one reason for the dumbing down of the org

by Magnum 91 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  L3G

  Magnum, a BIG THANK YOU for starting this thread. There are so many excellent, spot-on comments that there remains little to say!

  Many have added insightul, truthful observations. Yes, whatever intelligent ones are left—very few—indeed must compartmentalize and be scared of exercising their thinking abilities theologically (that's too sacred—hands off!). It IS such brainless drivel. Whatever Freddie did, however strange and off-base it sometimes was, the caliber was infinitely better than the pablulum served up since the 90s and esp. now. The one exception seems to be the revised NWT. There are numerous changes for the better in it (and I'm sure some that are for the worse), the one thing they've done that bucks the overall trend. And, yes, the doing away with the small, in-home book study fits into this overall duhhhh trend perfectly.

  Thanks for the great input!
• 

  LongHairGal

  Many good posts!

  Of course there are several reasons for the dumbing-down in the religion but the biggest and most obvious one is that stupider people are less likely to notice and comment on the glaringly obvious hypocrisy, bait and switch and changed teachings that make no sense among other things ad nauseam. The religion cannot have and will not tolerate anybody who thinks and questions the stupidity they are hearing and the bad publicity in the news. They want total delusional and clueless people who do not notice any of these things. They want people who will play the game.

  L3G:

  About the only people who will be left in the religion at some point will be yes-men and dysfunctionals with their hands out... That's about it... Any "intelligent" or seemingly responsible individuals will be targeted left and right.

  I'd have to be totally nuts to ever set foot in that place again!

  Good riddance to it all.
• 

  Vidiot

  Billy the Ex-Bethelite - "We are the bOrg. Resistance is expected. Not much we can do about. We win some and we lose some. Our lives suck, but the empty promises are keeping us in. We try to recruit more bOrg, but we pretty much suck at it. So we mostly focus on trying to keep the kids. That usually doesn't work. Oh well. Let's go back to the cube and fantasize about playing with pet pandas in a futuristic fantasy."

  Know what's really funny?

  There was a 2-part Voyager episode wherein the Borg "dissidents" (i.e. ones who'd managed to hold on to a shred of their individuality) would escape to a virtual enviroment during their recharge time where they could be themselves.

  "Unimatrix Zero" was - arguably - quite "paradisaic".
• 

  Pistoff

  LHG:

  " About the only people who will be left in the religion at some point will be yes-men and dysfunctionals with their hands out ... That's about it. .. Any "intelligent" or seemingly responsible individuals will be targeted left and right."

  That describes the governing body to a T.
• 

  LongHairGal

  Pistoff:

  Funny! Actually, I was referring to the rank and file JWs. Years ago, they would be comprised of seemingly "normal" people. There would be housewives, working people, students. Now.....it is a whole different story. There is a whole new crew there and I am glad I am not around them.

  What has happened over the years (maybe the last two decades) is that many of the older people have died and others (such as myself) have left the religion. Many of us saw the 1995 changed teaching on Generation as the straw that broke the camel's back and so we walked for that and other reasons.

  The religion, seeing that they have all these empty seats, were desperate for new recruits so they attracted many dysfunctionals with serious issues, social and otherwise. While I am not saying that these people should not join any religion or club they want, the problem is that the STUPID JWs who studied with these people have LED them to believe the JWs are some sort of "charitable organization" and then some of these deluded individuals imagine they are going to bother "responsible" people in the congregation asking for favors, $, etc....

  And some overly kind "sisters" are nothing more than care-takers for these new-comers. It is like the religion is a repository for them.

  You have a dwindling number of responsible working people there. The rest are takers.

  Thirty years ago I ran from USERS in the religion - and that was when there was a better class of people there!

