is established, the WTS then owes a fiduciary responsibility towards those who are contractually required by their baptismal vows to look to the WTS as “God’s spirit directed organization” for advice on the use of blood products.

Loyalty

In a fiduciary relationship the WTS would be required to demonstrate loyalty towards its members. This requires their being entirely open and not keeping any information from members that has any bearing on the relationship. It can likely be proven that the WTS has not demonstrated loyalty towards its members and this violates its duty owed to members if they are are legally established as “principals.”

Skill and Care

An agent under these circumstances is under a special duty to exercise more than an ordinary degree of skill and care. Life and death decisions are made based upon the WTS analysis of the scientific and medical facts on the use of blood. As we have shown, the WTS has either misrepresented the facts, or they have negligently failed to carefully research the available scientific literature and have simply provided millions of persons with bad medical advice.

Full Disclosure

One who advises or acts as an agent on behalf of another must by law make a full disclosure of all the facts. The WTS has not complied with this legal requirement. Time and again they show only those facts that support the current WTS blood policy and they distort or withhold important information that should be available to members facing life and death choices. Additionally, they go so far as to threaten, intimidate and coerce members so that they will not even seek outside information to supplement the medical advice they are receiving from the WTS.

There are other legal theories that could be explored in an action against the WTS such as “undue influence” or moral turpitude (legally wrongful) since they violate the generally held moral standards of most communities, and hence likely qualify as torts (the French word for” wrongs”). The potential for wrongful death cases appears significant and additional research is needed.

In the United States medical information is private and there are complex laws governing its use. The Advance Directive that Jehovah’s Witnesses are asked to sign by the WTS requires doctors and hospitals to share their medical records with the WTS Hospital Liaison Committee (HLC). While we would argue this is a gross violation of doctor patient confidentiality, the WTS would argue this is simply to provide the HLC with relevant information so they can best advise their doctors on how to treat them with WTS approved blood components or alternatives. The simple fact that the WTS takes this extraordinary step makes it clear in our view that Agency Law is applicable.

In cases where the HLC uses their access to confidential medical information to learn that a member has taken an unapproved blood product and then reports the member to the local congregation for investigation, we believe they have violated the HIPPA laws by not limiting their use of the information to the minimum necessary.

Bibliography

None

Footnotes

None

Citations

American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Advocates for Jehovah’s Witness Reform on Blood. Agency Law and the Watchtower Society. October 2023; 12(1). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/agency-law

American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Advocates for Jehovah’s Witness Reform on Blood. (2023, October 22). Agency Law and the Watchtower Society. In-Sight Publishing. 12(1).

Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): Advocates for Jehovah’s Witness Reform on Blood. Agency Law and the Watchtower Society. In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 12, n. 1, 2023.

Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Advocates for Jehovah’s Witness Reform on Blood. 2023. “Agency Law and the Watchtower Society.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (Winter). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/agency-law.

Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Advocates for Jehovah’s Witness Reform on Blood “Agency Law and the Watchtower Society.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (October 2023). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/agency-law.

Harvard: Advocates for Jehovah’s Witness Reform on Blood. (2023) ‘Agency Law and the Watchtower Society’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 12(1). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/agency-law>.

Harvard (Australian): Advocates for Jehovah’s Witness Reform on Blood 2023, ‘Agency Law and the Watchtower Society’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/agency-law>.

Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Advocates for Jehovah’s Witness Reform on Blood. “Agency Law and the Watchtower Society.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.12, no. 1, 2023, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/agency-law.

Vancouver/ICMJE: Advocates for Jehovah’s Witness Reform on Blood. Agency Law and the Watchtower Society [Internet]. 2023 Oct; 12(1). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/agency-law.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

2023-10-18

Pith 659: What’s the issue in Canada?

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/18

What’s the issue in Canada?: Globalized world reflected in a cosmopolitan society; common values must transcend religion.

See “Inter se”.

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2023-10-18

Pith 661: Sim simmer

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/18

Sim simmer: Girl dem suga, guns dope n’ hoes, redemptive overcomin’, sa sire ma n’ mo fo yo; trials, tribulations.

See “Staying Alive”.

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2023-10-18

Pith 664: Obiero

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/14

Obiero: Mother midnight, awakened emotion, wake me; midnight mother, wakened motion, take me; wake’em ocean move me.

See “Kenya”.

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2023-10-18

Pith 663: You don’t know what I see

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/18

You don’t know what I see: Words are experiential delimit codas; & if I told you the Plain Sight, would the plains be in sight?

See “No”.

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2023-10-18

Pith 662: Don’t idolize the past

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/18

Don’t idolize the past: When you look closer, it wasn’t all that fun or great; the good old days are now in most ways.

See “Retrogrades”.

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2023-10-18

Pith 660: Pain & Significance

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/18

Pain & Significance: Amanlull tilttleatall tale, simmertime beesgoners; my tell, my tale, my tall tattle trail.

See “Let me be-cause”.

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2023-10-18

Pith 658: Abraham’s People’s War

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/18

Abraham’s People’s War: Many Christian enthusiasts in militaries look at Israel-Palestine as fulfilling prophecy.

See “Lunatics w/ guns”.

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2023-10-18

Pith 657: Moral Authority & Providence

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/18

Moral Authority & Providence: Canada, for 150+ years, is primarily Christian ‘love’ in oppression of others; it’s ending.

See “New Love”.

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2023-10-18

Pith 656: Enthusiasts

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/18

Enthusiasts: A helpful thought experiment in Christian Canadian townships, think of Christian enthusiasts, as if a band.

See “Dad Jokes”.

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2023-10-18

Roslyn Mould on Secular Humanism as the Answer

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): The Good Men Project

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/18

Roslyn Mould is the Vice President of Humanists International (2023-). She was Secretary and Chair of the Young Humanists International African Working Group from 2014 to 2019 and a Board Member for Humanists International from 2019 to 2023. She was a member of the Humanist Association of Ghana since it was founded in 2012 and held several positions, including President of the group from 2015 to 2019. She is the Coordinator for the West African Humanist Network, an Advisory Board member of the FoRB Leadership Network (UK), a Board member for LGBT+ Rights Ghana, and President of Accra Atheists. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Linguistics and Modern Languages.

*Interview conducted in early-to-mid-August, 2023.*

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Okay! We are here, round two, with the new Vice President of Humanists International, Roslyn Mould, following Anne-France Ketalaer. That might be a good point to start the second session. You made an appropriate commentary to the devotion of Anne-France Ketalaer in her terms as Vice President of Humanists International. What do you take from following her? How do you take that forward in your own style, experience, and knowledge?

Roslyn Mould: Like I said in my speech during the GA (General Assembly), she comes with a lot of grace and wisdom. Her style of leadership is impeccable and she is a very good listener. I learned a lot about decision-making. I will take that with me to learn to be even more patient and to use that grace that comes with that position. I am honored to work with renowned and highly experienced professionals on the Board like Andrew Copson and I learn a lot from them as well. Our CEO, Gary McLelland and the hardworking staff are also an amazing team and their cooperation is very much cherished. However, I also know that I come with being proactive, passionate, younger, coming from another part of the world and being a very open person. That combined with hers should make me a pretty good leader.

Jacobsen: You were mentioning, in the first session, the importance of connecting with and bringing up new generations of young humanist leaders.

Mould: Yes.

Jacobsen: The first 70 years of Humanists International, formerly the International Humanist and Ethical Union, the focus, typically, simply given its formalized structure happened to be Western European and North American. However, there is increasing focus on the global South and the far East in general. How can we build those networks over the following decades in a similar manner or, at least, in their own unique manner to have an integrated structure for the global South and the far East to have robust secular humanist communities?

Mould: Okay, soI was honored to be part of a committee set up years ago within IHEU that helped revise the membership structure. The then Board approved many of the suggestions I put forward. It was exciting when the next General Assembly approved and allowed membership to be more diverse in terms of full members and associates. Now, we have a more robust and inclusive membership, which allows people from all over the world to vote and decide on issues, regardless of the size or income of your group, as long as it fits the requirements. Eventually, under the leadership of Andrew Copson, it became such a way that allowed at least one person from Asia, South America/Latin America, and Africa to be on the board. Now, we also have at least one person between 18-35 to bring a youthful perspective to the board as well. This means Humanists International – its voting majority – decided that it was the way they wanted it to go. I like to think that it came from our members, true Humanists as they are, acknowledging that your right to vote should not be dictated by how much you earn or where you come from but from your dedication and contributions to the Organization if we truly want to practice true Democracy. It allowed myself and others the opportunity to be on the Board, even to a position like Vice President. I am grateful to the entire General Assembly for that. Humanists International has truly become International! More ideas to come, now that there is a more equal playing ground for us, we can help the youth be more active. I think that is what has prepared me for the position as Vice President or even as a board member to be a bigger influence, because you start by being active in your local organizations, then being able to attend these General Assemblies is part of the criteria to be voted in as a board member. Having that experience, being active and involved in our causes and in our international community, and our local organizations, as well as interacting with other members and associates of Humanists International will help a lot and keep the youth better prepared to propel the organization forward. I don’t think it would be advisable for people, in my opinion, who have no higher experience in their local organization or within the Humanists International community, to be on the board and make decisions. That’s what I want to do: Keep the organizations and the youth actively involved and support them in whatever they are already doing. That will give a big boost to the next generation of board members, wherever you come from.

Jacobsen: What were the more surprising moments at the General Assembly, and the World Congress since it was a decade since the last, whether workshops, conversations, meeting people, being voted again onto the board?

Mould: To be honest, this was my first World Humanist Congress. The last one was in 2014. That was when I was first elected for my position within HI and YHI, where I was voted as the Secretary of the African Working Group. I was elected in absentia. Honestly, I’m not the best person to compare Congresses, but I have been to multiple General Assemblies – getting bigger and better. It was really good and there was a huge turnout. Even though it was held in a Scandinavian country, we had more diversity. We hope it gets better. Unfortunately, there were people from Asia and Africa who were refused visas based on their age or some other excuse. Unfortunately, the sad reality for a lot of us from places like Africa. Most people didn’t even need a visa based on where they come from. It is unfortunate that some people were unable to attend. But that’s why we keep working on it. I know this because without Humanists International, I would probably never have been able to travel outside of Africa. I know what it is like to apply for a visa. It is not easy for me either. I also have to cross some hurdles just to be able to attend this Congress. That is one thing we seriously consider as a Board hence the provision of travel grants for some of our members and I hope that it gets better so that we have more speakers and attendees. We had speakers from Africa and Asia. We had influential people like Sandi Toksvig, the Danish-British writer, comedian, political activist and broadcaster , Prof. Sofia Näsström from Uppsala University in Sweden whom I was honored to introduce as the first panelist to the Congress, Abid Raja ( Chair of IPPFORB Steering Group), Nazila Ghanaea ( UN Special Rapporteur for FoRB) and many other very interesting mini-sessions. Everything went as planned and it was a huge success. Everybody had the opportunity to interact with each other. We had a very amazing display of activist art and artwork by Victoria Guggenheim. So many interesting things, I was impressed but there is still room for improvement. I know we can do even better. I am really excited and hope that the next congress in the USA will be even more remarkable, more diverse, more programs, more focused on the members and associates as well, and more welcoming to anyone who is curious to know about Humanism, to know about the international humanist community.

Jacobsen: With respect to Secular Humanism and cultural and national context, you can consider governments, policy, constitutions, social life, etc., as a sort of river that Secular Humanism flows into and is influenced by, so we have a cultural milieu in which these contexts are influenced and the values are rank-ordered, in a way, differently. With that in mind, the African context will differ depending on the country. However, statistically speaking, the African continent and the nation-states within it will have a much different context than countries or nation-states in Asia, in North America, in Latin America, in Europe, etc. What are those contexts in Africa in general that Secular Humanism has an answer for and that Secular Humanism can provide a robust response for improving general human wellbeing and developing a civil discourse around human wellbeing in general?

Mould: I think that Secular Humanism is the best way forward for Africa as a continent. Mind you, Africa in itself is even more diverse in culture from village to village, city to city, country to country. Sometimes, culturally and nationally, we think very differently all around the world. But when it boils down to people, to what we want in our lives, in the pursuit of happiness, we are more similar than we think. I think that Secular Humanism, first of all, breaks those barriers down to the idea of the “human- ” in Humanism. Humans are all the same people. That is one aspect of it. Secondly, Africa is the most colonized part of the world. The duration of colonialism is different from most of the other parts of the world. Secular Humanism is what will help decolonize the negative ideas, the mental barriers, the mental and physical oppression of Africans. We see that from people like Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of Ghana; Someone who identified around that time as a secular humanist when he wrote a bit about African Humanism, in his book “Consciencism: Philosophy and Ideology for De-colonization and Development with Particular Reference to the African Revolution”. He came up with the ideas on how to govern, how to help decolonize Africans and with five other people, helped to emancipate Ghana out of colonization to become the first African country to gain Independence. This inspired other African countries to rise up including influencing major activists of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement such as Martin Luther King, W.E.B. Dubois, Maya Angelou who visited Dr. Nkrumah in Ghana. So we know that this is the way humanists taught people to stand up for themselves instead of praying to a god to save them. It took the people to bring us out of colonialism. We are still facing the remnants of this colonization in our societies today. We need to continue to promote Secular Humanism to emancipate us out of that. Thirdly, it is about democracy. Humanism supports the philosophy of democracy. Democracy has been a valuable social cause in Africa. For decades, since we got out of slavery, many countries have not enjoyed full democracy. What we have are some leaders who are democratically elected and decide to change or manipulate the systems to their own selfish interests, which leads to coups, civil war, uprisings and protests. Again, it will take Secular Humanism to get us out of it. A lot of our issues when it comes to superstition, religion, and cultural beliefs, it is the key factor leading people to be oppressed, marginalized people, especially women, children, LGBT+ people, the elderly, atheists and minorities, etc. These are not issues that are unique to our side of the world. This is something still happening in Asia and Latin America. If not there, in places like Europe, USA a few hundred years ago. There is a lot we can all do together in defending and promoting Secular Humanism and fighting these issues with logic, reason, and compassion, as a people.

Jacobsen: Ros, thank you!

