Terry

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Posts by Terry

• 
  3

  Say "NO!" to the "drug" of Absolute Belief

  by Terry in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  absolute certainty(the grip of belief).

  in physics class the professor gathers his students together on the first day of school in the gymnasium for a stunning demonstration in what he terms "absolute certainty.

  "there is also a law of conservation of energy.

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  Terry

  truth_b_known6 hours ago

  That is pretty awesome, Terry!
  
  ___
  I appreciate your kind words.
  _____
  
  About a year and a half ago, I finally located one of my cherished mentors from prison days.
  We all pretty much lost touch with each other and that's lamentable.
  I knew this brother was extremely zealous. I was reluctant to speak to him--unless--he had faded.
  Asking around over a period of months I heard rumors - confidential, of course - he was unbuckling the straitjacket of Watchtower indentured servitude.
  I plunged in and took a chance.
  We had a terrific conversation. That is - for about ten minutes. Then, he dropped some "Jehovah" phrases of praise and my heart sunk low.
  Big sigh.
  I decided I'd break off and tell him I'd continue with an e-mail.
  After we hung up - I sent him the most sincere letter I could manage to compose explaining my transition from the days of imprisonment up to the time I left the Organization forever. I kept it personal rather than ranty.
  I told him I was including the PDF of my book and highlighted that he was fondly mentioned inside.
  "If you decide you'd be comfortable continuing our talk - please either call me or e-mail."
  That's how I left it.
  Naturally, I heard nothing.
  Then, a some months back, I came across the Obituary mentioning his death.
  I cried.
  _____________
  (From my FACEBOOK post that day)
  
  ANOTHER FRIEND BITES THE DUST
  
  Just got word one of my favorite friends died a year ago!
  He remained a devout Jehovah's Witness--so--he could not/would not speak to me. I loved him very much.
  We were in prison together.
  
  He was my mentor. He was an intellectual firebrand.
  When I was assaulted, he's the one who went to prison authorities and snitched. (I refused to do it.)
  
  It was he, Tollie Padget, who gathered six of the toughest looking JW's and surrounded my assailant and gave him a good talking to. (I smile at that...we were there as non-violent folks, you see. Words were our only weapons.)
  
  Tollie showed me what a Great Teacher was all about.
  I patterned myself as closely as possible after him.
  Tollie was 3 years older than the rest of us. He was a college graduate with, I think, a degree in Physics.
  He had given up Science to become a JW. He attended the JW Missionary school, Gilead. He served as a missionary in Chile until he became too ill to continue.
  
  What a guy!
  Four years after we were paroled, the END of 6,000 years of human existence was supposed to happen--immediately followed by the Thousand Year Reign of Christ.
  (Spoiler Alert: it didn't happen.)
  I turned away from the cult and pursued the Art career end of things. Tollie didn't flinch.
  
  Just think about that, will you?
  His religion predicted THE END and he remained another 40 years thinking it was going to come "soon."
  I called Tollie on the phone about 2 or 3 years ago.
  I heard rumors he was mentally free of the religion.
  
  He was happy to hear my voice.
  We chatted for about fifteen minutes until---
  He said something or other--it was the statement of a devout True-Believer!
  Oh, no.
  I made an excuse to go and promised to e-mail him.
  You see...
  I just didn't want to have "THAT" conversation with him.
  You know, the one where I'm an Apostate and he has to disconnect from me because I'm going to die at Armageddon?
  Yeah.
  I wrote him instead and included a copy of my prison biography--(with a chapter on Tollie).
  I invited him to read it and we'd discuss things---If he so chose.
  
  He did not.
  
  Now...he's gone. So many of my band of Brothers are dead and gone. They died waiting on the bus that doesn't come.
  
  Wherever you are, Tollie my good friend--I love you
  
• 
  3

  Say "NO!" to the "drug" of Absolute Belief

  by Terry in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  absolute certainty(the grip of belief).

  in physics class the professor gathers his students together on the first day of school in the gymnasium for a stunning demonstration in what he terms "absolute certainty.

  "there is also a law of conservation of energy.

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  Terry

  ABSOLUTE CERTAINTY
  (The Grip of Belief)

  ____

  In Physics class the Professor gathers his students together on the first day of school in the gymnasium for a stunning demonstration in what he terms "absolute certainty."
  The class is naturally intrigued, curious and eager to observe.
  From the metal joist supports in the gym ceiling a cable is hanging all the way to eye-level in the center of the space; like a fireman's pole. But, at the end of this cable is a 100lb metal wrecking ball! What is this all about?

