by cameo-d 43 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
I don't quite understand why you call it commenting.
When I attended meeting the question at end were read.
When people "commented" it was never a real comment.
It was just reading back word for word a sentence or two from the paragraph that answered the question.
I would think "commentary" would be something you put in your own words and give a personal statement about it.
Why do you call it "comments" when it is more like reciting?
Or is it different in other KH?
I struggled with this a lot actually during my last few years at meetings. I felt it too insulting to my intelligence to 'comment' by repeating exactly what was just read. I refused completely. If I could insert in something slightly off paragraph so that it is my own thinking, then I did, but this was very rare.
What killed me was how the conductors would respond "yes, yes, very good" to comments even though they were mindless and just repeated the paragraph.
Ah, in hindsight it was dissonance building up...
They call it commenting because they want you to believe that you are coming to these conclusions on your own instead of mindlessly parroting back what they tell you. It is a good technique for driving the information into your head, you are more likely to believe something if you think you arrived at the conclusion by yourself.
Angie
I would think "commentary" would be something you put in your own words and give a personal statement about it.
That is independent thinking and they will ahve none of that.
They don't want commentary. I 'commented' when I was about 8 once at the book study and was reprimanded. My eight year old comment was a challenge to the grown men at the bookstudy that had maybe a dozen people. Happened again at about 11. At 15, I left. No such thing as freedom of thought or expression.
Maybe they call it "commenting" because "regurgitation" is too upsetting.
Whatever you call it, all I know is if you were an elder's kid, your father was so proud if you did it and there was hell to pay if you didn't! Before the meeting, you were pressured to commit to raising your hand for specific paragraphs. You had to rehearse your answer in the car on the way to the meeting, like it took profound thought. Yuck. There was the urgent jab in the ribs from mother's elbow warning of your upcoming "comment." It was a huge embarrassment for the elder if his kid didn't comment and I tried to never do it. It was such a farce. You'd raise your hand and microphone boy scurried over so you could read a couple sentences from the Witchtower. Conductor: "How, then, should young ones feel when pressured to comment on crapola from the Faithful Slave?" (Smirking) "Yes, let's hear from Little Missy Virgochik who has volunteered to comment!" No I didn't! It was the bony elbow, the dirty looks and the threat of disapproval and scowling for days if I didn't. Better to get it over with! Ah, the memories.
Up until about 1998, one could comment. I remember adding my own illustrations to the paragraph (and not to destroy it, but to support it). At that time, nothing much was said except that they liked how I added to it. Then, they decided that comments had to be more or less in line with the paragraph. It has been getting steadily worse since 1998--and even worse during the last few years. No more illustrations that are not in the paragraph or experiences to support it that are not already in the paragraph. Rather, you are to comment in the words of the paragraph (which is not really commenting, but re-reading) or mild paraphrasing the paragraph (again, not a real comment but a re-reading).
I rarely re-read the paragraph (only when I was caught off guard and had little ability to give a real comment did I try to paraphrase the paragraph in lieu of a real comment). Instead, I tried to tie things into real life. Which is getting damn close to impossible these days, and will get even harder if Losch takes control of the organization. Thus, real comments are banned in favor of re-readings.
I really tried to expand on my comments, not excessively, but I tried to make them down to earth and relevant to us everyday folk. Many times they were appreciated. The difficulty came when the whole "only answer one point" council was given. This meant nobody could elaborate, they just had to flatly answer the question in few words, then leave the next point for another hand. This made the answers so boring that many a time the conductor would ask a very basic question and NOBODY would raise their hand. Not because they didn't know the answer but because everyone just couldn't be bothered to answer something so peurile.
In fact the whole congregation was told off in a local needs talk for not bothering to answer the easy questions. The conductor said that every question is a provision from Jehovah and we are treating his provisions with contempt.
I don't suppose it occured to the elders that actually the peurile questions were insulting our intelligence and treating us with contempt.
Repeating a pre-scripted answer,is not commenting......................................................OUTLAW
