Beyond the Rainbow!

by Smoldering Wick 25 Replies latest jw friends

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  Smoldering Wick

  I remember hearing stories of an elderly brother who would go to the door and ask the householder what their favorite color was. If the householder responded blue...he would pull out the 'Truth' book, if his/her response was green it was the...well, you get the idea. This old brother had a book in every color and always placed them. I used to organize my mom's book shelf thinking it was so cool there were so many colors. Every year, the JW Year Book was different. Although, some of the messages and pictures in these books were a little scary the colors on the cover were usually pleasing. At 5 or 6, I remember seeing lion-like monsters in my Paradise Lost book that scared me and some of the language I didn't understand at all...but, it was a pretty soft peach color and I was proud of it.
  
  When I grew up, I went into Advertising & Marketing and found out how important colors were in selling product. How color can affect our mind, actions and reactions. http://www.colormatters.com/entercolormatters.html
  The first time I ever watched the Wizard of Oz, I gasped in amazement when the screen went from dreary black & white to full technicolor. It was awesome!
  
  As a pioneer, I often made mental notes as to which of my outfits would help me place more literature. (and it wasn't the skin tight versions, although they didn't hurt) When I wore bright colors...fuchsia, yellow, orange, Hawaiian...I placed the most literature. Most of the people I placed literature with were Hispanic or Children. One day a sister I was with had on a bright yellow dress...and I was wearing a floral number with fuchsia, yellow and green (sounds horrid now) but, everyone we talked to responded. We placed SOOO much literature I remember joking with the car group on the way home that this was our new service uniform.
  
  It's interesting to me now that I have peeked behind the great curtain at the "Wonderful" Wizard...how much full colored illustrations of beautiful places far far away enticed people to join in the quest for the Emerald City.
  
  Now that I've made the journey....saw the Wizard....I realize it's content, not color....There's no place like home.

  
  Edited cuz I found a cooler pic of the Emerald City
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  LDH

  Great essay SW. I'm sure the Watchtower Publishing corp has a marketing department. There is actually a group that does Color Trend Forecasting, that determines which colors are the next up to be popular. All of the major manufacturers rely on their info when deciding which colors to make their products in.

  http://www.colormarketing.org

  Yeah, gotta love those GREEN Bibles, huh?

  PINK songbooks, too!

  Lisa
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  patio34

  Hi Smoldering Wick,

  That was a great analogy! I, too, was partially attracted by the colors of the books. Also, the sheer number of them, as i have always been attracted to books. . . but not very selective

  Pat

  

  WTBS: Quit peeing on my leg and telling me it's raining.
• 

  teejay

  Smoldering,

  You done gone and invoked the name of my all-time favorite movie. Don't have anything else to say... other than that.

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  Well...

  On second thought...

  You figured out long time ago that it wasn't the message but what the pretty lady was wearin' that tipped the scales in your favor when it came to making the sale. I'm pretty friggin' anal my own damn self, but that's amazing! The thought never crossed my mind which suit coat or tie led to the most sales placements.

  Damn! I coulda been a contenda!!
• 

  Masterji

  SW,
  You said: "At 5 or 6, I remember seeing lion-like monsters in my Paradise Lost book that scared me..."

  Let me commend you first of all. To remember anything at 5 or 6
  is reaLLY amazing.

  Could you explain the lion-like monsters and where you found them
  in the pages of the Paradise Lost book?

  M
• 

  Smoldering Wick

  Well Master...my Paradise Lost book has LONG since been LOST. lol

  There are lots of pictures in my head...wild beasts, lambs, goats, frogs coming outta mouths, people falling through cracks...perhaps not all from that one book. I haven't seen that book in decades. But, they are stuck in my head forever. My older sister was a regular pioneer when I was three years old. I attended lots of bible studies with her. To keep me from being bored, I was always handed the Paradise or some other book to look at.

  My sister taught me my first canned sermon at 3 which I used at the doors frequently.

  "Good morning, we are sharing the Good News of the Kingdom. We have the Watchtower and Awake! for 10 cents each."

  My first talk in the theocratic ministry school was when I was 6 years old. It was taken from the book of Jonah. Since I couldn't read yet, I was taught to memorize all the scriptures. To this day I still can recite Jonah chapter 4 and lots of other scriptures by memory.

  At 9 I was ready for baptism...when we were going through the baptismal questions...I could out answer any of the teenagers who were getting baptized with me.

  One of the reasons I don't like discussing anything Biblical is because it opens a floodgate in my head of Watchtower propaganda.

