Posts by fodeja

reading through some of the posts re the mcveigh debate, it's obvious that there is a huge divide between the usa and europe over many issues, in particular with reference to the way that society should deal with deviants.. i think that there is a lot of other cultural differences between our societies, and i'm just wondering if this is why the wtbts has had a far higher "conversion factor" in the usa than in europe.. some of the phraseology contained in the watchtower magazines is incomprehensible to europeans.

i remember that words that are in common usage now, were, when first used in the wt, totally baffling.. the expression "no way" wasn't in common use until years after the wt featured it, like wise with "points up", also "right on" meant nothing to anyone.

indeed, many return visits to placed magazine householders resulted in them asking a bewildered dub for an explanation of these then strange terms.

fodeja

Thanks, Englishman.

Waiting:

By far, most of us here don't know what you're talking about. That makes it no less real to you - we just didn't have to live your sorrow.

My sorrow is nothing in comparison to what my parents went through at a very young age. But that was then, and this is now. (BTW, my parents also used to relate lots of stories about the GIs and British soldiers giving chocolate and bread and corned beef cans to the kids...this made a lasting impression on an entire generation here).

My family story didn't make it easy to develop a comfortably simple world view, and maybe I'm a bit oversensitive in this area. The only thing I can say for sure is that war is never a thing to be proud of. Never ever. I wish people would learn that lesson eventually.

f.

(edited for grammar)

53

American / European Incomprehension.

by Englishman in

jw
friends

reading through some of the posts re the mcveigh debate, it's obvious that there is a huge divide between the usa and europe over many issues, in particular with reference to the way that society should deal with deviants.. i think that there is a lot of other cultural differences between our societies, and i'm just wondering if this is why the wtbts has had a far higher "conversion factor" in the usa than in europe.. some of the phraseology contained in the watchtower magazines is incomprehensible to europeans.

i remember that words that are in common usage now, were, when first used in the wt, totally baffling.. the expression "no way" wasn't in common use until years after the wt featured it, like wise with "points up", also "right on" meant nothing to anyone.

indeed, many return visits to placed magazine householders resulted in them asking a bewildered dub for an explanation of these then strange terms.

fodeja

Dear Englishman (and others),

I was about to post something pretty angry as a reply to your proud display of the Lancaster bomber. Let me explain a little something here before I get to the angry part.

My grandfather number one (father's side): half Jewish, accused of being part of a sabotage network against the Nazi regime. Deported in 1940 together with his severly ill father, spent years in at least three concentrations camps, died in 1943 (supposedly of typhus). His father died just three months after the deportation. His wife was arrested and interrogated frequently during the war years, but survived the war thanks to being a blond, blue eyed "Arian", I guess. She emigrated to Sweden and died in 1960 of severe pneumonia.

My grandfather number 2 (mother's side): navigator on Wehrmacht transport plane. Shot down in his Junkers over Russia around the the time of the Stalingrad fiasco. Survived the crash with minor injuries, died in POW camp years later. His wife was killed during one of the many, many night bomb raids in this war in 1944, together with two of her younger sisters, aged 12 and 14 at the time. The entire town(with the exception of seven houses) was wiped out in the course of one year by British and US bombers.

So, dear Englishman, I have a problem here. Unlike you, I can't quite say that "we" lost or won the war, or how "we" did. Some of my ancestors were on the side of the victims, some were one the side of the perpetrators(sp?). Unfortunately, I could never ask them about it: I have never seen any of my grandparents.

It's not my war. It's not your war. I don't think any one of us has reason to be proud or be ashamed of what our fathers and grandfathers did.

But it makes me sick, really sick, sometimes very angry, when people who never participated in all this madness boast about how "they" saved the world, and how "they" fought and crap (excuse my language) like that, dwelling in war-stories glory. It doesn't make me nearly as sick as those old and young assholes (no excuses here, the word fits) who still yearn for the days of the "Reich". But it does make me sick enough.

Your glorious Lancaster bomber may well have been the one which dropped the phosphorus bomb on the block where my grandmother lived together with her two sisters. Or maybe not. Either way, I find this proud display of a war plane offensive, for reasons which should be a little clearer now, I hope.

I don't think we did too badly.

Who's "we", Englishman?

I suggest to stop the war stories crap. Leave it to the old folks, who actually had to be part of this horrible insanity. Please. There's enough madness going on _today_.

f.

95

Org. Re-orging in JAPAN

by JWD in

jw
friends

for those of you who haven`t been following it,the wts is in a downward spiral here in japan.fs hours are down,memorial attendance.

is down,pioneers are down,studies are down,donations are down,number.

of congregations is down and the number of publishers continues to.

fodeja

Is the `Stand Firm` exhibit used in other countries?

It has been used very extensively in Germany and Austria in the past couple of years (probably in Switzerland and other countries too). Didn't get a lot of public attention, though.

