Posts by Band on the Run

29

Are you interested in dropping your southern accent?

by jam in

well you are in luck, oak ridge national laboratory in.

tn offered a class for their 4000 employees from 90. different countries, get this,a class that teaches how to.

minimice a southern accent.

Band on the Run

Southern accents drive me crazy! I must drive them crazy. My exposure was to the likes of George Wallace and other segregationist public officials. Andie MacDowell, the actress and super model, became famous outside of fashion for a red neck version in a Calvin Klein jeans commercial. I would storm out of the room and not return to the commercial ended. It was painful for me. I met her in the course of real life. Her normal accent is one of the most refined in the South. I had no idea she was the Calvin Klein model. She took intensive speech lessons to acquire a Midwestern accent.

I studied broadcast speech for a few weeks. They want a Midwestern accent. The same is true of France. A Parisian accent is considered vulgar/ Being able to speak in a variety of accents is good for income purposes. The Eastern prep school accents are not considered the best. There are common elements that exist in country after country. I forget why they are chosen as preferable.

I never heard Barbara Walter's accent prob. b/c I share some characteristics.

The Civil War was a long time ago. I believe Southern accents are more acceptable than in my youth. Ebonics opened my eyes. I thought they were lazy. The teachers did not know how to teach them to pronounce the words. We called it housing project English. Clicking on wikiipedia links, I discovered that the students were speaking correctly for a Western African culture. I wonder how they felt constantly being corrected for what they heard at home and at church. My parents' speech was mocked by a teacher in front of the entire class.

59

Is their a new holocaust in the making ? Are jews being made the scapegoats again ?

by smiddy in

jw
friends

mass immigration in the world "seems" to have led to a rise in anti -semitism in the west.

france now has more than six million muslims.. germany now has four million muslims.

the netherlands has almost one million muslims .

Band on the Run

Growing up in an area of large concentration of Jews, I felt blessed. The philanthropy and brain power were impressive. The WT wrote lies about Jewish belief. It hurts to see so much antiSemitism on this board. Zionism and Judaism are not identical concepts. I keep hearing that Israel is the size of New Jersey and must face terrorists. NJ is small. Right now antiSemitism appears at an all time high. I mentioned to an Arab taxi driver in Manhattan that I needed to stop by my law school. The rain was cascading down. I confess not leaving the taxi. Wearing my cross helped me. He thought all lawyers were Jewish. He loves Christians b/c we worship Allah. I tried to explain that we have similar roots but do not worship the same god. No one would ever convince him otherwise.

Historical facts would help. Knowing individuals of many religions would help a lot. They shatter stereotypes.

This year I am going to read a neutral account of the formation of Israel.

This is sad and humorous. While I was at Bellevue, a worker with an IQ of 5 said the white people at Ground Zero deserved to die b/c we support the Israealites. Abraham, Moses, David, Solomon entered my mind. I wanted her fired on the spot. It was a complicated situation at Bellevue. I saw the only other white person was crying,too. I replied, yes, the US must stop messing with those Israelites. Maybe the Lost Ark generated negative energy. The planes were only an illusion. How a class of New Yorkers could take delight in 3,000 fellow New Yorkers slaughtered is beyond me. She had no idea I was smocking her. It was not even one week since the attack.

88

Why Are People Anti-Semitic?

by minimus in

jw
friends

i seriously don't get it.. some people truly hate`jews.. and it's not just jews.... gays, christians, blacks, mexicans, etc.

are on the list.. intolerance is a terrible thing..

Band on the Run

Zionism is one thing. Antisemitism flourishes here. I found it surprising. My hunch is that if you don't live on a coast, you may not have many opportunities to know Jewish people. They might be passing if they live in a nonwelcoming area. I think it is ignorance. Once you know a few individuals, the stereotypes fall. Some people realize there may be negative repurcussions to express antiSemitism so they will word it as not liking New York or the Ivy League. People overestimate the percentages of Jewish people in New York or the Ivy League.

Some trades are predominantly Jewish but the historic details are important. European monarchs needed Jews as bankers b/c the Vatican ruled that Christian could not charge interest. One king would kick them out of a country and the next king would beg them to come back.

There is an excellent book on Christian/Jewish disasters called Constantine's Sword. I heard an infamous hymn on Good Friday that started violence against Jews. It took a very long time for the Vatican to curtail its use. Some Anglo-Catholic Episcopal churches still sing it. The words don't seem that extreme. Oh, I have my favorite Church Fathers and saints. Augustine contributed much to hatred of Jews.

172

Are You Raising An Introvert?

by darth frosty in

jw
friends

its not easy being an introvert in an extrovert worldespecially when youre a kid.

it is even more difficult if none of the adults in the kids life recognize that the child is an introvert.

this doesnt happen only when the childs parents are extroverts, but also with introverted parents who have never understood their own introverted nature.. .

