December 15 Watchtower --- A New Low in WT Anti-Intellectualism

by Room 215 33 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Room 215

  I wonder whether any of you took note of the article in the 12/15 study edition WT "The Simplified Watchtower .. Why Introduced" I couldn't believe they actually had the temerity to put such tripe into print and onto the record.. I was flat-out astonished with its put-down of vocabulary building and self-improvement:

  One egregious example: " The time spent looking up words and explaining expressions (ostensibly from the "smart people's" Watchtower) is now spent gaining an understanding of the scriptures and how they fit into the lesson."

  One JW cited in the article actually blames her college education for causing her to fall into the bad habit of "speaking and thinking a way that was more complicated than necessary."

  Unbelievable; a paean to simple-mindedness.
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  gingerbread

  These sort of statements appeal to the undereducated and underemployed publishers. The thought that choosing WT's directions about limited career and education is the best choice anyone can make - putting personal interests secondary (or third/fourth/fifth...) in life. We're told repeatedly that improving oneself is short sighted & selfish. Remember that "personal study" means studying WT publications. Forget critical thinking!

  And, I firmly believe that the simplified WT was developed for the children of undereducated JW parents - for the throngs of "homeschooled" Witness kids.
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  cobaltcupcake

  It wasn't all that long ago (well, maybe it was) that just the opposite was applauded in the same magazine and we were encouraged to have a dictionary handy when we were preparing for the meeting. I remember how they used to say that reading the literature improved your vocabulary. Now they've dumbed down the "smart-people's" Watchtower and created an even more dumbed-down version. How toopid do they think their constituency is?
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  BluesBrother

  I could not agree more....They evidently want them to remain simple, in terms of reading ability.

  When we were kids growing up in The Borg, the books were "deeper". When we found words that were new to us...we looked them up and learned. That is progress. I can recall our old Cong Servant reminding us to "never go past a word we do not understand"

  The "mature" in years loyal dubs of my acquantance are 100% in agreement with us on this......
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  betterdaze

  gaining an understanding of the scriptures and how they fit into the lesson

  
  
  Shouldn't it be the other way around: The lesson fit the scriptures instead?
  
  "Evidently," the esteemed Watchtower scholars just make sh*t up as they go along, then cherry-pick the Bible to back it up.
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  Gopher

  One JW cited in the article actually blames her college education for causing her to fall into the bad habit of "speaking and thinking a way that was more complicated than necessary."

  If this college-educated JW cannot explain concepts in a straightforward way, that is a function of her own confusion. College education should lay the way towards clarity in thinking, and towards being able to explain even complicated concepts in understandable ways.

  However I'm quite sure the JW cited in the article was just trying to think of something quotable that the organization could use to promote their anti-higher education agenda, since she's apparently now a Watchtower drone.
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  Room 215

  I can't imagine them publishing these statments in the "for public consumption" WT or Awake!
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  Finkelstein

  The WTS. has never been a proponent to higher education and building up of ones personal critically thinking skills, they focus intensionally

  on weak minded, poorly educated people so that they can control and manipulate these people's thinking abilities easier by exploiting human emotions,

  like love, guilt and fear.

  And why wouldn't the WTS. be anti-intellectual since most of the GB members don't even have a high school education.

  Intellectualism is the work of the Devil.
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  Splash

  What's a "paean"?

  Splash (such a good jdub!)
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  TheOldHippie

  Being something as strange as a University-educated JW, this is one aspect I dislike - quite simply. I think one should strive for good education. People are different, and some - like myself - get satisfaction and a meaningful work life from following one's interest. Put me in the forest, and I'd die within days. Tell me to fix my car, and the only way I could do it would do to call someone, and then pay. People are different, we cannot all clean each others' windows and cut each others' hair .....................