I would think the fact that the BBC broadcasts worldwide - there is the BBC world service on the radio of course, it must make them particularly fastidious with getting pronunciation consistent across their network.
cobweb
JoinedPosts by cobweb
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9
Why do some British journalists ...
by LoveUniHateExams in... go full retard whenever an arabic name appears on the autocue, and 'give it the full arabic', so to speak?.
rageh omar is a british somali of sunni muslim heritage so it's understandable when he pronounces arabic names with an arabic pronunciation/accent.. but what about people who have nothing to do with arabic - huw edwards, emily maitlis, moira stewart, etc.?
they don't speak arabic, do they?.
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9
Why do some British journalists ...
by LoveUniHateExams in... go full retard whenever an arabic name appears on the autocue, and 'give it the full arabic', so to speak?.
rageh omar is a british somali of sunni muslim heritage so it's understandable when he pronounces arabic names with an arabic pronunciation/accent.. but what about people who have nothing to do with arabic - huw edwards, emily maitlis, moira stewart, etc.?
they don't speak arabic, do they?.
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cobweb
reminds me of this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnAV30z8xBE
personally i do say the gutteral gogh, i think Americans tend to say van go don't they. How would you say jalapeño pepper or the names jose and juan?
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So today this happened...
by Phoebe inyou all pretty much know my story so i won't repeat it but.... to say i'm being hounded by my local congregation is an understatement.
today the cobe finally found us in.
well, i refused to answer the door but my husband did.
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cobweb
Hey Phoebe,
I think your husband left the witnesses a long time ago, so the fact that he said these things does not necessarily reflect on you. It could just be his opinions couldn't it, and not your ones. It probably isn't a good idea for him to say these things all the same, if you are trying to fade out, as they may suspect you share these same issues.
The line you are trying to take is the right one. Post traumatic stress and anxiety are good excuses, as is depression, mental fatigue etc. As long as nothing you say smells of apostasy, criticism, looking at the internet etc. You said that you were planning to be firm and and ask them to leave you alone as you need space to try to sort out your issues, so they do not give you shepherding calls. This is all the correct approach, so you are doing it all right. Just maybe, talk to your husband, and instruct him in future not to engage with them again and not to let them in next time. I am sure it was hard for him to bite his tongue today, it is very understandable, but it is a bit counter-productive for you, if you want to fade rather than DA or be DF. It could be quite easy for him to accidentally let something slip about your views, so non engagement is best.
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last psychology session tomorrow
by Phoebe inso tomorrow is my last appointment with my psychologist.
we are going to commemorate it by giving each other a letter.. sept 2016 i sat, a quivering wreck, in her waiting room.
i was terrified.
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cobweb
I'm glad you are doing so well Phoebe. I very much enjoy your posts. You write very well - you come across as warm, fresh and open hearted.
I think, after being a witness and being told how you ought to be in order to be accepted by others, and restricting ones behavior and thought in order to accord with what is proper, one can become disconnected from ones true nature, thoughts and feelings. Forgive me if I sound presumptuous, but I get the sense you may have been suppressing your true self like a football held under the water and finally you have allowed that ball to pop up into the air and sunshine. And now you see and feel who and how you are without all the pressure of conformity. If that is how it is, then I expect it will be liberating and exciting feeling.
You said:
I have learnt I am not a bad person after all, in fact, I'm actually quite nice.
I can tell this about you, and as time goes on, you will continue to get to know qualities you like about yourself. You will find pleasure in that. You may also discover the odd negative quality, or thoughts or feelings in yourself that you would have been expected to suppress. You may feel angry thoughts for example. But you don't need to automatically suppress these. These are legitimate- they are a part of you, and can be accepted and looked at. It's just part of being human isn't it. This is all a much nicer way of being. And as it turns out, once all the external pressure to conform is taken away, and we stop suppressing ourselves, most of us discover we are pretty nice people, all on our own, and we are that way because we want to be, not because we are told to be.
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Apostasy: The Movie - Directed by Daniel Kokotajlo
by darkspilver indaniel kokotajlo's new film apostasy has it's world premiere at the toronto international film festival in september 2017. apostasy.
family and faith come into conflict for two jehovah’s witness sisters in manchester, when one is condemned for fornication and the other pressured to shun her sibling.. this fresh, unadorned first feature from director dan kokotajlo carries an unmistakable note of authenticity from its very first scenes.
set in a jehovah's witness community in england, the film's strength and power lies in its directness.. apostasy depicts the growing rift in a family — a mother and two daughters — who are rigorously devoted to their religion.
