Do you have to Kiss the Ass of the GB to be a Writer for the Watchtower?

by frankiespeakin 33 Replies latest jw friends

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  frankiespeakin

  Nark,

  What happened after you tried to correct thier error did you get counsiled or were thier any repercussions??
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  frankiespeakin

  Quotes,

  I think you may have a point. I mean if a really bad article gets printed,,it could be from someone who is really really good at kissing someone a$$. Makes sense to me.
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  Narkissos

  BTW as a Frenchman how did you feel about an AngloAmerican run organization,,dictating how to live your life? Didn't that make you feel alittle strange. That is something I think about often is how strange it is that this angloamerican group can extend its influence to forieng countries. I think the Governing Body are in real hot water when it comes to the foreign countries.

  Honestly, I didn't think about that too much before I came to Bethel. Perhaps the WT teaching on the current "Anglo-American World Power" made the idea of a worldwide organisation centered in the USA quite natural. But in Bethel you couldn't miss how the "fear of Brooklyn" was important, especially to the Branch Committee; it was a common joke among Bethelites, and in the above instance I could see it at work firsthand.
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  frankiespeakin

  Nark,

  As someone in another country how do you see the GB's influence waining?? Do you see sign of it where you live??
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  Leolaia

  Narkissos....That's very very interesting about the Trinity broshure and the articles on the church fathers. It was just those articles that upset me the most about the Society's dishonesty. It would've been illuminating to compare the original French versions with the revised English versions...I wonder if there were necessary caveats that were deleted in the editing process.
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  Narkissos

  Quotes,

  Did you know that the Greek "New World Translation" is an English to Greek translation?
  
  So let's get this straight: They take a book originally written in Greek (at leat the O.T.) and then (mis-) translate it into English, and then that becomes the authorized version, which then gets (mis-) translated back into Greek.

  You're right (about the NT of course).

  As a matter of fact the NWT translators in other languages than English were more or less competent and/or scrupulous as to avoid the pitfalls of second-hand translation. The French NWT (which was published much later than its siblings, in 1974) was a relative exception. Cf. http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/9/86744/1.ashx
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  jgnat

  Unfortunately the skills learned at Bethel are not transferable. The writing style is terrible. It has it's own rythm which is quite soothing, hypnotic even. It might be fairly easy to pick up that peculiar style of writing and repetition. Anyhonw any individuality or style can be drummed out by committee.
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  Quotes

  Thanks for the thread, Nark. Interesting stuff.
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  Narkissos

  Frankie,

  What happened after you tried to correct thier error did you get counsiled or were thier any repercussions??

  After the next Branch Committee meeting the decision not to ask Brooklyn was transmitted through the Translation Dept. Overseer -- a nice fellow who liked me and trusted me: he was quite sorry and pointed to me the initials FWF as the only explanation. A few days (weeks?) later I was summoned before the Branch Committee. They had asked an older translator to look for some formal "liberties" in my past translations (of which nobody had complained thus far; actually I had tried and partly succeeded to make the style a little less dull, with the blessings and encouragements of my immediate superior at least). Then they told me I would henceforth work on Awake! -- besides the Aid book which was my long-term assignment. That was all for the moment, but it sure made me think.
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  Narkissos

  Leolaia,

  That's very very interesting about the Trinity broshure and the articles on the church fathers. It was just those articles that upset me the most about the Society's dishonesty. It would've been illuminating to compare the original French versions with the revised English versions...I wonder if there were necessary caveats that were deleted in the editing process.

  I was already out when the Trinity and Church Fathers stuff was published. On the other hand I was given the original text and documentation for the Divine name brochure when I translated it; it was quite different indeed, so I remember it was of little help for the overall translation (except the quotations of course).

  The person responsible for this material in France (he was a member of the Branch Committee, and another poster here knows him better than I ) was certainly a good researcher, who would avoid misquotations as far as possible. So I guess he would have included most necessary caveats, but those were especially subject to be dropped by the Brooklyn Writing dept. Sorry I have no specific information on those issues though.