  The Professor begins his demonstration.

  "In science there are things we are so certain of we call them LAWS. They are beyond refutation. Scientists depend on them and you should too.
  For example..." the Professor walks over to the wrecking ball and continues talking...
  "Sir Isaac Newton discovered the principle that to every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. This is called a LAW of MOTION." The Professor gazes around at the students who are still anticipating something extraordinary to come.
  "There is also a Law of Conservation of Energy. All it means is that you never get more out of a system than you put into it. In other words, there is no free ride!"
  Then with a sly smile he concludes: "Who believes what I said is true?"
  All hands go up easily. The Professor smiles.

  "How many of you are ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN?"
  Nobody hesitates; all hands stay up.
  "Very well, let me test your convictions about certainty and belief. I need a volunteer."
  An athletic jock-type student ambles forward with a mock macho swagger.

  "Okay, here is what I'm going to do. I'm going to have you step 10 feet back away from this 100 lb. wrecking ball."

  The student complies despite the sniggering and smart aleck comments of his class mates.

  "Now, I'm going to push this ball forward until it is one inch from your nose."
  The Professor grabs the ball and pushes slowly as he walks toward the student until the ball almost touches his face.
  "I am going to let go of this wrecking ball and it is going to swing backward all the way to the other side about 10 feet and pause and move forward again BACK TOWARD YOUR FACE."
  The jock shakes his head like he's just heard really unbelievably bad news. The students grow loud and agitated.
  "Since you believe that the Law of Conservation will not allow this ball to come any closer than it is now, you cannot possibly have your head smashed to a bloody pulp by the impact. For that would mean more energy somehow crept into the system; which science tells us is impossible."
  Immediately the volunteer vanishes back into the crowd who "boo's" him unmercifully.
  "Anybody else want to show their faith in science?" Several candidates are unwillingly offered by the crowd but each one shakes loose and declines in protest.

  "Very well then. I myself will demonstrate Absolute Certainty."
  And with that the Professor holds the ball in front of his nose and lets go.

  The ball arcs directly away from him in a ponderously slow heave across the gym and pauses 20 feet away. With the sure swiftness of a freight train it hurls ominously forward on a dead ahead path toward the Professor's fragile skull! At the last possible millisecond the ball pauses at maximum arc a little more than an inch from his outstretched nose and swings ever back again!

  Dead silence, then groans, screams and a cheer as the dramatic demonstration came to a close. Thunderous applause ensued as the students hailed the extreme bravery of their Professor.

  "Why are you cheering? It was impossible that I could be hurt. I knew that but you didn't know it. Why? Because my Absolute Certainty trumps your so-called "belief." You said you believed the Laws of Conservation but, you only had a weak shadow of it in your mind. You were actually shocked and amazed when I wasn't fractured into bits!"

  "Until you recognize the difference between "thinking" something is true and absolutely "believing" it--you haven't learned today's lesson at all."

  ____

  How do animals (or humans) learn?
  Cause and effect make a huge impression on the brain. In effect: IF I do THIS, then (I observe) THAT happens. RITUAL behavior is born.

  In certain primitive societies it is believed that dancing brings rain. This belief stems from the fact somebody (long, long ago) was dancing when rain broke out.
  The next time there was a drought, dancing was begun.
  If no rain came it did NOT disprove the belief. No, it Reinforced it!
  How? The dance was continued (as long as it took) until the rain came and the ritual was proved to be true! Ritual trumped reality!
  Today in laboratories, mice and pigeons are trained to perform certain ritual behaviors and then given a reward of food when the ritual is completed.
  But, notice this! If the reward is DIScontinued... the ritual behavior continues and even INCREASES!

  This is what research scientists actually call "Superstition."

  The mouse or pigeon superstitiously continues a worthless behavior because the conditioning won't go away; behavior continues long after the disproof of its worth!
  Among human beings the same course is often observed. A man will win a bowling tournament wearing a certain shirt and immediately the shirt becomes part of a superstitious belief system; a ritual. The shirt is now his "lucky" shirt. He won't bowl without it!
  The brain is conditioned so easily mainly because a ritual behavior that produces food seldom does any harm. It costs only time and little energy. In short: the "possibility" of reward outweighs the loss of time and energy in performing a superstitious ritual.

