Posts by Confession

17

The Faithful and Discreet Slave is an IDOL

by cultswatter in

when i was a dub i remember including the fds in my prayers because i did what all the other dubs were doing.

little did i know that i was worshipping and idol.

the fact is the fds does not exist other than in the mind of the brainwashed victim.

Confession

I agree with your points, found-my-way. I once wrote this to my mother. (I might even send it to her one day...)

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It is perhaps one of the greatest ironies I will ever witness in my life. More than all other religions I know, Jehovah’s Witnesses ardently emphasize the need to flee from idolatry. No crosses, no holidays, no national emblems… Don’t hang posters of pop culture icons, don’t emulate “worldly” athletes or celebrities… Jehovah’s Witnesses are intensely concerned about committing idolatry, but they cannot see that their devotion to the Watchtower Society is as idolatrous as a thing could be.

“Furthermore, there is no salvation in anyone else, for there is not another name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must get saved.” [Acts 4:24, NWT]
“Jesus said to him: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” [John 14:6, NWT]
“…survival of individuals today depends on their faith and their loyal association with the earthly part of Jehovah's universal organization.” [Watchtower, May 15, 2006]

This is an extraordinary deviation from the scriptures, and a shocking apostasy from the faith Christ established. I remember your talking to me about idols when I was a little boy; about the importance of not involving “things” in one’s worship. I even recall your remarking how some people will say, “I’m not worshipping the object itself. It’s just something I like to use; something through which I pray to God.” You made clear that Jehovah did not tolerate such “things.”

When Jesus compared Himself to Moses’ copper serpent, what was his point? That we had to keep looking at him (Jesus,) right? When He says, “No one comes to the Father except through me,” who is “me?” The scriptures go to great lengths to emphasize the importance of fixating on Christ and the folly of putting your trust in men.

“Now to me it is a very trivial matter that I should be examined by YOU or by a human tribunal.” [1 Cor. 4:3, NWT]
“Do not put YOUR trust in nobles,
Nor in the son of earthling man, to whom no salvation belongs.” [Psalm 146:3, NWT]
“Not that we are the masters over YOUR faith, but we are fellow workers for YOUR joy, for it is by [YOUR] faith that YOU are standing.” [2 Cor. 1:24, NWT]

But it’s okay. You’re not really putting your faith in the men at the Watchtower Society. You’re just putting your faith in Christ through them, aren’t you? Does this remind you of the aforementioned warning about idolatry you yourself gave to me? Don’t think this applies to you? Then ask yourself: Is it possible for you to successfully put your faith in Jesus without having this reliance upon and allegiance with the Watchtower Society? If you answer “no” how can you not recognize this relationship with the organization as being idolatrous?

29

Bill Cosby's moral authority....

by UnConfused in

jw
friends

http://www.cnsnews.com/viewspecialreports.asp?page=/specialreports/archive/200407/spe20040702a.html.

by marc morano.

cnsnews.com senior staff writer.

Confession

One kid was a black teenage male who was getting ready to graduate high school. When I asked him how he felt about it, he told me that he was depressed about it because now he wouldn't have anything to do except hang out on the corner.
It wasn't that he was just choosing not make something of his life; he didn't even understand that he had options.

I've seen this too, and it also breaks my heart. On the weekends, I work for a company that teaches families about the college preparation and financial aid process. They send me to a different U.S. city every weekend, and I'd say somewhere close to one third of the families I sit with are African-American. With some children and their parents, while attending to learn more about education, it's impossible not to see a look of hopelessness in their eyes. Example...

I'm in Columbia, South Carolina, sitting with an 11th grade African-American girl and her single mother. The mother makes less than $10,000 per year; the girl has a 3.9 grade point average. I ask the girl if she has any questions, and she says with wide eyes, "Yes sir, I have a question. Do you think I could really go to college?"

My heart melts when this happens. I tell her of course she can go to college. I tell her if she can combine her outstanding GPA with a good SAT or ACT score--and a decent college resume--she can very possibly go to a very nice college. With the financial need her mother is in, she will probably have no Expected Family Contribution, and it will just be a matter of researching the financial aid policies of a variety of college options and finding which ones are likely to give her the greatest amount of Gift Aid as opposed to Self Aid.

This is the message I think more people need to hear: when it comes to college, a lot of financial need can be a GOOD thing. Don't let poverty keep you from pursuing an education, when there is so much help available.

217

Don Imus Fired!

by minimus in

jw
friends

....for saying "nappy headed hos".

he's off tv and radio.

personally, he's never been my favorite but i like him more than the reverend al sharpton!

