Draconian Rules for Attending "Special Convention" (page 10)

clearpoison

The fun part here is that the local people may attend this special convention (I guess) as guests in almost whatever kind of attire.

CP

I firmly believe that the Governing Body is attempting some sort of "damage control" to contain the extremely negative press of Watchtower Corporation's closing of the local Bethel [or whatever the Watchtower Corporation's facilities were called in Ireland]...

I hope that the Catholic priests and Protestant pastors take advantage of this situation!!!

In fact....

It would be SO much FUN if someone were to "leak" a copy of that letter to the head Catholic biship in Ireland, hint,hint... And the highest-ranking Protestant church official, too....

Zid - who's feeling particularly devilish, today...

dozy

Thanks for posting , BB.

Interesting that much of the emphasis on this meeting is on encouraging the local JWs. I know there is a lot of resentment in Ireland about the closing & selling of the branch & transfer of responsibility to London- http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/commercialproperty/2011/1012/1224305632482.html

Ireland has long had a reputation for a high level of apostacy going back to Franz's time - perhaps there is a feeling that bringing in a lot of strong JWs from other countries will shore up the locals. I wonder whether it will work or whether it will cause further resentment as the local JWs will be excluded.

It particularly seems petty to exclude wheelchair users and those with very poor sight or hearing. Most of these are long established JWs who have been faithful for many years & would have loved this opportunity. I wonder whether they will get the full complement - I would imagine most Brits couldn't be bothered as many of them will have their own District conventions around about this time of the year anyway. I would imagine most delegates will be from the USA , especially those with distant Irish parentage (ie most of them , including the current President..!)

cedars

Just a thought - does anyone know roughly how much the delegates are being charged to attend?

Also, can I assume that there will be an open invite to all Irish brothers, and not just the 1,500 international delegates?

Hoping someone can fill in the blanks for me...

Cedars

av8orntexas

I work for a major airline here in the United States that employs quite a few witnesses in this particular city.

Working for said airline,our tickets are free domestic and international. Not to mention the steep discounts we are able to obtain on hotels. Our network covers every single continent and pretty much every major business center one can think of.

That being said, a friend of mine - whose wife works at the very same airline - in 2007 or 2008 went ahead and STILL dropped the 7k I believe it was to attend a convention in Turkey. I'm pretty sure it was 7k. I can't remember if that were per person. I want to say it was,but don't quote me. I know for SURE, they spend at LEAST 7k.

That was the first time I found out that you HAD to book it through them, their hotel, their airline. I remember bugging him about why would he spend that kind of money, when he and his wife could book first class as employees, change and re-arrange their flight plans free of charge,no fee's,etc. At 1000-1500 expenses tops. For them both for 7 days.

All he could come up with was that it's the societies rules. What really infuriated me was I couldn't believe that they didn't see something seriously flawed with it. I didn't even spend the money,but it makes me mad.

Yet apparently people keep doing it. No questions asked.

ziddina

Aw, that is just plain frikkin' nuts!!!

smiddy

Religion is a snare and a racket ....or has that already been said

smiddy

zeb

It sounds to me like a photo op convention for the'very' faithful.

Perhaps they will give an honest open rundown on the refusal by Elders in the town of Traralgon (State of Victoria, Australia) to apply for "Working with Children" Police clearances required by law in all Australian states.

undercover

Wontleave: I never stayed at their hotels. I never even consulted the list. When I heard the prices, I checked online and always found a much better deal.

av8ortexas: Working for said airline,our tickets are free domestic and international. Not to mention the steep discounts we are able to obtain on hotels. Our network covers every single continent and pretty much every major business center one can think of.

Similar to av8or, we had travel industry connections and we could get discounted prices on hotels. Each year, we consulted the WT list and quickly ruled out most of the hotels/motels listed. We then used our resources and booked our own room, at a hotel of our choice, and usually cheaper than WT rates. We actually thought we were doing everyone a favor. Every year they ran out of rooms and would have to create a secondary list of hotels, worse establishments than on the first list. Since we were not taking up a WT room, we thought this worked for other JWs that didn't have the resources and needed to rely on the WT connections.

Imagine my confustion when I was counseled for not following directions on how to book a hotel room. After one year of 'remaining loyal' and staying in a shithole of a hotel, I went back to arranging my own rooming, staying in a swanky hotel at a discounted rate complete with restaurant and nice lobby bar. I don't remember anything about the conventions of those days, but I remember that hotel and the time spent there.

In my area, another thing upset me to no end. The annual convention is held 2.5 hours away, even though I live in the largest city in the state. This was because the Society got a better deal somewhere else. So, roughly 13k people have to trek 150 miles, stay in a hotel (which I already ranted about), eat out for 3 days, etc. Wear and tear on their car, gas, kids cooped up for hours, having to get up early and get home late... All to save the Society a few bucks, which I'm sure doesn't even scratch the surface of the aggregate cost to the people who have to make the trip.

LOL... I lived in one of those smaller cities once that sometimes got the convention. It was kind of surreal seeing all the big city dubs converge on our little podunk city, upsetting the infrastructure of the area around the coliseum. The streets and amenities around the coliseum weren't adequate to handle 3/4 days of 10,000 people. Hell, they could barely handle 10,000 for a one evening concert. The only thing that made it bearable for me was that I knew the area and I knew the roads and could make my way around without getting stuck in the inevitable traffic jam every morning and evening. I also avoided that part of town in the evening. I went across town and dined/drank.

Room 215

" It particularly seems petty to exclude wheelchair users and those with very poor sight or hearing..." sure it does; it's a bid to create an idealized, sanitized, upscale image of what they hope to sell to the local media, and also to local JWs -- as the typical JW demographic.... pure fiction.

Draconian Rules for Attending "Special Convention"

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