Season 1 Episode 1 A&E Cults and Extreme Belief (Video)

by TerryWalstrom 46 Replies latest watchtower scandals

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  TerryWalstrom

  https://www.aetv.com/shows/cults-and-extreme-belief/season-1
  
  It will post soon on site.
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  LV101

  Thanks, Terry. I don't want to miss this!
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  Spiral

  Any A&E experts out there who know how to get "permission" to watch the video? I've just spent quite a bit of time linking the A&E app to my TV provider, but when I try to watch the first episode of "Cults and Extreme BeLIEf" it gives me a message saying I don't have permission to watch. Hoping this goes away? Sure don't want to miss it!
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  scratchme1010

  Any A&E experts out there who know how to get "permission" to watch the video? I've just spent quite a bit of time linking the A&E app to my TV provider, but when I try to watch the first episode of "Cults and Extreme BeLIEf" it gives me a message saying I don't have permission to watch. Hoping this goes away? Sure don't want to miss it!
  

  If it's a PC, make sure that you're connected to the Internet. Some networks also want you logged into your service provide account.

  If you have a tablet, you can access it after logging into the app and download the episode, that is, if you wish to watch it offline.

  I hope that helps.

  Also, those interested in this Type of things, The Investigation Discovery network also have a "People's Magazine Investigates" special on cults. That's happening on June 4th at 9pm.
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  Spiral

  Hi scratchme, I have tried to connect it to my tv provider on both my macbook and my ipad. Wifi working just fine. Funny thing is it will play other shows, but not this show. I'll keep playing with it....
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  Spiral

  OK, problem solved, $50 later...... My internet provider has me on TV service, but not FULL TV service (I just watch stuff on my computer, my mom has a smart TV, but we have basic cable with internet) so I had to agree to upgrade to get A&E to work. $50 extra a month, wow!

  You can bet I'll be calling tomorrow to cancel (made sure I could), but at least I can watch the episode tonite!!
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  OnTheWayOut

  I'm hopefully able to view this tomorrow. Thanks for the link.
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  JRK

  Shit happens over and over.

  OVER AND OVER!

  JK
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  TerryWalstrom

  I was finally able to penetrate the firewall of A&E and watch
  the documentary presentation of CULTS & EXTREME belief.

  From the text intro:
  "Former Jehovah’s Witness Romy Maple–a survivor of child sexual abuse–embarks on a journey to uncover why her pleas for justice were systematically ignored by top members of the organization."
  ______

  First off, this production is first rate as to sound, story, photography, lighting, hosting, and handling of sensitive materials.
  Let's face it, there are more ways to go wrong or too far or not far enough in an expose' and the unfamiliarity of a densely hermetic organization over a hundred years old is a tough nut to crack. Simple is best.

  Kudos are due Barbara Anderson! Barbara was a writer and researcher at Watchtower headquarters...until....(no spoilers...yet.)

  Had she made one false move this program would have been easy to dismiss. The burden was on her shoulders to be clear, concise, empathetic, neutral in tone and non-histrionic. She passed with flying colors!

  Barbara is saved for the latter half of the presentation as a bridge or link to the interior workings at the hive central headquarters.
  The fact that Barbara was not kicked out of headquarters is important. She left with the horrific discoveries uncovered in her proper job as researcher and writer with access to history and documentation.

  Child abuse cover-up popped the cork and she was outta-there post-haste!
  Thank you, Barbara for opening up your private home to TV crews and to the invasion that entails as well as the unpaid hours devoted to making certain the story came across with i's dotted and t's crossed properly.

  The end of the program was rather creepy in my eyes and I'll tell you why.

  The victim traveled to the new headquarters in Warwick.
  The car trip with a very nervous grown-up abuse victim agonizing over her decision to disconnect formally and face to face (if possible) with the leaders of the cult spoke volumes. The location really felt like an isolated bunker not unlike the creepy David Koresh compound in Waco, Texas!

  The man-behind-the-glass was the cherry on top with his impersonal paid-to-lie conversation and abrupt dismissal of the obviously distressed lady standing on the other side of his cage.
  She is directed to a big electronic fence and told someone would come down to talk to her.
  What follows was a tone not unlike Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
  A truck appears after an uncomfortable wait and parks with engine running on the other side of the fence (which never opened). Not a soul got out to walk down for a conversation. The "standoff" (again a Waco flash in my mind) continued for 40 minutes. It was Psych-out pure and simple.
  I'd bet a dozen donuts the goons in the truck had binoculars and were frozen in place by the sight of video cameras in the lady's vehicle.

  Back to the glass window.
  She is upset. The JW inside is squirmy and simply wants her gone as fast as possible. This is way above his pay grade. (Not that I think he's paid.)
  He half-opens the security door and snatches her Letter of resignation as a JW and quite rudely (I thought) dashed back inside like a genuine gutless character.

  A dyed-in-the-wool Apostate JW activist will complain there were missed opportunities. Yes, of course.
  However, while agreeing there are a great many levels and depths of complaint yet untouched in this presentation--the simplicity of the story is impactful in a way that a more dense and polemical slant would not have done.

  I'm guessing this A&E JW topic is deliberately simple because a more profound forensic investigation is soon to appear with the Leah Remini series (formerly Scientology exposed.)

  I've give this a gleaming B+ mostly thanks to Barbara Anderson.
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  never a jw