AFAIK they're now extending the "Stand Firm" theme to the JWs' situation in the former GDR. It seems they are doing this to support their legal struggle in becoming a state-recognized religion in Germany (which means tax benefits).

Thanks for your regular reports from Japan, very interesting indeed!

f.

53

American / European Incomprehension.

by Englishman in

jw
friends

reading through some of the posts re the mcveigh debate, it's obvious that there is a huge divide between the usa and europe over many issues, in particular with reference to the way that society should deal with deviants.. i think that there is a lot of other cultural differences between our societies, and i'm just wondering if this is why the wtbts has had a far higher "conversion factor" in the usa than in europe.. some of the phraseology contained in the watchtower magazines is incomprehensible to europeans.

i remember that words that are in common usage now, were, when first used in the wt, totally baffling.. the expression "no way" wasn't in common use until years after the wt featured it, like wise with "points up", also "right on" meant nothing to anyone.

indeed, many return visits to placed magazine householders resulted in them asking a bewildered dub for an explanation of these then strange terms.

fodeja

The GB are all Americans (except for the late Lloyd Barry) ...

Gerrit Lösch is (was) from Austria. But I agree that JWism does have a strong American touch to it, in spite of all attempts to make it look like a universal, "culturally neutral" religion.

f.

14

McVeigh put to sleep RETARTED next

by crossroads in

jw
friends

earlier this year are governor signed a bill exempting.

mentally retarded from the death penealty.

problem.

fodeja

In effect you are are saying "You may have butchered innocent children, but hey, let me buy your dinner."

Yeah. And, actually, why waste our wonderful taxpayers' money on a fair trial, when we all KNOW the sucker is guilty anyway? Why not just hang him on the nearest tree, huh?

A nation that has enough wealth to spend utterly incredible amounts of tax money on its (so-called "defensive") war machinery can afford to feed a couple of people, easily, to protect its law abiding citizens from harm. But can any nation on this planet afford to kill people who are innocent, even just one person? What if that happened to you, SL? It can't? Yeah, right.

Anyway, welcome to the 21st century. In some parts of the world, it's the Dark Ages revisited.

f.

1

X's in Germany

by Jang in

jw
friends

lara was tossed out by her father at 14 (here in oz) because she refused to become a jw.

she is now married with 3 children and living with her family in germany.

lara would like to communicate with other x's in germany.

fodeja

The discussion forum of Germany's major ex-Witness site is a good way of getting in touch with other exJWs in the German speaking countries:

http://infolink-forum.de

f.

6

"New System Schools" WEBSITE

by sf in

jw
friends

i knew i'd find it eventually:.

< http://www.newsystemschool.org/.

skally ~huge sigh of disgust klass~ [>:(]

fodeja

GOALS AND CONVICTIONS OF THE NEW SYSTEM SCHOOL, INC.
...
2.Education should encompass Fear of Jehovah, Respect for Authority, and Sound Bible Education. [resistance is futile]
3.Education should cultivate Thinking and Reading Ability. [except for INDEPENDENT THINKING, that is!?]
...
5.Education should enable recipients to be Responsible Christians.
6.Education should encourage Good Physical, Emotional, Mental, and Spiritual Health, and enable one to
relate to people various backgrounds, interests, and beliefs [har, har].
7.Education should assist one to avoid that which would have a detrimental effect on one's mental,
emotional, physical, spiritual, and moral health. [such as not obeying God's spokesmen]
8.New System School, Inc., while recommending social awareness, does not itself adhere to evolution,
nationalism, racism, worldly philosophy, pagan festivities, or excessive competition.

Poor kids...cult indoctrination around the clock, shielded as much as possible from the evil "real world" out there :-(

f.

16

Be afraid...be very afraid...

by fodeja in

jw
friends

from http://www.greatcrowd.com/159ubb/forum22/html/000167.html.

he gave us some statistics about how much the occurrences of random violence have escalated over the recent years, and it's terrible.

something like 99% of us will be exposed to, or become a victim of a violent crime.

fodeja

Hi Six,

Believe me fodeja, even as a male, you would not feel comfortable in many areas of urban America.

I'm convinced that urban America has its dangers, but sometimes it seems to me things are being blown out of proportion a little bit. I don't think there's any other part of the world where crime in general gets so much media attention, what with "cop TV" and shows like that.

Which reminds me of a funny little thing that happened to me in Chicago some years ago: being the stupid and naive tourist, I managed to get into an area which (as natives later told me) is considered rather dangerous. It was already getting dark. A couple of huge black guys came my way on the sidewalk, and one of them lost the cap of his water bottle. It rolled towards my feet and of course (as I'd do anywhere) I picked it up, handed it to the guy, smiled, and walked on. They stopped with their jaws hanging and looked at me as if I'd just grown two additional heads ;-)

f.