WEASEL WORDS--WHAT ARE THEY--HOW THE WTS USES

by blondie 26 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  blondie

  "A number of techniques employed to mislead others fall under the category of weasel words, and this article quotes examples that are regularly found in Watchtower publications.

  Weasel words are defined as:

  • “words or statements that are intentionally ambiguous or misleading,”[1]
  • intended “to avoid answering a question clearly or to make someone believe something that is not true."[2]

  I was checking jwfacts.com for any new articles and I saw this one. Here is the whole article but you can uses this link: https://jwfacts.com/watchtower/weasel-words.php
• 

  enoughisenough

  There are a few of ex jw on youtube that have brought this out. I remember thinking about some paragraphs in the WT as conjecture and thinking it goes beyond what was written, but that thought just ran off like water on a duck's back...now I see what a fool I was made.
• 

  Beth Sarim

  Words that are ambiguous and or misleading. Biased, made-up propaganda.

  I have to say that most Borg material is laden full of ''weasel'' words. Or the elipsis dot, dot, dot. Designed to manipulate.
• 

  ThomasMore

  Most of the cases that WTC constructs are just word salad. The more words they use, the stronger the case must be.

  If you counted the words in all the published articles that WTC has spewed out over the last 144 years, it would be a challenge to find ANY common thread reasonings/teachings that were not been amended and changed from decade to decade - some radically changed. They are a disgraceful group masquerading as the true religion - just disgraceful.
• 

  Beth Sarim

  The word ''can''

  or the word ''may""

  Two words that carry sooooo much weight,,they're sooo overlooked by JW's.

  But it's right there in bold on the front cover of the Borg's literature. It just feels so poignant to me, or others who have long - since woken-up. Those two words are so heavy, but not given much thought as the JW sheeple peddle the Borg's literature.

  Right there in bold print on the front cover of the propaganda cover.
• 

  WingCommander

  My new favourite weasel word comes for Gluttonous Bozo member Geoffrey Jackoff:

  Presumptuous

  "It would seem presumptuous............."
  
• 

  TonusOH

  The experiences of the 1910s and 1920s taught them not to sound too certain when they made statements. Or at least, they learned that they could make some statements that sounded certain, while also making others that they could refer to later if they were wrong.

  This is what happened with 1975. There was a WT or Awake magazine in 1969 that told young people that they would not grow old in the present system of things. Statements like that were forgotten when they had to explain why nothing happened in 1975. Instead, they referred to the statements they had also made, which were much less certain.
• 

  Beth Sarim

  "Presumptuous".

  Right there and then.

  If any elder asked any rank and file member

  "Do you believe the GB is Gods channel",,,and the answer was it would be "presumptuous" ,,,that member would be turfed right there instantly.
• 

  truthlover123

  Blondie- so nice your back! WT reviews comments missed so much and the weasel words- yes, I have always said that to anyone who would listen-

  The unfortunate thing is that pubs giving parroted answers from a paragraph indicate that the weasel words are fact, not that there is a "we understand", " possibly", "indicates", 'logically" and on and on....
• 

  blondie

  All good points. I was looking back at some other tricks the WTS uses in Article 1, January 2023, the WTS quotes a source and does not credit, it is ambiguous. Usually it can be found by googling the quote. “There is no hint of falseness or chance of failure in anything God has said. God’s people can trust what he says because they trust the God who has said it.” Googling brings up Daniel Estes. His credentials, but why is the WTS quote a non-jw? https://www.cedarville.edu/academic-schools-and-departments/biblical-and-theological-studies/faculty-staff/estes-daniel

  Weasel word Undoubtedly: Undoubtedly, it was Jehovah who made sure that his message to mankind would be accurately preserved. (same article)

  It you still go to the meetings and it is painful, like it was for me, I started looking for weasel words and circling them, quotes by the WTS that did not attribute the source. It helped me look more closely at the article. One thing I like to point out to jws on the cusp or even POMI ex-jws, can they show me where the bible mentions the "governing body." And many confidently to Acts 15:2 but the phrase is not there. Or how the WTS when mentioning governing body in association with that scripture, there are no quotes around that phrase, because it is not in the scripture so cannot be a quote. It is amazing I read the scripture and heard it said from the platform and in people's comments, and that never dawned on me. I showed it to a friend, an inactive jw, and they were stunned. Looked at it over and over, the constant associating that scripture with the phrase "governing body" was assumed, many not even looking it up. Seeing the weasel words, is a signal that the WTS is going to say something that is not even in their bible. I don't read the magazines any more but this may open the eyes who are wondering why it is so hard for them to "believe" any more.

  The phrase I like using the most is "it is reasonable to conclude" which means you are not "reasonable" it you don't come to the same conclusion the WTS does. I do a search with the phrase in quotes and am amazed how often the WTS uses this tactic.

  Oh, let me add my second phrase, "the Bible does not say" and notices how much more the WTS adds that they admitted has no scriptural support.