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cobweb
edit: sorry darksilver - I see you already posted this article.
Interesting to read more about the director's experience of being a JW. I hope to see some reviews of this soon.
Manchester-born, London-based writer-director Daniel Kokotajlo makes his feature directorial debut with Apostasy, which is receiving its world premiere in Toronto’s Discovery programme.
The story, set in Oldham, Greater Manchester, is about a devout Jehovah’s Witness who commits a transgression, forcing her mother and sister to persuade her to return to the faith or shun her completely.
While the storyline isn’t exactly autobiographical, it comes from a world Kokotajlo knows intimately, as he grew up in a Jehovah’s Witness family.
Kokotajlo, a 2015 Screen International Star of Tomorrow, has previously directed shorts include The Mess Hall Of An Online Warrior (which screened at SXSW) and Myra (which was longlisted for a BAFTA).
Marcie Maclellan and Andrea Cornwell (Suite Francaise) produce the film, which was made through the iFeatures low-budget filmmaking scheme, and backers are Creative England, BBC Films, BFI and Oldgarth Media. Executive producers are Christopher Moll, Steve Jenkins, Lizzie Francke, Jim Reeve and Christopher Granier-Deferre.
Apostasy premieres at TIFF on September 8 and Cornerstone Films is handling international sales. After Toronto, the film screens in San Sebastian’s New Directors Competition and in BFI London Film Festival’s First Feature Competition.
You used to do music and visual art, so how did you make the leap to film?
I was making hip-hop records when I was about 21, I was a Bible-bashing B-boy. Around this time, I discovered people like Mike Leigh and Karel Reisz existed. I then studied film in my mid-20s, at the MA screenwriting programme at the University of Westminster. I couldn’t afford to pay for it all at once so I studied part time and was selling paintings and juggling two jobs to pay for school.
Apostasy is about a young woman who leaves the Jehovah’s Witness faith. When did you leave the faith?
I was harbouring doubts since I went to college. I realised that people at college were interested in your opinion. That was a new concept to me because being a Witness it was always about reaffirming the text, group-think, it wasn’t about encouraging independent thought. I still went to Kingdom Hall [place of worship used by Jehovah’s Witnesses] all through uni, but I kept it quiet. I wanted to leave but that religious guilt was there and I couldn’t find a way to get out of it comfortably. It wasn’t until I moved away from my hometown that I stopped going.
How will Witnesses react to Apostasy?
I suspect they will ignore the film. Even the idea of making this film is controversial. The word ‘apostasy’ will raise an eyebrow within the Witnesses. But I’m hoping that if people in the faith watch this film and give it time, they will see it’s not critical of the Witnesses – it’s a film about people who stand up for what they believe in. Some ex-Witnesses I’ve spoken to are very angry about that part of their lives but I see it a bit more objectively.
APOSTASY
How did you cast the film?
I made a conscious choice to focus on working actors in the northwest, to show a film audience what these actors can do. We saw hundreds of people. It was about the right look and right feel and I didn’t want them to be odd looking, they needed to be relatable, honest people. With Siobhan [Finneran], I was a huge fan of hers from Rita, Sue And Bob Too and Happy Valley. [The mother] was a complex, tricky character and Siobhan understood straight away the humanity that the role needed. Even though she’s just turned 18, [the younger daughter] Alex couldn’t be too childlike, she had to be determined and strong willed; Molly [Wright] had that. For the older sister Luisa, we needed to find someone who was naturally playful and impulsive and Sacha [Parkinson] seemed to have that quality.
How did you prepare them to play their characters?
I had a few weeks with the actors. We had a private space where we sat together and chatted about it all, just so I could get across the logic of the Witnesses. It’s hard for secular people to understand that stuff, that you have to act in a way that goes against your natural instincts. Part of rehearsals was also focused on making these people human beings.
How did taking part in iFeatures help you on the film?
They’ve been very supportive, they gave me time and space to work on the script. I made a documentary at the beginning of the process about my life, so they could see the power and how personal the story was to me. They greenlit Apostasy before the script was totally in shape which was a real boost of confidence for me.
