Posts by OrphanCrow

11

"The charity does not engage in fund raising..."

by Lostandfound in

the above quote from the wb&t ofbritain annual return tothecharity commission.. from what i have read they do little else.........

OrphanCrow

vidiot: I guess constantly reminding everyone to send more money at virtually every meeting and GB broadcast doesn't count as "fund-raising".

You are right - asking for money from congregants is not considered fundraising in the sense that charitable organizations "fund raise". Fundraising is generally viewed as an activity that seeks funds from the community at large. You know...like bingos, car raffles and bake sales and stuff like that.

Donations are not considered as fund raising activities. Neither is selling real estate or assets or collecting interest from investments or green handshakes.

41

Who is your favourite thinker?

by The Rebel in

jw
friends

having recently read orwells 1984, i was impressed with how he understood that both politicians and people abuse language.

this further confirmed to me how the w.t had deceived me by using words to distort reality.

the book 1984, also contains many other great thoughts of george orwell.. of course there have been many other great thinkers, buddah, darwin, freud, einstein and marx come to mind.

OrphanCrow

Saintbertholdt: The opening to Baudrillard's simulations - "The simulacrum is never that which conceals the truth - it is the truth which conceals that there is none. The simulacrum is true." He attributes it to Ecclesiastes, but its nowhere to be found :)

And that is why I like Baudrillard - he was brilliant. His use of Ecclesiastes as a source quote was performative. It is actually humourous, I think. Doing what he said in his opening - creating a simulacrum....what is "truth"? Is it in Ecclesiastes? Or, was his 'truth' simulated? Or is the simulation the truth?

Baudrillard makes me laugh. :)

41

Who is your favourite thinker?

by The Rebel in

jw
friends

having recently read orwells 1984, i was impressed with how he understood that both politicians and people abuse language.

this further confirmed to me how the w.t had deceived me by using words to distort reality.

the book 1984, also contains many other great thoughts of george orwell.. of course there have been many other great thinkers, buddah, darwin, freud, einstein and marx come to mind.

OrphanCrow

SlimFatBoy, yes, Baudrillard did propose that theory - he often wrote about the power of the media and propaganda. I would have to re-read his Gulf War analysis to make any sort of intelligent response to it.

I became interested in Baudrillard when I was studying the politics of representation and how that is played out in the media through the use of propaganda. This was at the time that the WWW was being born and theoretical discussions about how it would impact culture and the political world was common. Speculation about how cyberspace was 'the new frontier' and about how terrorism would be fought in cyberspace for the control of information and power fit well into Baudrillardian theories.

I find Baudrillard's writings to be dense and difficult to untangle - which could be a language barrier problem - but, I keep reading his work. Every once in while, I get an eureka moment from re-reading things that didn't make sense previously. Especially when I read things from years back that now have real application. I call Baudrillard 'the prophet' of the technological age.

Using Barthes to analyze JW meetings sounds like a fun exercise. My interest in Barthes is photographically based. "Camera Lucida - Reflections on Photography" is seminal reading for photographic enthusiasts. But, I also like the way that he writes about myth and how it is constructed and maintained in popular culture. Good stuff.

41

Who is your favourite thinker?

by The Rebel in

jw
friends

having recently read orwells 1984, i was impressed with how he understood that both politicians and people abuse language.

this further confirmed to me how the w.t had deceived me by using words to distort reality.

the book 1984, also contains many other great thoughts of george orwell.. of course there have been many other great thinkers, buddah, darwin, freud, einstein and marx come to mind.

OrphanCrow

I am a big fan of Jean Baudrillard (1929-2007), French cultural, sociological and political theorist. Baudrillard's work centers around technology and how it impacts our culture. Where I take exception to his work (and Foucault's) is in their understanding and assumptions about primitivism and essentialism.

Roland Barthes, Susan Sontag, Germaine Greer, Mikhail Bahktin...a few more that I like...but...Baudrillard is still on top of the heap for me. I pull one of his books off the shelf whenever the world seems just too crazy to handle anymore. His words give me clarity and help me to make a bit of sense of all the madness. Baudrillard grounds me.

I used to say that the number one thing on my bucket list was to get an opportunity to sit in the same room with Baudrillard. Not even speak to him or have him speak - no words between us...just let my mind share the same space with his for a little bit. But, now he is dead. Damn. Cross that one off my bucket list.

96

Is the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses really an inferior form of Christianity?

by nicolaou in

seems to be quite a few posters recently pulling down the beliefs of jw's as not biblical or truly christian.

maybe you're right, maybe you're wrong, i really don't care.. in some important ways though mainstream christians often behave better than jehovah's witnesses; most don't practice shunning or impose lethal medical prohibitions on their members.

many are far more tolerant of the lgbt community and a few even make the awkward attempt to square the fact of evolution with their faith.. please note that i'm saying some, not all.. so i suppose it's fair to say that differing forms of christianity can be better or worse for individuals, families and the wider community.

OrphanCrow

David_Jay: The Nazi war against the Jews was both racial and spiritual.

Actually, those two identifiers of the Jews - racial and spiritual - were secondary to Hitler's reasons for his hatred of that group. Primarily, Hitler hated the Jews because in his mind, they were synonymous with the Bolsheviks.

The Bolsheviks were the ones that Hilter was so adamantly opposed to. The Bolsheviks had taken power in Russia and Hitler was ruthlessly opposed to communism. It was a political hatred that motivated Hitler.