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2023-10-18

Vice President of Humanists International on Making History

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): The Good Men Project

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/17

*Interview conducted in early-to-mid-August, 2023.*

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Okay! We are back after a long time since the last interview in 2019, it’s only been a week and a bit since we met in Copenhagen, again. Hooray!

Roslyn Mould: Yes! Hooray!

Jacobsen: Something historic happened. You became, basically, the first African woman to be Vice President of Humanists International. Congratulations on being historic!

Mould: Thank you!!!

Jacobsen: So, what inspired you to run for Vice President?

Mould: Wow, a number of things. I have been contributing for many years since 2014 from my positions as President of an Organization in Ghana to positions in IHEYO, now Young Humanists International (YHI) and working with Anne-France as our VP when I moved from IHEYO to join the Board in 2019. We could have all of the intellectual discussions and she always brought that touch of wisdom to everything that we did. I really admired her for a long time. As her time was coming to an end, there were a number of people, including herself, who felt that after my years of service and with HI moving forward, I would make a very good replacement. I am quite abreast of what is going on in regions around the world and how the organization has been run and I am a huge believer in the work of the Board especially under the able leadership of our President, Andrew Copson. So I thought long and hard about it and initially, I was a bit hesitant because it took me resigning from my current position, which I just got elected for and eventually, I figured why not. I was confident and ready to take up the mantle and to serve and represent all Humanists around the world, every single member of HI which is why I decided to run for the Board in the first place. Of course, I take all of that with people supporting me and telling me, “You can do it!” I was really excited about doing this and also aiming to inspire and prove that there can also be a person of color, a Black African woman to take up the position and contribute a lot to this prestigious Organization. That was why I decided. It’s truly humbling and I am very honored!

Jacobsen: You have other positions in professional life as well. What is going on there?

Mould: For someone who didn’t set out to be an activist, It’s amazing how I got so many responsibilities but I always take it as a sign that I am well recognized for my work and people all over the world trust that I am very capable of handling things and contributing to the success of the Organization as my record has proven. I am a board member of Freedom of Religion and Belief Leadership Network (FoRBLN) UK. Basically, it is an organization that brings together legislators from around the world, Scholars and Academics, religious and non-religious leaders in the world. I am the only non-religious leader on the Advisory Board officially representing non-religious people around the world as a humanist. It is quite different from Humanists International but shares a common goal to promote FoRB. There are Scholars and Academics from International Ivy League Colleges and Parliamentarians from all around the world who form its membership and the Organization is also affiliated with international organizations such as the African Center for Parliamentary Affairs (ACEPA) in Ghana, The African Parliamentarians Association for Human Rights (AfriPAHR) and International Panel of Parliamentarians for Freedom of Religion or Belief (IPPFoRB). Also, I am a Board Member for LGBT+ Rights Ghana. It is the biggest and most active LGBT organization in Ghana. I am the only ally member and the only ally board member for a Queer organization in Ghana. I really respect that position as well because to be recognized and selected to be part of the leadership of an LGBT organization as an ally is a big deal. It shows how much trust they have in me. It shows they acknowledge how much work I have done for the LGBTQ+ community in Ghana and around the world. It shows that they really respect and treasure my input and commitment to bringing gay rights and freedoms to Ghana especially in a highly homophobic society at a time when there is an anti-gay bill being considered for legislation in our Parliament which threatens to jail LGBT+ people including Allies for up to 10 years. Also, I have been a Coordinator for the West African Humanist Network (WAHN) for a few years now. Basically, It is an official organization that has been set up to increase humanist activity in West Africa. Because, at the moment, we only have Ghana, Nigeria and Liberia being the only active humanist organizations and they are all English-speaking countries. It has been my cause, my goal, to increase humanist activity in the region, seek out those especially in the Francophone countries, to overcome language differences and to create a community for us to interact, but also to be there for each other and to feel that we are not alone, that there are other West African humanists like ourselves. Also, I am President of Accra Atheists, which is a very new group. It started as a Facebook page years ago by another Ghanaian who is now based in the US. Some of us have realized humanist activity has gone down since I left my presidency at the Humanist Association of Ghana. There is a vacuum there again and we need to fill that gap where people feel safe to be with other non-religious people and to discuss issues of religion and belief, especially for atheists – to make atheism known and to put Humanism back on the map again in Ghana. I did it for HAG and I am confident that I can do it again. Most of these appointments I’ve had since 2019. It’s a lot of work with all these positions but I love volunteering and I’m happy to do my part.

Jacobsen: As Vice President of Humanists International, which is significant, what are your aims for this term?

Mould: Basically, it is to support the position of the President of the Board, but also to support the work of Humanists International in its works. There are basic goals or a basic description of the role. However, it is up to you, as the person, to tell it the way you want to – to abide by the rules of that role, but also to add something to it. I definitely have thought about certain things to raise the bar higher. I would like to give a lot to membership engagement. I see that, apart from the few of us that are privileged enough to attend this conference once in a while; there is this gap unless you become friends with people from around the world, it’s difficult to become part of the community. Sometimes, people don’t realize that regardless of our job, location, our economic class or our cultural differences, we are very, very similar especially as Humanists. I want to be the one to bridge that gap and work together with the President and my fellow board members as well as the CEO, Gary McLelland to see how we can do this. I do believe that once we go working beside the membership work of Javan Poblador to develop interesting, exciting, creative, educational and fun programs, that would make all of us a part of it. You won’t have to sit home and wait for something on social media or email to show that you are part of an international community. I am willing to brainstorm and gather a lot of ideas. Also, advocacy, working with Advocacy officer Elizabeth O’Casey. What she has been doing for years has been impressive and I want to see what more we can do as Members. Definitely for those outside of Europe, so that we can better understand actual regions, for example, with Africa, we have an African human rights council affiliated with the United Nations. Elizabeth has been doing this for us even though she is not an African and I know she is keen to train some of us to represent ourselves and make our voices known on the continent. I started working with her on organizing training programs just before the pandemic hit so I think during my tenure, I will see how we can make this happen. We will see how we can make it so humanists in Asia, South America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canada, everywhere, can represent themselves, to see that we all have individual issues and that we can speak for ourselves. Other than that, I realize that the member organizations and the Board have a bit of a gap. Being a sociable person [Laughing] and someone who is approachable, I am hoping to bridge that gap as well. I do not want to make it that the Board is something out of reach. There are more things coming up. With these five organizations and starting a new day job, it won’t be easy but I should be able to make it so that someday, the next VP can build on that as well. One more thing is, since we have certain positions on the board not just for Europe but other parts of the world, I have a passion to groom and prepare the next generation of Board members to utilize their skills and continue to build on over 70 remarkable years of work of the Organization.

Jacobsen: Ros, thank you for your great work and the time.

License

Copyright

2023-10-15

We need to trust in science — even when the answers are complicated

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Journal Founding: August 2, 2012

Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 12

Issue Numbering: 1

Section: B

Theme Type: Idea

Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”

Theme Part: 29

Formal Sub-Theme: None.

Individual Publication Date: October 15, 2023

Issue Publication Date: January 1, 2024

Author(s): James A. Haught

Word Count: 688

Image Credit: None

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369-6885

*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*

Keywords: complexity, God, James Haught, J.B.S. Haldane, science, Stephen Hawking, trust.

We need to trust in science — even when the answers are complicated

Long ago, I concluded that no reliable evidence supports gods, devils, heavens, hells, miracles, prophecies and other supernatural stuff of religion. Those magic claims simply arise from the human imagination, I assumed. Instead, I chose to trust the honest search of science to explain the ultimate mysteries of existence.Aye, there’s the rub. Answers by science are sometimes almost as baffling and logic-defying as the mumbo-jumbo of churches:

Multiple universes, for example. Or Einstein’s assertion that time slows and dimensions shorten as speed increases. Or the mysteries of “quantum weirdness,” with particles popping in and out of existence in pure vacuum. Or the seeming impossibility of pulsars, which gravity compresses into a solid mass of neutrons weighing 100 million tons per cubic centimeter. Or the astounding claim at the heart of the Big Bang theory — stating that all matter in a trillion galaxies originated from a proton-size dot exploding stupendously 13.8 billion years ago. Holy moly.

In his posthumous book, Stephen Hawking says the entire vast universe essentially burst from nothing, following laws of nature. The book, Brief Answers to the Big Questions, was compiled by colleagues and relatives from the physicist’s notes, materials and interviews just after his 2018 death. It reiterates his well-known atheism:

It’s my view that the simplest explanation is that there is no God. No one created the universe and no one directs our fate. This leads me to a profound realization: there is probably no heaven and afterlife either. I think belief in an afterlife is just wishful thinking. There is no reliable evidence for it, and it flies in the face of everything we know in science. I think that when we die we return to dust.

In a 2011 interview with The Guardian newspaper, Hawking said each human brain is like a computer, and it’s inevitable that some computers malfunction and die.

“There is no heaven or afterlife for broken-down computers,” he said. “That is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.”

If no divine creator made the universe, what did? Blind laws of nature, he says:

Since we know that the universe was once very small — perhaps smaller than a proton — this means something quite remarkable. It means the universe itself, in all its mind-boggling vastness and complexity, could simply have popped into existence without violating the known laws of nature. From that moment on, vast amounts of energy were released as space itself expanded …

But, of course, the critical question is raised again: did God create the quantum laws that allowed the Big Bang to occur? In a nutshell, do we need a god to set it up so the Big Bang could bang? I have no desire to offend anyone of faith, but I think science has a more compelling explanation than a divine creator.

Another of my science heroes is atheist-genius J.B.S. Haldane, who hatched the theory that life began in a “primordial soup” of chemicals. He saw that some science discoveries are almost impossible to believe. In 1928, he told a London newspaper: “The universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose.”

When theologians hounded him about God’s creation, Haldane joked that the creator “must have had an inordinate fondness for beetles,” to make 400,000 different species. And Haldane spoofingly saluted Noah for finding pairs of all creatures to take on the ark, when there are numerous different species of birds just in India alone (where Haldane spent a good number of years).

As I said, findings by science can seem nearly as absurd as the miracle claims of religion — but there’s a crucial difference: Science is honest. Nothing is accepted by blind faith. Every claim is challenged, tested, double-tested and triple-tested until it fails or survives as true. Often, new evidence alters former conclusions.

Even though science findings show that reality is queerer than we can suppose, honest thinkers have little choice but to trust science as the only reliable search for believable answers.

This essay is adapted from a column that previously appeared at Daylight Atheism on Oct. 12, 2020.

Bibliography

None

Footnotes

None

Citations

American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Haught J. We need to trust in science — even when the answers are complicated. October 2023; 12(1). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/trust-science

American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Haught, J. (2023, October 15). We need to trust in science — even when the answers are complicated. In-Sight Publishing. 12(1).

Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): HAUGHT, J. We need to trust in science — even when the answers are complicated. In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 12, n. 1, 2023.

Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Haught, James. 2023. “We need to trust in science — even when the answers are complicated.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (Winter). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/trust-science.

Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Haught, J “We need to trust in science — even when the answers are complicated.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (October 2023).http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/trust-science.

Harvard: Haught, J. (2023) ‘We need to trust in science — even when the answers are complicated’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 12(1). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/trust-science>.

Harvard (Australian): Haught, J 2023, ‘We need to trust in science — even when the answers are complicated’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/endgame-israel>.

Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Haught, James. “We need to trust in science — even when the answers are complicated.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.12, no. 1, 2023, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/trust-science.

Vancouver/ICMJE: James H. We need to trust in science — even when the answers are complicated [Internet]. 2023 Oct; 12(1). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/trust-science.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

2023-10-15

Worshiping a monster

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Journal Founding: August 2, 2012

Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 12

Issue Numbering: 1

Section: B

Theme Type: Idea

Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”

Theme Part: 29

Formal Sub-Theme: None.

Individual Publication Date: October 15, 2023

Issue Publication Date: January 1, 2024

Author(s): James A. Haught

Word Count: 517

Image Credit: None

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369-6885

*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*

Keywords: babies, children, Exodus, God, Hebrew, James Haught, Jews, Midianites, monster, Moses, Sodom, Gomorrah.

Worshiping a monster

How can churchgoers pray to a heavenly father with a scriptural record of ferocious murder? How can they worship a monster?

Exodus 12 says God killed thousands of Egyptian children at Passover, “and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a home where there was not one dead.”

Genesis 19 says God burned residents of Sodom and Gomorrah alive, presumably including babies and children.

Genesis 6-8 says God drowned all people and animals on Earth except those on Noah’s ark.

Repeatedly, God tells Jews to massacre neighbor tribes. For example, in 1 Samuel 15, God commands Hebrew soldiers: “Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.”

In various other verses, God orders similar slaughter, adding: “Thine eye shall not pity.” Numbers 31 puts this attitude into practice with regard to the Midianites, with Moses commanding: “Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.”

In Exodus 31:15, God decrees: “Whosoever doeth any work in the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.” Exodus 35:2 is almost identical.

In Deuteronomy 22, God commands that brides who aren’t virgins must be taken to their fathers’ doorsteps and stoned to death.

Some bible verses instruct on how to buy and sell slaves. Leviticus 25:44 says: “Both thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, which thou shalt have, shall be of the heathen that are round about you; of them shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids.” Exodus 21:7 gives rules when “a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant.”

Leviticus 20:13 says gay males “shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.” (But lesbians aren’t mentioned.)

Strangely, every Christian church claims that God is all-loving, all-merciful, all-compassionate. No church mentions that the bible often depicts him as a monster. Evidently, he’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Of course, we skeptics are fairly sure that no deity — neither Jekyll nor Hyde — exists. He’s apparently a concoction of the human imagination.

Sigmund Freud saw a clear explanation of the father-god: Babies and tots see a mighty father looming over them, loving them, protecting them, punishing them, caring for them. The image locks into the subconscious. Later, when the church says a mighty father looms over you, loving you, protecting you, punishing you — bingo! The subconscious image flares to life and believers say: “Yes, yes, it’s true.” They actually worship their buried biological father.

What can we make of these weird psychological phenomena? All I can say is: Thank heaven religion is dying rapidly in America, as in most of Western civilization. Increasingly, we needn’t wonder why believers worship a monster.

This essay is adapted from a column that previously appeared at Secular World online on Sept. 20, 2020, and Daylight Atheism on Sept. 21, 2020.

