Has anyone read "1984" and seen the parallels?

by AK - Jeff 16 Replies latest watchtower scandals

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  AK - Jeff

  I was assigned to read 1984 by George Orwell when in the eight grade I think. Now forty years to late to turn in a 'book report' I am reading it. I see so many parallels to the witness org there. Big Brother, the thought police, no one ever allowed to question or even look like they will question the overlord government without quick and lethal punishment, ect.

  Just wondered if others had read and felt a complete connection to the principle character Winston?

  Jeff

  BTW - don't tell me the ending - I am only half way through the book.
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  Badger

  Down the Memory Hole...1975

  The Constant use of Propaganda...anything remotely resembling expression and individuality dealt with serverly...yeah, we understand...

  Badger, of the "Waiting for Winston Smith to post" Class.
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  Satanus

  Yep, but not just the wt. The us pres: war is peace, the nebulous enemy (the original enemy, bin ladin is forgotten) and a lot of other stuff.

  S
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  AK - Jeff

  badger - you forgot all the other things that went down the Memory Hole - 1799,1841,1844,1920,1925, even pyramids and phrentology. History readjustments

  Jeff
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  euripides

  Yes, and you should certainly get (and read) Gary Botting's The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses, one of my all time favorites. I was so impressed I called Gary up after reading it! He was a long time Witness, also from Canada (like Penton), and teaches. Check on www.freeminds.org to find the book. When I first left the witnesses, it kept getting stolen out of all the New York area libraries! It's a great read, just like Orwell's novel. Hell, I'd even recommend the movie with Richard Burton; it's a dark story, but one that resonates very deeply.
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  VM44

  You can order the book at Amazon. --VM44

  The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses
  by Heather Botting, Gary Norman Arthur Botting

  Paperback: 213 pages
  Publisher: University of Toronto Press (May 1, 1984)
  ISBN: 0802065457

  Rating: 4 out of 5 stars.
  An Interesting Study, June 26, 2001
  Reviewer: A reader
  This is a good book and the illustrations in it are excellent.
  The book captures the totalitarian nature of the Watchtower movement
  as few books do because it is based on sound academic research and a
  background understanding of the movement. Both authors were raised
  Jehovah's Witnesses and are trained scholars. In fact, the book is
  based on a doctoral dissertaion by Heather Botting. My only complaint
  about it is that it places too much emphasis on the year 1984, which
  was not an important "end times" date for Jehovah's Witnesses.

  Rating: 3 out of 5 stars.
  The Blur Between Superstition and Truth, August 5, 2000
  Reviewer: shanbo (los angeles)
  The authors should not have pursued the peculiar coincidentalism
  between JW's and Orwell's book 1984 to the belabored excess that
  they do. Despite this, the book is a facinating autopsy of the mass
  psychology of religion (in this case, Jehovah's Witnesses) and the
  deceptions and nonsense that adherents will endlessly accept.
  Written prior to the year 1984, the book accurately foretells the
  more recent doctrinal changes within the "Organization" as once
  again Jehovah's Witnesses reinvent their theology when even they
  can no longer stand the weight of its absurdity. The publication
  is refreshingly funny and easy to read, especially if, like me,
  you were raised in the bizzare siege mentality culture of Jehovah's
  Witnesses with its oddball idiomatic peculiarities and Armageddon
  hysteria. The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses ends on a
  profoundly accurate prediction, noting that no matter which
  prophesies fail to materialise or which marked dates pass without
  event, JW's will continue to grow in number while members eagerly
  anticipate the day their god Jehovah starts a war on humanity
  destroying "this system of things" and all the evil people within
  it (though not his faithful flock of witnesses of course).
  A great book to grab off of the shelf the next time a pair of
  Watchtower Society pamphleteers intrude upon your property peddling
  their superstitions.
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  confusedjw

  Oh my God did they predict something in 1984 as well?!?!

  I was assigned to read 1984 by George Orwell when in the eight grade I think. Now forty years to late to turn in a 'book report' I am reading it.

  You have heard of Cliff's Notes right? Could have saved you 40 years of "No, I can't come up. I have to get home to do a book report."
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  AK - Jeff

  Good point, Confused. But weren't cliff's notes 'worldly'?

  Actually, I did the addition. It was only 36 years ago I was in the 8th grade. Glad to get that cleared up before someone thinks I am 'old'.

  Jeff
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  Fe2O3Girl

  Nineteen Eighty Four is discussed in this thread.

  Is it called "1984" in the US?
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  ellderwho

  It was only 36 years ago I was in the 8th grade. Glad to get that cleared up before someone thinks I am 'old'

  LOL@ Jeff