Without spoiling the ending, did the film always have to end this way?
I’ve always been interested in how far people will go for their faith or what they truly believe in. It felt like a natural progression, from what Alex deals with to what happens at the end. It’s the eternal versus the here and now. I hope people can empathise with the situation that the family are in. This is just one example of fundamentalism and what kind of hold it can have on people.
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Judge orders Jehovah’s Witness to release molestation files
by cobweb inhttps://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2017/aug/30/citylights-judge-orders-jehovahs-witness-release/#.
judge orders jehovah’s witness to release molestation files.
eighteen years of horror in linda vista.
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cobweb
https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2017/aug/30/citylights-judge-orders-jehovahs-witness-release/#
Judge orders Jehovah’s Witness to release molestation files
Eighteen years of horror in Linda Vista
The mission of Jehovah’s Witnesses is to spread belief in the Bible in hopes of rescuing folks before the world ends.
Jehovah’s Witnesses’ attorneys seem to have another mission: do anything to keep internal documents revealing the names of alleged child molesters, and the congregations they attended, from seeing the light of day.
“I can’t explain what their logic is or their legal strategy,” says attorney Irwin Zalkin.
IMAGE BY MATTHEW SUÁREZ
The second directive is unfolding in two San Diego courtrooms. Attorneys for José Lopez and Osbaldo Padron — both alleged victims of molestation by an elder from the Linda Vista congregation named Gonzalo Campos — say Jehovah’s Witnesses’ governing body, the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, refuses to turn over documents. This is despite the fact that two San Diego County Superior Court judges have imposed millions of dollars in sanctions for similar conduct.
In a June 17, 2017, email, Lopez’s attorney Devin Storey accuses the Watchtower of withholding documents that his client needs to “establish Watchtower’s practice of protecting molesters from prosecution.”
The struggle for documents is not isolated to San Diego courtrooms but is playing out in several countries. Watchtower’s policies of requiring more than one eyewitness to the abuse before launching an investigation; of forcing the abused, often young children, to confront their abuser; and of prohibiting members from contacting law enforcement with complaints of sexual abuse have created what one former member and outspoken critic of the Watchtower Tract Society, William Bowen, calls a “pedophile’s paradise.”
Last year, a Royal Commission in Australia found that Jehovah’s Witnesses had hidden more than a thousand reports of child abuse from that country’s law enforcement. In the United States, during the past five years, the Watchtower has paid out numerous settlements to people who claimed they’d suffered child abuse at the hands of church elders. To date, seven San Diego residents have sued the Watchtower Tract Society regarding sexual abuse of minors.
Watchtower resistance
In 2015, Superior Court judge Joan Lewis awarded Lopez $13.5 million after Watchtower repeatedly failed to turn over documents and provide access to witnesses. The Watchtower appealed the decision. A state appellate court ruled that the judge did not give the Watchtower enough opportunity to turn over the documents. Appellate court judges remanded the case back to the trial court, providing the church another chance to turn over the requested documents.
In a separate case, but one following a similar pattern, San Diego Superior Court judge Richard Strauss imposed a $4000-per-day penalty against the Watchtower for failing to turn over documents in a case filed by Padron, another one of Campos’s alleged victims. Watchtower’s attorneys, as they did in the Lopez case, filed an appeal.
Attorney Storey from the Zalkin Law Firm, says the Watchtower is back to its old tricks in the Lopez case, once again producing heavily redacted documents and failing to produce others despite orders from a court-appointed mediator. Meanwhile, Storey and lead attorney Irwin Zalkin are preparing for yet another appellate court hearing wherein the Watchtower hopes to nullify the $4000-a-day fine given in the Padron case.
Fled to Mexico
Gonzalo Campos, 54, became a Jehovah’s Witness in 1979 after moving to San Diego from Mexico. He was baptized in 1980 while attending the congregation in Linda Vista. Six months following his baptism, church elders promoted Campos to “publisher,” a member who visits homes with hopes of spreading church doctrine, also the first step in becoming an elder.
But according to accusations against him, Campos and his mother were staying at a member family’s home in 1982. Campos shared a bedroom with a young boy. In the middle of the night, the boy felt somebody pulling down his pajama pants and felt wetness on his buttocks. He opened his eyes and Campos was kneeling next to his bed. The boy punched Campos and then grabbed a baseball bat. The boy’s mother kicked Campos and his mother out of her house. Days later she lodged a complaint with church elders Justino Diaz and Carlos Ramirez at the Linda Vista congregation. The elders did not punish Campos. Instead he remained a publisher and was allowed to teach Bible classes to children.