Bibliography

None

Footnotes

None

Citations

American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Haught J. Worshiping a monster. October 2023; 12(1). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/worshiping-monster

American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Haught, J. (2023, October 15). Worshiping a monster. In-Sight Publishing. 12(1).

Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): HAUGHT, J. Worshiping a monster. In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 12, n. 1, 2023.

Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Haught, James. 2023. “Worshiping a monster.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (Winter). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/worshiping-monster.

Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Haught, J “Worshiping a monster.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (October 2023).http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/worshiping-monster.

Harvard: Haught, J. (2023) ‘Worshiping a monster’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 12(1). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/worshiping-monster>.

Harvard (Australian): Haught, J 2023, ‘Worshiping a monster’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/endgame-israel>.

Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Haught, James. “Worshiping a monster.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.12, no. 1, 2023, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/worshiping-monster.

Vancouver/ICMJE: James H. Worshiping a monster [Internet]. 2023 Oct; 12(1). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/worshiping-monster.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

2023-10-15

Does Amy Coney Barrett babble in tongues?

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Journal Founding: August 2, 2012

Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 12

Issue Numbering: 1

Section: B

Theme Type: Idea

Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”

Theme Part: 29

Formal Sub-Theme: None.

Individual Publication Date: October 15, 2023

Issue Publication Date: January 1, 2024

Author(s): James A. Haught

Word Count: 808

Image Credit: None

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369-6885

*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*

Keywords: Amy Coney Barrett, babbling in tongues, Book of Acts, Christianity, glossolalia, Pentecostalism, Senate, United States.

Does Amy Coney Barrett babble in tongues?

President Trump’s nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court may spark discussion over the dubious Christian practice of “speaking in tongues” — or glossolalia.

She’s a fervent Roman Catholic who belongs to a charismatic fringe clique, People of Praise, whose members reportedly babble “the tongues” like Pentecostals. Various researchers say that this kooky practice has spread so much that one-fourth of all Christians around the world are tongue-talkers.

During her Senate confirmation hearings, it will be interesting to see whether any senators or news reporters are brazen enough to ask Barrett bluntly: “Have you spoken in tongues?”

Comedian Bill Maher certainly is brazen enough. During a recent HBO monologue, he blurted: “She’s a f—- nut [about] religion. … I mean really, really Catholic — like speaking in tongues.”

Back when I was a religion reporter for our Appalachian newspaper, I witnessed “the tongues” frequently — especially at remote mountain churches where believers picked up rattlesnakes. A worshiper suddenly would spout gibberish like “shend-a-la-goosh-a-ma-dee-dee-dee,” causing nearby churchgoers to erupt in similar sounds. I took my doctor to a service, and he said the talkers seemed to be in hypnotic trances. Believers themselves said the Holy Ghost took control of them, and they had no power over the outflowing utterances.

A couple of years ago, I wrote the following analysis of this curiosity:

The Book of Acts says the risen Jesus told his apostles “ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.” And when they gathered on Pentecost, “suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind… and there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire … and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues.”

Just over a century ago, a little-educated evangelist named William Seymour, a son of ex-slaves, preached that modern Americans could “get the tongues,” just as the apostles did. In a Los Angeles slum, he led followers in ardent prayer, hoping for the “rushing mighty wind” from heaven.

Finally, on April 9, 1906, after five weeks of beseechment, a follower began spouting uncontrollable sounds. Next meeting, six more believers experienced glossolalia. Then the minister himself followed — and word of the “miracle” spread like wildfire. Hundreds, thousands, of believers flocked to the ramshackle church, where many “got the tongues.” Excitement spawned missionaries who carried the mysterious new phenomenon to other cities — and finally to other countries.

The Los Angeles Times heard the buzz and sent a reporter, who wrote:

Meetings are held in a tumble-down shack on Azusa Street, and the devotees of the weird doctrine practice the most fanatical rites, preach the wildest theories and work themselves into a state of mad excitement in their peculiar zeal. … The night is made hideous in the neighborhood by the howlings of the worshipers, who spend hours swaying forth and back in a nerve-wracking attitude of prayer and supplication. They claim to have the “gift of tongues” and be able to understand the babble.

Another L.A. newspaper reported:

They cry and make howling noises all day and into the night. They run, jump, shake all over, shout to the top of their voice, spin around in circles, fall out on the sawdust-blanketed floor jerking, kicking and rolling all over it. Some of them pass out and do not move for hours as though they were dead. These people appear to be mad, mentally deranged or under a spell.

Pentecostalism became the name of the practice, and it snowballed into a national, then worldwide, movement. The Assemblies of God was established in 1914, followed by the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World in 1916 and the Pentecostal Church of God in 1919.

For decades, Pentecostals remained a remote fringe, derided as “holy rollers.” But gradually, they inched into the mainstream. Politicians like Sarah Palin and John Ashcroft have been Assemblies of God believers.

As late as 1980, Pentecostals were smallish, comprising a tiny fringe of Christianity. Then a remarkable upsurge occurred. The Atlas of Pentecostalism, maintained by the Pulitzer Center, says: “An estimated 35,000 people join the Pentecostal church each day. Of the world’s 2 billion Christians, a quarter are now Pentecostal — up from 6 percent in 1980.”

As most of Christianity shrinks, Pentecostals are the fastest-growing group. A Wheaton Theology report says: “There were 631 million Pentecostals in 2014, comprising nearly one-fourth of all Christians. There were only 63 million Pentecostals in 1970, and the number is expected to reach 800 million by 2025.”

Will much of Christianity be transformed into jerking, howling, swooning congregations who utter incoherent sounds? If so, that’s one more reason for thinking people to renounce irrational supernaturalism.

Perhaps Amy Coney Barrett can be asked to explain the “babbling in tongues” phenomenon.

Much of this essay was published in the February-March 2018 issue of Free Inquiry.

Bibliography

None

Footnotes

None

Citations

American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Haught J. Does Amy Coney Barrett babble in tongues?. October 2023; 12(1). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/amy-barrett

American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Haught, J. (2023, October 15). Does Amy Coney Barrett babble in tongues?. In-Sight Publishing. 12(1).

Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): HAUGHT, J. Does Amy Coney Barrett babble in tongues?. In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 12, n. 1, 2023.

Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Haught, James. 2023. “Does Amy Coney Barrett babble in tongues?.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (Winter). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/amy-barrett.

Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Haught, J “Does Amy Coney Barrett babble in tongues?.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (October 2023).http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/amy-barrett.

Harvard: Haught, J. (2023) ‘Does Amy Coney Barrett babble in tongues?’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 12(1). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/amy-barrett>.

Harvard (Australian): Haught, J 2023, ‘Does Amy Coney Barrett babble in tongues?’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/endgame-israel>.

Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Haught, James. “Does Amy Coney Barrett babble in tongues?.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.12, no. 1, 2023, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/amy-barrett.

Vancouver/ICMJE: James H. Does Amy Coney Barrett babble in tongues? [Internet]. 2023 Oct; 12(1). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/amy-barrett.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

2023-10-15

A Freethinker’s Testimony

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Journal Founding: August 2, 2012

Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 12

Issue Numbering: 1

Section: B

Theme Type: Idea

Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”

Theme Part: 29

Formal Sub-Theme: None.

Individual Publication Date: October 15, 2023

Issue Publication Date: January 1, 2024

Author(s): James A. Haught

Word Count: 738

Image Credit: None

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369-6885

*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*

Keywords: Bible Belt, Catholics, church, freethinker, freethought, Harvey Cox, James Haught, Mencken, Robert Dornan, skepticism.

A Freethinker’s Testimony

Just because you grow up in the Bible Belt (I was born in a West Virginia farm town with no electricity) doesn’t automatically mean that you’re a fundamentalist. My family never went to church. Most people I knew laughed at “holy rollers.”

I wandered into adulthood and, rather by accident, became a reporter at the Charleston Gazette. The staff contained a few Catholics, but most of the rest were heathens like me. Our city editor was an H.L. Mencken clone who ridiculed redneck religion and wrote brilliant columns lampooning hillbilly preachers.

One day, he told me: “Haught, we want you to be our religion columnist.” I responded, “But I haven’t been to church in 20 years.” He replied, “Fine — that means you’ll be objective.”

So I started attending churches and reporting my impressions in a Monday column. I covered everything from a national Episcopal bishop assembly to rattler-waving serpent-handler services — and from Ph.D. theologian lectures to a “spiritualist” church receiving messages from the dead. I heard thousands babble “the unknown tongue.” (Once, believe it or not, I took Harvard theologian Harvey Cox to a snake-handler church in the hills. When the worshippers began “dancing in the spirit,” Cox jumped up and joined the hoofing. Honest to God.)

I covered evangelist Tiz Jones, who secretly burgled homes in towns visited by his revival, until he was caught and sent to prison. I recall a brawl among rural Baptists who fell into doctrinal dispute and attacked each other with “seng hoes,” mountain implements used to dig ginseng.

Once, I wrote a sneering account of a faith-healer who claimed that he raised the dead. He sent 40 of his followers to storm our newsroom. Luckily, I was out. The night city editor called for burly printers to back the mob out the door.

I watched religious history being made in the 1974 Charleston uprising against “godless textbooks.” When our county school system adopted new books, a born-again board member and evangelists declared that the texts were un-Christian. (The texts looked just like ordinary schoolbooks to me.) Mobs filled the streets. Schools were dynamited. Two people were shot. School buses were hit by bullets. A fundamentalist boycott left classrooms half-empty. The Ku Klux Klan and California porn-fighter Robert Dornan came to Charleston to oppose the evil books. Evangelists beat up elected members at a school board meeting. The madness finally ended after a preacher and a couple of his followers were sent to prison.

Well, my years of covering Bible Belt religion hardened my youthful skepticism into militant agnosticism. I came to feel that every supernatural claim — from papal bulls and ayatollah fatwas to astrology horoscopes and tarot card readings — is mumbo-jumbo. There’s no tangible evidence for any mystical, magical, miraculous malarkey. I joined the Unitarian Universalist Church and allied myself with its toughest doubters.

I was relieved when I was taken off the religion beat at the newspaper and reassigned to investigating corruption. I had felt dishonest reporting stuff I deemed a fantasy. Eventually, I won several national awards as investigator, and became the paper’s editor.

But my disdain for supernaturalism didn’t fade. I felt compelled to tell the world that believing in gods, devils, heavens, hells, angels, demons, miracles, saviors, salvation and all the rest is chasing a will-o’-the-wisp. Invisible spirits are imaginary, as far as an honest observer can tell. They’re a universal delusion. So I wrote several books and dozens of magazine pieces pushing this message.

As you may guess, it was a bit precarious for a crusading agnostic to run a newspaper in the heart of the Bible Belt. I didn’t hide my beliefs; my books were reviewed in the paper. There was no fundamentalist outcry. But I tried not to flaunt my skepticism before churchgoing readers. Endlessly in editorials, I attacked religious attempts to ban abortion, to censor movies and magazines, to halt sex education, to outlaw stripper clubs, to distribute bibles in schools, to restore the death penalty, to teach children creationism, to provide tax-paid vouchers for church schools — but I did it in purely secular language.

A subsequent Gazette religion reporter was a gentle man of the Jewish persuasion who bent over backward to be fair to every belief. When I told him he was covering a zoo of make-believe, he just grinned.

This column is adapted and updated from a piece in the Spring 1999 issue of Religion in the News.

Bibliography

None

Footnotes

None

Citations

American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Haught J. A Freethinker’s Testimony. September 2023; 12(1). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/freethinker-testimony

American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Haught, J. (2023, October 15). A Freethinker’s Testimony. In-Sight Publishing. 12(1).

Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): HAUGHT, J. A Freethinker’s Testimony. In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 12, n. 1, 2023.

Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Haught, James. 2023. “A Freethinker’s Testimony.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (Winter). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/freethinker-testimony.

Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Haught, J “A Freethinker’s Testimony.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (September 2023).http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/freethinker-testimony.

Harvard: Haught, J. (2023) ‘A Freethinker’s Testimony’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 12(1). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/freethinker-testimony>.

Harvard (Australian): Haught, J 2023, ‘A Freethinker’s Testimony’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/endgame-israel>.

Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Haught, James. “A Freethinker’s Testimony.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.12, no. 1, 2023, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/freethinker-testimony.

Vancouver/ICMJE: James H. A Freethinker’s Testimony [Internet]. 2023 Sep; 12(1). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/freethinker-testimony.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

2023-10-15

Control and Repression – The Ray Hemming Story

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Journal Founding: August 2, 2012

Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 12

Issue Numbering: 1

Section: B

Theme Type: Idea

Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”

Theme Part: 29

Formal Sub-Theme: None.

Individual Publication Date: October 15, 2023

Issue Publication Date: January 1, 2024

Author(s): Ray Hemming

Author(s) Bio: None.

Word Count: 1,688

Image Credit: AJWRB, Ray Hemming.

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369–6885

*Original publication here during May, 2014.*

*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*

Keywords: Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood, Armageddon, blood, Congregation, God, Hospital Liaison Committees, Ray Hemming, Watchtower Society.

Control and Repression – The Ray Hemming Story

Ray Hemming

Ray Hemming
Jehovah’s Witness Elder

If there’s one thing that people identify Jehovah’s Witnesses with, it’s their refusal of blood transfusions. I know it was a doctrine that I once believed was right for me and my family. If a medical emergency had arisen, a blood transfusion would not have been an option.

I, like many Jehovah’s Witnesses, hoped that such an emergency would never happen. But if it did, I was comforted by the thought that there were alternatives to blood transfusions such as saline, dextrose, etc. These were the kind of alternatives the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society trumpeted in their literature as the preferred emergency non-blood choices.

Three years after my baptism as an ordained minister for Jehovah’s Witnesses, my daughter, who was seven-years old at the time, fell very ill with severe tonsillitis. She lost a lot of weight due to the illness and became frail and weak. Our family doctor referred us to a nearby hospital for consultation, where we were advised that her tonsils should be removed.

However, the physician would not agree to perform the operation without assurance from me that blood could be used if a complication arose in the procedure. I remember nervously asking him to review our blood booklet “Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Question of Blood.” That’s all we had in those days for medical dilemmas. There were no Hospital Liaison Committees (HLCs) at the time. The doctor said he was familiar with this booklet but refused to discuss the matter.

