darkspilver

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Posts by darkspilver

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  19

  Watchtower alternative fact - JWs were among the first to expose concentration camps

  by slimboyfat in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i am currently reading the new history of the holocaust by british historian laurence rees and it reminded me of a comment in the awake!

  magazine i read years ago and trusted as factual.

  i quote both passages without comment.

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  darkspilver

  Does the newspaper it cites actually state, "...done to death..."?

  Yes, the article published in The Guardian Friday 20 September 1935, page 13 under the heading: "Nazi Concentration Camps Not Improved" uses the expression "done to death" twice with regard to Dachau, including in the very last sentence: "The total number of prisoners known to have been done to death in Dachau is 44."

  The article notes that the deaths, which happened between 12 April 1933 and 22 May 1935, included 15 who they list as being Jewish.
  

  As a side point - I note that the article also states that Dachau holds around 1,600 prisoners, explaining that: "The Jews include thirty who returned to Germany this year, thinking it to be safe, and were sent to Dachau."

  It is the above article that is referred to in The Golden Age 8 April 1936 which featured articles regarding the situation in Germany over the first 14 pages of the magazine.
  
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  19

  Watchtower alternative fact - JWs were among the first to expose concentration camps

  by slimboyfat in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i am currently reading the new history of the holocaust by british historian laurence rees and it reminded me of a comment in the awake!

  magazine i read years ago and trusted as factual.

  i quote both passages without comment.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  darkspilver

  Just because something is/was reported, doesn't mean people know about it - why?
  

  "I had been taught growing up that Americans didn't know and couldn't have known about the Holocaust while it was happening. I was curious about why and how I could be taught that Americans didn't know when it was in the mass media... The murder went on as if nothing peculiar was happening. Most people were indifferent to it."

  "It was reported. It was reported accurately. It was reported in detail. It was reported in a timely fashion but it was for the most part buried inside the newspaper in a way that would make it difficult for readers to find the information."

  Laurel Leff (Buried By The Times - see links below)
  

  "Americans, including many American Jews, were largely unaware of what we now call the Holocaust while it was going on; the nation was preoccupied with defeating the Axis."

  Peter Novick (The Holocaust in American Life)
  

  
  Reporting on The Times - How The New York Times and the American public managed to ignore the Holocaust
  

  http://reportingonthetimes.com/

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buried_by_the_Times
  

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1LxXDjkN44

  The New York Times: Turning Away From the Holocaust

  AND then there was failure: none greater than the staggering, staining failure of The New York Times to depict Hitler's methodical extermination of the Jews of Europe as a horror beyond all other horrors in World War II -- a Nazi war within the war crying out for illumination.

  Only six times in nearly six years did The Times's front page mention Jews as Hitler's unique target for total annihilation. Only once was their fate the subject of a lead editorial. Only twice did their rescue inspire passionate cries in the Sunday magazine.

  http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/14/news/150th-anniversary-1851-2001-turning-away-from-the-holocaust.html

  What is interesting is that, following Laurel Leff's comments above, perceptions are now changing - thanks to modern technology and crowd sourcing that was unavailable 20 years ago when the OP WT quote was written.

  The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is leading the way with a forthcoming major exhibition due in 2018:

  History Unfolded: U.S. Newspapers and the Holocaust

  What could Americans have known about the Nazi threat from reading their local newspapers in the 1930s and 1940s? You can help. Join our team of citizen historians whose research will be shared with scholars, curators, and the public.

  https://newspapers.ushmm.org/
  
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  60

  Stephanie Fessler v Watch Tower - Trial on Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2017 in Pennsylvania

  by AndersonsInfo in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  http://avoidjw.org/2017/02/stephanie-fessler-v-watch-tower/.

  stephanie fessler v watch tower.

  stephanie fessler was brought up as a jehovah’s witness by her parents, jodee and kevin.

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  darkspilver

  According to the following webpage:

  (which is a 'fund-raising' website for which I have no involvement or knowledge, and this is not a recomendation or suggestion to donate, and I can not vouch for the varacity of the fund-raising campaign.)

  https://fundly . com/thenewsystem

  Stephanie is fighting this case alone as her entire family has shunned her due to her sexual orientation.
  
