dedalus

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Posts by dedalus

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  16

  E.T. -- A Bad Movie for Christians?

  by dedalus in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  i'm pretty excited about the re-release of e.t.

  the extraterrestrial, because i distinctly remember not being allowed to see it when i was a child.

  as i recall there were too many parallels between the life of e.t.

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  dedalus

  The article is definitely real. I remember studying it with my parents. Ah, fine spiritual food!

  For those of you going to see the movie -- remember, it's only make-believe! ROTFLOL!

  Dedalus
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  56

  BEATING KIDS IN THE WASHROOM

  by Rags in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  i am 36 yr old female originally from toronto ontario canada.

  was raised jw till i was about 14. has anyone else had this happen in their hall?

  the mom's (thank god never mine!

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  dedalus

  Those fine upstanding brothers and sister in the washroom were looking out for their children. After all, Jehovah says that "foolishness is tied up in the heart of a boy" and therefore loving parents should "use the rod." A wooden spoon is a good approximation of a rod. A better approximation of a rod would be a hefty 2X4, preferably with rusty nails bent out of the wood, to be sure to beat that foolishness right out of those pesky kids who can't sit still for fine spiritual food that tells them how foolish and deserving of beatings they are.

  Dedalus
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  16

  " Fry Day " , The Sequel

  by Tallyman in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  butterfly: aaaaarrrrggghhhh!!!!!.

  (setting down on finger).

  ...ahhhhhh!.

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  dedalus
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  24

  Editorial column by editor of newspaper -Bryant

  by seven006 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  additional new stories with more information about the bryant tragity can be found on this link to the news register of mcminnville oregon.. http://www.newsregister.com.

  published: march 23, 2002. jeb bladine.

  whatchamacolumn - a tale of two freedoms.

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  dedalus

  Awesome.

  Dedalus
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  10

  Dumb Counsel

  by WildTurkey in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  what was the dumbest counsel you ever received?

  once an elder was at my house and saw the video beauty and the beast, he said you should throw that away, because it promotes bestiality.

  he got upset with me, because i just could not stop laughing.

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  dedalus

  I got some dumb counsel from the CO once. I was running the sound board, and during the opening song for the first meeting of his visit, he told me to turn up the volume. So I did. A few seconds later he came back and told me to turn it up some more. So I did. Still not loud enough. Finally it got so you couldn't hear the congregation singing, so loud was the music blaring from the sound system.

  But what pissed me off was the lecture that I got in front of several other people after the meeting.

  "Now brother," he said -- didn't even bother to ask my name, "the brothers in Bethel work hard to make that music, and we should appreciate it by playing it at a volume that can be heard."

  "I could hear it before," I said.

  "THAT'S NOT WHAT THE BROTHERS AT BETHEL WANT!" he roared.

  "But isn't it nice to hear the congregation giving praise to Jehovah?" I asked.

  "I'M TELLING YOU THAT THIS COUNSEL COMES FROM THE FAITHFUL AND DISCREET SLAVE!" he said, his face turning red.

  I rolled my eyes and gave him a dirty look, but said nothing.

  "Tell me," he continued, "When you're driving around in your car listening to your rock and roll music, do you keep the volume high or low?"

  I stared at him and counted, slowly, to ten in my head. I could feel people watching me, and felt that the whole situation was completely stupid. Finally I said, slowly, as if talking to a small child, and dripping with sarcasm, "I only listen to Watchtower tapes in my car."

  He ended by telling me to play the volume louder next time, and stormed off in a gruff. One of my local elders gave me a nod and a wink as people left the scene -- I guess this CO was a real blowhard, and everyone knew it.

  Dedalus
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  26

  What films and TV shows couldn't you watch?

  by sleepy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  what films and tv shows couldn't you watch when you were a witness kid?.

  i remmember being banded from watching scooby doo, ghostbusters ,e.t., (some british ones)count duckula, rent a ghost, well basicly anything with ghosts in it.. my parents wouldn't watch any films with much swearing in them, especially the f-word.. which is fair enought.but i don't notice swearing so sometimes i recommend a film without realising its got lots of naughty words.. sometimes a very sensitive brother from the hall would come round to visit, and he would be visably shocked if there was any sex or swearing in a tv programme which often made it embarassing when watching tv when he was round.. once when we had some friends round and we got waynes world out on video, a couple of the brothers walked out as they thought it too worldly.

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  dedalus

  D8TA mentioned E.T, I remember here they said that E.T was wrong, because it was putting hope in an alien, and not the real messiah. That may be in a watchtower.

  See this thread:

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.asp?id=24180&site=3

  Dedalus
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  37

  A suggestion for discrediting the Society

  by RunningMan in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  in this forum, we often wonder what we can do to make the society look bad.

  we come up with ideas like picketing assemblies, mail campaigns, legal action, and many others.

  although these ideas are laudable and i would not want to discourage anyone, they sometimes create sympathy for the witnesses, and make us look bitter and fanatical.