My wife and I were faced with our first dilemma related to the Watchtower’s doctrine on blood. Should we consent to the doctor’s wishes and hope things turned out okay? With some dismay, we left the hospital with our daughter and began to search for help elsewhere. Eventually, we were directed to a qualified professional, who specialized in alternative medicine. Because of his advice, which included dietary restrictions and some medication, our daughter was helped through that critical period. In time she regained her strength and health, although the problem has never been fully resolved, even today.

The refusal of blood transfusions was a subject that most Jehovah’s Witnesses would try to avoid when in the door-to-door ministry. This is a very emotional doctrine for non-Jehovah’s Witnesses. And there was simply no adequate response to a parent standing in front of you at their door, asking the question, “Would you let your child die?” Any response like “our child will be resurrected in the new world” or “Jehovah’s Witnesses have alternatives to blood” did not cut it, and frankly, that was of no comfort to a rational Jehovah’s Witness.

However, I never dreamed that one day I would be arguing that the Watchtower’s blood policy is very wrong. In fact, the blood transfusion issue is what finally led to me being expelled from the organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses after eighteen-years of service.

I had been an “Elder” in the congregation for many years, having teaching assignments, giving public talks, and providing spiritual support to fellow Witnesses. But as time went on, I was beginning to have doubts about some of the information coming from the Watchtower.

During a particularly difficult time in my son’s life, I took some time off work. With spare time on my hand, I began reflecting on my life as a Jehovah’s Witness and browsing the internet–a big “no-no” for Jehovah’s Witnesses in 1998–for information about some of the doctrines of my faith;.

On my internet journey, I found a website entitled “New Light on Blood” (ajwrb.org). I was flabbergasted by the enormous amount of information presented, both biblical and scientific, about the experiences of people affected by the blood policy and the history of the Watchtower’s shifting position regarding its medical prohibitions. This information caused me to re-think my belief on blood.

Eventually, I overturned my strongly entrenched beliefs (2 Corinthians 10:4), because this Website provided well-researched information from medical professionals, appointed men in the congregations, former HLC members, and some Elders operating within the Watchtower organization.

I presented some of this new information in a letter to my Congregational Overseer. Then I sent letters to other Elders that I knew, inviting their comment. While I received no written responses, I was visited by several of these Elders, but they would not talk about the issues. They were afraid to talk with me. The Organization had strangled their ability to comment.

However, I was asked to raise these questions on the blood issue with Elders at the Watchtower Headquarters in London. I think they suggested this in the hope of shifting some of the responsibility away from themselves. So I did as requested, and sent a letter to them. The reply I received (which can be viewed on this website) made no attempt to enter into any dialogue on my questions. Their response amounted to nothing more than a warning about apostates operating on the internet.

A few weeks later, I received another visit from a local Elder, telling me that a judicial committee had been formed and I was invited to attend. A judicial committee is made up of a group of men who act as judges to enforce the Watchtower policy. In my case, the judicial committee was organized to decide if I was guilty of apostasy. I guess being an elder who was circulating material that raised questions about Watchtower policies was enough for them to charge me.

I agreed to attend the meeting in the hope of making at least one of them think about the blood transfusion doctrine differently and perhaps strike a cord in their hearts. I never expected them to agree with me on the subject, as it would have put them in the same precarious position as myself.

During the meeting, I made reference to the words of Jesus concerning the worship of God. Christ said “learn what this means ‘ I want Mercy not Sacrifice’” and how he gave the story of David in the Bible while on the run from King Saul. Here a priest out of mercy is recorded of giving David and his men, who were in desperate need of food, some of the “Show bread” from the Temple, something prohibited under their law. I thought the same principle would reasonably apply today. Jesus clearly was demonstrating to the religious leaders of his day that the spirit behind the law was love. The religious leaders could not see this, that’s why they objected to Jesus disciples plucking grains of wheat on the Sabbath.

Does God want the sacrifice of so many young men, woman, and children, which has occurred with Jehovah’s Witnesses over the years regarding the blood issue? Does this seem reasonable or even logical, when we reflect on those words? Jesus prefaced the expression “I want mercy not sacrifice” with the words, “learn what this means”. Jehovah’s Witnesses as an Organization have not yet learned this basic principle with regard to blood.

There were other points that I raised, such as how over time, the Watchtower had shifted its position on blood, and that now some blood components were considered acceptable in medical treatments that were once viewed as “unacceptable”. This of course became very confusing to the average Jehovah’s Witness, who is not trained in medical procedures or in the chemistry of blood. Because of this, the Watchtower organization gave birth to a new arrangement– the Hospital Liaison Committee. The HLCs were set up because the blood policy had become messy and the Watchtower was losing control over this issue.

For example, some serums with certain blood components in them became acceptable medicine to the Watchtower policymakers. Their reasoning was that this was not feeding on blood. Abstaining from blood is essentially the discourse given in the bible book of Acts 15, on which the Watchtower bases most of its policy. Here, the context of those bible verses is in reference to eating blood. Interestingly, acknowledgment came through the Watchtower that a blood transfusion is essentially an Organ tissue transplant.

So the question remains: Are these tissue transplants “feeding on blood”?

The Watchtower hypocritically remains resolute over their prohibition on blood in spite of their contradictions. These policymakers (Governing Body members) who reside at the Watchtower headquarters in New York, probably will at the same time, sit down to a meal and enjoy a nice steak served up rare, with its blood and think nothing of it and experience no crises of conscience.

At the end of the judicial meeting, they informed me that I was expelled/excommunicated, which meant that no Jehovah’s Witness on the face of this planet would be able to speak or socialize with me. Finally, I remember saying, “Do you believe that you have carried out God’s justice here and acted with the love of Christ?” I said this because these men knew the hard work I had done in that Congregation and the sincerity in which I applied myself over many years but all this seemed irrelevant to them and the presiding overseer said coldly that I would “die at Armageddon” if I continued as I was. I left the meeting with a “goodbye”, and as I walked to my car a great relief came over me because although I knew that I would lose all the friends I had, I also knew I had done the right thing.

The irony of that whole episode in my life is that the Watchtower could change its position once again regarding blood or its components and the same Elders who judged me would have to argue in favor of the changes in policy which had condemned me as an apostate.

Indeed, just two years later, the Watchtower approved the use of the largest of all blood components (hemoglobin) as well as the use of bovine (cow’s blood) to manufacture the blood product Hemopure.

Finding the real truth, good science in this case, is not the issue. Nor is it loyalty to Jesus Christ, the scriptures, or even one’s own conscience. Rather, this is about control and repression, loyalty to the Watchtower Society and its man-made directives.

Ray Hemming

Bibliography

None

Footnotes

None

Citations

American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Hemming R. Control and Repression – The Ray Hemming Story. October 2023; 12(1). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/ray-hemming

American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Hemming, R. (2023, October 15). Control and Repression – The Ray Hemming Story. In-Sight Publishing. 12(1).

Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): HEMMING, R. Control and Repression – The Ray Hemming Story. In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 12, n. 1, 2023.

Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Hemming, Ray. 2023. “Control and Repression – The Ray Hemming Story.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (Winter). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/ray-hemming.

Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Hemming, R “Control and Repression – The Ray Hemming Story.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (October 2023). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/ray-hemming.

Harvard: Hemming, R. (2023) ‘Control and Repression – The Ray Hemming Story’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 12(1). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/ray-hemming>.

Harvard (Australian): Hemming, R 2023, ‘Control and Repression – The Ray Hemming Story’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/ray-hemming>.

Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Hemming, Ray. “Control and Repression – The Ray Hemming Story.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.12, no. 1, 2023, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/ray-hemming.

Vancouver/ICMJE: Ray H. Control and Repression – The Ray Hemming Story [Internet]. 2023 Oct; 12(1). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/ray-hemming.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

2023-10-15

H.L.C. Elders Speak Out

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Journal Founding: August 2, 2012

Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 12

Issue Numbering: 1

Section: B

Theme Type: Idea

Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”

Theme Part: 29

Formal Sub-Theme: None.

Individual Publication Date: October 15, 2023

Issue Publication Date: January 1, 2024

Author(s): Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood

Author(s) Bio: None.

Word Count: 4,015

Image Credit: None.

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369–6885

*Original publication here during May, 2014.*

*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*

Keywords: 10/30 rule, Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood, blood, blood policies, conscience, H.L.C. Elders, Hospital Liaison Committees, Watchtower Society.

H.L.C. Elders Speak Out

A Group of Hospital Liaison Committee (HLC) Members Speak Out

HLCs are sat up in most parts of the earth by the Watchtower Society (hereafter WTS) to assist Witnesses in finding cooperative physicians who are willing to provide bloodless treatment. In their dealings with physicians, they often come face to face with the inconsistencies and discrepancies in the Watchtower Society’s blood policy. One group of HLC brothers has come forward to express themselves on the blood issue. They have asked us to publish the following information to all of Jehovah’s Witnesses, and especially “Hospital Information Services,” in Brooklyn, New York. The information should also be of interest to medical and legal professionals.

We are a group of eight brothers working at present for the Hospital Liaison Committees in different places and countries. We have been able to communicate about our assignment and share different experiences about the work that has been done. We are very pleased that much good has been accomplished in behalf of our brothers. Many not professing to be Jehovah’s Witnesses have also benefited from the arrangement.

It is widely acknowledged, even by doctors, that blood is a dangerous medical treatment. In many of our presentations in different hospitals we often hear comments that clearly indicate that doctors usually do their utmost to avoid using treatments made from human blood. And it is noteworthy that these comments come from doctors working in the field of Hematology.

We can’t deny the fact that medical devices, procedures and medications have developed dramatically. This has contributed to, and is the main reason for reducing the need for blood products. Additionally, there are numerous company’s developing products to improve clotting capacity and maintain circulating blood volume. Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy is another very important tool, and although many doctors resist it’s use, they do acknowledge its value in treating acute anemia.

The Society has also emphasized the use of Erythropoietin which stimulates the production of red blood cells, and together with Iron Dextran there is evidence of greater benefit and results in treating Witness patients.

Many positive things can be said regarding alternative non-blood therapies, there is no denying that. At the same time the facts are, that our work would not be necessary if medical science were to find a replacement for blood. However, in August of 1997, blood is still a valuable product for saving lives and sometimes we overlook the benefit and the importance of using it. Even among the HLC members who have many years of experience in their assignment, you can find a complete ignorance of why blood is used. These brothers have been trained through Seminar’s I and II, and the only thing that many know about blood, is that it is a dangerous medical treatment and should be avoided. Not just because of Biblical reasons, but because they believe that it is bad medicine, and that there are good alternative products available.

There exists a guideline or “rule” that developed among clinicians that stated a patient likely should be transfused if the hemoglobin level fell below 10 or the hematocrit below 30. It is called the “10/30 rule.” Many doctors today still use this guideline, and sadly, some doctors even transfuse earlier without any medical reason. Another troubling question is, how low can we go without unnecessarily exposing the life of the patient?

After the Seminars, presented by three brothers from Hospital Information Services for Jehovah’s Witnesses in Brooklyn, the custom is to go and visit some hospitals and medical institutions. Brother Major Spry, Associate Director and the principle voice in Brooklyn around the blood issue, always try to send the message that the 10/30 rule is outdated and “we want it down, much more.” Often the doctors agree that ‘it is alright to get it down, but one shouldn’t’t forget that much depends on the patients age and condition.’ A young healthy person can endure more than an anemic, undernourished or aged patient. Therefore, each patient must be considered individually, and no standard position or policy can easily be defined.

Still, the brothers in Brooklyn have achieved some very good results by their work. One example of progress is noted in “The American Journal of Surgery” Consensus Conference: Blood Management Surgical Practice Guidelines, Volume 170, No. 6A (Suppl) December 1995. In this there is a proposal of about 11 policies for surgical blood management and proposed interventions that would achieve each policy’s intended outcome. “The policies were designed to achieve four clinical outcomes: maximization of oxygen delivery, cost-effective minimization of transfusion risks, education of physicians and patients, and appropriate surgical management of special surgery subset, Jehovah’s Witness patients.”

In the same “The American Journal of Surgery”, page 14, there is a section entitled: “Blood Management Policies For Jehovah’s Witnesses.” Policy 2 states:

“In general, Jehovah’s Witnesses refuse all allogeneic blood products and any autologous blood that has been separated from the body. These prohibitions do not prevent most Witnesses from accepting the use of cardiopulmonary bypass, dialysis, intraoperative blood salvage, and reinfusion. Although the casual observer may not discern a difference between these interventions and autologous blood that has been separated from the body, Jehovah’s Witnesses distinguish acceptable therapy from unacceptable according to whether the diverted blood is still part of the circulatory system. In dialysis and cardiopulmonary bypass, blood remains part of the circulation. Autotransfusion devices can meet this test by dedicating an intravenous line from the collective device to the patient to maintain a closed circuit. Hemodilution can be similarly modified.

Jehovah’s Witnesses readily accept most drugs, such as iron dextran, aprotinin, desmopressin, and synthetic “blood substitutes,” because these agents contain no human blood products. Hemoglobin-based blood substitutes are unacceptable to Jehovah’s Witnesses if they contain either human or animal blood.

As a matter of conscience, Jehovah’s Witnesses may accept some products that contain blood products, such as immune globulin. Epoetin alfa, which contains a small amount of human albumin, is acceptable to most Jehovah’s Witnesses. Albumin will likely be refused conscientiously when used as a volume expander, but the amount contained in Epoetin alfa is small and therefore generally acceptable.”

What is blood?

This description of our position as an organization is quite accurate. However, there are a couple of problems that HLC members must address. First, and the question is often asked: What is blood? This may seem like a simple question to answer, but it is not, for there are a number of blood components that the Society permits Witnesses to take. Are these components not also blood, and how is it decided which parts of the blood are acceptable, and which are not? Since it is acceptable to introduce these “allowed components” into our bodies, it is understandable that Witnesses and medical personnel are confused by our position? Although this question has been in the minds of many brothers, no one dares to deal with the question publicly. Why?

