Millie210, I agree. This is actually a great example of how a very complex issue (the reality of racism) is being handled in an over-simplistic, knee-jerk reactive way. Yes, GWTW has troubling elements but it also showcased the first black actress to win an Oscar so doesn't removing it discredit McDaniel? The fact is that it was a product of its time, for bad, yes AND for good. Viewing it solely through the lens of racism shuts out the fact that it is far more of a feminist bildungsroman than anything else. Scarlet O'Hara is a remarkable protagonist, not because of her love affair with Rhett Butler, but because she spurred traditional female limitations of her day. Yes, the horrors of slavery are completely ignored and I can understand why some would feel that in and of itself is grounds for censorship (and that's what this is, folks) but I think Mitchell was focused on doing something else with the story. And of course, critics can say well she SHOULD have been focused on depicting slavery in all its horror but when you start telling authors what they should and shouldn't be writing in their works of fiction, then fiction is essentially dead.
Cadellin
JoinedPosts by Cadellin
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33
HBO removes Gone with the Wind because its offensive.
by phoenixrising inas the altleftist idiots burn books, ban speech and now ban movies that does not conform to their twisted thinking never forget, those that start by burning books end up burning bodies.
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https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/10/business/media/gone-with-the-wind-hbo-max.html.
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Lingering doubts and internal debates
by Huxley1979 inhello, i am in the beginning stages of a slow fade.
over the years i have become more and more dissatisfied with the beliefs, teachings, and organizational practices of the organization.
i no longer have faith in it.
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Cadellin
Huxley, I completely understand how you feel. The world right now does feel somehow worse than, say a couple of years ago. The pandemic is frightening, as are the riots (though understandable, IMHO, given systemic racism). It does feel, at least to me, that the overall situation is different. Still, I ask myself whether these events actually fulfill what JWs say characterize the last days: food shortages, disease, earthquakes, war. If you do some research, the answer quickly becomes--no.
The main threats we face right now are due to environmental degradation and economic inequality (which is being exacerbated by climate change). COVID-19, while frightening, is relatively mild compared to pandemics of the past (such as the Spanish Influenza). Moreover, it has been a century since there has been a global pandemic to compare. Rather, the time period constituting the "last days" according to JWs has been characterized by a dramatic reduction in global mortality due to disease, along with a corresponding increase in global food supply. Hence, the sharp increase in population. Along with it, the last thirty years has seen widespread economic upturns, improving the everyday life of literally billions of people. In fact, in 2014, there were more obese people on the planet than malnourished, a little fact you won't find anywhere on the JW website.
Alas, economic expansion has brought along with it extreme depletion of natural resources and widespread pollution, including plastic waste. But this very phenomenon is a result of economic development, not of worsening famine and disease and other physical woes. Similarly, the level of global warfare has been at an all-time low since the end of WWII, about 70 years ago (hey, a generation!!), so much so that historians have described this time period as the Pax Americana or Great American Peace (take that as you like, but still, the point is that it has been a relatively/comparatively peaceful and prosperous time).
So--reasons to be anxious? Yes. But evidence of JW's accuracy in describing our time period? No.
I've learned a lot from a variety of sources including Our Word in Data. Highly recommended.
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Will You Constantly Wear A Mask?
by minimus intoday, it will be 90 degrees and humid!
this morning i’ll be playing tennis again.
while most people have been holed up in their houses, i have regularly played the sport outside.
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Cadellin
Well, not constantly. I do wear one when shopping but not when I'm walking or running outside. I don't wear one in the car but I understand why some might. You might not want to pull it off if you don't have hand sanitizer to first use on your hands, particularly important if you've just come out of a supermarket. But I carry hand sanitizer with me, so I get back to the car, use the sanitizer, then pull off the mask. I use the mask so I don't inadvertently infect others. It is a considerate thing to do.
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The New World's first Convention... - LMAO
by tresdecu inthis was sent to me by a cooky uber-dub.
apparently it's making the rounds locally...it's typical lighthearted jw satire (that they think is great!!
smh :-/ ) .
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Cadellin
@Pete Zahut--ROFLMAO!!! Awesome.