Over time, the Holocaust has been attributed to religious difference, when, in actuality, it was a political difference that led to the genocide of the Jews. The Bolsheviks, Hitler's most hated opponents, were mainly Jews.

10

"True Story" - movie about Christian Longo

by OrphanCrow in

jw
friends

i just watched "true story" on netflix.. http://www.truestorymovie.com/.

disturbing.

it is about the relationship between christian longo and the journalist, mike finkel, who wrote a book about londo's murder of his family.. a person has to wonder about how dangerous it is to plant the notion of the dead being resurrected into the mind of a narcissist.

OrphanCrow

Damn...I should have just posted a link to the movie without comments. I did not intend this to become a debate about "life after death" or about Jebus. I was more concerned with how the distorted JW thinking could have had an effect on this murderer's actions seeing as he was raised in a strict JW family.

I would remove my comments if I could....but carry on. Go ahead and make this about Jebus if you want, Perry. Sheesh. I was thinking more along the lines of how JW thinking can upset a person's psychological balance and instead...we get quotes about bibble verses. Typical. Disappointing, but...typical.

LisaRose, your comments are on track with what I was getting at. There have been other JW murderers who thought that their "loved ones" would get their chance at living forever if they were removed before Armageddon...and, they have also thought that they themselves would get that "second chance" at life forever because of their belief in everybody being resurrected, including themselves, provided they died before the big day. Which makes the death penalty a viable option for them as a solution rather than a punishment.

I suppose we will never know why this idiot, Christian Longo, murdered his wife and children, but, it is not unusual to speculate on what it is that allows a mentally unbalanced person to act out violently.

10

"True Story" - movie about Christian Longo

by OrphanCrow in

jw
friends

i just watched "true story" on netflix.. http://www.truestorymovie.com/.

disturbing.

it is about the relationship between christian longo and the journalist, mike finkel, who wrote a book about londo's murder of his family.. a person has to wonder about how dangerous it is to plant the notion of the dead being resurrected into the mind of a narcissist.

OrphanCrow

I just watched "True Story" on Netflix.

http://www.truestorymovie.com/

Disturbing. It is about the relationship between Christian Longo and the journalist, Mike Finkel, who wrote a book about Londo's murder of his family.

A person has to wonder about how dangerous it is to plant the notion of the dead being resurrected into the mind of a narcissist. Regardless of Londo being a "disfellowshipped" JW, it still wouldn't change the idea that he could murder his entire family and that they would, someday, have a chance at "life forever in paradise". And, if he is executed, that he would get to come back and just say "sorry about that...ain't life grand now?"

There are several threads from 14 years ago on this forum about Christian Longo, but for those of you who aren't familar with the case, this link has some background:

http://www.biography.com/people/christian-longo

5

Watchtower building 5.5 million dollar park

by wannaexit in

jw
friends

all that ice scream money is put to good use:.

http://www.brooklyneagle.com/articles/2016/1/11/jehovahs-witnesses-create-fund-long-awaited-bridge-park-ii-renovation.

OrphanCrow

Crazyguy: The Borg will round up a bunch of volunteer jws and in the end probably spend less then a couple hundred grand.

No, they won't. That is exactly why they are in the situation they are right now. The City of New York would not allow them to use volunteer labour for a city project. The park was to be built over a decade ago but the WTS did not fulfill their obligation - instead they came up with all sorts of "blame somebody else" excuses for their lack of committement. Now, they are forced to hand over a bit of cash to see that their prior commitment is realized.

The WT's "volunteer labour" was rejected - they were not allowed to do it the way they have always managed to get away with in the past. This time, they have to pay real cash.

In the whole big picture, 5.5 million is a pretty small chunk of change to part with considering that they stand to make over a billion dollars on the sale of the property that is connected to this "park controversy". That amount is only .55% of the potential sale value of the property. I think the WTS is getting away pretty easy on this one.

6

Curiousity interest - Russian President Putin Attends Orthodox Christmas Mass last week in Turginovo Church

by fulltimestudent in

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvfi14wdugo

OrphanCrow

DJS: Some think that Vlad has moved from being an atheist to a staunch X-tian; Intel analysts see a shrewd tactical and strategic move by a true blue KGBer who would like to go back to the good old days. Those days include the Russian Orthodox Church.

The re-establishment and resurgence of Russian Orthodoxy is absolutely a political move. Putin wants to be Russia's Tsar and the return to Imperialist ideology is somewhat based upon Putin's admiration for Pyotr Stolypin, the Russian prime minister who was assasinated in 1911.

Russian Orthodoxy is Putin's key to national unity and a solid relationship with the Orthodox Church is vital to the future cohesiveness of Russia and Putin's hold on power. For example, this need is reflected in how Russia is handling the extensive DNA analysis of the royal family remains - everyone else except the Orthodox Church accepted the scientific analysis to date but the church demanded more 'proof'. And Putin will do whatever is necessary to keep the church happy - the church is the government's control mechanism for the people of Russia.

Every power structure needs an ideology to keep it viable - Soviet Russia worshipped "the state" but that is no longer the case and modern day Russia has little to fall back on except what was there in the past. The revolution has gone full circle and has now arrived back at where it started - the natural progression of all revolutions.

6

Curiousity interest - Russian President Putin Attends Orthodox Christmas Mass last week in Turginovo Church

by fulltimestudent in

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvfi14wdugo

OrphanCrow

vidiot: Gosh, we've never seen that before.

It may not be an anomaly here...but in Russia it is.

Russia's return to Orthodoxy is actually a pretty big deal.