Biting off more than they can chew - why I think the Society's internet approach is good for us, bad for them...

by cedars 45 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  ziddina

  Marking....

  FAscinating development!!

  Personally, I don't think that churches and religion can survive being translated to the internet.

  One of the foundations of religion is that "herd" mentality; the "group-think", the camaraderie, if you will.

  Moving to the internet means that one no longer has Sister Snoop or Brother HardAss looking over your shoulder.

  Without that personal, face-to-face form of intimidation/"encouragement", many, many more members will find it so much easier to turn on the TV set during the online "meeting", or drift over to YouTube to check out the latest 'cute kitty/puppy' video - AND the neat thing about that, is that YouTube "reads" what a person's been viewing, and will "suggest" videos that they might be interested in...

  And guess what types of videos are prominently featured on such a search? Critical analyses and exposés of the Watchtower Society...

  Hee hee hee hee!!
• 

  slimboyfat

  those of us who dearly wish to live to see the Society's downfall.

  Could you define what you mean by downfall? How do you imagine it looking/what would happen?
• 

  cedars

  Hi slimboyfat,

  Could you define what you mean by downfall? How do you imagine it looking/what would happen?

  Well, I personally don't think the Society will ever implode or cease to operate per se. However, I do believe its methods of spreading information are growing increasingly obsolete and unsustainable (as this recent development underlines), and its flawed teachings are ever more easily exposed. For example, the 1914 doctrine is already well past its shelf-life, and whatever they introduce to replace it will be even harder for reasonable-minded individuals to accept.

  I foresee the Society dwindling in support and the "growth" eventually switching to decrease (whether the Society publish the figures or not). One could argue that this has already happened, and we simply haven't been told about it - but that's another discussion.

  There will always be some who keep the Society's legacy going, in just the same way as there are still Bible Students who believe in Russell's pyramidology. The difference will be, in the future, that these will form an almost inconsequential minority that hardly anyone will know or talk about. There certainly won't be nearly enough adherents for anything that could be remotely described as a "global preaching campaign". When we reach that stage, I will be a very happy man (if I live to see it).

  Cedars
• 

  straightshooter

  I think the WTS is reading the writing on the wall that the newspapers see. People are not interested in reading paper newspapers and magazines as in the past. Many newspapers and magazines are now on the internet. One problem the secular publishers face is generating money, so how will the WTS collect from those who use their website.

  I feel that the idea that the WTS is encouraging ones to go to their website is not a sign of their downfall. It only shows the changing of our times to access information using the internet.
• 

  diamondiiz

  I don't see how they changed their view of internet at all. Internet will still be vilified and warned about, I don't see JW encouraged to talk to others on forums but will probably be continues to be discouraged from doing so.

  IMO the letter informing witnesses their mags' size will be cut in half is a very negative letter so what a printing corporation needed to do was to minimize the negativity of the message. To do so, they emphasized the positives regarding their internet web site first. As the listeners soak up the positive news regarding internet "success" the last paragraph hits them with the bad news which by this time doesn't seem so negative to the hearer.

  I'll be surprised if the internet witnessing will be encouraged as I view the letter mentioning it only as a spin to ease the pain of having magazines reduced to only 16 pages each.
• 

  ziddina

  "I feel that the idea that the WTS is encouraging ones to go to their website is not a sign of their downfall. It only shows the changing of our times to access information using the internet. ..." Straightshooter

  Well, the Watchtower Society may not THINK it will lead to - let us say unforeseen problems - but I am fairly certain that it will.

  First of all, after condemning the internet and demonizing it so PUBLICLY among its followers, this rather sudden "switcheroo" by the Watchtower Corporation is going to give quite a few Witnesses a feeling of deep unease...

  Secondly, now that the floodgates are going to be opened, the easy access of the internet's many pleasures - porn, anti-JW information, computer games - will provide even greater distractions for 'active' Witnesses.
• 

  metatron

  Sometimes the posts I read in regard to the Watchtower Society's continuing downfall - dumping subscriptions, dumping food service at assemblies, dumping old Bethelites into the worst labor market in 60 years, going to cheap paperback books, cutting required pioneer hours, dumping one awake per month, phasing out Gilead........

  Need I go on?

  The denials start to look like this:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eMkth8FWno

  metatron
• 

  cedars

  Metatron - that's a great piece of cinema history, and a good analogy!

  breakfast of champions...

  is there any way we can make sure sites like this, freeminds and jwfacts get to the top of a google search page?

  The google rankings for all those sites you mention are already impressive for essential JW keywords. Arguably, "jehovahs-witness.net" is a more "keyword rich" domain than jw.org, which always helps. There's really nothing you or I can do to boost the rankings further - it's pretty much at the whim of the search engines. Of course, wads of cold hard cash (for pay-per-click campaigns) always helps, and the Society still has a considerable warchest in that department...

  Cedars
• 

  00DAD

  The WTBTS clearly does not understand human beings very well. They are equally clueless about modern technological and social trends.

  While people are increasingly turning to the internet for news and information--not Encyclopedia Britannica recently announced they are discontinuing their print editions!--people still LOVE to go to book stores.

  The whole Barnes & Noble/Starbucks partnership is a huge success in so many places. Why? Because, in spite of kindles and the like, many people love to go browse through a book store, find a new treasure, maybe hang out with friends or meet new ones and drink coffee and eat sweet things.

  The WTBTS does not print anything that most people want to read. Heck, you can hardly GIVE AWAY the damn magazines!

  The WT simply is not relevant anymore in modern society. Their attempts at consolidating their web presence is futile. It doesn't matter how slick you advertise, advertise, advertise something: if no one wants it, no one wants it!
• 

  wha happened?

  The WTBTS clearly does not understand human beings very well. They are equally clueless about modern technological and social trends.

  With barely a high school education, how could they understand what they don't understand? They don't even know, what they don't know about. They are so many steps behind with social issues. That's why we have this elementary school solution to problems in the congregations.

  I rememebr years back in the Awake mags, that some of the articles didn't have a scriptual theme or tie in to the story. It was a article about automobiles. I was talking to a brother about it and I stated that if the mags are going this way, they should just stop printing them. I was of the opinon at the time that the purpose of the literature was bible education. (Boy did I get that one wrong). He agreed as he said he would never think to go to an awake for research in lieu of the web, and he didn't think anyone out there would as well. To us it was a huge waste of money.

  The internet lets me do lots of things. One thing I can do is a comparative between different sites on anything that I'm currently researching. I imagine that's what alot of people do. So they can compare what the WT claims, with the truth out there. It's not hard.

  Sorry, WT, your efforts to villanize science and technology failed again, along with the TV, the cell phone, the VCR, immunizations, organ transplants, aluminum, gravity, the location of God's throne in the universe, and every other effort to keep people in the dark ages