Hemodilution

When it comes to Hemodilution and Intraoperative autotransfusions, very few members of the HLC’s have taken the initiative to try and understand exactly how these procedures work. All of these external devices and methods should create questions as to whether or not the blood is still a part of the body. But the friends simply accept these procedures since the Society does not forbid them.

It is interesting to note how brothers who are struggling to find medical solutions react to the article, “Obstetrics and Gynecology, Volume 72, Number 6, December 1988, ‘A Simplified Device For Intraoperative Autotransfusion’.” When the article is presented, and the brothers see the device and the way blood is collected and stored into a blood bag, in a lowered position, their first and immediate reaction is generally to reject the device.

Here is how the procedure works: During the surgery doctors use Blood Aspiration with Automatic Anticoagulant Mixing, and the blood is collected into a Blood Reservoir. It is then drained by gravity into the Blood Bag, and stored in a lowered position until it is filled. When the Blood Bag is filled, it is raised to the top of the assembly, and the blood is reinfused. Although it is hard to see the blood as still being a part of the circulatory system, the brothers accept the procedure once they are told that the Society has approved of its use, and that it does not violate any scriptural principles.

Albumin

EPO

Another interesting feature about the use of Albumin that many members of the HLC’s have commented on, is that we should never decide or interfere in the conscientious decisions of our brothers. The problem here is that the Society has so greatly emphasized the benefit of Erythropoietin that HLC members often forget or don’t tell the brothers that between the two most common Erythropoietins: Eprex and Recormon, Eprex contains Albumin, but usually the HLC members don’t feel any responsibility to inform them of this. Another sad part of all this is that the brothers, even many members of the HLC’s, don’t really understand how Erythropoietin works, and hence over-estimate it’s value in treating Witnesses.

Erythropoietin (EPO) is a treatment used to raise the hematocrit, and stimulate the production of red blood cells which transports oxygen. Some members of the HLC’s feel that the Society has overemphasized the benefit of Erythropoietin. The recommended dosage in case of emergency is between 200-1000 IUnits/kg=2pounds/Daily, and when a clear response appears, 3 times a week. Some companies selling the product even recommend more IUnits. The sad part of this is that today the scientific documentation of the real benefit of Erythropoietin is vague.

The treatment is most frequently prescribed for patients with renal dysfunction’s, or patients who have predeposited their own blood some 4 weeks before an operation can receive a EPO treatment. But if the patient is in good health and no indications of any serious infections appear, they usually don’t need EPO. Even among the HLC members, there is confusion about the real benefit. Some suggest high dosages, not because a Witness patient needs it, or because an EPO treatment doesn’t bring serious contra-indications as long the hematocrit level is low, rather they feel more comfortable knowing that if something goes seriously wrong, at least it was not because EPO treatment was not used.

This lack of knowledge and lack of scientific documentation among the HLC members should be a matter of concern for the brothers. First of all, many brothers don’t know that the real benefit of an EPO treatment comes usually after 2-4 weeks. In about 3 days one can find a small reticulocyte response, within 7 days for hematocrit response, and the final and necessary benefit usually comes after 2-4 weeks. This is important to understand, particularly in a case of acute blood loss.

Another part of an EPO treatment is the Cost vs Benefit. Some doctors have recommended a small dose of EPO like 80 IUnits/kg/3 days a week. At the same time an HLC member without any scientific or medical reason, may recommend a dosage of of 600 IUnits/kg/each day the first week. In many places the patient will himself have to bear this expense. The costs may differ from one place to another, but we can conservatively estimate that the higher dosage recommended by the HLC member will drive up costs approximately $4,000.00, and this without any scientific justification, as optimal dosage regimens have not been determined for EPO.

Cord Blood

Another question that has been raised among some Jehovah’s Witnesses, as well as HLC members has to do with the issue of Umbilical Cord blood.

Today medical scientists are doing research about the use of umbilical cord blood and there are indications that it could contain and provide a vital lifesaving medical benefit. However, as in so many other cases, the Society is clearly opposed to us as Jehovah’s Witnesses accepting, or even donating umbilical cord blood (See W97, 2/1 – Questions From Readers). However, since they permit some of the components found in umbiblical cord blood to be produced and used, it is hard to see any logic or and biblical basis for their prohibition.

Problems with Alternative, Non-blood therapy

Avoiding blood is a way of searching for quality medical treatment. But offering something that can replace blood is simply not possible at this time. Doctors are well aware of the situation and the need for something to replace blood transfusions. When a good alternative to blood exists, doctors will use it. Today the only real alternatives are the surgeons skill, some medications, technical devices and procedures available in some of the hospitals, and of course the risk of operating outside the critical limits.

We as HLC members should ask ourselves if our work is simply to find cooperative doctors? A comment expressed among some brothers within the HLC’s was taken from the ‘Bloodless Coordinator’s Corner’ on the Internet. http://www.noblood.com

Sometimes hospitals and doctors accept the challenge to treat us with alternatives, but that could be fatal if they are not prepared for it. Sometimes the doctors are very interested in doing an experiment with a Jehovah’s Witness. Consider the statements made in the ‘Bloodless Coordinator’s Corner’, for this is the reality for many Witnesses right now in many countries when the hospital decides to cooperate without being prepared for it. As members of the HLC’s we can confirm that from our experience. Note the following:

“Our Guest Editorial comes from Bernice Goldstien, Coordinator for Bloodless Medicine and Surgery at Kadlec Medical Center in Richland, Washington. We thank Bernice for her contribution!

… Bloodless Surgery is not actually blood free. There is shed blood. ‘Bloodless’ is a term applied to transfusion free medicine. Bloodless Surgery is being requested by an increasing number of patients who recognize there are alternatives to blood transfusions.

In the past, the most one could hope for was a physician who agreed not to use blood as part of the treatment plan. According to Dr. Estioko, Cardiovascular Surgeon and Medical Director of the Bloodless Medicine “A promise not to give blood transfusions is not enough. A cooperative doctor could kill you.” What was he talking about? If the doctor agrees to operate without blood, what does he offer in it’s place? There is more he can do! Much more!

… Clearly, an arrangement for non-blood medical management goes far beyond a promise from a physician not to give blood. It involves real commitment by the entire hospital.”

Although the WTS is doing an excellent job of providing information about alternatives, the reality is, that in many countries the doctors and hospitals are not always prepared or even willing to handle a case with alternative therapy. Many cases have ended in tragedy, cases where our brothers were attended by a cooperative doctor, who was not qualified and lacked the required experience to handle the case. Often times because the doctor was not able to offer anything to adequately replace blood therapy. The sad part is that many HLC members do not realize that Witness patients often die because of a lack of commitment and the use of alternative treatment in the hospitals. The only real cooperation is often to simply let the patient die, and that is unacceptable. The medical staff should cooperate, and realize that another hospital or doctor might be of help, but this doesn’t always happen, and tragically, many HLC members are not really qualified to evaluate these situations and know how to respond.

Minor Children

The most depressing feature of being a member of a HLC is when our children are involved. Why has the WTS completely failed to gain one legal case when it comes to minor children? It is obvious, there is nothing so effective as human blood to transport oxygen and today there is nothing to replace its use in the medical field. We must appreciate the fact that the legal system protects our children. Even for us, as members of HLC’s, we realize that it is much easier to work with the doctors knowing the rules and laws about minor children. Every Jehovah’s Witness should know, although there have been cases where Witness parents have acted against it, that parental authority is not absolute and that there can be no guarantee of bloodless treatment for Witness minors in general. They should understand that the state, has the right to provide treatment believed to be necessary to safeguard a child’s life or health.

When there are effective alternatives available, when there is a choice to be made, that choice should be made by the parent and not by some doctor, social worker, or judge. But here one needs to ask an important question: Who is qualified to make a decision about alternative nonblood management, and will that decision adequately meet or respond to the child’s needs? As members of the HLC’s we have been eye witnesses of cases where cooperative doctors have followed the parents wishes for alternative non-blood therapy, and the results have sometimes been tragic, with just one more unnecessary death being the result.

We shouldn’t be too dogmatic about the benefit and positive results of using blood products, but one thing is for sure. As long as there is nothing that can replace the blood products, they are going to be used, and many children are going to be saved by them. Judges are going to decide in favor of using blood products and protecting the child’s life and health above the religious beliefs of the parents.

A Question of conscience?

One of the arguments we use and present to the doctors has to do with the emotional damage done to a person who’s conscience is violated by forcing a medical treatment made of human blood. Every reasonable person understands that it is unacceptable to force a treatment that violates a persons conscience. With most Witnesses, however, their conscience does not really enter the picture. They are simply responding to a situation based upon how the Society has ruled on it.

When we as as Jehovah’s Witnesses look back and remember the wounded and dead brothers who did not accept vaccinations, blood serums, organ transplants or hemophiliac treatments, we must acknowledge that they took their stand largely because of an organizational policy and prohibition forced upon them. These positions have now been abandoned by the leadership, and we rarely if ever see brothers refusing vaccinations, organ transplants, or any of the blood components on the Society’s approved list. This fact alone should cause anyone involved in these situations to pause and reflect seriously about the real issues involved. Is the issue truly one of conscience, and if so, whose conscience?

In Conclusion

We are a group of eight members of the HLC’s that have been carefully considering these points, and we would like to conclude this consideration with the following thoughts. In particular, we direct our comments to the brothers in ‘Hospital Information Services for Jehovah’s Witnesses in Brooklyn.’

Quoting your own words during Seminars I and II, we are supposed to be “trained professionals” in our area of providing information about alternative nonblood management and cooperative doctors. That’s fine, we have seen many blessings and the very good results of that work. We also hope that medical science can find something to replace the present blood products used in the medical field. What a blessing, not just for us as Jehovah’s Witnesses, but for all people of the earth. Certainly all of the doctors are going to rejoice when a replacement for blood becomes available, and surely it will immediately be applied in hospital protocols and procedures for emergency care.

But, despite what is going to happen in the near future, discovering new synthetic blood products, new diseases and infections, or something else, the real questions are still going to be in our minds: Is the Society’s blood doctrine actually correct? Why do so many brothers enter into an inner conflict about the issue when they consider the biblical facts? Has the Society really provided us with the truth, and all of the Biblical facts regarding blood? Do they realize that in accepting some minor blood components they have created a tremendous contradiction in their firm stand? Where are the serious and solid arguments against stored autologous blood transfusions? Do they appreciate that their position kills many precious minor children, unless the legal system steps in to provide protection for their life and health? Should our main concern as Jehovah’s Witnesses be to look for medical alternatives, or to confront ourselves with the biblical facts about life and blood?

Your brothers,

A group of Members in Hospital Liaison Committee’s

What follows is a letter we received from an H.L.C. brother who has come face to face with the problems, and has come forward to voice his concerns:

I am a regular reader of the different material and information about blood at the Net. Also I have the special privilege to be part of a HLC (Hospital Liaison Committee). However, I understand that we are working in a very dangerous field because of so many contradictions in our blood doctrine. Personally I suffer and often work with a deep feeling of guilt, particularly when our brothers need to go through unnecessary pain and death. I can personally testify to about 4 deaths of our brothers, where they could have been saved. How? These brothers and sisters could have been saved if available alternative treatment approved by the Society had been used. But why did they not use it? The doctors could not use the treatments because the Witness patients objected on the grounds that the treatments contained fractions of human blood. These patients were not able to explain why the Society approves these treatments, but after the HLC explained to the brothers, and the doctors, the Society’s position – they agreed. Sadly, in these 4 cases I have been through, the patients died because the necessary treatment was used too late.

I have shared the pain and loss with these brothers, hugging them, talking with them, sitting together with them in cold hospital corridors just to share some fellowship, and human compassion. These poor innocent brothers are victims and they can’t understand and explain their position except for being faithful to organizational directives. First they abstain completely from all alternative blood products, but if the organization gives their approval, then in a matter of seconds they change their mind and heart.

Let me be very clear – I am ready to leave this assignment, I can’t continue to support this cruel doctrinal enforcement. Precious children and wonderful Jehovah’s Witnesses are dying for nothing. There is just one thing that keeps me in this HLC. We are three brothers in different places that are not supporting the Society’s view. If someone in Brooklyn reads this, then I want them to know that we have been very successful in our work, among doctors and brothers, as to distributing information about our internal problems. We are not pushing the matter, we respect the individuals choice in this decision. But we also hope that Society could take note of what is going on, and in the name of the truth, love and justice, do what they must do for our dear brothers.

I want to use this opportunity to thank Lee Elder and some others out in the Net who hopefully can be a valuable tool in saving lives and changing erroneous doctrines.

Your Brother,

A Member of HLC

Bibliography

None

Footnotes

None

Citations

American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood. H.L.C. Elders Speak Out. October 2023; 12(1). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/hlc-elders

American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood. (2023, October 15). H.L.C. Elders Speak Out. In-Sight Publishing. 12(1).

Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood. H.L.C. Elders Speak Out. In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 12, n. 1, 2023.

Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood. 2023. “H.L.C. Elders Speak Out.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (Winter). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/hlc-elders.

Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood “H.L.C. Elders Speak Out.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (October 2023). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/hlc-elders.

Harvard: Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood. (2023) ‘H.L.C. Elders Speak Out’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 12(1). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/hlc-elders>.

Harvard (Australian): Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood 2023, ‘H.L.C. Elders Speak Out’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/hlc-elders>.

Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood. “H.L.C. Elders Speak Out.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.12, no. 1, 2023, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/hlc-elders.

Vancouver/ICMJE: Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood. H.L.C. Elders Speak Out [Internet]. 2023 Oct; 12(1). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/hlc-elders.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

2023-10-15

Media Guide

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Journal Founding: August 2, 2012

Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 12

Issue Numbering: 1

Section: B

Theme Type: Idea

Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”

Theme Part: 29

Formal Sub-Theme: None.

Individual Publication Date: October 15, 2023

Issue Publication Date: January 1, 2024

Author(s): Lee Elder

Author(s) Bio: None.

Word Count: 1,867

Image Credit: None.

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369–6885

*Original publication here during May, 2014.*

*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*

Keywords: Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood, Hospital Liaison Committee, Lee Elder, Media, right of the press, Watchtower Society.

