by kwintestal 15 Replies latest watchtower scandals
Just a thought ... As I recall, in the early 90's the documentary "Purple Triangle" was made. This was made independant of the WTS and once it was shown to them, because it was very Pro-JW, they purchased the rights to the video and started distributing it among JW's.
Is it possible, that Joel Engardio knew of this prior to his producing "Knocking" and his attempt is to sell the video rights to the WTS? Any thoughts?
Kwin
That makes a lot of sense. Joel must be producing propaganda for some reason, whether it be fun or profit. Either he is a good little dub and believes it, or he is a little more cynical and sees an opportunity.
That was in 1990 when the Internet was still in its infancy. There is no way a production like that could possibly be produced now unless the producer has a goal that is clearly biased in favor of the WTS.
Right now the Knocking.com people are being provided information about JWs that the Purple Triangle people never had an opportunity to see.
The fact that so many people are contacting them tells them that there is no way they can get away with a biased production without an enormous public outcry in protest.
Kwin , good observation and i think you are on to something ,besides what a way to show the light on the jws for new recruits.
I know what you're saying Elsewhere, but if the video is designed for a particular market, in this case, JW's, they aren't going to listen to the outcry from 'opposers' anyway. I think that perhaps the difference between Purple Triange and this one, is that Joel here is trying to go public with the video, instead of hiding it from general view.
Who says that the video has to be un-biased? If the video airs on PBS, then I'm sure its required to be un-biased, but a documentary doesn't have to be un-biased in order to recieve funding for it.
Kwin
Noted on this thread ... a good read. Here's sKally's take on it ...
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/93613/1585925/post.ashx#1585925
t
You could be right
Pulled from the same thread, Joel's pandering to JWs on this project is pretty obvious:
I'm Joel Engardio, director of the project. Since the http://www.knocking.org/ web site went live a few days ago, I've been hearing from Jehovah's Witnesses like yourselves from Arizona to Arkansas and everywhere in between... It's been great to hear from so many Witnesses around the United States. Hopefully word will spread to other countries in Europe and beyond. Please feel forward the link http://www.knocking.org/ to all your friends far and wide...Indeed, Jehovah's Witnesses are in more than 200 lands, and their story about blood, the Holocaust and preservation of civil liberties resonates around the globe. The aim of KNOCKING is to give a general, non-Jehovah's Witness audience a fair look at a religious group that has long been misunderstood and relegated to cartoonish stereotypes. KNOCKING uses the real life stories of real families to humanize Jehovah's Witnesses. We show both the ups and downs, including what it is like to have unbelieving or opposing family members, and how divided families can find common ground. For instance, the young man who does a groundbreaking bloodless liver transplant has opposing family members who come to the hospital to see first-hand that the new bloodless technology works. I think KNOCKING will be educational and illuminating for a non-Jehovah's Witness audience, affirming for those who are Jehovah's Witnesses, and compelling and entertaining for all. I imagine Jehovah's Witnesses will enjoy the film and will want their extended family, neighbors, co-workers and classmates to take a look as well. We will eventually offer DVDs for home and school use. There will be a special introductory rate for Jehovah's Witnesses. I'll be sure to send more details on that later. In the coming months, I'll send periodic newsletter updates on the film. If you don't want these updates, just write back and tell me to take you off the mailing list. As of June 3, 2005, the film is being edited in San Francisco. We finished production earlier this year. Throughout the course of the project, we filmed in California, Georgia, Ohio, New York, Nevada, and Texas as well as Austria and Poland. We may have filmed in your congregation or at one of your conventions! Throughout the summer we will continue to edit, crafting more than 200 hours of footage into a 60 or 90 minute final film. Thankfully, the DVD will be able to retain all the wonderful additional scenes and interviews that end up on the cutting room floor. The film will be delivered to PBS in the fall, and it will be entered in film festivals such as Sundance. In early 2006, we hope the film will premiere at a prestigious film festival. The national television broadcast on PBS would follow later in 2006. Between a film festival premiere and the national broadcast, we hope to bring KNOCKING to cities throughout the United States for special screenings in community event theaters. This will be a chance for you to see a sneak preview and perhaps meet some of the film's subjects in a live Q&A session. The KNOCKING web site and messages like this email to you will provide information about where and when the sneak previews will take place. If you are interested in organizing such a screening in your city, please contact me directly and we can talk more about how to make that happen. I plan to use local volunteers to organize these screenings. Please keep in mind that every Jehovah's Witness who has contributed to this film, either on camera or behind the scenes, has done so by their own personal choice. There is no official connection to Watchtower, though the Bethel organization in Brooklyn, Patterson and Wallkill, New York has been cooperative with the producers of this film. It is important to know that this project is independently produced for public television, using public funds. We feel this lends added credibility to the film when viewed by a non-Jehovah's Witness audience. No one on the production staff is a Jehovah's Witness. The director's mother, however, is a Witness in Michigan. I look forward to seeing the positive impact this film has in telling the untold stories of Jehovah's Witnesses. I hope you do, too. Thanks again for contacting us, and the KNOCKING staff will be sure to keep you up to date on the latest progress. Sincerely, Joel P. Engardio Producer/Director
There will be a special introductory rate for Jehovah's WitnessesAh yes, rocket science here.
Like I said, transparent. Just how much WILL WTBTS get for their "cooperation"?
sKally
It seems to me that this film is just emotional hub-bub. Get a sad story about Nazi persecution, rejecting a blood transfusion, etc and people are bound to be engrossed. A reasoned, dispassionate analysis of the religion? Fah-get-about it.
To be fair, the Dateline and BBC shows about child molestation were also primarily emotional public "bleeding" if you ask me. There are outliers on every bell curve.
B.
