And then my dear father pulls out the ad hominen like crazy. Did I know that I sounded just like an apostate? What right did I have to expect the WT to comply to my own (tainted) academic standards? My example might seem off to an academic but those weren't the editorial standards the WT was required to adhere to. Did I know that there were many Ph.D.s in the "truth" who had no problem with this? Was I aware of how I had been tainted by the university atmosphere (see preceding para)? (Kind of a contradiction of the preceding query, but I didn't point that out)
I'm shaking my head, just dumbfounded by the twisted reasoning.
Just for fun, the next time your dad asks you what right you have to expect the WT to comply to standards of academic honesty, ask him how he'd feel about taking medication whose research methods, and empirical results were published to the same "standard" as the WT? For example, if we found out after years of administering chemotherapy and radiation to cancer patients, that the research was flawed and that those treatments actually hastened patients' deaths instead of ridding them of cancer? And what if it was further discovered that the companies producing chemotherapy treatments published those flawed or concocted results so that their bottom line wouldn't be affected?
Every time something like this is discovered, it makes news headlines all over the world because people have certain expectations of honesty from those they trust with their health - their lives. The GB claims to represent Jehovah God - should we not have even higher expectations of them, considering their claim to publish what god wants of those serving him? They claim the most authority and should likewise be expected to demonstrate the most accountability and honesty to the highest degree possible.
Or what if the Worldly™ standards for building homes, apartment buildings, shopping centers and skyscrapers were based on flawed research and flawed science? People invest so much in their homes, and trust that the people building them will adhere to safety standards and use the appropriate materials. But some contractors won't build to code to save money, and yet they will sell you a house claiming that it meets building code requirements. Ask him: Dad, what is the legal terminology for what this individual has done in selling you a home that doesn't meet code, knowingly cutting corners to maximize their profit, and putting your safety at risk, while claiming that all legal requirements have been met? If his answer is anything other than FRAUD, then he really doesn't get the principle of academic dishonesty. Because, essentially the academic dishonesty perpetrated by the WT is fraudulent behaviour - its goal is to twist the words of a scholarly work, using out-of-context quotes, ellipsis (...) to omit important words and meanings, and so on for the benefit of the person(s) perpetrating the academic dishonesty.
He may counter with an objection like "The Society™ has nothing to gain by doing this - so why would they bother?"
Of course they have something to gain!! Or more to the point, they have something they don't want to lose - their followers! Just like a cheating husband trying to explain away strange expenses, weird phone calls, late nights at the office and so on with false stories, the WT doesn't want to lose their followers or to be exposed as frauds. Think of the money they'd lose if everyone stopped donating. Think of the property they'd have to sell off to keep afloat. Think of the cushy lifestyle afforded to the GB and all the higher-ups in the Organization™ that couldn't be maintained without the base of followers that keeps financing them.
One of the first things the WT does in the Home Bible Study™ paradigm is to break a person's allegiance to their religion, by attacking the religion for neglecting to teach them that god's name is Jehovah, and for not teaching them about the bible's promise about Living Forever in Paradise on Earth™. It riles them up over dishonesty, and gets the person to a state of righteous indignation about being lied to by their church. And then, once they have the person in their clutches, they have to keep them in the cult by lying to them and being dishonest with them - practicing Theocratic Warfare™ on them.
The Insight volume, under the heading "LIE", claims that it is not necessary to divulge truthful information to those who are not entitled to it. Clearly, in practicing Theocratic Warfare™ against its own followers, the WTS doesn't even believe that its own followers are entitled to truthful information. I wonder how your father would feel about that?