Media Guide

The information below is taken directly from the written instructions provided to Hospital Liaison Committee members who take Seminar II, as provided by the Watchtower Society and shows how both the HLC and JW parents are coached to deal with the media. We have added our comments in red. Members of the media should find this information helpful when they interview representatives of the Watchtower Society or parents of Jehovah’s Witness children who are sick and having potentially lifesaving medical care withheld.

International Seminar II

Instructions for Hospital Liaison Committees

DEALING WITH THE MEDIA

AIM SHOULD BE TO SUPPORT THE FAMILY

Your first responsibility is to the family, your brothers

Can aid them by preparing them for what to say

Equally important — what NOT to say: “We believe in resurrection.”

Note how Jehovah’s Witness parents are prepared to avoid saying what they have been taught to think and believe in these situations. The Watchtower wants to put the proper “spin” on what is happening. If you can get parents or Watchtower spokesman to continue talking about how they really feel, instead of just parroting these prepared speeches, you will increase the likelihood that they will say tell you the truth about what is happening. They have been prepared to let their child die, even if nonblood alternatives fail, and to put their trust in God to resurrect their child.

Petition hospital administration to discontinue unwarranted invasion of family right to privacy by disclosing to the press

Right of press not above rights of parents

Accompany family to hospital’s media representative and patient’s representative (if they have such) to point out the added trauma created for family and other negative results to family/hospital

Clearly the Watchtower does not want the press involved in these situations, and is willing to use the issue of family privacy in an attempt to keep the matter hidden. We encourage members of the medical community not to be bullied into hiding what is happening in these situations. Negative media coverage creates pressure on the Watchtower to respect the rights of individual Witnesses to make their own choices in these situations.

TALKING TO THE MEDIA

Maintain control of self, family, situation and during any interviews with media; don’t let yourselves be rushed by them

Reporters trained to be aggressive, to push, manipulate

Their rapid-fire questions are usually loaded

You don’t have to answer a loaded question as given; reword it to your liking so you can represent us accurately

Example:“Why would you let your baby die rather than have life-saving blood?”

Answer: “I can see you misunderstand our position. We are here at the hospital for medical treatment for our child that will not subject it to the known hazards of LIFE-THREATENING blood. We are asking for available, non-blood medical management.”

When they see you have an answer, they like to interrupt with another question as they search for your weak spot.

Don’t let them get away with that; insist on finishing your answer to the question THEY raised, but be kind about it

At the same time, don’t RAMBLE; stick to issues

Note how HLC members are instructed to control the family and avoid answering difficult questions. It is a fact that untold numbers of Witnesses have in fact chosen to die because the Watchtower Society use of “undue influence”. Instructing them that they must comply or face the consequences of being shunned by all Jehovah’s Witness friends and family members, and face eternal death at the hands of God.

Doctors, Judges, and members of the press should acquaint themselves with the actual risks of blood transfusions, and be prepared to confront the Society’s spokesmen with the facts.

IMPORTANT: Keep answers brief, pointed, QUOTABLE

Media likes short replies that make it easy to edit info

Concise replies will also likely eliminate possibility of reporter using the multitude of words in a convoluted response to locate something to use to fit his view of the story

Short answers keep interviewer on the subject, not giving him something else to pick up on that is not on the subject

If a simple “Yes” or “No” will do the job, leave it at that

Respond to one question at a time, to one reporter at a time

Members of the media should be prepared to question the Society’s representative about the gross inconsistencies in the Watchtower blood policy. Here are some examples from our section on Questions:

Medical experts state that there are not always alternatives to blood. Would not withholding medical treatment from your child when death is the alternative make you or the parents responsible for the death?
If a blood transfusion is essentially an organ transplant, how can it be viewed as “eating blood,” since no digestion or nutritional benefit accrues? Can it be an organ transplant and a meal at the same time?
Why does the Society have to quote doctors who lived hundreds of years ago to find support for it’s belief that a transfusion is a feeding on blood? Why don’t modern doctors acknowledge that a blood transfusion is the same as “eating blood?”
Why does the society exaggerate the risks of blood transfusions, and make it seem that they are always bad medicine, when nearly all of the experts disagree?
How does the society go about deciding which blood components are major and which are minor? For example, why are white blood cells forbidden, but albumin allowed, since albumin constitutes a larger percentage of blood volume, and milk and organ transplants are full of white blood cells?
Why is it that plasma is forbidden when all of its separate components, with the exception of water, are on the approved list for Witnesses to take in order to “sustain life?”
If Witnesses must abstain from blood completely, as the Society says, then please explain why the Society permits them to accept all the fractions of human blood?

Witness spokesmen will not be able to provide reasonable answers to these questions.

SOME EXAMPLES OF WHAT TO SAY AND WHAT NOT TO SAY

“Are you willing to let your child die rather than accepting blood?”

“I’m not convinced that this is the choice I face for refusing blood transfusions. I am here–and came here willingly–to get the best medical treatment for my child. There are alternatives that are available. I want my child to be treated without the threat of the known hazards and complications of blood transfusions.”

“But the doctor says the baby will die without blood!”

“Well, the doctor is only telling you what he believes based on his individual experience. But we know (or are in touch with) doctors of greater experience who have assured us the child can be treated otherwise [if this is so]. So the only real issue here is not whether the child will die, but whether we have the right as parents to choose between several available medical treatments.”

This reply neutralizes the sensational mold that the reporter wishes to cast to give his slant to the story and focuses on the validity of alternative treatment and parental rights

At this point we would recommend that you ask the representative of the Society for a name of the physician so that you can verify what has been said. It is quite apparent that this is a diversionary tactic designed to imply that the physicians treating the minor child are incompetent, and that the real issue is the parent’s right to choose what they believe is best for their child.

It should be remembered that the parents are simply doing what the Society has instructed them to do. Whenever the Watchtower Society changes their mind about what is permitted and what is not permitted, the parents simply do what they are told. These frequent changes on medical policies are documented in the Historical Perspective. There really is no respect for individual conscience within the organization. You may also want to ask the spokesman what the actual risks of blood transfusions are when compared to the risks of refusing the blood.

The next step would be to point out some alternatives;

Usually inadvisable to say: “I have no comment!”

This implies we have no defense, know we are wrong!

Incorrect response: “Yes, if need be. We do believe in the resurrection and so we will see our child again.”

Headline: WITNESS PARENTS PREFER DEAD CHILD TO LIFE-SAVING BLOOD

Again it becomes clear how concerned the Watchtower Society is about how they are portrayed in the press. The facts of the matter are that many Witnesses have been so indoctrinated by the constant demonizing of blood transfusions, they would prefer that their child die, rather than accept a blood transfusion. Thankfully, the courts usually step in in these situations.

You may want to question the representative on his medical qualifications, and why he believes that he knows better than the Doctors and the Hospital.

You may also want to ask the spokesman why the Society insists that Witness parents not allow their sick child to take a blood transfusion when the nonblood alternatives have been exhausted. Even when this results in death.

You may have to aid the parents with information on alternatives

Here is where your notes on the case to date may be of help

“Hemoglobin count not truly dangerous yet” (Show articles)

“Know all other vital signs good?”

“Know child is playing on floor with other kids?” “Otherwise healthy?”

“Know doctor has admitted that blood not needed right now, so no real emergency; why does he want order?”

Alternatives–show “Strategies” sheets, references

“Why blood only? No other treatment really?”

“Why is doctor unwilling to try alternatives rather than let baby die?”

This last question highlights the Watchtower Society’s attempt to shift blame away from itself and onto the doctor’s involved in the situation. In effect implying that if the child dies, the real reason will be because the doctor was unwilling to treat the child without blood.

You might ask the spokesman why 61.5% of Witness patients whose hemoglobin drops to 6 or below die according to published scientific reports.

What other doctors say; offered for consultation; why is hospital/doctor unwilling to utilize available help?

“Another hospital willing to take patient; why not allowed?”

May want to discuss more about violation of right to privacy

In rare cases, may decide to say nothing to media at all, perhaps pending legal action or direction from Brooklyn

CONCLUSION

Seek Jehovah’s help in prayer for right words at right time

Self-control best ally under pressure–Galatians 5:22, 23; Proverbs 15:18

Important aspect of work, but must never overshadow primary work of looking after the spiritual and medical needs of the brothers

The Watchtower Society will try to control nearly every aspect of these situations. How the child responds, how the parents respond, how the H.L.C. members respond, and so forth. The reference to “Brooklyn” relates to the world head quarters of Jehovah’s Witnesses where the decision to let critically ill Witness children die rather than accept a potentially lifesaving blood transfusion has already been made. Now all that is left is for members to put the right spin on events.

Bibliography

None

Footnotes

None

Citations

American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Elder L. Media Guide. October 2023; 12(1). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/media-guide

American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Elder, L. (2023, October 15). Media Guide. In-Sight Publishing. 12(1).

Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): ELDER, L. Media Guide. In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 12, n. 1, 2023.

Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Elder, Lee. 2023. “Media Guide.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (Winter). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/media-guide.

Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Elder, L “Media Guide.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (October 2023). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/media-guide.

Harvard: Elder, L. (2023) ‘Media Guide’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 12(1). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/media-guide>.

Harvard (Australian): Elder, L 2023, ‘Media Guide’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/media-guide>.

Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Elder, Lee. “Media Guide.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.12, no. 1, 2023, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/media-guide.

Vancouver/ICMJE: Lee E. Media Guide [Internet]. 2023 Oct; 12(1). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/media-guide.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

2023-10-15

Endgame in Israel

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Journal Founding: August 2, 2012

Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 12

Issue Numbering: 1

Section: B

Theme Type: Idea

Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”

Theme Part: 29

Formal Sub-Theme: None.

Individual Publication Date: October 15, 2023

Issue Publication Date: January 1, 2024

Author(s): Sam Vaknin (Brussels Morning)

Word Count: 713

Image Credit: Sam Vaknin

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369-6885

*Submitted October 8 at 11:16 p.m. Pacific Time.*

*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*

Keywords: al-Aqsa, Gaza, Hamas, Iron Dome, Israel, Israelis, Jerusalem, Netanyahu, Palestine, Palestinians, Sam Vaknin, war, West Bank.

Endgame in Israel

On Saturday, October 7, 2023, a Jewish holy day, more than 1000 Palestinian fighters, affiliated with Hamas, penetrated the security wall (fence) from the Gaza Strip and entered the territory of the State of Israel. They also landed from the sea and a few paraglided into Israeli territory.

They took over several villages and towns, killed about 700 Israelis, most of them civilians, including women and children, and abducted more than 130 Israelis, both military personnel and civilians, including children. Another 2,400 are wounded, about 400 of them in critical condition.

At the time of writing, 48 hours later, some of the infiltrators are still within Israels’ territory and in control of several townships.

The whole campaign was accompanied by volleys of thousands of rockets that overwhelmed Israel’s defense system, Iron Dome and caused damage in multiple major cities, including Tel-Aviv, Ashkelon, and Jerusalem.

There was a massive failure of Israeli preemptive intelligence and of the military response once the incursion commenced.

The official reason given by Hamas for the “al-Aqsa Flood” military campaign, is the growing number of Jewish visitors to the al-Aqsa mosque, a Muslim holy site in Jerusalem.

The true reasons are:

1. The decline in the popularity of Hamas within Gaza and the West Bank owing to egregious failures of governance, growing internecine violence, and corruption of its officials; and

2. The imminent normalization of Israel’s relations with the rest of the Arab world – including, soon, with Saudi Arabia – at the expense of the overlooked interests of the Palestinians.

Hamas wants to burnish its credentials as an organization that is fighting for the liberation of Palestine from the Israeli much-hated occupation and, at the same time, restore the Palestinian problem as the main item on the agendas of Middle Eastern, Arab, Muslim, and US politics.

Similar to al-Qaeda and ISIS before it, Hamas deployed and depleted all its assets in one last desperate and self-destructive convulsive attempt. It will not be able to repeat this operation, even if it were to survive.

Hamas intends to use the hostages as human shields and then trade them for Palestinian militants held in Israeli prisons. Executions of hostages can also serve to sway public opinion and to score tactical goals in negotiations with Israel in the future.

Hezbollah in Lebanon has already rocketed targets in Northern Israel, but it was a limited and symbolic attack. Remarkably, there were also no major disturbances in the West Bank or inside Israel. Fatah, the main political movement in the West Bank, must be delighted with the self-immolation of its archenemy, Hamas.

If Israel were to maintain the proportionality of its reaction, the conflict will remain contained.

But, if Israel were to try to reconquer the Gaza Strip and eradicate Hamas, it will find itself at war with all the Palestinians, wherever they are – as well as with Iran and, possibly, Russia. Another outcome could be terrorist attacks in Europe on Jewish targets.

It all depends on Israel’s self-control and statesmanship now. The answer to terrorism should never be state terrorism.

Israel will cleanse the last remaining cells of Palestinians fighters within its territory and then invade the Gaza Strip after heavy aerial bombardments. This war is going to last weeks or months.

Israeli society has never been more divided and polarized: over the anti-democratic judicial reforms pushed by the criminally indicted Prime Minister Netanyahu and his corrupt and extremist allies; over the mushrooming political power of the ultra-Orthodox Jews; over the military; over income inequality and the unsustainable cost of living; over left vs. right; over the never-ending conflict with the Palestinians; and over many more issues of identity and values.

This war will unite the Israelis in the very short-term: a government of national unity is already in the works. But then it will serve to divide Israel and break it apart as the lessons of this surprise attack are learned. Israel is headed to a slow-motion internecine civil war. Its very survival is at risk.

In the process of this soul-searching and power play, Israel will become a way more authoritarian polity, militarized, and ostracized. This siege mentality will result in rogue actions by Israel throughout the oil-rich region. An era of extreme danger is upon us all, wherever we may be.

Bibliography

None

Footnotes

None

Citations

American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Vaknin S. Endgame in Israel. September 2023; 12(1). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/endgame-israel

American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Vaknin, S. (2023, October 15). Endgame in Israel. In-Sight Publishing. 12(1).

Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): VAKNIN, S. Endgame in Israel. In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 12, n. 1, 2023.

Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Vaknin, Sam. 2023. “Endgame in Israel.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (Winter). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/endgame-israel.

Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Vaknin, S “Endgame in Israel.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (September 2023).http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/endgame-israel.

Harvard: Vaknin, S. (2023) ‘Endgame in Israel’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 12(1). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/endgame-israel>.

