Awake!: For Idiots - Or Just Written By Them?

by metatron 27 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  factfinder

  Mad Sweeny- very good point!

  Awake! already is the "Awake! for kids version"!!!!

  Years ago both w & g used to contain detailed articles, now they are just picture- stories. What happened?

  I remember in the issues that came out in the 60's to 80's they used to publish extensive articles about Bethel, what work is done there, the expansion taking place, the printing operations, how the equipment works, along with captions for the pictures.

  Now they rarely write anything about Bethel or the printing operations and when they do like the article :" A Visit To A Remarkable Printery" it is greatly condensed with a mishmash of photos and no picture captions. It's like it was quickly put together by a fourth grader for a school report the night before it is due.

  Very disappointing.
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  Bungi Bill

  Those that reckon the reading of Awake qualify one for a Master in Stupidity won't receive any argument from me!

  - University of Bulolo.

  - Campus of Frog Hollow.

  - As assured by its Chancellor, the Reverend Harley Davidson.

  Bill

  PS: My degree is displayed on the wall, above my desk, for having read that scientific journal continuously for 28 years.
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  nugget

  In truth how many people read the magazines cover to cover? Each magazine is a copy of the one previous with different headings and illustrations. Most people I knew hadn't read magazines they were presenting and usually just referred to the title page and made a generic comment about the contents.

  They could probably replace the text with ipsum dipsum and noone would notice.
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  godrulz

  I have 1000s of academic books on biblical Christianity/theology that make the WT pseudo-scholarship look pathetic (at least our scholars know Hebrew and Greek, unlike almost all JW writers). When Raymond Franz read 'Christendom's' commentaries at Bethel (he was the author of AID book), he saw how things were interpreted in context (exegesis), unlike WT eisegesis/proof texting out of context for preconceived error.

  Christianity also has many magazine publications that are informative, interesting, biblically sound, etc. There are also ones for children, etc. The WT stuff is set up to guide people into pat WT indoctrination, not to think, not to study the Bible in context. JWs attract many uneducated, mentally ill people who need someone to think for them and give them a sense of belonging and purpose (Christian churches do the same, but without violating independent thinking and with the true Jesus who turns losers into leaders vs slaves of a manmade, evil organization).
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  Band on the Run

  One would think with computer publishing techniques they would publish three or four different levels of Awake. It is not people's fault that they are illiterate for the most part. Readers' Digest exists but so do scholarly journals and The Economist, New YOrker type of mag. What irks me the most is the Awake assumes it readers have no culture and are kindergarten reading level. It is strange to hear a lecture about resting enough and not overindulging. As far I'm aware, no other magazine does this. Maybe I just avoid them like the plague and I am definitely not a demographic.

  Way back in the sixties and seventies, Awake ran such illuminating articles as use paprika to add flair and color when serving potatoes and white fish. The love that type of advice. There was also the aluminum or stainless pan thing going. My father was very engrossed in it. There were all sorts of nomedical, bogus cures circulated, too. Not even the Roman Catholic church at its height of power dictated paprika on white food. I suppose we have no parents or extended family. Universal education is not acknowledged.

  I was born in and left as soon as I was physically free. My mind left many years before that date. I keep hearing about the dynamics of cult recruitment. How can anyone with a high degree from a first world country put up with this bullshit. The Watchtower problem is much more attitude, culture and audacity than doctrine. The Mormons have special underwear. There are other crazy religions. What is wrong with our culture that with so much universal education, people thirst for mind control. It is a sad commentary on Western civilization as it is damning to the Witnesses.
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  cheerios

  it's all that homeschooling catching up with them. all their bethel slaves are educated at maybe a 4th grade level, and the average jw nowadays either doesnt read the rags or is also homeschooled by their loser illiterate jw parents that truly believe that 2+2=1914.

  illiteracy sucks
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  Kudra

  I just looked at the latest PDF of the Awake on the JW.org site. It is ok, about on par with like, Oprah Magazine or a "health" article you would read online. A few tidbits of interesting information but nothing deeper than that. Almost good enough for a doctor's waiting room or a bathroom magazine bin. But you can get much better information at a doctor's office wiating room- like if they have Smithsonian or whatever. Soo... I would guess Awake is good for ~5th graders.
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  Kudra

  I mean, if you want to stay up on neat stuff, just listen to NPR in the morning while you get ready for work- like right now, I am learning all about how drugs are priced and the interplay between drug companies, insurances and doctors. Very informative, in depth and you can *listen* to it. Do housework or whatever and kill two birds with one stone. The Awake...? blurgh.