Beyond their great entertainment value, what these posts demonstrate most clearly is that the convictions and rationales of the Jehovah's Witnesses have always been based primarily upon rumor and speculation, incorrect factual information, and geniune facts willfully placed so far out of proper context as to be meaningless.
Even more tellingly, that these absurdities are concealed or misrepresented to current Jehovah's Witnesses (and those to whom they proselytize) by their leadership speaks to the sort of gross intellectual and historical dishonesty that is only engaged in by charlatans (and other fascists).
dilaceratus
JoinedPosts by dilaceratus
-
279
Golden Age Goodies
by Leolaia inrecently i had the pleasure to examine a stash of 1920s and 1930s golden age magazines, among the rarest of watchtower publications.
i thought it would be a fun idea to have a thread in which i share with you some of the amazing, ridiculous, hilarious things contained therein.
hence, this is the first post of a series of excerpts, scans, etc.
-
-
dilaceratus
-
15
Why didn't Hitler jail other pacifist religions?
by jwfacts inthe watchtower still proudly highlights that they were the only religion sent to concentration camps, due to their neutral war stance.
however there are many other religions that are neutral or pacificts and so must have disobeyed hitlers request for them to join his ss.
so what is the real reason jws were put into concentration camps?
-
-
dilaceratus
There were only about 200 German Friends during the 30s and 40s, and half were either unemployed or housewives. A few were intermittently jailed or lost jobs as a result of their affiliation. They were apparently not viewed as a political threat to the Reich, and had some measure of German goodwill as a result of their humanitarian efforts after the Great War.
What is most interesting about this group at this time, however, is that such a very few people managed to organize the movement of over 8,000 (if I recall correctly) Jews from Germany, mostly children.
(This is an interesting numerical point to bring up every time the Watchtower decides to increase the number of Jehovah's Witnesses who were persecuted under the Nazi regime.) -
279
Golden Age Goodies
by Leolaia inrecently i had the pleasure to examine a stash of 1920s and 1930s golden age magazines, among the rarest of watchtower publications.
i thought it would be a fun idea to have a thread in which i share with you some of the amazing, ridiculous, hilarious things contained therein.
hence, this is the first post of a series of excerpts, scans, etc.
-
-
dilaceratus
Dear Leolalia,
To my memory, Coughlin's radio broadcasts of openly anti-Semitic ideas began in the mid-30's (I believe there were strong attacks on "Wall Street" personalities with Jewish names in 1934), but he skirted around the issue in the early thirties, as well. This all came to a head when he published yet another copy of the sordid Russian forgery "The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion" in 1938.
It would certainly be helpful to know when Coughlin came across that disgusting work. Coughlin was in Royal Oak, Michigan, when Henry Ford first began publishing the "Protocols" in Dearborn, Michigan in 1921, which is when they first seem to have made their poisonous, mass-media impact on America.
I have long wondered whether a sustained examination of Rutherford's writings wouldn't show a strong influence from the "Protocols," although those sorts of Nativist conspiracy theories were all over the place in the 1920s and 30s. Rutherford's early affiliation with William Jennings Bryan, who was adept at using code-words to invoke anti-Semitic sentiment with Populist audiences, may also give some clues as to his early mindset. (Really, in Rutherford's case, it seems impossible to gauge whether he believed anything, or was just aware of another button that could manipulate an audience.)
One point that has always interested me: the crazy ban on immunizations, and medicine, in general. While there is a long history of anti-immunization thought in the Naturopath movement (back to at least 1918), why did they attack it as demonic? One thought is that there are a couple of parts in the "Protocols" which suggest a conspiracy to purposely infect the Goyim, using medicine.
Your information on the flag salute issue is incredible work.
[Dilaceratus]
P.S. To clarify, my first reading of the DOF, and subsequent readings, were what informed me of Rutherford changing Russell's interpretation on the status of the Jews. This caused me to wonder about what political motivations might have caused such a change. -
279
Golden Age Goodies
by Leolaia inrecently i had the pleasure to examine a stash of 1920s and 1930s golden age magazines, among the rarest of watchtower publications.
i thought it would be a fun idea to have a thread in which i share with you some of the amazing, ridiculous, hilarious things contained therein.
hence, this is the first post of a series of excerpts, scans, etc.
-
-
dilaceratus
Dear Leolaia,
In addition to the narcissism, greed, stupidity, and absolute lack of artistic merit apparent in the cartoon, I am curious about the implicit competition stated between Rutherford and Coughlin. When I learned of the 1933 "Declaration of Facts" my first thought (past repulsion) was whether the competition with Coughlin (and other anti-Semitic, populist ideologues, like Henry Ford) was the primary instigator of Rutherford's changing the WTBTS' position on the Jews.
In the same era, the "goat-gland doctor," John Brinkley, was also a wildly influential radio charlatan (owner of the most powerful radio station, ever), with a taste for quack cures, fundamentalism, and Jew-baiting.
I would be very interested to know if anyone is aware of any primary material relating to the WTBTS' radio operations, their actual audience and influence, and the actual circumstances of their cessation.
Thank you for posting this cartoon, which I have never seen before.
[Dilaceratus] -
66
Do you think a JW childhood is abusive?
by Konrad West ini had a long discussion the other day with my new flatmate, who it turns out has studied with jws and thinks they're wonderful, about my view that being raised a jw is psychologically abusive.
being indoctrinated with the concept of jehovah killing people who don't do what he says and being scared of losing your friends and family if disobedient is, in my view, a very unhealthy thing for a child.
any thoughts?
