Posts by Apognophos

54

Controversial Opinion: Why the web site campaign is actually brilliant

by Apognophos in

there's a lot of talk right now about how stupid it is to have jws hand out leaflets with urls on them.

"why go to someone's door to tell them they can visit a web site that lets them ask for someone to come to their door?

" well, i'm sorry, but i have to weigh in with a contrary opinion here on how clever the society is.

Apognophos

I don't bump my own threads as a general rule, but I was as surprised as everyone else to learn about the new JW "TV channel" on the web site. It dovetails quite well with what I wrote in my OP, particularly this passage:

I think what you guys are overlooking -- and this is a MAJOR factor -- is the power of the visual medium. You guys have seen how popular YouTube is, right? Of course you have. People would rather watch a video that takes 7 minutes to explain how to install Photoshop than just read a single page of instructions in one minute. Why is YouTube so popular? Because you can be an illiterate idiot and still get around the site okay. Just click on thumbnails, you don't even need to read what the video is about. The comments on videos demonstrate just how low the mental bar is for someone to use the site.

I know this post sounds elitist, but I'm just saying out loud what we already know: the ones most likely to convert to the religion are uneducated and are not comfortable studying books. Many Bible studies have serious "learning disabilities" (that's the PC term for it) and need to have everything repeated to them from the paragraph out loud, three times, before they get it. That's because their oral comprehension is much better than their written comprehension. The jw.org web site takes away the demand of literary comprehension and replaces it with, "Listen to the nice man talk over the pretty pictures." (Of course there are articles too, for those who want them.)

So I actually think the Society knows exactly what they're doing. They know their target audience. It's not "the worldly wise". It's the "humble, child-like ones". They could hardly have made a better move than this to attract potential converts, especially outside of the more well-educated areas of the world that most of us live in.

Since I wrote this a couple months ago, the org. has truly taken this mindset to its logical conclusion. Video over text. Oral/visual medium over textual medium. "Looking at the pretty pictures" over "needing a high school education to understand these words". They might as well hang up a sign on Kingdom Halls saying "IQs over 100 not welcome".

26

I...I have no words

by Theredeemer in

jw
friends

i cannot wrap my mind around the fact that there is jw tv.

being a born in and living most of my life hearing how tv evangelism is wrong and lazy preaching yet seeing this unfold solidifies this religion as a cult!.

i remember back when i began my fade a few years ago i told my brother during an argument how this religion is just like any other religion in that its bull.

Apognophos

Personally I think this forum needs about a HUNDRED more threads about the danm TV channel. Keep going, guys.

16

WARNING - DON'T SIGN IN TO JW LANGUAGE APP

by cultBgone in

jw
friends

unless you are willing to have all your movements tracked on the internet and your files opened to the watchtower, don't sign in.

here's what will happen:.

to install the app - you will give the jw-app access to:.

Apognophos

It's hard to know if this is just a case of the developer asking for too many rights, even if he isn't using them, or whether the app's feature set has some connection to web browsing, or what. I would be very surprised if the Society started spying on and outing people for visiting apostate sites.

31

JW's are the slowest walkers in the world

by Unclepenn1 in

jw
friends

that's all i wanted to say.

you can always spot them by the 'less than 1/2 miles per hour' they stroll down the street.

salvation by the hour.

Apognophos

LOL @ bemused and this whole thread.

50

New online JW TV channel released at the AGM

by kneehighmiah in

jw
friends

Apognophos

Oops, "Br. Jackson" is what I meant to say above. Jackson and Loesch are the ones with accents, at least from the standpoint of where I'm posting from.

20

Gog of Magog is still SATAN!!!

by ADJUSTMENTS in

during the public discourse today the brobot talked about the gog of magog, and he stated that he was satan!!!

i had to ask my wife if i heard him correctly, and she said yes he said it is satan.... i couldnt wait to run up to the brobot after the meeting and inform him of he "new light" we just recieved yesterday!!!

when i approached him i asked him : what is gog of magog?

Apognophos

I had a similar experience (too identifying to relate) where an elder had no idea that the material he was using about the identity of the F&DS was out of date (the old "anointed remnant" definition, not the one that had been revealed some months ago at the AGM). I didn't tell him simply because I didn't want to prolong the conversation or to get on his bad side, but I really would have liked to see his reaction.

18

JW.ORG is just a business, GET OVER IT!

by suavojr in

jw
friends

Apognophos

Russell predicted global warming and the restitution of Israel. So that counts as... wait, what's that, you say? Russell wasn't a Witness, and the org. has been distancing themselves from him?

50

New online JW TV channel released at the AGM

by kneehighmiah in

jw
friends

Apognophos

This is going to go a looong way in helping publicize the GB members to the F&DS. I feel that it may even be the overriding motive for this "channel". Keep in mind that we probably know their names and faces better than the average JW. Even with them speaking at one all-hands AGM last year, and individual members showing up at the occasional DC, we're talking about the average JW seeing a GB member, on average, once per year. It's not surprising if they haven't learned their names yet. But seeing them on a regular basis, even once a month (and I can see that being ramped up over time) is going to make their names common currency among Witnesses. "Did you see that new talk from Br. Morris?" "Oh yes, that was very nice, and I love listening to that accent."

5

Is it an honest depiction of the preaching effectiveness

by never a jw in

do you believe what is presented in this video?

was it staged?

i think more likely a bunch of jw friends stop by to say hi.

Apognophos

Actually, other posters here have identified official material from the Society that has the dot in both places:

http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/281316/2/jw-org-getting-out-of-hand (See my post quoting John_Mann, also notice that I successfully predicted a new songbook, just with the wrong new material :-)

http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/beliefs/282278/4/Why-do-JWs-have-this-on-their-FB-pages-now (see my post quoting Juan_Viejo2)

21

Watchtower sitting on potential goldmine of millions of non-JW memorial attenders

by yadda yadda 2 in

last year's "letter from the governing body" (on jw.org) notes:.

"last year, the memorial attendance was 19,241,252. how encouraging to see so many honor jehovah and jesus christ by attending the most important meeting of the year for gods people!".

that's about 12 million or so non-jw's who go to the memorial only, a good % of whom are evidently at least somewhat sympathetic or curious about the jw's, but for various reasons have no desire to commit to the religion.. .

Apognophos

It's been stated here in the past that one of the major contingents of the Memorial is the "I'm just attending to get my JW family off my back" crowd -- the inactive born-ins or disinterested spouses that only go because their family makes such a big deal out of the yearly event.