Quote
ThePetitor
( quoting Latigo )
Clive will be able to confirm that there was no connection between his first post – the second on the forum - and the start of Latigo214. They were simultaneous expressions of the same genuine concern which had remained unshared publicly for far too long.
Yes I can confirm there is no connection at all. I dont actually know when the Latigo site started and would be interested to know just out of interest. And thus - putting aside the allusions to a movie that to my memory had a scene alleged to contain homeo-erotic allusions, involving Tony Curtis - and - i think - Kirk douglas in a roma jacuzzi - I am - alas - definitely NOT Latigo !.
Quote
ThePetitor
( quoting Latigo )
There is also growing evidence that the online scrutiny is having an effect both on the leadership and the attendees of Struthers.
Encouraging if true. It would be good to know if this evidence comes via direct feedback via personal ( or email ) contact from currently active SMC members to a latigo poster, or is just reflecting the sermon which mentioned this forum and some "chatter" within SMC that would naturally have occurred for a while after this sermon. For example one can imagine that for a while, after SMC members got to know or view the forum, that there would have been a period of group "pitying" of the apostates, along with thinly veiled personality assassinations couched in spiritual language. my guess is that someone will have done a count of the posters here, figured that the majority if not all of the latigo crew also post here, hence one is only talking of a "tiny" amount of dissenters.
And that life there has returned to "normal". One should never underestimate the collective power of group-think, cognitive dissonance and rationalisation.
It is telling however that Latigo is having some trouble obtaining sermon recordings after the Struthers site stopped allowing their sermons to be downloaded. So this suggests they do not have contact with anyone who is sympathetic to their cause but still "inside" struthers. Otherwise they would be able to obtain CDs or MP3's of the latest sermons and continue making their commentaries on those too.
Latigo seems to be implying that I claim there is some problem with being a Latigo contributor and also a Rick Ross poster ( nearly said RickRoll there - close call ! ) but i dont think that at all. Its all good dudes!.
But consider is this :- how it would be if NOBODY on this forum had a nitname at all - or if EVERY poster in this thread had the same nitname - It would make the kind of conversation that followed a bit ridiculous and certainly cumbersome practically !.
I wish the latigo creators all the best with their site and it was an big and encouraging surprise to discover it so soon after my first post. But think about this, there will come a point when something on the site gets criticised. rightly or wrongly by someone here. Maybe it is just a factual error that needs correcting. Or some minor point of nuance needing - here comes that Latigo word - wait for it......
clarification ! .
Wouldnt it then be just a wee bit silly to have - for example, ThePetitor then make a post here stating something like " I just sent an email to the latigo webmaster and got back this reply - "...xyz..... " , when it would in fact just be simpler all round for latigo, in order to continue keeping any connections to current posters here hidden, just create a new seperate username here named Latigo. That way latigo can reply to any poster here directly.
So here - to reiterate again what i said above - I think it might be helpful for the latigo crew to just create a new user here called Latigo or something similar.
I have to say though, I think we should be realistic and honest about overall numbers involved who share our concerns and maybe latigo can clarify this too - but my guess is that there arent a great "many more" unknown dissenters hiding behind the latigo site other than those already here. Maybe its no more than a poster here, plus their spouse, or two ex members who were friends, and most likely only one of those actually does the bulk of the writing and webmastering. But in the spirit of honesty - just like the latigo site has to my recollection - brought SMC to task for "bigging itself up" in terms of how large it is numerically ( whereas in actual fact considering the number of churches it has, it is numerically tiny and a bit of a soul-winning failure - 300 - in a supposedly dynamic spirit filled church filled with members who are the "salt of the earth" - "lights shining upen a hill" - a people presumably encouraged not to "hide their light under a bushel" - the lords very 'anointed" - over how many decades ? 50 give me a break ! ) neither should the latigo posse be suggesting a "many" behind its veil that in reality isnt a many.
I should end by agreeing however that all of this really is of quite minor importance compared to the much bigger issues raised here. I only
raised all of this in the first place for issues of practicality. I dont see any need for - what are effectively multiple layers of anonymity.
Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 07/28/2011 06:59PM by Clive.