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  19

  Watchtower alternative fact - JWs were among the first to expose concentration camps

  by slimboyfat in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i am currently reading the new history of the holocaust by british historian laurence rees and it reminded me of a comment in the awake!

  magazine i read years ago and trusted as factual.

  i quote both passages without comment.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  darkspilver

  I don't think in that 1995 quote that the WT is saying in that were the only ones highlighting what was happening in the concentration camps. Nor that they where the first.

  They are highlighting that regular readers, particularly from early 1936, would have been much more familiar with the horror that was going on in Germany through the numerous articles they published which included both first hand experiences, and references to newspaper articles such as in The Guardian. True, it would appear that the WT was not as 'graphic' or 'in-depth' as The Guardian.
  

  In fact you could apply the WT quote to The Guardian as well (but that does not make the WT quote in itself wrong) - BUT I believe the Guardian was notable for being one of the VERY few newspapers to consistantly expose, and in some depth, what was happening in Germany at that time.

  But also remember that The Guardian was (is) a very small circulation newspaper - only around 50,000 daily copies in the mid-1930s (the top five newspapers where doing over 1,500,000 daily copies each) - and The Golden Age was doing over double The Guardian's numbers that at the time - and The Golden Age was international.
  

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_newspapers_in_the_United_Kingdom_by_circulation

  1936 Yearbook, page 43: 1935 production of Golden Age = 2,659,800 copies / 24 = 110,825 copies each issue. (it should be noted that there were different 'versions' of The Golden Age being printed in different languages at the time - I think the above figure may actually just be for Brooklyn, not world wide)
  
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  13

  AUST: QLD Cairns Post - Tablelands police charge former JW with offences against children

  by darkspilver in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  i believe this has appeared into today's edition of the cairns post print newspaper (saturday 4 february 2017) at the top of page 4 under the headline: "indecent charges for man" - the actual text of the article is apparently the same as the online version below:.

  cairns post - saturday 4 february 2017. tablelands police charge former jehovah’s witness with offences against children.

  an elderly tablelands man and former jehovah’s witness member will appear in court this month amid allegations he molested three young girls from the church more than 25 years ago.

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  darkspilver

  jwleaks: More coverage.
  

  No. Afraid not.
  

  That article is the same newspaper print article I refered to in the OP - though I admit I made a slight error calling it the 'Cairns Post' which is the name of the weekday Monday to Friday edition - the article, as I stated, appeared at the top of page 4 of the Saturday 4 February 2017, which is the weekend edition and is called 'Cairns Weekend Post' - sorry for the confusion.

  I've also had it confirmed that the story on the top of page 4 of today's edition of The Cairns Post - Monday 6 February 2017 - is a totally unrelated story regarding "Wet season hammers Cairns with big totals" which is a lead on from the front page big picture headline.
  

  So, despite the interesting Royal Commission angle.... no others news outlets seems to have picked it up (yet)??...
  
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  39

  UK: Paul Shields "abused girls after luring them with video games"

  by darkspilver in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  fyi from north-east england:.

  http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/johovahs-witness-abused-girls-after-12538877.

  jehovah's witness abused girls after luring them with video games, court told.

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  darkspilver

  UPDATE Monday 6 February 2017

  http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/jehovahs-witness-tells-how-family-12560536
  

  Jehovah's Witness tells how family shunned him under church orders after allegations

  Paul Shields said he had not spoken to his 80-year-old mother for two years after being accused of abusing young girls: He denies the allegations

  
  

  http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/jehovahs-witness-tells-how-family-12560536
  
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  60

  Stephanie Fessler v Watch Tower - Trial on Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2017 in Pennsylvania

  by AndersonsInfo in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  http://avoidjw.org/2017/02/stephanie-fessler-v-watch-tower/.

  stephanie fessler v watch tower.

  stephanie fessler was brought up as a jehovah’s witness by her parents, jodee and kevin.