Confession

Whose mandate is this?
We're not talking about governmental regulation here, because it HAS received blanket criticism and condemnation from the FCC. No one can say that type of stuff on the air, regardless of race, so there is no institutional disparity with regards to the word.

I am not calling for a governmentally regulated "mandate." I am saying to you, EM, as well as to any individual, "What's good for the goose is good for the gander." If you are going to condemn a white person for using a word--to the degree that you create a nationally broadcast appeal call for his firing--then you must condemn any black person for it as well--IF you have any interest in being considered a fair person.

So what more do you want? You want to regulate the sensibilities of individual people? That's unrealistic. Who are we to tell anybody else what should or should not offend them?
If I have to criticize one person who uses the word, I have to criticize everybody who uses it? Well, what if only one person offends me?

So a black person says it and it doesn't offend you. Then a white person says it and it does offend you. You have just discriminated against a person based upon the color of his skin. Congratulations. I don't want to "regulate the sensibilities of individual people." The only standard is the one MLK espoused. That one day people will "not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." Simple. If it's wrong for you, it's wrong for me--and vice/versa.

Are you saying that black people should be offended when other black people use the word as well? Well, that's your opinion. (and mine as well, btw). But just because we believe that doesn't mean that it's "right", or that we can force others to share that viewpoint. We don't all have to think collectively as a group about it.

I would never tell a black person when they should and should not become offended. Regardless of a person's skin color and regardless of what they may "feel" inside, applying a standard of speech to a person of one skin color--but not to someone of another color--to the degree that you will condemn them or call for their firing--is pure racism.

To infer that the word has a blanket meaning and should be either totally embraced or totally discarded by everyone is the same as saying we should outlaw the word "fire" rather than outlawing the act of yelling "Fire!" in a crowded auditorium.

I disagree. In your example, everyone gets to use the word "fire" in everyday speech. But no one gets to shout it in a crowded theater.

217

Don Imus Fired!

by minimus in

jw
friends

....for saying "nappy headed hos".

he's off tv and radio.

personally, he's never been my favorite but i like him more than the reverend al sharpton!

Confession

EM, we are not talking about the same things.

I am not saying that comedians shouldn't recognize "the humor in the differences between the cultures."

I am saying that if there is to be any criticism of such, it must be applied to all; not some.

217

Don Imus Fired!

by minimus in

jw
friends

....for saying "nappy headed hos".

he's off tv and radio.

personally, he's never been my favorite but i like him more than the reverend al sharpton!

Confession

It isn't a big deal, EM, if you've decided that we're not all part of the human race--and that it's best to adopt an "us" and "them" mentality.

Example: If I didn't want my daughter to use foul language, I'd have to come to grips with my own use of foul language. Sure, some adults think it's okay for their children to use profanity--when they get a bit older. So they confine their own profanity to conversations outside of their childrens' earshot. I'm not saying this is wrong--if that's how someone feels. But if they felt strongly enough that profanity was just wrong, and they wanted to set this example for their kids, people of character might decide they were going to stop using such language themselves.

And one thing's for sure: If they choose instead to use profanity, they'd be hypocritical in expecting their children not to.

Repeat: Anytime you say, "It's okay for me because of my race--but not okay for you because of yours," you are validating racism and perpetuating racial tension.

217

Don Imus Fired!

by minimus in

jw
friends

....for saying "nappy headed hos".

he's off tv and radio.

personally, he's never been my favorite but i like him more than the reverend al sharpton!

Confession

I have acknowledged that there is a double standard, and I don't think that anyone is claiming that there isn't. The point is, that's irrelevant. There are things that are offensive if said by certain people, and this cuts across all cultures and color lines. There are double standards everywhere, but that is not a license to intentionally use terms that are known to be offensive.

Double standards are not used as a "license to intentionally use terms that are known to be offensive." When applied, they are a contributor to and perpetuator of racial tension.

There is a choice:

-Condemn all persons for offensive language.

-Condemn no one for offensive language.

Condemning some--but not others--is to invest in a nice, bright future for racism. Can you agree with this?

217

Don Imus Fired!

by minimus in

jw
friends

....for saying "nappy headed hos".

he's off tv and radio.

personally, he's never been my favorite but i like him more than the reverend al sharpton!

Confession

Whining about a double standard? Whining about a DOUBLE STANDARD? WHINING about a double standard? Are you kidding me?