  Further, statistical analysis of the accuracy of "intuitive" or "gut" feeling predictions show them to be wrong 85% of the time! Yet, the majority of people continue to place far more TRUST in these methods than in rational analysis.

  Perhaps it can be compared to skydiving. The skydiver has faith their parachute will open and consequently leaps out of an airplane and plunges headlong toward destruction below. All this is done for the absolute thrill of sensation and the rush of endorphins. Flirtation with death and taking control of one's mortality brings a tidal wave of ecstatic emotion! After such a leap the skydiver often reports they "have never felt more alive!"

  SAY NO! to the drug of absolute certainty.
  The costs are the really "high."

  __________

  From my book: I WEPT BY THE RIVERS of BABYLON
  ( A Prisoner of Conscience in a Time of War).

  ____
  
  Note: For some reason, Amazon has increased the price on my books.
  It can be obtained cheaper at Lulu.com
  http://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-walstrom/i-wept-by-the-rivers-of-babylon-a-prisoner-of-conscience-in-a-time-of-war/paperback/product-21253498.html

  
  
  
• 
  19

  IRAN - An inevitable clash of civilizations just up ahead (1953-1979)

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  satan peeks over the horizon in qatar :).

  arbitrary borders on a map of the middle east, post wwi.. .

  civilizations were uprooted.. .

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  Terry

  This morning Javad Zarif, foreign minister of Iran, the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism, tweeted the following:

  "We do not seek escalation or war, but will defend ourselves against any aggression.
  ____
  Well - okay then
• 
  19

  IRAN - An inevitable clash of civilizations just up ahead (1953-1979)

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  satan peeks over the horizon in qatar :).

  arbitrary borders on a map of the middle east, post wwi.. .

  civilizations were uprooted.. .

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  Terry

  This was an interesting article I found which addresses the "enemy" aspect of Iran vis a vis the U.S.
  ___
  
  

  WAS IRAN BEHIND Nine Eleven? If so, how much and how?
  
  "Three rare testimonies by three Iranian intelligence establishment defectors have been marked as witnesses X, Y and Z. Their videotaped testimonies offer a profound peek into the depths of the kingdom of evil. For long hours they recount their childhood and adolescence in Tehran and how they were hired for the prestigious posts in Iran’s spy agencies. Then, they start talking about the ties between Iran, Hezbollah and al-Qaeda.

  
  

  Witness X testifies about Iran’s advance knowledge of the plan to crash passenger airliners into strategic targets in Washington and New York. He testifies that he was present at training facilities for Sunni terrorists in Iran and adds many details about the way Iran’s intelligence service utilizes legitimate Iranian organizations such as its airline and shipping company for terror aims.

  
  Witness Y testifies about Imad Mugniyah’s personal involvement in training the September 11 hijackers and the shelter granted by Iran to al-Qaeda’s men after the attacks. Meanwhile, witness Z says that he was present in a series of meetings in Tehran involving senior al-Qaeda men, local intelligence officials and Mugniyah’s men in the months before the 9/11 attacks."
  
  (Source: https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4120430,00.html
  
  This source is a national daily newspaper published in Tel Aviv, Israel. Founded in 1939 in Mandatory Palestine, Yedioth Ahronoth has been the largest newspaper in Israel by sales and circulation
  
• 
  19

  IRAN - An inevitable clash of civilizations just up ahead (1953-1979)

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  satan peeks over the horizon in qatar :).

  arbitrary borders on a map of the middle east, post wwi.. .

  civilizations were uprooted.. .

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  Terry

  Satan peeks over the horizon in Qatar :)

  ____

  
  

  Once upon a time French and British politicians drew up

  arbitrary borders on a map of the Middle East, post WWI.

  
  

  So what?

  
  

  Civilizations were uprooted.

  Anthills were stomped.

  So what?

  So this. Thousands of years of blood feuds. That's what.

  
  

  As T.E.Lawrence said (channeled by Peter O'Toole)

  " You are a little people, a silly people: greedy, barbarous, and cruel."

  
  

  Tsk Tsk. If anybody said that these days, he'd be called "racist."

  
  

  British and French politicians were certainly that!

  
  

  The United States played catch-up. Especially when OIL was discovered. Uh-oh!