Band on the Run

I tested highly extrovert. My sister is an introvert. These categories appear flimsy psychobabble to me. We did a course on temperament in church. I always assumed my siblings hated me. We were just born with different strengths. I spent so much of my childhood reading books alone that I was certain I would test introvert. Corporate culture is all about extroversion. Skills can be taught. When we left the Witnesses, we had no social skills. We were afraid of strangers. What is a party? How do you make small talk without referencing the WT? It is funny now but I recall great pain. I paid a choreographer to help me dance. The business banter where you talk without revealing anything personal is hard.

57

Writing campaign to Washington DC papers in view of International Convention

by Londo111 in

ive heard from a credible source that the landover (dc) international convention is important to the society in view of the 100 year anniversary of "kingdom rule" and the location being near the capital of the "seventh world power".

perhaps they hope this particular international sends a message.

we know that come convention time usually there is some feel good fluff piece in the newspapers about the watchtower religion.

Band on the Run

Is it too late now? I like the one hundred year anniversary idea. Guess who threw out a book of templates? I like the diversity in this thread. My journalism career ended in high school. The Board of Ed. sent out trucks to confiscate the student papers b/c we need a parody issue. The editors fix the formating and grammatical problems. Public officials give much more credence to short personal letters.

The letters to the editor can be done anytime. Sticking to one issue is best. People rarely know much about the Witnesses with the exception of door knocking. The issues that make us upset would not upset a general audience. I would recommend writing from the heart and trying to curb the rage.

I've been thinking of a NYT piece myself. People want to do petitions or leave business cards at Bethel. The NYT, Washington Post, WSJ, and a few others can reach millions of readers on basically your own terms. The few Witnesses who can read and write are busy at wikipedia. Also, when a good piece is in the NYT, the authors are often invited on shows such as Charlie Rose or Jon Stewart. It is a lot of work, though, with no promise of publication.

I am thinking of writing about my quest for higher education and critical thinking skills. European concepts of freedom from religion and American freedom of religion would be interesting. Should parents choose a religion/cult for their children when it is harmful? Children should not have to wait to be of a majority age to go to school. I doubt if the religious exemption for federal taxes would be enacted today. Are we stuck in a Pilgrim culture?

42

Does anyone live by any Bible stuff?

by punkofnice in

this is not meant to be a slag off the bible thread.. i had a question asked me the other day and it was: 'do you live by anything from the bible?'.

i had to think about that one because i was force grown in the filthy, disgusting cult of the paedophile loving watchtower(r).. you know what?

i really don't know if i just naturally am a great bloke or if any 'nice' bits in the bible influenced me......or has western culture been influenced by the bible for good and bad?.

Band on the Run

I am proud to strive to be a good Christian. It is very different from being a Witness. I take most matters with a grain of sand. No one can censor me.. They may not agree with me but I don't have to agree with them. I am a sophisticated urban person. There is no reason to apply fundamentalist principles.

57

Writing campaign to Washington DC papers in view of International Convention

by Londo111 in

ive heard from a credible source that the landover (dc) international convention is important to the society in view of the 100 year anniversary of "kingdom rule" and the location being near the capital of the "seventh world power".

perhaps they hope this particular international sends a message.

we know that come convention time usually there is some feel good fluff piece in the newspapers about the watchtower religion.

Band on the Run

The New York Times has letters to the editor and op-ed pieces. I researched the op-ed requirements about a year ago. Writing a piece for the Times would seem more productive than posting here. Most of their rules could be met. Their big selection requirement is that the piece bring out a concern that the New Yrk Times does not ordinarily cover. The Washington Post prob. has a similar rule. It would take weeks of dedicated time to write such a piece. Creativity is not my strength.

According to wikipedia, the correct term for these cults is New Religious Movements. If a unifying strand could be found, a newspaper is much more likely to ppublish something that they have in common or a test they are facing than one religion alone.

24

should there be a rule against posting PMs ?

by MissFit in

most people feel that it is unethical to post private messages.. how ever there does not seem to be a posting rule against it.. some people unfamiliar with posting on boards may not realize that it is not done to post private messages .

( even though it would seem self evident with the word private in it.).

so what do you think about making it an official posting rule?.

Band on the Run

I had the impression from long timers that such a rule existed for a long time. Yet another zone of privacy down the drain. Doesn't "private" have a meaning?

9

Were any of the bible writers a Gentile ?

by smiddy in

Band on the Run

I don't understand your point. We don't know the backgrounds of most Bible authors. As far as I am concerned, I don't care if they were purple polka dot people. Their writings range from the sublime and achingly beautiful to very spooky stuff. When reading the Bible, our background is important.

32

NLP, Subliminal Messages and the WT Writing Department

by 00DAD in

a few years ago i became interested in the subject of neuro-linguistic programming (nlp).

while the core concepts of nlp have been largely discredited as new-age pseudo-science, there is no doubt that there is at least some validity to the idea.

words and images remain the key way we communicate.

Band on the Run

I once thought that the writers were not well-educated. When I have a chance, I read the lit at JW.org. They are purposefully choosing very word. Sometimes the writers strike me as choosing odd phrases. I don't have the background to analyze it in more detail. Also, how do they achieve such a neutral tone when so many are writing. It is eerie.