You are so right. I have just had a look at the new RC videos. They are embarrassing in the quality of the wooden, mock sincere acting but at the same time disturbing and creepy in their content. Not attractive!
JW Broadcasting reeks of desperation
by oldskool 30 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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SadElder
As I bounced around the various videos for the upcoming conventions I was left with the feeling that this video attraction they think they've discovered is simply overdone. It's like a kid with a new toy. They'll play and play with it but eventually you find it laying in the corner with all the other discarded stuff they've become bored with.
I can't see the reason for some of the videos being inserted into the talks except to break up the monotony of the already boring pablum they're throwing at the audience. Instead it's like the monkeys at the zoo throwing feces.
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zeb
Friends, my wife has asked me to go to the kh to watch the video presentation. Her telling me "you don't have to get dressed up..(what! no tie?) was indicative of the discarding of their former rules.
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oldskool
When the monthly special video broadcasts were first introduced they said that they would be presented monthly by a GB member, a year or so later they have now decided that only every second broadcast will be presented by a GD member. No doubt, they've realised the damage it is causing. Also, they were showing their names and titles on the earlier videos and they've stopped that too. Flag Dislike Like
We know who and where the clown are don't we?
After over half a century the wizard decided to step out from behind the curtain and take credit, and without question it is to their detriment.
Ever since I left the group, I've believed that Watchtower leadership yielded tremendous power over the rank and file by remaining anoymous. It was a powerful tool that excused the GB of dealing with the direct fallout associated with personality based religious movements. Nobody had to take the blame for a failure. In fact, the followers could eventually be blamed for something the leadership encouraged. Not anymore. -
oldskool
I can't see the reason for some of the videos being inserted into the talks except to break up the monotony of the already boring pablum they're throwing at the audience. Instead it's like the monkeys at the zoo throwing feces.
Do kingdom halls have screens now? Or televisions?
How is this technology push going over in poorer countries? Is the print operation supporting a cash drain for the WTS?
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bohm
oldskool:
Do kingdom halls have screens now? Or televisions?
You have been out for a long time :-D.
Screens, projectors, etc. is installed in halls in western countries. Instead of having small demonstrations at the wednesday meeting they now show videos. Less audience input...
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jookbeard
never in my day either, a slide show public talk was ripped up black sacks stuck over the windows, how times have changed!
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Phizzy
from the O.P ; " This religion is desperate. The videos reek of it. I never thought the WTS would actually go away in my lifetime. I assumed it would find ways to adapt. Now I'm not so sure. They are stupider than I ever imagined."
That is the conclusion I have come to, the desperation is palpable, and, I am an Old Fart, nearly 70, but I just might witness their demise, and stupidity will have caused it. With clever adaptation they could survive another few decades at least.
But "clever" and JW do not belong in the same sentence.
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SadElder
JOOKBEARD "never in my day either, a slide show public talk was ripped up black sacks stuck over the windows, how times have changed!"
I remember the days doing anything but standing up there blabbing was frowned upon. If your talk got too over the top for the old guard fuddy duddies or was given too much attention by the rank and file the other speakers would get quite jealous. I used to give a public talk about young people "How can youths cope with today's crisis?" One old fart elder told me once "I have that talk and it sure doesn't sound like that". I said "boy am I glad and so was the audience" and walked away leaving him standing there sputtering. I had used some recordings of kids talking about their problems and a few other things. I don't think I ever went on the platform again after that as I was already waking up.
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Magnum
Excellent analysis - very insightful. I agree 100%.
There is no intellectual apparatus within the faith.
True, and it shows. JWdom used to at least appear to be intellectual and scholarly. Your post indicates that you became a JW in the 90's, so you might not be familiar with the seemingly scholarly period of JWdom. During the days of F Franz and GB 1.0, JWdom seemed to be scholarly, dignified, intellectual, bold, confident, etc. I now realize that it wasn't what it appeared to be back then, but at least the appearance was there.
JWdom is now a joke. There is no more (seeming) guru or oracle like F Franz. GB 1.0 seemed more dignified and scholarly, but GB 2.0 is the opposite. The internet has made it easier for non-JWs (and even thinking JWs) to challenge the org's doctrines, so it can no longer be bold in its teachings and predictions. It has become wimpy. The strong confidence of former times is gone. JWs of times past used to relish deep doctrinal discussions and even arguments, but no more; they now run from such.
I never was actually ashamed to have been part of this group. Irritated, upset, and frustrated are words I might use, but never ashamed. These videos change that. If somebody sees these videos and thinks I was part of what is being portrayed, its embarrassing.
I feel as if their entire faith has been turned into a circus.
Same with me, except that it's not just the videos that change it; it's everything about the new JWdom - the ignorance, the lack of intellect, the dumbed-down material, the lower quality of individual JWs, GB 2.0, the new glittery feel and look, the running from challenges, the younger punk COs, etc.
Had this group been producing media like this back in the 90s when I joined, I never would have. A guy like Stephen Lett asking for money? No way.
It would have stopped me, too, but I don't think they care about that anymore. I think that now they're not really wanting people like us to join. They no longer want intelligent thinkers. They want only people they can control - people who will unquestioningly follow. They are, as you said, now desperate. They know that recruiting from the outside is largely failing. They are not getting quality people anymore, only societal misfits, so they're trying to keep those they already have and maybe recruit a few more misfits. I really think they want to weed out people like us because they know we see through them and would only cause problems.
After 10 years and stopping back to take a look, what they've done with broadcasting is showcase what a joke of a religion they have
Yep. I just can't believe it. I can't believe that the religion that I once loved and gave my life for and suffered and sacrificed for has become what it is now.
This religion is desperate. The videos reek of it. I never thought the WTS would actually go away in my lifetime. I assumed it would find ways to adapt. Now I'm not so sure. They are stupider than I ever imagined.
I agree.