Just Re-Read 1984 (page 2)

heianderen

I read it in the past as part of my eye-opener program. It describes a totalitarian society, very similar to the WTs. Now, that I've DA myself, I know what it means to be death for those that were your friends, like the book.

_heianderen_

stillajwexelder

Not sure I know what you're referring to here. The only alteration I'm aware of from original publication to bound volume or CD was the change of "in our twentieth century" to "in our day" in the 1989 Watchtower. Are there other alterations? If so, I'd sure like to know about them.

Many -- sadly I do not have a complete list -- what I do have though is a fabulous library - I never throw old publications/indexes etc away -- but I stll get the CD Roms and Bound volumes so we can compare -- but there are many examples -- I can always scan in if necessary some time the old publications

dmouse

Yes, a definite 'must read' for all JWs and Ex JWs. I'm surprised that the WBTS hasn't found a pretense for 'suggesting' that it is a book Christians should not want to read. I suppose they don't want to draw attention to it.

'Thoughtcrime does not entail death: thoughtcrime IS death.'

I read it for the first time last year and I was astonished at how close were the parallels to the JW religion. One example is how they get relatives to turn each other in, even children turn in their parents. I also like the way that reports would come in of, for example, an excellent quota of shoes produced - but there were never any more in the shops. Kinda remainds me of the field service reports.

tinkerbell82

Is it now common fare in high school?

It is. i actually read it in junior high (eighth grade) AND high school (junior year), in fact.

Winston Smith :>D

This is long, sorry. But the book freed my thought process.

Early this year I read Animal Farm and found it so eerily close to the JW world that I immediately read 1984. I was floored. It forever changed my life as a JW.

I always felt that the WTS was rewriting history with their Proclaimer’s book, but never researched it myself. All I knew was that the Proclaimer’s book just felt wrong to me, like they were rewriting their own past. But I always put it out of my mind.

After reading 1984; the ruling party, Insog, had a motto that hit too close to the WTS’ MO in the Proclaimer’s book for me to just let it slide. The motto is:

'Who controls the past, controls the future: who controls the present controls the past”

The WTS controls all information that a JW receives. We can’t talk to a DF’d, DA’d or especially an apostate. We can’t even do an even exchange of literature at the door. That always bugged me. And therefore a JW most often knows no better, because all info is fed to them from the WTS.

That’s why the WTS is scared to death of the Internet. They can’t control it. And now that they can’t control the present, their past is coming out to bite them. Their present misdoings are being told. The WTS is losing its stranglehold on the R&F.

~

The thought process needed to survive as a JW is defined in 1984 PERFECTLY by Orwell. The definition of this process is:

DOUBLETHINK : The power to hold two completely contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accept both of them.

Or as said in the book by Winston Smith:

“To know and not to know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies, to hold simultaneously two opinions which cancelled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them…

… That was the ultimate subtlety: consciously to induce unconsciousness, and then, once again, to become unconscious of the act of hypnosis you had just performed. Even to understand the word 'doublethink' involved the use of doublethink.'

All of us did it as JW’s:

“We are not here to convert you, we are just doing a Bible education work.”

“It’s not true that we believe that only JW’s will survive Armageddon. Only Jesus knows as he is the final judge.”

~

AS JW’s, we are told to avoid words at the door that are familiar only to the WTS organization. That’s because as JW’s, we have our own language.

Again, this is addressed in 1984. It’s called:

NEWSPEAK : Newspeak is based on standard English, but all words describing "unorthodox" political ideas have been removed.

In 1984, a few good examples are:

Minipax - Ministry of Peace (war)

Miniplenty - Ministry of Plenty (rationing).

Minitrue - Ministry of Truth (propaganda) - Department of the government in charge of all record keeping and history re-writing.

Now let’s look at some JW words. The negative connotation has been removed, making the word seem good:

Privilege: what really amounts to an added burden or work for someone, is now viewed as a blessing from jehover.

Disfellowship : someone isn’t kicked out of the congregation and ostracized, but rather the person’s fellowship privilege is no longer available. Hell, it’s not even a word that can be found in a dictionary, let alone to be found in the Bible

I’m sure you can think of more.

~

If one even has a doubt about a teaching or the WTS, we are supposed to go the elders for help because we are sick. Here, a JW’s thoughts are controlled by the WTS. In 1984, this is defined as:

CRIMETHINK - To even consider any thought not in line with the principles of Ingsoc. Doubting any of the principles of Ingsoc

~

in 1984, there is even a book that is forbidden to read. Possession of it is the greatest act of heresy a citizen of Oceania can commit. It’s titled:

THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF OLIGARCHICAL COLLECTIVISM

All this book does is explain the structure of society in straightforward and honest manner. And under a totalitarian regime, that is the single greatest act of thoughtcrime possible.

Of course, as JW’s we have such a book also. Possession of it will result in an immediate DF’ing, no Q’s asked. It’s called:

Crisis of Conscience , by Ray Franz

All it does is explain how the Governing Body operates behind the scenes.

Is this terrifying similar to anyone else besides me?

~

Jeez, I could go on with this for a while. Just read the book if you haven’t. It should be required reading for all JW’s or those who never were a JW but want to understand what life was like as a JW.

Animal Farm is good too. Read both books if you can. They empowered me to examine me thought process and see that I was an expert at DOUBLETHINK.

Winston.

heathen

You can read or you can check out the movies . I think animal farm was a cartoon . I'm thinking way back to jr. high . That we read and watched the cartoon. I know right around 1984 they came out with the movie . Interesting comparison to the WTBTS but I always hear people compare the current government using the ideology from orwell . I guess we will have to wait and see how far they are going with the new patriot stuff they are working on in congress.

rocketman

Good thread. From time to time, we all see mention of 1984 in various threads here. Less for Animal Farm, but it's good to see that book mentioned too.

WS, thanks for the summary of some of 1984. Your post wasn't long at all - excellent job of overview.

NeonMadman

I never throw old publications/indexes etc away -- but I stll get the CD Roms and Bound volumes so we can compare -- but there are many examples -- I can always scan in if necessary some time the old publications

Even just the citations would be helpful. As I said, the only actual alteration I know of is from the 1989 WT. They've certainly quoted themselves selectively at times, and have modified things in newer editions of certain books, but to actually alter the text of a purported reprint borders on the fraudulent, and I would think it would carry some weight in the minds of JW's if they were made aware of such things. That's why I'd like to know about them.

Prufrock

I first read 1984 when I was 13 and I saw many of the similarities to the witnesses then. Unfortunately I didn't act on it until much later. I think that the similarities to the org. in the book just shows that they are as susceptable to the pitfalls of human nature as everyone else and all of the claims that they may make to being any different are just laughable. I just wish I could convince my family of that.

Sir Paul

Oh no Neon, there's DEFINITELY been many changes and 'sweeps under the rug' since then!... Unfortunately, I've gotten rid of most of my own old JW books now, But when the whole '1914 Generation will live to see the time of the end' prophesy pretty much DIED back in 1995... then all the references to THAT (made in - oh so many WT's and books I saw with my own eyes) were conveniently erased or glossed over in yearbooks following 1995... Which I also saw...

I believe there's a good deal of this stuff well-documented on 'Watchtower.Observer.org' If you want to look into it further... But it's been happening all along their whole history... Starting with Russell & Rutherford...

Having been a part of the society WELL AFTER 1975... I used to think that maybe they were right about that whole thing being a hoax brought on by overzealous members...

Now, After having gone through the '1914 Generation' - I definitely think twice about that - esp. having met many that were around with them during that time.

Just Re-Read 1984

'Who controls the past, controls the future: who controls the present controls the past”

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