Harvard (Australian): Vaknin, S 2023, ‘Endgame in Israel’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/endgame-israel>.

Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Vaknin, Sam. “Endgame in Israel.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.12, no. 1, 2023, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/endgame-israel.

Vancouver/ICMJE: Sam V. Endgame in Israel [Internet]. 2023 Sep; 12(1). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/endgame-israel.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

2023-10-15

Roslyn Mould: Making Humanist History

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Journal Founding: August 2, 2012

Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 12

Issue Numbering: 1

Section: A

Theme Type: Idea

Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”

Theme Part: 29

Formal Sub-Theme: None

Individual Publication Date: October 15, 2023

Issue Publication Date: January 1, 2024

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Word Count: 1,607

Image Credit: Gigi studios, Accra.

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369-6885

*Interview conducted in early-to-mid-August, 2023.*

*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*

Abstract

Roslyn Mould is the Vice President of Humanists International (2023-). She was Secretary and Chair of the Young Humanists International African Working Group from 2014 to 2019 and a Board Member for Humanists International from 2019 to 2023. She was a member of the Humanist Association of Ghana since it was founded in 2012 and held several positions, including President of the group from 2015 to 2019. She is the Coordinator for the West African Humanist Network, an Advisory Board member of the FoRB Leadership Network (UK), a Board member for LGBT+ Rights Ghana, and President of Accra Atheists. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Linguistics and Modern Languages. Mould discusses: becoming the first African Vice President of Humanists International.

Keywords: Activist, Africa, Andrew Copson, Anne-France Ketalaer, Elizabeth O’Casey, FoRB Leadership Network, Ghana, Humanism, Humanists International, LGBT, Roslyn Mould, Vice President, West African Humanist Network, Young Humanists International.

Roslyn Mould: Making Humanist History

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Okay! We are back after a long time since the last interview in 2019, it’s only been a week and a bit since we met in Copenhagen, again. Hooray!

Roslyn Mould: Yes! Hooray!

Jacobsen: Something historic happened. You became, basically, the first African woman to be Vice President of Humanists International. Congratulations on being historic!

Mould: Thank you!!!

Jacobsen: So, what inspired you to run for Vice President?

Jacobsen: You have other positions in professional life as well. What is going on there?

Jacobsen: As Vice President of Humanists International, which is significant, what are your aims for this term?

Jacobsen: Ros, thank you for your great work and the time.

Bibliography

None

Footnotes

None

Citations

American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Jacobsen S. Roslyn Mould: Making Humanist History. October 2023; 12(1). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/mould-history

American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Jacobsen, S. (2023, October 15). Roslyn Mould: Making Humanist History. In-Sight Publishing. 12(1).

Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): JACOBSEN, S. Roslyn Mould: Making Humanist History. In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 12, n. 1, 2023.

Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Jacobsen, Scott. 2023. “Roslyn Mould: Making Humanist History.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (Winter). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/mould-history.

Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Jacobsen, S “Roslyn Mould: Making Humanist History.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (October 2023).http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/mould-history.

Harvard: Jacobsen, S. (2023) ‘Roslyn Mould: Making Humanist History’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 12(1). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/mould-history>.

Harvard (Australian): Jacobsen, S 2023, ‘Roslyn Mould: Making Humanist History’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/beth-underhill-3>.

Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Jacobsen, Scott. “Roslyn Mould: Making Humanist History.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.12, no. 1, 2023, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/mould-history.

Vancouver/ICMJE: Scott J. Roslyn Mould: Making Humanist History [Internet]. 2023 Oct; 12(1). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/mould-history.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

2023-10-15

Child Sacrifice and Jehovah’s Witnesses

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Journal Founding: August 2, 2012

Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 12

Issue Numbering: 1

Section: B

Theme Type: Idea

Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”

Theme Part: 29

Formal Sub-Theme: None.

Individual Publication Date: October 15, 2023

Issue Publication Date: January 1, 2024

Author(s): Lee Elder

Author(s) Bio: None.

Word Count: 1,226

Image Credit: AJWRB, Bonnie Faye Trigger.

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369–6885

*Original publication here during May, 2014.*

*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*

Keywords: Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood, Bible, blood, blood transfusions, child sacrifice, doctors, God, Governing Body, Kingdom Ministry, Lee Elder, scientists, Watchtower Society.

Child Sacrifice and Jehovah’s Witnesses

Jehovah’s Witness parents and their minor children are under tremendous pressure to support the Watchtower Society’s irrational policies on blood. This is not the first time families trying to serve Jehovah God have felt compelled to offer up their children as a sacrifice. At one time, Israelites were compelled to offer their children to the false God Molech and were undoubtedly deeply touched when called upon to make their sacrifice. How did God view such child sacrifice. The Bible tells us:

Image by Bonnie Faye Trigger

And they have built the high places of To’pheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hin’nom, in order to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, a thing that I had not commanded and that had not come up into my heart. (Jer. 7:31)

We sincerely hope that Jehovah’s Witness parents will find the courage to stand up against this ghastly policy that has claimed so many young Witnesses lives. Have you given written permission for your child to die, to be offered up upon the Watchtower Society’s alter of blood? If so, why?

Would you have ever concluded that the Bible forbade certain kinds of blood transfusions if the Watchtower Society had not taught you this? You will note that the blood card or Advance Directive states: “…as Jehovah’s Witnesses we do not accept blood transfusions.” This statement is not accurate. As Jehovah’s Witnesses, we are permitted – by the Society – to accept many types of blood transfusions as well as the use of cell salvage and hemodilution – which are autologous blood transfusions according to doctors and scientists.

The Governing Body is dead serious about Witness parents not giving their children blood transfusions. Sadly, many of the children are just plain dead.

To those who find it difficult to believe that the leadership of the Watchtower really expect such sacrifices from their members. Please consider the following comments from the Kingdom Ministry of September 1992, pages 3-5. Comments from the article are in blue. Our comments are in black: Safeguarding Your Children From Misuse of Blood

“Look! Sons are an inheritance from Jehovah.” (Ps. 127:3) If you have such a precious inheritance from Jehovah, you, as parents, have a happy, although serious, responsibility to train, care for, and protect your children. For example, have you taken every reasonable step to protect your young children from a blood transfusion? How would your children react if faced with the prospects of a transfusion? Have you discussed as a family what you might do to deal effectively with an emergency situation in which a transfusion is threatened”?

Parents are asked not only to circumvent any attempt to provide a needed transfusion, but to even be responsible for how their children react to the situation.

“What will you do if an attorney or a judge asks you why you are refusing a “lifesaving” transfusion for your child? Although your first inclination might be to explain your belief in the resurrection and express your strong faith that God will bring your child back if he dies, such an answer by itself may do no more than convince the judge, whose paramount concern is the physical welfare of the child, that you are a religious fanatic and that he must step in to protect your child.”

Parents are drilled in how they should respond if brought before a judge, and taught what to say and what not to say:

“You simply do not agree that the alleged benefits of blood outweigh its potentially lethal hazards and complications….”

Here Witness parents are instructed to repeat the Watchtower propaganda they have been taught. We can be thankful that at least in the United States most judges have the good sense to realize that doctors are in a better position to evaluate the risk benefit ratio of using blood, than are parents who have been indoctrinated by the Watchtower Society – the pioneers of quack medicine, and the bans of vaccines and organ transplants.

“When judges are called upon to issue court orders hastily, often they have not considered or been reminded of the many dangers of blood, including AIDS, hepatitis, and a host of other hazards. You can point these out to the judge…”

It never ceases to amaze how the Watchtower continually emphasizes the risks of blood transfusions, when this is supposed to be a religious issue. Sadly, most Witnesses remain unaware of how the Watchtower Society has grossly distorted these risks.

“But it should be made clear to all concerned that you, as parents, feel an obligation to continue to do all that you can to avoid a transfusion. This is your God-given responsibility.”

Here the Kingdom Ministry pulls out the big gun. Fear, guilt and intimidation.

“If a court order is issued despite your best efforts, continue to implore the physician not to transfuse…So, even after a court order has been issued, never give up, regardless! – See June 15, 1991, issue of The Watchtower, “Questions From Readers.”

Here are highlights from that WT article:

W91 6/15 31 Questions From Readers “Jesus withdrew from the area when a crowd wanted to make him king. Similarly, if a court-authorized transfusion seemed likely, a Christian might choose to avoid being accessible for such a violation of God’s law. (Matthew 10:16; John 6:15) ….If a Christian did put forth very strenuous efforts to avoid a violation of God’s law on blood, authorities might consider him a lawbreaker or make him liable to prosecution. If punishment did result, the Christian could view it as suffering for the sake of righteousness. “

Clearly, Jehovah’s Witness parents get the message they should remove their child from the hospital, even if a court order exists to transfuse the child. This is in fact what sometimes happens. If the child should die in the process, the parents must be prepared to accept punishment from the secular authorities according to the Watchtower.

Parents, make the necessary preparations in advance to protect your child from a spiritually contaminating blood transfusion. (Prov. 22:3) Children, respond to the training of your parents in making these preparations and apply them to your heart. As a family, “be firmly resolved not to eat the blood . . . that it may go well with you” because of having Jehovah’s blessing and smile of approval.-Deut. 12:23-25.

The pressure placed upon both Witness parents, and their children is formidable. Therefore, what may appear to be a Witnesses strong stand based upon conscience may in reality be nothing more than an organizational position that has been forced upon them through the Watchtower’s undue influence. One that they may have never even seriously questioned.

Consider this: Can you as one of Jehovah’s Witness offer a reasonable explanation of why the Watchtower selectively permits many types of blood transfusions but not others? When we question other H.L.C. members, or branch representatives about these contradictions they usually state: “I don’t agree with the Society’s position on blood fractions.” If the WTS can’t explain the doctrine, if it doesn’t make sense, then why should parents stand by and watch their children die when the non-blood alternatives are exhausted?

It seems that the Governing Body of the Jehovah’s Witnesses views the victims of its blood doctrine as necessary “small sacrifices” that must be made for them to keep face and not face the consequences of decades of bad policy. If you are a Jehovah’s Witness parent, we implore you to give your child the medical treatment they need. Seek non-blood alternative care if appropriate, but don’t let your child die over this misguided and tragic policy.

When you understand all of the facts – you will see this doctrine for what it truly is. Hundreds – perhaps thousands – of children have died already. This saves the Governing Body the embarrassment of having to admit that they were wrong. Will you give your child’s life as well? Will you let a friend or a relative offer their child upon the Society’s alter of blood?

Imagine this: Your child is gasping for air. His blood count is perilously low. His heart rate is at 200, and climbing. The doctors have told you that without a transfusion, he will die of respiratory distress and heart failure. Blood expanders will not help at this point, he needs more red blood cells. He is horribly pale and listless and with wide eyes, he looks at you and whispers “Help me, Daddy, help me Mommy.” What should you do?

Should you let your child die based on the word of an organization that has changed its mind about organ transplants, vaccinations, civil service, the “sheep and the goats,” the “generation of 1914”, and a practically endless list of important dates: 1799, 1874, 1878, 1881, 1914, 1918, 1920, 1925, 1975, etc., etc., etc.? Is this really what Jehovah and Jesus expect of you? How will you feel if the remaining blood component prohibition is discarded like the vaccine, organ transplant and blood fraction bans of yesteryear? Will you be able to forgive yourself? Such a scenario is not simply hypothetical. It has happened over and over again. Don’t be a victim, and don’t sit back and allow others to be victims.

Bibliography

None

Footnotes

None

Citations

American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Elder L. Child Sacrifice and Jehovah’s Witnesses. October 2023; 12(1). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/child-sacrifice

American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Elder, L. (2023, October 15). Child Sacrifice and Jehovah’s Witnesses. In-Sight Publishing. 12(1).

Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): ELDER, L. Child Sacrifice and Jehovah’s Witnesses. In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 12, n. 1, 2023.

Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Elder, Lee. 2023. “Child Sacrifice and Jehovah’s Witnesses.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (Winter). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/child-sacrifice.

Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Elder, L “Child Sacrifice and Jehovah’s Witnesses.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (October 2023). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/child-sacrifice.

Harvard: Elder, L. (2023) ‘Child Sacrifice and Jehovah’s Witnesses’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 12(1). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/child-sacrifice>.

Harvard (Australian): Elder, L 2023, ‘Child Sacrifice and Jehovah’s Witnesses’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/child-sacrifice>.

Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Elder, Lee. “Child Sacrifice and Jehovah’s Witnesses.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.12, no. 1, 2023, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/child-sacrifice.

Vancouver/ICMJE: Lee E. Child Sacrifice and Jehovah’s Witnesses [Internet]. 2023 Oct; 12(1). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/child-sacrifice.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

2023-10-15

Straight from the Doctor

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Journal Founding: August 2, 2012

Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 12

Issue Numbering: 1

Section: B

Theme Type: Idea

Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”

Theme Part: 29

Formal Sub-Theme: None.

Individual Publication Date: October 15, 2023

Issue Publication Date: January 1, 2024

Author(s): John Doyle

Author(s) Bio: None.

Word Count: 1,226

Image Credit: None.

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369–6885

*Original publication here during May, 2014.*

*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*

Keywords: Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood, AIDS, blood, blood count, diseases, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, Jehovah’s Witnesses, John Doyle, oxygen transport, Satan, Watchtower Society.

Straight From the Doctor

Dr. John Doyle, M.D answers questions Jehovah’s Witnesses want to ask.

QUESTION: These blood components allowed by the WTS, aren’t really blood, are they?

ANSWER: They are derived from fractionating blood, and so are blood products by definition.

QUESTION: Aren’t there always alternatives to blood?

ANSWER: Very often there is. A patient with a high blood count (hemoglobin concentration) can sometimes tolerate large blood losses as long as the remaining blood is diluted with appropriate saline or other “balanced salt solution” so that the amount of circulating blood volume is still approximately the same. Of course, the diluted blood cannot carry oxygen as well as it did earlier. But once the hemoglobin concentration falls below 6 g/dl (severe anemia) the risk of organ injury or death from oxygen deprivation rises to the point that few physicians would ordinarily withhold blood.

