I guess what I'm getting at is that Orwell's pigs enjoyed obvious benefits from running their organization - they had more and better food than everyone else, were excused from manual labor, and slept in better quarters. Further, the lead pig, Napolean, exercised great personal power over everyone else - to the point of life and death. The impression that I've gotten from reading books by those who have been in high positions in the organization, such as Ray Franz, is that the best anyone gets, no matter how far up the ladder they were able to go, is to be the pig that tells everyone else what the great Napolean (or Watchtower) has decided and why you should do what your told. There doesn't seem to be any of the baser motivations for leadership that you would expect such as money, sex, or real, personal power over others. It seems that the leaders are just as duped as we were. Does anyone know of any real examples of elders, overseers or bethelites that used their position for personal gain? Was it an isolated case or is there real personal corruption at higher levels? Or perhaps noone is really in charge at all and the great majority of people are just going along because thats the way things have always been done?
All_These_Kids
JoinedPosts by All_These_Kids
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5
Animal Farm
by All_These_Kids ini reread animal farm today and i was struck again how similar george orwell's writings mimic the jw's.
if you are not familiar with the story, it is a tale wherein the animals take over a farm from their oppressive human masters and begin to run it for their own benefit.
however, the pigs, being the smartest of the farm animals, soon begin to direct the animals work and toil for their own benefit and in the end succeed in oppressing the other animals to a far greater extent.
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Vinyl repair and pin stripping cars......
by Gram inbesides the two above mentioned jw businesses, what other ones swept through the congs?
not counting janitorial, house cleaning and window washing.
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All_These_Kids
There were a couple of lawn and landscaping business, but the weirdest one was an amway business. They had me listen to tapes of amway "inspirational meetings" - it was like some sort of Bizarro JW assembly. I never committed to the Multilevel Marketing Pyramid Ponzi Washing Powder Scheme, though.
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Animal Farm
by All_These_Kids ini reread animal farm today and i was struck again how similar george orwell's writings mimic the jw's.
if you are not familiar with the story, it is a tale wherein the animals take over a farm from their oppressive human masters and begin to run it for their own benefit.
however, the pigs, being the smartest of the farm animals, soon begin to direct the animals work and toil for their own benefit and in the end succeed in oppressing the other animals to a far greater extent.
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All_These_Kids
I reread Animal Farm today and I was struck again how similar George Orwell's writings mimic the JW's. If you are not familiar with the story, it is a tale wherein the animals take over a farm from their oppressive human masters and begin to run it for their own benefit. However, the pigs, being the smartest of the farm animals, soon begin to direct the animals work and toil for their own benefit and in the end succeed in oppressing the other animals to a far greater extent. I believe it written as a metaphor for communism under Stalin. My question is, if you were to apply the metaphor to the JW's, who would the pigs be? I mean, who really benefits from the JW Organization? I don't see that elders receive any really special compensation other perhaps a feeling of importance, but that really only extends to the KH and to other Jovies. Even the Gov Body doesn't appear to reap any rewards of real benefit - other than that smug, self righteous feeling of being right and better than everyone else. I feel like perhaps I'm missing something, so if anyone could explain what great benefits the JW leaders receive I would appreciate it.
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What other toys should go in the bin?
by Switch inthe recent post about dolls has me picturing other conversations that parents could be having with with their young, impressionable children.. here's my own little scene inspired by the june wt.. (timmy is playing with his toy car).
dad: what kind of car do you have there, timmy?.
timmy: it's a super fast red porsche!.
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All_These_Kids
The movie "ET" was produced by the Devil himself The WTBTS actually published an article in the Awake! that castigated that movie... "ET or Christ?" (8 July 1983, I think) OMG - I remember that, I wasn't allowed to see ET until years later...
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3 ways out
by Samuel Thorsen inif you are a jw and you want to live a real life you have a choice of 3 ways to get out of there.. 1. to get disfellowshiped.. 2. to disassosiate yourself.
(write the letter).
personally i se no reason to do anything but fade out, it's their rules not mine.
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All_These_Kids
I decided that JW's have no more authority over me except what I gave them. If I DA'd myself, then I would be acknowledging that they did have authority over me. That being said, I accidently made it easier by moving around a bit and then following my now, thankfully, ex-wife to texas where I attended a congregation but never transferred. I wound up back in my home town, where my grandparents have taken a don't ask, don't tell stance. So I would recommend moving to a nearby congregation, attending a occasionally for a few months and then you might try visiting some other churches where you will have an excellent chance of meeting people who actually care about other people.
