Please allow me to express why this issue totally makes JW and the GB look sane and those who believe this looking like ...... (fill in the blank)
First of all, lets get one thing very straight; EVERY GROUP, ORGANIZATION, POLITICAL GROUP, ETC, puts out literature that is DESIGNED to persuade you to their point of view. As an example, why do we need half naked celebrity men and women who have perfect bodies trying to get us to drink Coke? Isn't that a matter of taste? Noooo, it is about image and your view of yourself. We all want to belong, and advertising is long acknowledged to influence what you want to belong to. Any group that wants your support is going to put their best foot forward, hide the dirt or spin the dirt, and of course, try to charecterize the competition as bad, evil, incompetent, stupid, mislead, nice but wrong, etc......
The fact is that what the WTBTS does is THE LAST THING FROM SUBLIMINAL! They are no different then any group with an agenda. So of course their art is going to advance their theology. They don't hide it at all! Remeber the first video they released? Where they look at the covers of the Awake Mag with the boy holding the apple? Why did they pick him? BECAUSE THEY JUDGED THAT COVER TO BE ABLE TO DO THE MOST GOOD IN ADVANCING THEIR MESSAGE! Hell, they put it in their first video! Nothing subliminal their....
I have heard many exJW talk about the scary images of Armageddon in the literature as causing panic and nightmares. Again, nothing subliminal. It scares, it influences, it works.
The idea that subliminal images exist when you fold different art images to make a completely different image smacks of the old fasioned ink blot test. What do you see? It is totally different from person to person, esp if you are looking for it because you "know" it is there. I think a few paranoid people see demons. I can make demonic images from a strawberry shortcake picture if you give me a scanner and 12 hours of uninterrupted time. I am sorry, but if you have to fold and mangle a picture in 3 different ways to get an image, you don't have subliminal art, you have a wadded up, wrinkled picture.
Subliminal imaging obviously exists in certain quarters, but it is very expensive and elaborate, and it is easy to find once the organization using it has been found out. However, it takes more talent then what bethel has to pull it off. There are many talented artists that go to bethel, and here is what happens. The GB sends an approved concept to the elders in charge of the Art Dept. These men then hold various meetings with the artists, and they submit their sketches based on the concepts the GB has already approved. The artists FREQUENTLY get overruled about what they want by the old men in charge. Once the art is finally approved by the Art Dept committee, it goes to the GB committee for final approval. (I believe it is the writing dept)
Did I mention that the Art Dept drones are not different then any other bethelite? At 4:50, they leave so they can hang out in their 300 sq ft of alloted space and watch satellite TV. They don't sit up late at night designing subliminal images. With all the "apostates" that have left, you would think one credible artist would come forward. But that is because it doesn't exist. I would also be remiss to say that while I was at Gilead, I met several in the Art Dept. They are volunteer painters, nothing more. The "heavies" who run it are elders who also get busy with bethel business or in their local congregations, likely DF'ing people for assinine reasons while hiding pedophiles... (slightly tounge in cheek there, but you get my drift)
In short, the GB doesn't need subliminal art, and they aren't even trying to hide the fact that their art is trying to influence people. This idea of subliminal demonic art is pure fiction, Imo, those who say it exists obviously know that JW are controlling and aren't the true religion, and are trying in their own way to discredit them, without realizing how shallow their own arguement is.....