  
  

  C.I.A. overthrow of Iran's elected government in 1953 ensured Western control of Iran's petroleum resources and prevented the Soviet Union from competing for Iranian oil.

  
  

  FULL STOP.

  Payback was inevitable.

  But when?

  
  

  1979. Allāhu akbar (“God is great”)

  
  

  THEOCRACY replaced politics in Iran thru revolution.

  Time for Payback begins!

  
  

  The November 1979 seizure of 66 hostages at the U.S. embassy by a group of Iranian protesters demanding the extradition of the shah led to his ouster.

  
  

  It has been downhill for U.S. Presidents ever since.

  
  

  The score never gets settled because the C.I.A. won't leave the Middle East to its own internal struggles.

  Tribe against tribe, a "silly people, greedy, barbarous, and cruel" is how British and American governments view the oil rich people.

  
  

  To Iranians, the West won't mind its own business.

  We in America are devils, infidels, and deserve death.

  
  

  The Military Industrial Complex gets rich no matter what happens politically.

  
  

  Those billions buy plenty of cooperation with our Media and in the House and Senate.

  
  

  Research who voted for the War in Iraq.

  See any familiar names?

  
  

  What's coming is bought and paid for since 1953.

  
  

  No matter whom you elect, the result is the same.

  Let us not be naive.
  
  

  The Obama Administration pulled out of Iraq. Obama listened when the Iran-dominated Shiah government said, "Get out of Iraq."

  They said, "Okay." They got out.

  They didn't renew the Status of Forces Agreement.

  WHAT ENDED UP HAPPENING?

  The rise of ISIS, the Sunnis - disaster in Kurdistan, Syria ...

  et cetera ...

  We're screwed - no matter what decisions are made and regardless of which administration makes them.

  ____
  Agree?
  Disagree?
• 
  11

  NETFLIX: "Messiah" ... all I can say is "Wow!!"

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  netflix : messiah.

  remember how you felt watching close encounters of the 3rd kindfor the first time?that's what i'm feeling at the end of season 1 episode 2 ofmessiah.it's not what you think it's going to be.it's not jeffrey hunter in king of kings, or mel gibson's passion of the christ, or the left behind series, or temptation of the christ, or the greatest story ever told.. this isn't a hollywood version of anything.. folks, at the end of episode 2 i'm thinking i'm watching extraordinary storytelling fresh, original, superbly acted and -best of all: no bullshit.. don't read anything about it.

  don't watch previews.

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  Terry

  slimboyfat: "t was quite good. It reminds me more of Homeland than Passion of the Christ."
  
  _________
  
  I kept thinking "Homeland" too.
• 
  11

  NETFLIX: "Messiah" ... all I can say is "Wow!!"

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  netflix : messiah.

  remember how you felt watching close encounters of the 3rd kindfor the first time?that's what i'm feeling at the end of season 1 episode 2 ofmessiah.it's not what you think it's going to be.it's not jeffrey hunter in king of kings, or mel gibson's passion of the christ, or the left behind series, or temptation of the christ, or the greatest story ever told.. this isn't a hollywood version of anything.. folks, at the end of episode 2 i'm thinking i'm watching extraordinary storytelling fresh, original, superbly acted and -best of all: no bullshit.. don't read anything about it.

  don't watch previews.

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  Terry

  wasanelderonce: "Terry, wasn't it fantastic how they set the shepherd boy up as an unreliable narrator with his shepherding stories casting doubt on the big reveal at the end? You can't be sure if it is what it seems. Did you want to believe he did what they imply? That appears the gist of the whole show. I wish they left the subtitles on longer damn-it."
  
  
  ____
  My favorite gimmick in drama is the unreliable narrator. Mostly because people who speak "their own truth" always think reality belongs to their perception.
  I had to freeze frame MOST of the subtitles!
• 
  22

  What Do We Know for Certain?? Experts, Authorities, Scientists are often Dead WRONG

  by Terry in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  do i know anything for certain?yes!when so-called "authority" predict the future - they are wrong.and yet - we always believe them.

  examples:________.

  2912 mayan calendar apocalypse1910 : halley's cometa worldwide panic ensued, stoked by the media and such newspaper headlines as “comet may kill all earth life, says scientist.”1831 the great disappointmentwilliam miller began preaching in 1831 that the end of the world as we know it would occur with the second coming of jesus christ in 1843. he attracted as many as 100,000 followers who believed that they would be carried off to heaven when the date arrived.