"Double Standards" are what started the whole problem to begin with. Black people could be slaves; they were property--but white people weren't; they had rights. Even after the Emancipation Proclamation there were Jim Crow laws--which were "double standards." "Double Standards" are precisely what I, as a white person, railed against from the age of ten years on--to all the white people I knew who applied them primarily to black people.

It's this simple:

If you DON'T want race relations to improve, you will continue to abide double standards.

If you DO want race relations to improve, you will stop abiding double standards.

Any time someone says, "It's okay for me because of my race--but it's not okay for you because of yours," they are perpetuating the problem.

Don't think this is possible? Fine. You've made up your mind then. It will be duly noted the next time a double standard is used against you.

217

Don Imus Fired!

by minimus in

jw
friends

....for saying "nappy headed hos".

he's off tv and radio.

personally, he's never been my favorite but i like him more than the reverend al sharpton!

Confession

I watch standup comedy, not a lot, but enough, and I don't recall ever seeing a white comedian making the sort of racial slurs such as what Don Imus made. Not in recent memory anyway.

Okay, well, you should know that they do make potentially offensive racial jokes and comments all the time--again, when they're joking. Here are just a few from one comedian, Sarah Silverman.

"Everybody blames the Jews for killing Christ, and then the Jews try to pass it off on the Romans. I’m one of the few people that believe it was the blacks."
"I will tell you something that I truly believe: That if black people were in Germany during World War II, the Holocaust would have never happened. (pause) Or, not to Jews..."
"Everyone knows that the best time to get pregnant is when you're a black teenager."

And why is it you only want to discuss "white comedians"--and not black comedians?

17 years ago I laughed without a second thought at Andrew Dice Clay's ranting about Asians - "you can blindfold these people with dental floss!". How well would that joke go over today to a mainstream audience?

Jokes about Asians? Miss Silverman has plenty of those too. Here's one...

I got in trouble for saying the word “Chink” on a talk show, a network talk show. It was in the context of a joke. Obviously. That’d be weird. That’d be a really bad career choice if it wasn’t. But, nevertheless, the president of an Asian-American watchdog group out here in Los Angeles, his name is Guy Aoki, and he was up in arms about it and he put my name in the papers calling me a racist, and it hurt. As a Jew—as a member of the Jewish community—I was really concerned that we were losing control of the media. Right? What kind of a world do we live in where a totally cute white girl can’t say “Chink” on network television? It’s like the fifties. It’s scary... there are only two Asian people that I know that I have any problem with, at all. One is, uh, Guy Aoki. The other is my friend Steve, who actually went pee-pee in my Coke. He’s all, ‘Me Chinese, me play joke.’ Uh, if you have to explain it, Steve, it’s not funny.

And isn't Michael Richard's career pretty much over after his recent racist ranting debacle?

It might be. But what do you think? Was that a joke or entertainment? Or did he lose it--in a legitimately crazed emotional freak-out?

217

Don Imus Fired!

by minimus in

jw
friends

....for saying "nappy headed hos".

he's off tv and radio.

personally, he's never been my favorite but i like him more than the reverend al sharpton!

Confession

You play the hand you're dealt. If Al Sharpton waged a continual campaign urging record companies to drop gansta rappers who use similar language to what Mr. Imus used, he would be a Don Quixote tilting at windmills. The public wouldn't pay attention.

I disagree. Al Sharpton vs. Snoop Dogg? You don't think that would make headlines?

A cynic looks at Al Sharpton's involvement in this and says, hypocrisy! Inconsistency! I look at it say, here's a wedge that Al Sharpton and others used to get people talking about how hurtful such casual racism as what Mr. Imus displayed can be to young people.

It is not "cynical" to ask for an equal application of criticism.

Don Imus will survive this.

Agreed.

White people need to run as fast as they can, as far as they can from that legacy. Calling young black women "nappy headed hos" ain't gettin' it. It's not cool for black men to use that language towards black women either, as I said earlier, perhaps the tide is turning.

If you are going to move for an especially sensitive America--and you wish for this to extend even to comedians and other entertainers, then you cannot condemn some of them--while giving lip service where others are concerned.

217

Don Imus Fired!

by minimus in

jw
friends

....for saying "nappy headed hos".

he's off tv and radio.

personally, he's never been my favorite but i like him more than the reverend al sharpton!

Confession

Yes he has taken a stance and marched because of it. So because he didn't ask for them to be fired from the label makes it less credible? He has been very vocal and public, about how he feels about the current state of rap music.

Glad to hear he was involved in a march about it. But why was he not merely "very vocal and public" about Don Imus? Why did he go to the extreme of calling for his firing? And why did he not go to such an extreme with rappers?