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It's official....Bookstudy is DOA
by CoonDawg inokay, so my wife and mom both got back from their public talk / wt study this evening.
my loudmouthed sister asked if there were any announcements.
the bookstudy is hereafter known as "the congregation bible study".
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All_These_Kids
Wow! This all sounds so familiar... Isn't this the same thing that has been going on with assemblies over the last thirty years? I hope I am remembering all this correctly, but the four day bore-a-thons of the '70s were very slowly changed into something slightly more manageable. Didn't they split them into one and three days and the meals were phased out over about a ten year period. Each time a change was made, a lame excuse that was offered to reassure everyone. My dad and I would speculate on what the real reasons were, but with no proof, we mostly accepted lines like "Not having meals will make it easier on the brothers..." Also, I swear that by the time I attended the last DC in 2002 that we were being released earlier and that the breaks were slightly longer. I wish I had kept several years worth of programs to compare, but then I never thought I would be married to a nice worldly girl, attend a baptist church and have four children.
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You got to love these emails going around JW land.
by whereami infriends,.
a co in the w...... congregation said that the reason so many of our brothers are dis-fellowshipped isn't because of wrong doing, it's because the new system isn't a reality.
read this all the way thru, it is truly a dose of what is yet to come.
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All_These_Kids
Sorry, but I couldn't make it through the whole thing. It does, however, bring back memories of get togethors when, instead of just talking and eating, people would start making speeches of this sort of crap. Soon it became customary to have an informal meeting at every get togethor. This would have been in the early 90's. Did other congregations do that also, or was it just mine?
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help finding "comments you wont hear at the watchtower study"
by All_These_Kids ini have seen the video series, but a month or two ago i found a text version of watchtower comments.
it was a fun read but i've never been able to find the link again...
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All_These_Kids
I have seen the video series, but a month or two ago I found a text version of Watchtower comments. It was a fun read but I've never been able to find the link again...
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Knocking on the Doors of Classmates out in service
by new light incould anything have been more embarrassing?
you could be at the door of the least popular munger in school, but overwhelmed with envy because, hey, at least he was doing something normal.
in 8th grade, at the peak of childhood self-consciousness, i knocked on the door of a super popular, rich, "in" kid from my class and he answered the door.
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All_These_Kids
One of the oddest moments - We live in a small town in Tennessee that is the veritable buckle of the bible belt. On one Saturday I was at a door by myself when someone from my high school answered the door and instead of slamming it closed, he thought a Bible discussion sounded great and then went and got his Bible. I was stunned and suddenly couldn't think of anything to say, besides, I was more than a little intimidated at the thought of talking to someone who was "steeped in false religion." So I mumbled something about just wanting to leave a Watchtower. He looked puzzled but didn't protest. I'm sure he thought "those Jehovites sure are weird."
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Did you secretly not want studies and rv's?
by new light ini remember going out in circus because it was what we did.
the idea of having to conduct a study or being responsible for a return visit and, therefore, eternal state of existence, caused knots in the stomach and massive dread.
actually having to commit to field circus long term with no hope of escape to save someone's life was a real downer.
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All_These_Kids
I went through a phase soon after baptism when I really tried to do a good job w/ service, but that didn't really work out long term. I mostly tried to go out w/ an elder who had a large and drove a van (of course - nothing says "Serious about the troof" like a van) because he seemed to have a plan for that whole service thing. A typical Saturday went something like this: 9:00 AM meet and open the cover of that month's WT for the very first time and make up something 9:15 Load up a bunch of people and drive waaay out to the other end of the county. Drive slow - safety first! 9:45 Take turns getting out at different houses - I was always very polite and let other people go first I then I would hope for a not at home. 10:15 Break time! The best part of the whole morning - Drive all the way back into town to a McDonald's or Hardee's for some biscuits and fresh coffee. 11:00 Spend the last hour looking for someone's non-existent return visit. Funny how they never seemed to be home... 12:00 Quittin' Time! With a schedule like that you could be a good Jovie and rarely have to talk to anyone.