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  darkspilver

  This is a report from the York Dispatch from May 2013:
  

  York victims of sexual assault struggle for peace

  She looks pretty tough now, sporting big hoop earrings and a spiked, two-toned faux hawk.

  But 20 years ago, Stephanie Fessler was a vulnerable 4-year-old girl told she was to blame for being sexually assaulted by a male congregation member at Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses.

  She was 14 the second time it happened. This time, it came at the hands of a 50-year-old woman from the church. Fessler said she was given the same punishment as her abuser.

  "I was publicly reproved (disgraced) at a church meeting," Fessler said Thursday after speaking about the abuse in public for the first time. "Because she was a woman, I should've known better. It was against the church ..."

  https://culteducation.com/group/1267-jehovah-s-witnesses/11498-york-victims-of-sexual-assault-struggle-for-peace.html
  http://www.silentlambs.org/YorkVictims.htm
  http://www.yorkdispatch.com/ci_22961227/york-victims-sexual-assault-struggle-peace
  

  
  
  
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  26

  Jalessa Castillo, a Jehovah Witness Pioneer, who joined The Orlando Times Team, maintains a 3.75 Grade Point Average at Valencia College.

  by no password in

  1. social
  2. current

  http://www.orlando-times.com/the_journey_of_jalessa_526.html.

  the orlando times.

  home.

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  darkspilver

  Is the college she attends a community college? Some places they call it Junior college?
  

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valencia_College
  

  Valencia College is a public state college in Orlando, Florida, United States. In 2011, it was named the top community college in the United States by the Aspen Institute.

  The college was founded in 1967 as "Valencia Junior College," taking the name "Valencia Community College" in 1971. In December 2010, Valencia's Board of Trustees voted to change the name to "Valencia College," because the academic scope of the school had expanded to include bachelor's degrees. Valencia has several campus locations in Orlando with additional campus locations in Winter Park and Kissimmee.

  
  http://valenciacollege.edu/aboutus/facts.cfm
  

  Valencia was named the best community college in the nation as the inaugural winner of the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence.
  
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  19

  Cyprus JW's Military Service

  by snare&racket in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i work with a nurse who served for 2 years in the army of cyprus as is compulsory in that country.

  i happened to ask about jw's and their consequential punishment for not doing it.

  he laughed and stated that since 2009 they have to do it and that he personally knew several that 'served.

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  darkspilver

  Also there is this...
  

  Yearbook 1995, page 111 (my emphasis)
  

  In a memorandum to the minister of education, dated April 16, 1991, the attorney general reviewed the matter in the light of the Cyprus Constitution. He then rendered the opinion that Jehovah’s Witnesses are a “known religion,” so the students’ religion should be shown on their school reports.

  This opinion of the attorney general had a favorable effect on other legal developments involving Jehovah’s servants in Cyprus. A nine-page memorandum issued by his office stated that ministers of Jehovah’s Witnesses should be treated in the same way as those of the mainstream religions of Cyprus. At a time when there was renewed pressure from opposers, this served to fortify a decision made by the authorities in July 1990 regarding Jehovah’s Witnesses. On the basis of that decision, elders and ministerial servants in the congregations of Jehovah’s Witnesses were exempted from military service because they were recognized as being ministers of religion.
  
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  60

  Stephanie Fessler v Watch Tower - Trial on Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2017 in Pennsylvania

  by AndersonsInfo in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  http://avoidjw.org/2017/02/stephanie-fessler-v-watch-tower/.

  stephanie fessler v watch tower.

  stephanie fessler was brought up as a jehovah’s witness by her parents, jodee and kevin.

  1. 
  2. 
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  darkspilver

  I was just thinking. Wouldn't it be ironic if the victims father ended up been fined or sentenced to jail for not reporting the abuse, as he to was also an elder and had an obligation to report.
  

  From my posting earlier in this thread, I understood that BOTH the victim's parents would appear to be 'mandated reporters' - and they would also seem to have been the first two 'mandated reporters' to become aware of the (OP) "intimate nature of the relationship".