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  Terry

  I think I've read every book Isaac Asimov ever wrote about Science. He 'man-splained' better than most.
  I'll always remember his quote:
  

  [W]hen people thought the earth was flat, they were wrong. When people thought the earth was spherical, they were wrong. But if you think that thinking the earth is spherical is just as wrong as thinking the earth is flat, then your view is wronger than both of them put together.

  —Isaac Asimov

  MODERN SCIENTISTS ARE WRONG FAR MORE THAN YOU THINK

  https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.0020124
  
  _____
  

  Rewriting the textbooks: When science gets it wrong

  https://www.newscientist.com/round-up/rewriting-the-textbooks/
  
  ___________
  
  
  
  
  
• 
  107

  Do You Trump Should Have Exterminated That Poor Iranian Fellow?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  good move or bad?

  ?.

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  Terry

  Terry what do you mean “bogus gas attacks “? The Syrian military absolutely killed their own people using gas.

  _____

  16 December 2019

  "...a series of internal OPCW files published by WikiLeaks, and reporting by columnist Peter Hitchens in the Daily Mail, show that serious concerns have been raised by members of the OPCW Fact Finding Mission (FFM) to Douma about evidence that was excluded from the final report in order to implicate Assad.

  Documents published by WikiLeaks on Saturday confirm that there is significant dissent within the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the global chemical weapons watchdog, over the doctoring of a public report on the alleged April 7, 2018 chemical weapons attack in Douma, Syria, which reportedly killed 49 people and wounded as many as 650.

  The latest round of revelations makes clear that the US-led regime-change operation in Syria, which began in 2011, has been based on a pack of lies. The role of WikiLeaks in exposing these lies demonstrates why the US government has been pursuing WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange so ferociously, along with Washington's partners in crime such as Britain and Australia.

  Relying on video that showed alleged victims of the attack in a hospital gasping for air and foaming at the mouth, the Trump administration and its European allies launched missile strikes against Syria just one week later. The US-led attack was an act of war that threatened to spark a wider conflict with Russia and Iran, both of which have military forces deployed in the country to back the Assad government in the eight-year regime-change war fueled by the CIA.

  While the Trump administration made no effort to seek independent confirmation of the allegations against Assad before taking military action, the OPCW report and the organization’s supposedly objective stance were used to justify the assault months after the fact."
  ___
  Apparently a repeat of an earlier bogus attribution...
  

  Patrick Martin
  8 April 2014

  Nearly two days after the London Review of Books published a lengthy exposé by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh detailing efforts by the Turkish government to stage a provocation to bring the US military directly into the civil war in Syria, the US media has blacked out the report.

  Hersh, who has authored groundbreaking investigative reports uncovering US atrocities, including the My Lai massacre during the Vietnam War and the torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib during the Iraq war, titled his article on last August’s sarin gas attack outside of Damascus “The Red Line and the Rat Line.”

  The “red line” refers to President Obama’s threat to attack Syria if the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons. The “rat line” was a CIA-organized supply chain running from Benghazi, Libya through southern Turkey and into Syria, which was used to smuggle weapons to the Syrian “rebels.”

  The article describes efforts by the Turkish government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to assist Syrian “rebels” of the al-Nusra Front, an Islamist force linked to Al Qaeda, in staging the poison gas attack on Ghouta on August 21, 2013.
• 
  107

  Do You Trump Should Have Exterminated That Poor Iranian Fellow?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  good move or bad?

  ?.

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  Terry

  Our fear or annoyance is largely manufactured by our news outlets and opinions are shaped
  by thinly-disguised propaganda.
  In fact, the editorial mindset has subsumed "actual factual" reporting by neutral parties.
  
  We watched news media cheer Trump when he launched rockets against Syria because of (now revealed to be bogus) gas attacks.
  Now we are watching the crocodile tears and outrage of commentators and "analysts" who cluck cluck
  imperious recitations of disapproval of Trump's hubris.
  It is phony because government and politics is practiced by phonies.
  
  You and me, we only know what we are told.
  Our opinion is manufactured one way or the other EXACTLY the same way our Jehovah's Witness belief system was manufactured. We trusted. We believed. We recited our "Truth."
  Where did that get us??