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Ancient Hebrews Got Away With So Much
by Tim207 inwhy wasn’t judah punished for sleeping withtamar?
even though she had the legal right to an offspring by his family he still thought he was sleeping with a prostitute.
if it is wrong to even think of having relations with a woman similar to the “sin” of watching pornography why wouldn’t what judah did be wrong?
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Cadellin
He got away with it because there was no law against fornication, in the same way there is in the NT. All of the Mosaic laws related to sexual conduct have to be considered in the context of women as property. It wasn't that the sexual act w/o marriage was problematic, it was that the man was tampering with another man's property. Judah having sex with a prostitute was not infringing on another man's rights. However, Tamar risked being burnt alive when found pregnant because she WAS someone's property--in that case, her father-in-law's property. She was one smart cookie to retain proof of paternity.
I wouldn't agree that the Bible is mainly fiction; however, it is certainly not the kind of accurate history that JWs like to believe. I think what we have are embroidered tales that have their root in some kind of actual events, though not in the fantastical form we read today.
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Remember the Revelation book?
by wozza ini recall when it was released ,that's when i was a drone, how excited i felt at the prospect of reading it and formulating ways to sell it at the homes in my area.. i thought, finally a book to explain the last book in the bible and indeed one that the churches seemed to want to leave alone!.
i sold quite a few probably because of my enthusiasm and can still remember clearly the first day when i went knocking on doors with it ,and it's been decades since.. but over time it lost it's shine and my mind started to question the explanations in it due to the scene of other things being changed in the jw beliefs.. do you remember they flogged that book so many times in the book studies even when it was found to have "newer light " eclipsing it!.
who else remembers the printed pages with the official corrections to insert into the book ,so many that the book collapsed to be of no relevance anymore really.....what an embarrassment!.
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Cadellin
I have vivid recollections of cutting out the little paper corrections and taping them over the assigned words/lines. I was obsessive that way. Still, the very act of doing that niggled at the back of my mind and contributed to my eventual awakening.
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Are We Living In The Last Days?
by Vanderhoven7 injust received this note out of the blue from a pimi jw.
how would you respond?.
hi vander,.
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Cadellin
Hard data supports the fact that the 20th century as a whole and the latter half of the 20th century through today, in particular, have been among the most peaceful, disease-free and nutritionally expansive times in which to live. Share facts from Max Roser's excellent website Our World in Data, which includes charts like this one:
or this one:
This does not mean that there have not been horribly massive crises on our globe but it has to be comparative, doesn't it? That is, for the last days prophecy to mean anything, it has to be in comparison with something else. And when you compare the past, it becomes clear that while we are facing real challenges right now, we are still in a much better situation globally than ever before. I doubt this will change your friend's mind, though, since belief in the last days for most JWs is not a matter of facts.
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Name 3 Movies You Have Seen At Least 3 Times
by minimus ingoodfellas.
one flew over the cuckoos nest.
casino.
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Cadellin
Moonstruck
Tootsie
O Brother Where Art Thou
American Hustle. Okay, I know that was four.
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Marvel's new characters XD
by LoveUniHateExams inluckily for me, i'm not interested in marvel at all - i never read the comics as a kid; i haven't seen any of the films as an adult.. but, i still think some of their new characters are worth mentioning.. here are two: snowflake and safe space.
no, i'm not kidding.. here's a little vid by a youtuber called just some guy.
he's a keen comic reader and loves that kinda stuff … but not the latest characters.. he's spliced clips of ricky gervais laughing his ass off with an interview with marvel writer and balding, bespectacled beta male, daniel kibblesmith.. enjoy!.
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Cadellin
I think they're cool.
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"We're In The Last Days Of The Last Days!"... So Say's Old Rubberface
by pale.emperor inhave you seen this on jworg?.
https://www.jw.org/en/news/jw/region/global/coronavirus-report/.
2 minutes in everyone's favourite clow, stephen lett, tells us all that this coronavirus means we're in the last days of the last days.. cool.
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Cadellin
The l-a-a-a-s-s-t part of the last part of the last part of the final days...