Ways to get Jehovah’s Witnesses to fuck off (as written by a former Jehovah’s Witness)
Ask to be put on the Do Not Call list. If you think it’s necessary, ask to watch them get out the territory card and write it down, but realistically, Witnesses in my experience are pretty good about this and the only time it won’t be honored is if someone forgets to check your address or if it’s been like 10+ years
Tell them you are an apostate. They are not allowed to speak to apostates at all, ever, but especially in regards to their beliefs. They aren’t supposed to go to places/events where they know apostates will be
Argue with them. Jehovah’s Witnesses are instructed to end the conversation and leave if it becomes clear that someone wants to debate rather than just passively learn and accept that they were wrong before. This might get you put on the DNC list without even asking
DO NOT answer the door naked. You wouldn’t think this needs said, but intentionally flashing people is sexual harassment, and Jehovah’s Witnesses frequently preach with children— both as a training thing and because people are more likely to be receptive. They say every JW who’s preached long-term has gotten a naked householder at least once. Do not do this
DO NOT unleash your dogs in the yard. First off, your dogs aren’t as mean as you think they are lol. Second off, almost every JW has been dealing with giant jumpy dogs— again— since they were children. Letting loose your dogs will get their dress clothes muddy, possibly tear them, and maybe scare some children/a few adults who will simply pass the door to someone else. It will also make every other dog in the neighborhood start barking. This isn’t helping you or anyone else
DO NOT call the police. Evangelizing is fully legal in the United States and JWs are not soliciting anything. Some areas make Witnesses get permits to preach, but that’s it. One time an elder in my congregation had people raise their hands if they’ve ever had the cops called on them, and it was two thirds of the Hall. Witnesses use these incidents to further their persecution complex. If you call the cops on them, they will absolutely be back next week, even pushier and more determined
Additional reminders:
Remember that you are dealing with a high-control cult. Jehovah’s Witnesses have falsely prophesied the end of the world almost a dozen times. Around 33,000+ members have died for the sake of a doctrine they made up in the 60s. Whoever you are talking to has trained for years or possibly their entire lives on exactly how to sell this, and make literally anything sound reasonable and appealing. Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that God will kill all non-JWs at Armageddon, as they deserve, and are actively praying for this. They won’t tell you that on the first visit, or the second, or the third. Don’t let them get their foot in the door. Don’t talk to them more than once
The Jehovah’s Witness you are dealing with will have a mindset ranging from “every door I don’t knock on is blood on my hands” to “I’m trapped in this religion and can’t leave, please please please don’t listen to me,” or sometimes a horrible mix of both. Don’t show interest, do your research and stay away
These articles mention some information about the implementation of a high speed rail system in the United States. To sum it up:
it would connect rural and urban, and regional, societies
it would improve long-distance relationships and familial relationships
it’s cost-efficient
it could prove economically beneficial to smaller cities
we’d be saving fuel
This is the pre-existing Amtrak route map (and the pdf):
Amtrak travels at an average of71 mph with maximum speeds of 150 mph. A trip from New York to Los Angeles could range anywhere from $350 - $1300 and it would take roughly 3 days.
The one proposed by Twu would travel at 220 mph and take 18 hours to get from New York to Los Angeles. Bullet trains average at 320 kph, which converts to about 200 mph. Test runs have gone up to a 375 mph.
This isn’t the first proposition for a new national high speed rail either. In 2009, the Obama administration proposed one but it was shot down by Republicans. Here’s the map:
And this is why we say that capitalism stifles innovation.
Ah yes let’s completely ignore those of us in the great north and northwest area. I suspect it has something to do with mountains but ofc it’s big cities that get all the attention 🤷♀️ and fuck the rest of us
One of those maps have rail going to the west. And we have to start somewhere. The high speed rail coincides with existing railways and interstate highways. It’s probably cheaper to update existing railways than build them from scratch.
I live in Switzerland, which has an excellent rail service (even though we like to complain about it a lot. There are issues, but those are mostly due to the high demand). Of course, Switzerland is -tiny- compared to the US, but the basic idea works for big and smaller countries.
You have the big lines that connect the cities and only stop in the most important places. Those aren’t all just the biggest cities, but also towns where lots of railways meet. Then you have the lines that stop more often, 2-3 times in all cities it passes through, all towns at least once, most villages. And then you have the regional lines. These stop at pretty much every stop, no matter how small. My town is not very big, ~30′000 inhabitants, and we have, like 6 train stops for the small regional lines. These usually also connect the smaller villages with the bigger ones and towns. They are the slowest, of course, but often still faster than busses, which connect places on an even more granular level.
The main idea here is, that these are probably the big lines, the highspeed trains on those proposed maps, connecting the spots with the biggest demand. The rest could be filled up with smaller, not-as-fast-but-still-fast lines and, possibly, even highspeed lines later on.
It’s like a big container that you fill up with rocks. Then you add smaller stones to fill the spaces in between and then you add sand to really fill every nook and cranny.
This is true. All of the high speed rail stops at a metropolitan area and meets an existing Amtrak line.
