Watchtower's New "Toy Story" - What Parents Need To Know (page 7)

Think About It

Send a copy to your local Board of Education. Let them see how bat-shit crazy the JW cult really is.

Think About It

Hermano

They sure seem to be plugging Family Worship Night in these videos....

Thanks for posting Cedars, now I can have a pre-emptive conversation with my kids.

Thanks for all of your hard work on this. I know it can be frustrating fighting against a faceless entity like the WTS, but don't let it get you down! You have already made tremendous contributions when it comes to exposing the WTS for what it really is.

My take on this is that its just another big, fat money grab by the WTS. Two DVDs at this convention, and once again no book! What that tells me is that it is dirt cheap to produce these DVDs, and the return on investment is much better for the WTS. I'll bet they rake in around $20 per copy, and I imagine production costs are $1 to $2 bucks each. Thats just random talking, no hard facts to back it up.

For a book, your probably looking at donations of around $5 to $10 each. It just makes more business sense to sell DVDs.

As for kids, I think they will quickly tire of this production. Maybe two or three viewings, then its gonna be back to Cinderella, Alladdin, Peter Pan, and all the rest of those evil, magical movies.

cedars

LostGeneration - thanks for those kind words of encouragement. This job can get me down at times, but then things like this come along and I see that I'm not alone. The blog article is going NUTS on facebook, with 223 "likes" as I write (keep in mind that JWs are normally reticent to "like" something of an apostate nature). It's amazing how, with things like this, if you put in a bit of effort these things take on a life of their own, which is exactly how it happened with the "mentally diseased" thing.

As Blondie always says: "hang them with their own words!"

Cedars

Morbidzbaby

Ugh. Flashbacks!!! I agree with the sentiment that these things are being done with a focus on not just children, but on guilt-tripping the parents as well.

What was with the mother on her hands and knees washing the floor? Hasn't she ever heard of a freakin' MOP? That got me simply for the subjugation factor. Would have probably been easier to animate, too. And why in the world is she inside cleaning while her little boy is outside ALONE playing by himself?? I spent more time being with my kids than I did cleaning...simply because they are only young once. The dishes will always be there, the floor will never stay clean, but my kids will only be young for a short time. I think that really illustrates things a lot when it comes to how JW women are viewed.

I really think that there was a huge overreaction with "Caleb" tracking dirt on the floor. Sorry, but he couldn't be more than 6 years old. At that age, children have the attention span of...Hey look at that!!... He was so interested in his airplane that he just plain forgot. How can you make a child feel guilty for being a CHILD?? And then for Count Dadula to crack open the Bible and counsel his little boy from it over an ACCIDENT which wasn't even meant as a sign of disobedience?? A simple "Uh-oh, look what happened! Did you forget Mommy asked you to take your shoes off? Well, take them off now, and then let's clean this up for Mommy" would have sufficed. Chances are, being a little kid, he would have then apologized to his mother of his own accord with no prompting. Therein, the child learns the only lesson he should learn in such a situation...when you make a mess, you clean it up. No guilt-tripping, no fear at causing his mother anguish over a stupid floor.

The toy thing is a little more involved with analyzing. It all depends on which side of the issue a person stands. I know a lot of fundementalist christians who would be completely in line with the thinking portrayed and would indeed teach their children in that manner. I personally see nothing wrong with magic, magicians, wizards, dragons, etc. I recall, as Blondie stated, that a lot of Disney movies that I was allowed to watch had those themes...But hang it all if I was watching a TV show and someone had a birthday! There is a certain double standard at play. The adults can watch Star Wars with it's magical "Force" and alien beings that JW's don't believe in (for all intents and purposes, "mythical" creatures). Yet if a child wants to watch something similar like Harry Potter, it's an automatic "No" because Harry has an invisible "magical" force and mythical creatures. Anyone else see hypocrisy here?

I do see it as curbing critical thinking skills and instilling fear into a child that they are actually born without. JW kids see their parents as speaking for Jehovah. It's like they are his Lorax or something. So they fear displeasing their PARENTS more than they fear displeasing Jehovah. I know I certainly did. I was deathly afraid of getting caught disobeying JW rules. Not because I wouldn't make it at Armageddon, but because I wouldn't make it to see my next birthday! I wasn't afraid of Jehovah as I got older, nor did I fear displeasing him at all. When the fear of my parents disappeared...well, what was I left with? Eventually I got my critical thinking skills back, and by then I was able to actually form my OWN conscience. But those things should have been started at a young age. I was just a robot, as are most JW kids. This video will only serve to keep them in that mindless state where they don't question...or when they do, it's "because Jehovah...". These kids don't get REAL answers. They get excuses.

This was very well-written, cedars. Even though it aggravated me and brought up some crap from the past, I think it's very important that this be spread as far as it can be.

Hermano

This DVD is as much about indoctrinating the parents as it is the kids. The parents in the DVD are modeling the behaviors and parenting style the group leaders want their followers to emulate.

Chariklo

I'm noticing that those of you had JW upbringing are finding it brings back horrible memories.

To me, newly arrived at the WT and running away as fast as I can, that little film is horrible to watch. if there's one thing I know an awful lot about it's bringing up children. I cannot bear to see emotional cruelty. In many ways it's worse than physical cruelty, because it lasts for ever. A bruise will heal much more quickly.

A child brought up like that will either turn out to be a nasty little prig of an adult or, more likely, an emotionally insecure adult, very possibly prone to deceive and hide his real feelings for fear of displeasing those he loves but whom he secretly fears, and rightly fears, because they'll turn on him without hesitation if he does wrong.

Just like the Jehovah they've told him all about.

Horrible.

Great job though, great article, Cedars.

00DAD

Joe Grundy

Unusually for me, I drafted a long post regarding this but lost it when my net connection failed - and I don't have any plastic toy wizards (or smurfs) in the house!

In summary, I agree with the comments above about this horrific propaganda, designed IMHO to control the parents as much as the child. I could envision this household as being the setting for domestic abuse as well.

Cedars: great job! More power to your elbow.

A thought strikes me, inspired by Think's comment at the top of this page. From what I observe in the UK at present there seems to be quite a movement in education circles to enlighten teachers as to parental, home, cultural and other influences on children which may affect their learning capabilities. Just an idea, but might it be worth making the relevant authorities aware of this DVD? I'd suggest sending it to Michael Gove (UK Minister for Education). I'm happy to do it if you wish, and I could also forward it to my local MP with whom I have a connection.

heathen

That is soooooooo lame . If they are worried about magic and fantasy being a problem , I'd like to know why an elder in my cong. went to disney world for vacation. Wait isn't that a fairy flying around the castle and isn't mickey a warlock ? Unbelievable the hypocrisy. The part where the boy envisions mother crying over a mess he made is classic guilt neurosis .

Watchtower's New "Toy Story" - What Parents Need To Know

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