For example, in one study of Witness surgical patients who needed but refused blood transfusion, over 60% of those with a hemoglobin concentration under 6 g/dl died (full data are given on one of my Web pages). By the way, efforts to make true blood substitutes that carry oxygen (salt solutions do not carry significant amounts of oxygen) are in progress. These substitutes are made from discarded human blood, and should be available in 5-10 years if all goes well.

QUESTION: Doesn’t blood kill more people than it saves? What about AIDS and all of the diseases that blood carries?

ANSWER: We all know that blood transfusions are not risk free. Indeed, nor are the drugs used to treat diseases entirely risk-free. Even latex surgical gloves can cause a severe allergic reaction in some individuals! (One of my patients almost died from this during routine gynecologic surgery – fortunately we recognized the problem and she responded to epinephrine).

The whole bloodless surgery movement, which I enthusiastically support (see my Web pages on the topic), is aimed at reducing potential complications from blood transfusions. As a result of the AIDS and hepatitis scare in the 1980’s, physicians have thoroughly revised their thinking about when blood transfusions are appropriate (see more of my Web pages for sample transfusion guidelines). This fact, coupled with the availability of new tests for blood-borne pathogens (see earlier question), puts the benefit to risk ratio for blood transfusions at an all-time high. In my opinion the ratio of lives saved to lives lost from blood transfusions is now likely many thousand to one.

QUESTION:The Witnesses who died after refusing a blood transfusion would have probably died anyway. Blood doesn’t save lives, does it?

ANSWER: In some cases of severe injury (terminal cancer, 95% burns, smashed-in head, for instance) transfusing blood to optimum levels may only increase the chance of survival modestly. In other cases where there is no concurrent problem besides the severe anemia (bleeding from an ulcer that has been surgically fixed, bleeding from a cut artery, for instance) blood transfusions may be genuinely life-saving. The benefits of blood transfusions depend strongly on the clinical context.

QUESTION: Do doctors want to use blood to cover up sloppy surgical technique?

ANSWER: Surgeons, like lawyers, car mechanics, teachers and golf pros all vary in capabilities. As an anesthesiologist, I have noted wide variations in the skills of surgeons in reducing blood loss. Many hospitals have an audit process to let surgeons know when their patients consistently require more blood than average.

Still, some surgical procedures (radical prostatectomy, craniofacial surgery, spinal surgery, for example) are associated with large blood losses even in the best of hands. Even then, predonation (“autologous transfusions”) can sometimes be used to reduce the risk of disease transmission.

However, in the final analysis, patients cared for by surgeons that are sloppy about hemostasis (the prevention of surgical bleeding) will, on average, require more blood transfusions than those cared for by meticulous surgeons.

QUESTION: Do Doctors make more money by ordering a blood transfusion?

ANSWER: No. At least not in Canada.

QUESTION: Doctors have substitutes for blood that work just as well, don’t they?

ANSWER: No, not in terms of oxygen transport to organs. This situation may change in 5-10 years, however, with synthetic blood made from discarded human blood.

QUESTION: I read that blood transfusions have lots of complications, especially if someone has cancer. This proves that they are bad medicine, doesn’t it?

ANSWER: I have written about the complications of blood transfusion in one of my Web pages, but these complications do not make blood transfusions to be “bad” medicine any more than the fact that general anesthesia or antibiotics have potential complications makes them “bad” treatments.

QUESTION: Doctors are unknowingly being used by Satan to test my faith. In times past they used to believe that taking blood out of a person was the best way to treat them. Now they want to transfuse blood from another person into them. Why should I believe them?

ANSWER: A good doctor will take the time to explain why a transfusion is, in their opinion, necessary. If you think your doctor is the agent of Satan, he or she would likely not be upset if you sought out another doctor instead.

QUESTION: What the Bible and the Society have to say about blood is more important, and accurate than what doctors believe about blood, isn’t it?

ANSWER: More important, possibly. More accurate, unlikely.

QUESTION: Isn’t it true that red blood cells don’t carry oxygen for the first 48 hours or so in an emergency because its foreign blood.

ANSWER: That is complete nonsense. The red cells begin transporting oxygen immediately.

QUESTION: What tests are applied to donated blood to protect against transmitting blood-borne pathogens?

ANSWER: The following information from the Canadian Red Cross Web site (http://www.redcross.ca) provides the answer:

“Blood donations are subjected to many complex tests.” “The Canadian Red Cross will test your donated blood to see if it has signs which may be associated with some diseases. It is done as part of our efforts to determine if your blood can be used for transfusion into a patient. For example, some of the routine tests which are currently done on all blood donations are: Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C; Human immunodeficiency viruses HIV-1 and HIV-2 (the viruses that cause AIDS); Human T-Cell lymphotropic viruses HTLV-1 (it can cause a rare form of leukemia in adults and chronic nervous system disease); and Syphilis”

Blood testing in the USA and the rest of the Western world is similar.

QUESTION: How likely is it that a blood unit intended for transfusion is tainted?

ANSWER: In an article in the Tortonto Star (November 28, 1997, p. A6) the following information was reported. The data is Canadian.

One unit of blood out of every 913,000 is now tainted with HIV, the AIDS virus.

For hepatitis C, one unit in every 103,000 is likely tainted.

For hepatitis B, it is one unit in 60,000.

The article quoted Dr. Grahan Sher of the Toronto Hospital as saying “These are small risks. But there not zero. But blood can never be 100% safe because it is a human-derived product. It’s enormously safer than it ever was before. And we continue to put in place new and more sophisticated lab tests that can reduce those risks even further.”

D. John Doyle MD PhD FRCPC
Toronto Hospital and University of Toronto

Bibliography

None

Footnotes

None

Citations

American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Doyle J. Straight From the Doctor. October 2023; 12(1). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/straight-doctor

American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Doyle, J. (2023, October 15). Straight From the Doctor. In-Sight Publishing. 12(1).

Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): DOYLE, J. Straight From the Doctor. In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 12, n. 1, 2023.

Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Doyle, John. 2023. “Straight From the Doctor.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (Winter). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/straight-doctor.

Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Doyle, J “Straight From the Doctor.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (October 2023). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/straight-doctor.

Harvard: Doyle, J. (2023) ‘Straight From the Doctor’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 12(1). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/straight-doctor>.

Harvard (Australian): Doyle, J 2023, ‘Straight From the Doctor’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/straight-doctor>.

Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Doyle, John. “Straight From the Doctor.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.12, no. 1, 2023, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/straight-doctor.

Vancouver/ICMJE: John D. Straight From the Doctor [Internet]. 2023 Oct; 12(1). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/straight-doctor.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

Copyright

© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

2023-10-15

My Child is Dead

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing

Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014

Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com

Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Journal Founding: August 2, 2012

Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year

Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed

Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access

Fees: None (Free)

Volume Numbering: 12

Issue Numbering: 1

Section: B

Theme Type: Idea

Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”

Theme Part: 29

Formal Sub-Theme: None.

Individual Publication Date: October 15, 2023

Issue Publication Date: January 1, 2024

Author(s): Mary

Author(s) Bio: None.

Word Count: 744

Image Credit: AJWRB.

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369–6885

*Original publication here during May, 2014.*

*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*

Keywords: Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses Reform on Blood, child, dead, doctor, hospital, Jehovah, Mary, transfusions, Watchtower Society.

My Child is Dead

My son was theocratic – bright and promising and a true servant of Jehovah. He dreamed of going to Bethel to serve Jehovah more fully. He prepared for meetings on his own, pioneered during summer breaks, handled the microphones at the Kingdom Hall, and timed the student talks for the Ministry School Overseer. He even gave talks at assemblies. We were so proud!

He was 15 years old and in the 9th grade when he and another young Witness were in a terrible auto accident. The other boy was driving my son home from the Sunday meeting when he raced the car, lost control and flipped. I was a faithful Witness for 29 years, and my husband and I trained our son to refuse blood transfusions. He told the ambulance drivers, “No blood!” and he said it again at the first hospital before he became unconscious. When he was air lifted to the trauma center, he was immediately transfused because he was unconscious and a minor.

By then, however, a lot of time had passed and there had been severe internal bleeding that had damaged his heart and other organs. When we arrived at the trauma center, the doctor told us that he had little chance of survival without blood transfusions, and that they had given him several units when he arrived. This angered my husband a great deal but I said nothing. Secretly, I had hoped the doctors would give him blood despite our wishes if a transfusion could save his life. The doctor said they restarted his heart twice and that gave us a glimmer of hope but twenty minutes later, with tears in his eyes, the doctor said they couldn’t restart his heart a third time – he had died.

My husband and my two other sons and I cried and cried and cried. I have never known such anguish and physical pain! I wanted to die. The pain was unbearable. I kept thinking, “Would he have lived if he got blood at the first hospital?” A spiral of profound change began in my life.

When you see your child lying wrapped in a white sheet, their pale lifeless face – there is no comfort. I will be forever carrying that picture of my son in my mind – wearing the face of death. No words can touch that place where your heart is dying. The hope of the resurrection means nothing when you can’t see or touch the living-breathing child that filled your life with joy. Never seeing them smile at you, laugh with you, or give you a hug ever again in the days to come. Never hearing them say, “I love you” again. I’ve suffered pain, but nothing compared to the pain of losing my beloved son. Your whole body becomes sickened with the most horrible physical pain one can feel. I’ve suffered pain, but nothing compared to the pain of losing a child.

I pray that any Jehovah’s Witness who has children and reads this will never have to face such a loss such as mine. A loss that can be prevented if they have a true understanding of what the Watchtower Society is asking them to sacrifice. After my son had died, I realized my nagging doubts about the Watchtower’s blood policies needed to be fully investigated. Hadn’t I just lost a child for these purportedly God-given laws I had lived by for 29 years?

I soon learned that over the years the Witnesses have changed many teachings about blood and that the Governing Body was about to change more of its blood doctrines. Why are some parts of blood permitted when others are not? Where did they find this in the Bible? In addition, if the Bible says nothing about transfusions, how can the Governing Body say with certainty that blood transfusions are wrong in Jehovah’s eyes? How could I forgive those men for my son’s death? In my opinion, the men of the Governing Body have the blood of many innocents on their hands. They who taught us falsely in God’s name are accountable to him.

My heart is completely broken – my child is dead. I beg of you who read my story, don’t let this happen to you. Educate yourself now before you are faced with a similar tragedy. If any child can be saved by their parents thinking now rather than after they lose their child, perhaps my son’s death will not have been for nothing.

Bibliography

None

Footnotes

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Citations

American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Mary. My Child is Dead. October 2023; 12(1). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/child-dead

American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Mary. (2023, October 15). My Child is Dead. In-Sight Publishing. 12(1).

Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): Mary. My Child is Dead. In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 12, n. 1, 2023.

Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Mary. 2023. “My Child is Dead.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (Winter). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/child-dead.

Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Mary. “My Child is Dead.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 1 (October 2023).http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/child-dead.

Harvard: Mary. (2023) ‘My Child is Dead’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 12(1). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/child-dead>.

Harvard (Australian): Mary. 2023, ‘My Child is Dead’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/child-dead.

Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Mary. “My Child is Dead.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.12, no. 1, 2023, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/child-dead.

Vancouver/ICMJE: Mary. My Child is Dead [Internet]. 2023 Oct; 12(1). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/child-dead.

License

In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.

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© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.

2023-10-14

Pith 655: Syncopation

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/14

Syncopation: Drumatumtimein onoff outoftime; “You need to come see mom here with me now, because she wants to kill herself.”

See “Echoes”.

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2023-10-14

Pith 654: Moral Authority & Providence

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

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Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/14

Moral Authority & Providence: Canada, for 150+ years, is primarily Christian ‘love’ in oppression of others; it’s ending.

See “New Love”.

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2023-10-14

Pith 653: Abraham’s People’s War

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

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Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/14

Abraham’s People’s War: Many Christian enthusiasts in militaries look at Israel-Palestine as fulfilling prophecy.

See “Lunatics w/ guns”.

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2023-10-14

Pith 652: Enthusiasts

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/14

Enthusiasts: A helpful thought experiment in Christian Canadian townships, think of Christian enthusiasts, as if a band.

See “Dad Jokes”.

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2023-10-14

Pith 651: Yirltwiode

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/14

Yirltwiode: Keepobration andononandon anon, girl powertwo beetoo more; yulewin anden out; a mask, curtsy, arm flexed.

See “Emancipation”.

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2023-10-14

Pith 650: Infralogic-Superlogic

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

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Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/14

Infralogic-Superlogic: A & Not-Not-A mean the same conclusion; to us, they feel different; so human reason is Superlogic.

See “Intuition”.

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2023-10-14

Pith 649: Women’s Suppression

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

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Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/14

Women’s Suppression: Subpopulations who suppress women tend to reject evolution and the climate crisis, too — just sayin’.

See “Freedom”.

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2023-10-14

Pith 648: Women, why do so many inordinately love romance novels and tales?

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/14

Women, why do so many inordinately love romance novels and tales?: Simple, they are love lines that do not end badly.

See “Curves”.

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2023-10-14

Pith 647: The Western Formula

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/14

The Western Formula: Destroy a nation-state and peoples with war; when desperate over generations, you send missionaries.

See “Unethical”.

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2023-10-14

Pith 646: Flesh & Spirit

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

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Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/14

Flesh & Spirit: Those proclaiming faith in the Spirit act in accordance with the Flesh, because there’s only flesh.

See “Carbon”.

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2023-10-14

Pith 645: Sitstilly Silentium’s Eye

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

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Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/14

Sitstilly Silentium’s Eye: I, sit still, silly me oh my, in silence see oh sigh; eye to eye, still sit I, in silence.

See ”Wordless word”.

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2023-10-14

Pith 644: Take mayhand

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/14

Take mayhand: A whirled, a twowin underverse, hand and man; diffuse me, playon moi, day I grass tower ma’amd, sweets?

See ”Show me”.

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2023-10-14

Pith 643: Let me show you, clickclock mynehound

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

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Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/14

Let me show you, clickclock mynehound: Pin linear, sittle straightself & Gao; tieshoe, ina flesh; Dao Time is Now Time.

See “Simple see”.

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2023-10-14

Pith 642: Mindingtiltraddle

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/14

Mindingtiltraddle: Afreight off ascather on mine fright; mind mended, lean twos won-wise, cool boat bend riverrun down mynd.

See ”Saw”.

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