  I remember talking to a man at the door when I was about 8. The man kept asking me Bible questions and I kept answering. He finally gave up and said. "Boy, they got you trained like a little robot!"

  Now I know exactly what he meant. I've been trying hard for the past 4 years to forget, maybe it's finally working.

  Wick (of the very young class)
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  mommy

  Wick,
  Amazing! This is really a great post, loved the graphics too I was helping my mom change her room around last year, and was sickened by the amount of JW literature. I mean myriads and myriads of them Mags, tapes, books, brochures, pamphlets. So much info from one tiny book that contains 66 books. I was awful and had to comment about it. She said that the different avenues appealed to different people, and they needed it to spread the word of the kingdom. My take on it is much different and I told her they needed to line their pockets, this of course led to a debate of where the money actually goes, a whole other subject. Thanks for posting it, I will be refering many here!

  Master,
  I remember plenty of things from my 5-6 year old time. Shall I recount conversations I can still recall? Children are impressionable and will reserve into memory things that frighten them or make them happy. I too remember seeing some awful pictures in the org's literature. Jezebel was one of them, she looked awful before she was hurled out of that window to be eaten by the dogs...made a very hard nights sleep for me. I will always remember that in the book made especially for children My Book of Bible Stories, it was yellow Oh and when the dramas went to tapes and we listened to them especially before bedtime, ahh what memories! When the Isrealites were led out of Egypt, well before they actually left. To hear the gut wrenching screams coming from the woman, and men...wonderful noises to go to sleep to. I could go on and on about the fear that is instilled in the hearts of young children, and adults to tighten the reins a bit, but I won't.
  wendy

  When I leave, you will know I have been here
• 

  LDH

  Masterji,

  It is not uncommon at all to remember things from the age of 5 or 6. Now if YOU are not able to remember anything from that time, maybe you have been able to block out the memories of your book selling days--kind of like repression, huh?

  Mommy that was funny; myriads and myriads of books.

  Whenever I think about all those crappy books they publish, my first thought is that scripture in Ecclesiates that says

  to the making of many books there is no end.

  It's amazing, their own Bible condemns them. And still they continue to publish that crap. In many different colors, LOL.

  Now in this country the book colors are from a more modern palette, but I bet you anything they're using brightly colored books to attract people in Latin and African countries. Kind of like, oh the Peruvians are simpletons that are attracted to gaudy colors, let's give them purple books! ROFL.

  Lisa
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  Smoldering Wick

  Now in this country the book colors are from a more modern palette, but I bet you anything they're using brightly colored books to attract people in Latin and African countries. Kind of like, oh the Peruvians are simpletons that are attracted to gaudy colors, let's give them purple books! ROFL.

  Lisa,
  It's TRUE! MORE fully colored and illustrated brochures. MORE pictures, LESS words...where all you have to do is point to one picture and say "Bad!" and to another and say "Good!" and grunt and you have your next Bible Study!

  Ahh the ease of worshipping within a Religious Franchise...
• 

  LDH

  And hey, since those dum-dums in Africa and South America think anything that comes from the US is COOL, let's exploit that!

  The WBTS' publications are at an all time low! The literature they print for people from the lesser-developed countries is C RAZY!!!

  Colorful books with pictures straight out of Highlights Magazine for Children (TM) and calling it a religion!

  Goofus says, "Cross the village by yourself you dumb old bitch!"

  Gallant says, "May I help you carry your goat?"

  Goofus says, "I'm going to pee in our drinking water!"

  Gallant says, "Because I care about the health of others, I'm going to walk a mile away from our village to take a shit, and then I'm going to bury it."

  Goofus says, "I'm going to screw as many women as I can so I can spread AIDS even MORE quickly throughout sub-continental Africa!"

  Gallant says, "I'm not even going to jack-off to satisfy my sexual urges. I will wait on Jehovah (TM)"

  Goofus says, "I ain't givin up my best damn goat for that girl!"

  Gallant says, "Our parents should come to an agreement on your bride price."

  Goofus says, "You can figure out a way to get your drugs across the US border."

  Gallant says, "I would be happy to smuggle cocaine in a condom stuffed up my arsehole!"

  Now, dear householder, who do you want to be like, Goofus or Gallant? If you say, "Gallant," then you qualify for eternal salvation.

  Caveat emptor, that's after you get baptized and sell your soul to The Corporation Jehovah.

  Everything that the WBTS thinks they are accomplishing by selling placing magazines and brochures is being done by humanitarian organizations like the Red Cross on a much larger and more effective scale.

  Lisa
  Colorful Class