Fat Men with Beards are Unclean

ozziepost

Have you noticed how illustrations in the Watchtower magazine reinforce Witness stereotypes?

The April 15 issue of The Watchtower, on the back page, shows a man viewing pornographic material on his computer screen. The appearance is not of a cleancut man with business shirt and tie in this case; no, this unclean man is portly and has a black beard. He is a 'Blackbeard' indeed, for he is shown in soft focus behind a skull and crossbones label on a bottle.

How often this mind-control technique is used in the Watchtower magazine, yet how glad we can be that our God Jehovah does not see us that way.

"But Jehovah said to Samuel: 'Do not look at his appearance and at the height of his stature, for I have rejected him. For not the way man sees [is the way God sees], because mere man sees what appears to the eyes; but as for Jehovah, he sees what the heart is.'" (1 Samuel 16:7)

Who would the "man" be in the context of the current issue of The Watchtower"?

Ozzie (of the truth in advertising class)

Deacon

Portly sounds so much better than fat...
sigh, I wonder if he was treated like a leper during the photoshoot..so hard for Witnesses to be unaffected by physical appearance....

I went to one assembly in 1996 with a beard...I was a brother in good standing, whatever that is, and was the only one of 3000 stopped and asked questions of...when I asked the attendant why he stopped me, the beard perhaps?.. he got annoyed and blustered and walked away...bugger...

somebody

ozziepost,
You brought out a such a good point! I've often noticed (the illustrations stuck out more that the reading) that the illustrations definately steroetype. You should take notice of the illustrations of Jesus in the WTs every March, right before the memorial too. Actually, take notice of the illustrations of the Awake mags every March also. Pay special attention to the back cover AFTER reading the articles. Also, pay attention to how many pages of the mags are discussing Jesus at that time of year. Compare it to how many pages are discussing the "organisation" in the same magazine. That speaks volumes.

peace,
somebody

ISP

G'day Ozziepost!

Yup that guy reminds me of the baddie in Jurassic Park!

Hey but you might have missed a little gem in the article....

'Who are especially vulnerable to such cybersex? "Those users [b]whose sexuality may have been suppressed and limited all their lives...".'

hmm...sounds like all in the WT world are at risk!

ISP

ozziepost

You're so right,ISP, I had missed the 'gem'. I guess the Writing Dept didn't see the significance of this quote when they decided to use in their article. Yjey obviously intened to show that'experts' agree that the Internet is harmful, without 'twigging' to the fact that thesubject of the quote, namely those sexually repressed and limited in their lives, actually applies to untold thousands within the New World Society.

Ooops, eh?

Nice one, ISP.

Cheers,

Ozzie

HintOfLime

In one congragation I was in there was a brother with a severe skin condition and his doctor strongly discouraged him from shaving his beard for a while, as the razor would make the condition worse.

Needless to say, he was treated like a leaper, even though he did nothing wrong. He lost all congragation privalages while he had the beard (he was the liturature servent and managed the sound frequently), and was told not to go out in field service until his condition improved.

A few months later everything was back to normal... but sheesh... I can't see Jesus rejecting someone who wants to volunteer just because they have a medical condition.

- Lime

freddo

At the 2009 DC I was pleasantly surprised at the number of bearded men - probably 1 in 20 I reckoned on one walkabout through the stadium. Mind you this is the UK...

bluecanary

Hey at least you'll see a "portly" man in the rags from time-to-time. You will never, ever see a fat chick.

Fat Men with Beards are Unclean

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