It was not the last time Campos is alleged to have sexually assaulted a child and received protection from church elders. Eight now claim that Campos molested them. The alleged molestations happened between 1982 and 1999. Elders have been accused of refusing to report the molestation to law enforcement.
During those nearly two decades, Campos is said to have meticulously groomed his victims and their parents. Accusers say he convinced parents to let their children accompany him on gardening jobs, ostensibly as a chance for the children to learn hard work and receive instruction on church dogma.
Once at the job site, accusers say, Campos would often let the kids swim in his clients’ pools. Once the work was done and the kids finished swimming, Campos would force the kids into the shower. While showering Campos would touch them and eventually sodomize them.
In exchange for their silence, several witnesses have testified, Campos would buy them Hershey’s chocolate bars, McDonald’s Happy Meals, and toys such as Transformers and Matchbox cars. In one case, the alleged victim says Campos repeatedly assaulted him over a five-year span and paid him money to keep quiet.
All the while, church leaders at the Linda Vista congregation continued to promote Campos, eventually to the position of elder, a person responsible for arranging and speaking at meetings.
By 1993, parents began to discover what had happened to their children. One mother found out after finding a note her teenage son had written to a girlfriend. She contacted the elders at the Linda Vista congregation to report Campos.
Days later, elder Roberto Rivera called the mother back. “But he say something to the fact that [Campos] was an elder now and not to do anything,” testified the woman during a December 2013 deposition. “That if I will speak or keep moving things around to find out stuff, that they will say something that I did in the past.”
Rivera’s response was not unusual. Since the late 1970s, according to senior Watchtower official Allen Shuster, who provided testimony in March 2012, church policy required two elders to meet with the accused molester to see if he or she was willing to admit guilt. If the accused denied guilt, in search of what they considered credible evidence, elders needed a witness to the abuse. If no such witness came forward, they would dismiss the allegation. And even if the accused molester admitted to the act, Watchtower’s policy was to keep the incident confidential and not report it to law enforcement. If a witness was present and the accused admitted guilt, the body of elders would expel the person from the church.
But new complaints about Campos continued to surface. In 1995, church elders expelled him from the congregation.
The expulsion, however, was not permanent.
In December1999, Linda Vista elder Eduardo Chavez contacted Watchtower headquarters informing them of Campos’s abuse and that they were ready to accept him back into the congregation.
“In our meeting with him he said he was very repentant for what he did,” Chavez wrote to Watchtower headquarters in New York. “He stated that he wanted to return to Jehovah. He is willing to face the victims and ask their forgiveness. He now wants to obey Jehovah. Before, when he would speak to people on the platform he would not meditate on what he was doing. Although he needed to confess, he felt shameful and had fear of mankind. He would deceive himself thinking that he could continue serving as an elder. Now he realized that he could not change without help. Ever since his expulsion he has not abused anyone. He has read articles of the publications regarding his sin. He says he does not see or read pornographic information. He stated that ever since expulsion he has worked on having a relationship with Jehovah and the expulsion has served to strengthen him spiritually. He does not miss meetings, and he even takes notes of the program. He also said that he is willing to continue accepting Jehovah’s discipline.”
Elders welcomed Campos back into the congregation in 2000.
In 2006, according to a letter the Reader has obtained, elders were considering promoting Campos to conduct field service. The elders at Linda Vista, however, ultimately decided against the promotion. Reads the letter, “Due to the fact that victims and mothers of victims are still grieving this abuse, we have decided as a body at this time to allow for more time to pass by until we consider [Campos] for minor privileges in the congregation.”
Then, in 2009, five of his accusers learned of Campos’s return. They hired attorney Irwin Zalkin. Campos fled to Mexico shortly thereafter. In September 2011 he appeared in Tijuana to testify under oath in a 2010 civil suit brought by five of his victims. During his testimony, Campos admitted to touching and in many cases anally penetrating the boys on numerous occasions. The following is an excerpt between attorney Devin Storey and Campos:
- “I touched him in his private parts,” Campos testified.
- Attorney Storey: “ Did you touch his penis?”