-
-
dilaceratus
<div>I am always surprised that those who grew up among Jehovah's Witnesses seem to miss the most warping and detrimental aspect of their upbringing. There are many isolated subgroups (by choice or otherwise) that one might compare a Witness childhood with: other fundamentalist sects, political extremists, those living under authoritarian, patriarchical regimes, or even alcoholic or otherwise mentally ill families. That this sort of lifestyle is corrosive to a child's development is true, but not exceptional to Jehovah's Witnesses.
What I take to be the most pervasive, and the most tragic, result of being raised among Jehovah's Witnesses is a complete inability to understand not just the value of, but even the definition of, honesty. On many different levels, Jehovah's Witnesses and their children are liars-- not only institutionally, as a group, and intellectually, as a movement, but individually, on a personal level. The automatic and semi-automatic authoritative stating (proselytizing, even) of facts and promises which are not only improbable, but not even the result of one's own imagination and reasonings is to live a false life (1).
As a result, the children of Jehovah's Witnesses are not only isolated from other models of truthfulness (the logic inherent to the sciences, or other sustained pursuits), but have a faulty, defective model of honesty at home and in the social circle they are allowed. Beyond that, the religious organization that offers the final authority to their actions is not only grossly dishonest, but trumpets its own dishonesty without shame.
Only adding to the dismal nature of this inherent dishonesty (since lies and lying can, of course, be great and stimulating) is the utter suburban drudgery and night-school literalism Jehovah's Witnesses bring to their made-up world. Even their most ridiculous notions-- such as the lives of billions of people hanging in the balance as a few lawyers suffered drafts and poor food while imprisoned for a few months nearly one hundred years ago-- are just pitiful compared to say, the gaudy fun of Hindu cosmology or Catholic architecture.
-----
(1) To believe that this playacting an interchangeable role is the best part of you is too sad to speak of.</div> -
29
"Raw Abandonment"
by scout575 in"i continued to pray and seek the face of god, but nothing happened.
why didn't god help me?
i am begging for spiritual help.
-
-
dilaceratus
"Is this person a child of God, have they actually made a heartfelt decision to follow Jesus? If not then they have no right to an answered prayer."
What a curious Logic: then all non-Christians are now off the hook, and those who have the Right have the Responsibility. In fact, it is all those heart-feeling Christians and their selfish, lackadaisical, prayers who are to blame for the 25,000 humans who died of starvation yesterday.
...Don't blame me, I offered to Oberon! -
16
The Seven Thunders of Millennial Dawn!
by Atlantis indr. shadduck 1928 edition.
i retyped out a couple of pages that were weak, however, if you still need a page or section retyped, then just send me a pm.
any copyrights on this booklet would have been discontinued many years ago.
-
-
dilaceratus
What is particularly useful about this is that it demonstrates that contemporaneous readers found glaringly obvious the subterfuge, deceptions, and gross intellectual shabbiness of the early Watchtower writers. It is all too easy to excuse the Bible Student past as the quaintness and good-hearted desires of a simpler era, yet for those who cared to inform themselves, there has never been any excuse for following such an ignorant group.
This was also the era of Einstein and Freud, Joyce and Proust, Veblen and Ramanujan. -
-
-
dilaceratus
Two of my great-grandmothers became Bible Students in the 1880s, while living in the Maritime provinces.
My youngest sibling is a fourth-generation Jehovah's Witness; there are fifth-generation Witnesses among my family.
It is certainly humbling to know that, for the most part, even after a century and a quarter of revisionism, your own genetic line seems incapable of grasping the central intellectual dishonesty of this Armageddon Club. -
13
Special seating for children at an assembly
by Bonnie_Clyde inas i was reading an article in a 1941 wt about the 15,000 children from ages 5 to 18 sitting in a special section at the assembly in st. louis, i had a sudden flash of memory.
there was a more recent assembly where they asked the children to sit in a special section because they were directing a talk at the young people.
more i think of it, it might have when when they were releasing the "young people ask" book, and that was in 1989. if that was the year, my son was age 15. i tried to get him to move to that section and he refused.
-
-
dilaceratus
"This is the very definition of High-Control Cult Behavior. Seriously, how many children, or even adults, would have the self confidence and will power to remain seated in such a high-pressure situation?"
Strange, children and adults affiliated with the Jehovah's Witnesses are expected to stay seated during National Displays, and do so. -
3
Is Gary Coxe one of Jehovah's Witnesses?
by dilaceratus incan anyone confirm or deny this report?
http://consumerist.com/consumer/gary-coxe/index.php .
heres a spam we keep getting for some reason, despite the fact that the sender, gary coxe, isnt going to trick us into hiring him for a weekly column about how to struggle against adversity (or whatever it is he expects to get out of emailing a shopping site).
-
-
dilaceratus
If you follow the url, you'll see the website I was quoting. Other than the initial sentence, the post is entirely a quote. (That JWD is nearly unusable on a Mac is not news.)
My interest was in confirming or denying the report. I have never heard of or had any contact with the individual Gary Coxe before. If someone other than the person who doesn't like him knew him to be a Jehovah's Witness, the connection between a Self-Help Spammer and an Evangelical Fundamentalist might be amusing.