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  dedalus

  there was no-way Wendy could have done a better job then she did

  However much you like her article, it hardly seems possible you could say this and actually mean it. The "bull shit" is important stuff, or should be, to a journalist.

  I admit I was coming down pretty hard on the article, especially, for example, when I criticized her use of the phrase, "rigid moral code." But it was all to make a more abstract and less personal point than you (and possibly S4) may think.

  Dedalus
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  16

  E.T. -- A Bad Movie for Christians?

  by dedalus in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  i'm pretty excited about the re-release of e.t.

  the extraterrestrial, because i distinctly remember not being allowed to see it when i was a child.

  as i recall there were too many parallels between the life of e.t.

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  dedalus

  But remember, Scally ... Jesus is your True Friend, and he's Really Real. But E.T. is only Make Believe.

  J.C. ... phone home!

  HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Whew! [wipes eyes]

  Dedalus
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  87

  Life Is On the Hairy Edge

  by AlanF in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  got a call late this afternoon: "your daughter was in a car accident along with four other girls.

  you need to come to the emergency room.".

  daughter not there yet.

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  dedalus

  Alan,

  My best wishes to you and your daughter -- I hope everything turns out OK.

  Dealus
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  37

  A suggestion for discrediting the Society

  by RunningMan in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  in this forum, we often wonder what we can do to make the society look bad.

  we come up with ideas like picketing assemblies, mail campaigns, legal action, and many others.

  although these ideas are laudable and i would not want to discourage anyone, they sometimes create sympathy for the witnesses, and make us look bitter and fanatical.

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  dedalus

  S4,

  Of course, I don't think Wendy intended to make the mistakes she did. My point was, even though she was trying to be balanced, she probably does have some bias -- don't we all? The larger question is, Can a journalist actually be objective and keep his/her reservations/doubts/etc. to him/herself?

  I think the article has some reluctance to take the opposition at its word (which is good), but doesn't do enough to understand where the opposition is coming from (which is bad). I think the article resists making a direct connection between disfellowshipping and what this man did (which is good, since it's uncertain and speculative, and since most of us manage to go through our painful DFings without murdering our families), but mischaracterizes those who would point to DFing as a psychologically damaging thing to do to someone (which is bad, since there are many opposers who are calm and articulate and accurate).

  I wonder, S4, how you feel about literary journalism, where the reporter spends way more time with the subject and then uses literary devices when writing up the story, including him/herself as an observing character in the story, deliberately including some subjective observations about the story. Many people don't think this kind of journalism is as "real" as your standard newspaper reporting, but I think it's more authentic.

  You guys are criticizing this from the viewpoint of being experts on the WTS and Witness teaching and terminology. But to put yourself in a reporter's shoes, let me give you eight hours to research AND write a 1000 word article on an obscure sect of Islam or a fringe element in the Mormon Church. THEN let an expert on that group read your article. Do you think they would find some statements from you that "weren't completely true?" And maybe even a couple of real mistakes?

  That's the problem -- haste. Take your Mormon example. In a recent New Yorker there was an excellent piece about Mormons in which it was clear that the author has read many books on the religion, interviewed elders high up in the religion, as well as current members, local members, and ex-members. He also read the Book of Mormon. It was a very good article, insightful, and it got at something true about the religion.

  Dealing with complicated issues in a short span of time is the inherent problem with day-to-day reporting, which is different from what happens in the New Yorker. I don't think there's an easy solution -- it's a problem journalists need to embrace and live with. But it's a problem we readers should keep in mind when we see programs on local TV or read articles in the newspaper. Deadlines lead to compromises of journalistic integrity.

  As for the word "attack" -- it is certainly accurate for a lot of what happens on this site, for sure. But replacing it with a word like "reason" or even a more neutral word like "say" changes the connotation. It changes the figure of the person being described. Wendy Lawton chose "attack." That choice reflects some opinion of hers. Opinions are not objective; they reflect bias. My point is really more abstract -- I'm more interested in what this particular word choice means for journalism in general, than what it means for the particular sentence in which it appears.

  Wendy might better have said "conduct or beliefs that contradict the Witness interpretation of the Bible." But this hardly sounds like a Watchtower sympathizer. More like a reporter trying to get up to speed on a topic she may not be very familiar with.

  This part confused me a little -- how would a more accurate statement make her sound like "a reporter trying to get up to speed on a topic she may not be very familiar with"? It sounds objective to me, and it's concise and accurate -- after all, it's a fact! If the implication for all this is that reporters can't report facts that are unpleasant for the people about whom they are reporting, journalism is in a sorry state indeed. But perhaps I just misunderstand you ...

  I mean all of this with the deepest respect for you and your profession, S4. I appreciate your perspective. And I keep waiting to hear more about these novels you're getting ready to publish.

  All my best,

  Dedalus