excerpt from www.watchtower.org...

SB

the official website of the true god. here is a preview, w/a link to the rest of the information. Very interesting how they explain exactly what propoganda is...

http://www.watchtower.org/library/g/2000/6/22/article_03.htm

THERE is a difference—a big difference—between education and propaganda. Education shows you how to think. Propaganda tells you what to think. Good educators present all sides of an issue and encourage discussion. Propagandists relentlessly force you to hear their view and discourage discussion.Often their real motives are not apparent. They sift the facts, exploiting the useful ones and concealing the others. They also distort and twist facts, specializing in lies and half-truths. Your emotions, not your logical thinking abilities, are their target.

Definitely the pot calling the kettle black. The weekly Watchtower study is an obvious example of propaganda, being a question and answer session that must not deviate from what is written in the Watchtower. Also consider the following quote.

Watchtower 1986 March 15 p.17 “Beware of those who try to put forward their own contrary opinions.”

It is also quite ironic that the Awake! 1990 5/22 pp. 12-14 ran an article titled Five Common Fallacies—Don’t Be Fooled by Them! that discussed some of the techniques listed by Sagan that they regularly use and had the gall to apply them to other people.

renando_stimpy

Discernment enables you to discard irrelevant information or misleading facts and distinguish the substance of a matter. But how can you discern when something is misleading? - I notice they don't actually answer this question... hmm wonder why ??

Moreover, if we want to be fair-minded, we must be willing to subject our own opinions to continual testing as we take in new information. We must realize that they are, after all, opinions. Their trustworthiness depends on the validity of our facts, on the quality of our reasoning, and on the standards or values that we choose to apply. -Is this the same quality of "reasoning" they use to determine there are 2 alphas and 2 omegas, 2 beginnings and 2 ends, 2 firsts and 2 lasts ? yes... thats some good reasoning right there...

Yes, in this age of sophisticated propaganda, we can confidently (don't bother to fact check it, we are quite confident it's right, although we have just changed it ) look to Jehovah's Word (Awake, Watchtower mag.... oh and the bible ) as the source of truth.. - You could just read the first paragraph and the last paragraph, there's no point for everything in between..

"A fool will believe anything." - wow, now if they could just use some of their "quality reasoning" perhaps they'd realise what they are...

Sometimes I wonder why they bother... oh no wait, they are a publishing company, it's there job... :)

girasole

another sneaky tactic employed by the JWs to convince themselves and attempt to convince others that they are truly open-minded educators. then they can reason, "see, if that's what we were doing then why would we say that about ourselves." tricky tricky they put down others for doing exactly what they're doing so that others may think - well, if they're putting down others for doing something certainly they are not doing it themselves - well that would be just downright hypocritical.

I can't count the number of times that a newcomer would comment at the BS or WT study and would be quickly hushed lest they say something "wrong" and stumbling. Yep, that sounds a lot like promoting open-minded discussion alright. I guess you could say that they promote discussion if what you mean is 101 ways to regurgitate what was said in the paragraph in your own words - but don't say anything opposing - nope, keep your mouth shut about that and wait on jehovah - he'll make it clear to ya someday, you just wait. and if you add any additional information to your comment, just make sure that you consulted watchtower publications. see, we promote discussion. we let our lowly members do research and make comments. (but shh! we just tell them exactly how to do it first and then we make sure that they THINK they are expressing their own thoughts and viewpoints after we've ingrained it in them through endless repitition...) they are so well trained - that's what makes their faulty viewpoints so hard to infiltrate.

sass_my_frass

Not having read the article, I get the impression that it was written by somebody just now working out that everything they've worked on for years has been propaganda, and they're hoping that they can use their position to get to a few liberal thinkers. They know how to play the game now, and it's just clever enough to have two meanings.

becca1

Do they not know what they are saying? Can they not see it applys to them?

Abandoned

Propaganda tells you what to think.

So when the wt tells its readers what to think, is that propaganda too? Man to these crooks turn my stomach.

yesidid

** Watchtower August 1, 2001 p. 14, par. 8 ***

First, since "oneness" is to be observed , a mature Christian must be in unity and full harmony

with fellow believersas far as faith and knowledge are concerned. He does not advocate or insist

on personal opinions or harbor private ideas when it comesto Bible understanding.

Rather, he has complete confidence in the truth as it is revealed by Jehovah God

through his Son, Jesus Christ, and "the faithful and discreet slave

." By regularly taking

in the spiritual food provided "at the proper time" — through Christian publications, meetings, assemblies,

and conventions — we can be sure that we maintain "oneness" with fellow Christians in faith and knowledge. — Matthew 24:45.

fullofdoubtnow

I don't know how they dare publish articles like this one. JWs are among the biggest victims of propaganda there is

.They also distort and twist facts, specializing in lies and half-truths. Your emotions, not your logical thinking abilities, are their target.

That's as good a description of wts teachings as you'll get.