- Campos: Yes.
- Storey: “Did you penetrate him?
- Campos: “Yes. Yes.”
- Storey: “How many times?”
- Campos: “More than once. I don’t know.”
Campos then admitted to molesting the other children as well.
In 2012, the Watchtower settled the case brought by Campos’s five victims for an undisclosed amount. Later that year José Lopez, followed by Osbaldo Padron, also filed suits. But unlike in previous cases, Watchtower attorneys seem unwilling to enter into similar settlement talks.
“I can’t explain what their logic is or their legal strategy,” said lead attorney Zalkin during an August 14 phone interview. “The fact that they once again appear willing to reargue the same issues and fight releasing documents that judges have ordered them to turn over is beyond me. All we can do is wait for the hearings and let this play out in the courtroom.”
Barbara Anderson, a former Witness who worked at Watchtower’s headquarters, left the church when she discovered reports that the church tried to hide allegations of sex abuse by elders and high-ranking officials. Anderson runs the website Watchtower Documents.
“In the past, to protect the religion’s reputation, rather than protect children, by not adopting a policy or rule for all Jehovah’s Witnesses to report all allegations of child abuse to the authorities, they endangered the welfare of children.”
But Anderson says the church is implementing change. “In view of the public notoriety and scrutiny of this issue, Jehovah’s Witnesses have asserted that they have in place excellent child protection policies without admitting that they endangered the welfare of children because of their religious viewpoint.
“Of course, no matter what regulations are adopted, there never will be a 100 percent guarantee that molestation of a Witness child by a Jehovah’s Witnesses molester will not happen. However, reporting a molester to the police will help to prevent a second or third child from being molested.”
Attorney Zalkin and Watchtower’s attorneys will appear on September 15 at a hearing to discuss a motion from the Watchtower to seal documents from the public. Zalkin says the appellate court should hear the appeal of the $4000-a-day sanctions sometime next year.
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Breaking News - NK Missile Overflies Japan
by cofty instory breaking on reuters here.... kim jong-un seems determined to start a war.
nk is a national cult of personality.
hating the rest of the world is the first tenet of faith..
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cobweb
I knew a really friendly Chinese guy. He was a student from Beijing, I really liked him. It came as a real shock to hear his views on the Japanese. I've never heard such openly racist speech. It was directed toward all Japanese people, young and old. It was very jarring.
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Breaking News - NK Missile Overflies Japan
by cofty instory breaking on reuters here.... kim jong-un seems determined to start a war.
nk is a national cult of personality.
hating the rest of the world is the first tenet of faith..
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cobweb
Will , or could Japan take action on their own , in a millitary sense ? After all it is their territorial space that was violated.Are they handicapped by America ?
Japan is hampered by article 9 of their constitution which was adopted after WW2.
ARTICLE 9. (1) Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes.
(2) In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained. The right of belligerency of the state will not be recognized.They do have some military force which they will use for defensive purposes. They are discussing revising article 9 but its a divisive issue.
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Columbus Circle monument could be next statue to go
by freemindfade inchristopher columbus could be next on the monuments chopping block.. the 76-foot structure honoring the explorer at columbus circle should be among the statues reviewed by the city for potential purging, city council speaker melissa mark-viverito said on monday.. http://nypost.com/2017/08/21/columbus-circle-monument-could-be-next-statue-to-go/.
if this goes on, these people are just validating what the orange one said, where will it stop?
how will people 200 years from now look back on us?
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cobweb
I think its likely a tactic to create a deliberate backlash. Like Trump said, what about Washington etc. Noone would extend it that far but suggesting it would creates outrage.
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75
Apostasy: The Movie - Directed by Daniel Kokotajlo
by darkspilver indaniel kokotajlo's new film apostasy has it's world premiere at the toronto international film festival in september 2017. apostasy.
family and faith come into conflict for two jehovah’s witness sisters in manchester, when one is condemned for fornication and the other pressured to shun her sibling.. this fresh, unadorned first feature from director dan kokotajlo carries an unmistakable note of authenticity from its very first scenes.
set in a jehovah's witness community in england, the film's strength and power lies in its directness.. apostasy depicts the growing rift in a family — a mother and two daughters — who are rigorously devoted to their religion.
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cobweb
No cha ching, that isn't the same film. This is an English film set in Manchester.