  Now? They have got to be kidding, is all I can say!
• 

  XkhanX

  Ed Dunlop is an intelligent brother. My wife studied Commentary on Letter of James when she is a Bible Study and she still love the book. I studied the PE book and now some of the "Truth" had changed. We wasted so much time in this religion And are glad we woke up by the grace of God. Have you read the recent WT articles? It is obviously dumbing down. i used to call it spiritual junk food. It does not lift your spirit but makes you guilty and depressed by over emphasize on works, demonizing education, bashing other people religion, self righteous exaltation.....we just can't feed on these crap anymore. Reading the bible is 100 times more refreshing. It truly is. Avoid NWT. We used NLT and God's word is made so clear. We love it.
• 

  BluesBrother

  JWs just don’t have the brain power and scholarship.

  You know the reason they always give , at least in the congregations if you say how "simplified" everything is....they say

  "Well, the public just would not understand those old books these days, they are so ignorant in "the world", poorly educated , fed on the tellie and soap operas. They are not up to the standard that we know, so we have to keep it simple for them, poor dears"
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  Focus

  The real reason for the dumbing-down of the borg is:

  An obviously stupid, "for-stupids-only" organization will deter the intelligent from joining.

  To deter them is increasingly seen as a "good thing".

  Why?

  The more intelligent one is, the more liable one is to quickly see through the sham and crash out, perhaps taking some others with you.

  Better therefore to prevent the intelligent from signing up and plunging into the Baptismal Sewer.

  Well, you could do it with an IQ test where only those scoring, say, 90 or below are admitted. But that might be a bit too OBVES, and could backfire spectacularly if it could be proven.

  So they've accomplished it by increasingly making the cult almost (camels and needle's eye notwithstanding) impossible for the intelligent to get sucked into.

  D2D publishers are told to back off immediately if the householder shows intelligence ("a haughty or arrogant or opinionated attitude"). That's partly to prevent the publisher being rescued (aka "faith weakened") and partly so as to reject those possessed of a minimum of intelligence.

  The Old Whore is NOT stupid.

  Do not underestimate her.

  __

  Focus

  ("Analysis" Class)
• 

  Vidiot

  LongHairGal - "About the only people who will be left in the religion at some point will be yes-men and dysfunctionals with their hands out ... That's about it. .. Any 'intelligent' or seemingly responsible individuals will be targeted left and right."

  There was a Simpsons episode about a wave of anti-intellectualism running through Springfield; the funniest moment was when one character said (in response to a halfway-intelligent statement), "That's too clever! He's one of them!!!"

  I remember when I came to the realization that the WTS had been effectively pruning out all the intellectuals, creative-types, and out-of-the-box thinkers (the trend really got into full swing under Jaracz, and post-9-11 fear enabled him to hammer it home)...

  ...it made me scratch my head; it felt like the WTS was cutting off its nose to spite its face, 'cause they'd end up with a Worldwide Body of Morons.

  After thinking about it long and hard, I finally had the light-bulb moment; that, on some level, they might want to reduce the membership (without looking like they want to, of course) from 7 or 8 million fence-sitters to 1 or 2 million hard-core loyalists.

  Fast-tracking the new Warwick HQ and consolidating at the rate they are; the top dogs can still theoretically maintain their lifestyle and authority over the remaining rank-and-filers...

  ...assuming all their current headaches don't continue to escalate.

  Rome didn't fall all at once, after all; it was its inability to respond to multiple crises at the same time that crippled it.
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  LongHairGal

  VIDIOT:

  It isn't JUST about wanting people who are anti-intellectual, they ended up attracting seriously dysfunctional people.

  There are many people in the world who aren't intellectual - but they aren't crazy and a burden to everybody around them. Well, the religion managed to recruit too many people in recent years with "serious issues" social and otherwise. Sorry, if it sounds callous but I'd never associate or be in a car group with any of them. I don't even want to be introduced.

  The religion, in my opinion, is now a place where there are too many "untouchable" types and the religion doesn't give a rats ass. It's just as well I'm no longer there!!

  I feel sorry for any "normal" or responsible people left because I couldn't stand it.