by confusedandalone 29 Replies latest social humour
For one CA talk I had to interview some publishers. One nervous brother being interviewed complained to me that the item was close to the dinner break so he had a long time to wait until it was all over.
I explained that was the best timeslot since it would be fresh in peoples minds so he would get lots of glory over lunch.
He looked at me horrified for saying such a thing!
I saw him again at the end of the day. He smiled and winked - I guess he got his glory lol.
Splash
On another occasion the CO was waiting for me 'out back' as I finished and left the platform. He told me I was a minute overtime, so why was that?
I explained that my talk was exactly the right length but I was late getting on because the previous speaker had gone over by one minute.
He accepted this reason, then looked at me daggers as he realized that he was the speaker on before me!!
Ah, what fun!!
Splash
Splash - you were awful to the poor CO but, boy, do I like you for it.
The recent circuit assembly here had a few parts with interviews. Between the different parts, they must have gone through all the different members of the SAME family. Now I'm used to seeing perhaps one item with an interview with a whole family, but having members of the SAME family in MULTIPLE items just looks so bad! Couldn't they find anyone else?
The other bad thing was, if it wasn't a member of this same family, one item even had the brother interviewing HIS OWN WIFE! Of course he didn't introduce her as his wife or mention it, and if you didn't know them, you would only know if you realised they had the same surname when hers was announced, but it just looked SO WEIRD to anyone who knew they were married! CAN'T YOU FIND ANYONE ELSE?
Mhmhm....Favoritism. Nice topic.
Best description given by snare & racket: clinical and shallow are the best description of what has been going on in Assembly programs. Here a few more things (from Assemblies I visited from Europe, US and Central America):
- they mark where you have to stand on stage, usually some X with masking tape. I knew a CO that would come out, interrupt the last rehearsal with some poor, shivering pioneer sister because she wasn't standing in the right angle to the X on the floor and her mic wasn't in the right angle either, he would rehearse these two things over and over again.
- they DO TINKER with the words, experiences. I was a Bethel speaker and would sit through (it is not as glorious as you think, I hated it towards the end, being treated as a rock star, whilst you are talking spiritual stuff is strange). If the experience doesn't fit the CO/DO would advise and exchange words that sound better, in some cases to the point that the experience sounded artificial and cold and the person who had the experience didn't feel comfortable telling anymore.
- yep, "Wonder-star-teens" exist everywhere (I was one of them....). Damages your mind and soul...
Here a few others that came to mind:
- in one Central American country they appointed a brother as the "Installations BOSS" - he didn't have ANY clue about Sound systems, electricity, etc. for such a big venue (stadium), but he was the "spiritual one" and even without any technical knowledge THE MAN. Only that he was also a terrible, self-righteous ***hole. Long story short:
He had a brother make some electrical installation and they didn't grounded the whole thing. One of the electricity cables was touching the water pipes (metal). One of his assistants opened a water faucet to drink some water and was thrown against the wall - electricity went out and the whole thing short circuited. This brother was lucky that he didn't die in an instant (YES, they all said Jehuber protected him! Sick!) and they had luck that this happened shortly before the assembly started (without big crowds there, only the crews).
- Bethel family would arrive in luxurious Mercedes vans to the Stadium (Central America, whoever attended one of the international assemblies there knows which country). Yes, Bethel bought several Mercedes vans to drive around in a dirt poor developing country, where most brothers and sisters WALKED to the f****** assembly and had to survive on cooked bananas....I felt ashamed to get out of that air conditioned car and walk up to the special tribune that was marked: "Bethel family only". On the second day I sat outside that box and mingled in with the local brothers and was reprimanded by a Branch committee overseer since "I would delay the whole group, because of one person and that is selfishness" also "I was showing independent thinking and not following the group" which he thought was rebellious and not obedient enough. His real problem was that HE and HIS PRINCESS Bitch of a wife wanted to enjoy the luxurious, better settings (tribune had roof> shadow, everybody else sitting in the sun) and my actions made them look bad and others could follow suit and make all this shit obvious.
There are many more....just remembering makes me sick!
How they told u to look at the speaker only when you were up there standing on the x and not at the crowd...nuts to that, I wanted to see all my friends from up there so I sought out their faces in the crowd and gave them a smile. It was such fun being on the platform! I can see why some guys love it so much up there.
Yeah i remember giving my section a little nod.....
When I was a teenager the CO cut out a page from a Watchtower that pictures a young teenager. He wrote notations like, "notice the length of his sideburns" and "look what he is wearing". Your point 7 reminds me of one reason why I got away from the cult. It didn't matter how much you did, it was never good enough.
“Bethel family would arrive in luxurious Mercedes vans to the Stadium (Central America, whoever attended one of the international assemblies there knows which country). Yes, Bethel bought several Mercedes vans to drive around in a dirt poor developing country, where most brothers and sisters WALKED to the f****** assembly and had to survive on cooked bananas....I felt ashamed to get out of that air conditioned car and walk up to the special tribune that was marked: "Bethel family only". On the second day I sat outside that box and mingled in with the local brothers and was reprimanded by a Branch committee overseer since "I would delay the whole group, because of one person and that is selfishness" also "I was showing independent thinking and not following the group" which he thought was rebellious and not obedient enough. His real problem was that HE and HIS PRINCESS Bitch of a wife wanted to enjoy the luxurious, better settings (tribune had roof> shadow, everybody else sitting in the sun) and my actions made them look bad and others could follow suit and make all this shit obvious.”
"Blue-Pill"
Kyle and Laura never received this type of tribute and they were two of the biggest Central American All-Stars from El Salvador to Belize. Looking back, I highly doubt Kyle and Laura would have wanted all the ostentatious show the American Bethel or in-Country Bethel Branch all-stars enjoyed. Kyle was one of the most humble men to work in service with, Laura had her moments of bringing herself down to our level, Nah, she was cool too. The backwards actions the Latin American members did to destroy perfectly good electrical equipment is, wait for it! LEGENDARY!!!!!! Ass backwards country below Mexico took almost twenty years to build their Circuit Assembly Hall! I loved my time in Honduras, if only the Organization really brought humanity together instead of pitting us against each other in a like the Roman Gladiators killing each other for glory!
