The WTS "Brain Drain"

by Quendi 24 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  LongHairGal

  QUENDI:

  Very good post.

  SIMON17:

  You are right in your observation that the whole country is dumbed down and that the schools turn out people lacking in basics.

  As far as the religion is concerned, they don't want educated people there and they are chasing most of them away! They made a fundamental mistake though because anybody left there who IS intelligent and responsible is not going to tolerate being targeted left and right by all the needy people with serious issues the religion has recruited in recent years.
• 

  Sulla

  Interesting observation, Quendi. I think that the org has actualy learned a lesson over the last couple decades. I mean, it's all great to notice a decline in writing quality but those smart guys writing back in the day wrote some genuinely batshit crazy stuff. 364 pages of psycho-interpretation of the book of Daniel? 1975? The doctrine on blood? So, there's a way in which this might be a rational response away from the mad scientists who, despite their ability, were really just making shit up.

  Moreover, given what we know about how Ray Franz completely understood the facts about 607 and lied his ass off in print, it isn't clear how far we should push the idea that there was some golden age of Biblical research in the JWs.

  But a lot of that might just be a difference in perspective. I think the entire JW movement was always nonsense and never could be taken seriously by anyone who had a clue. Lots of others tend toward a position that leans more toward "reformation." From this perspective, the main problem with the JWs is a couple doctrines and too much authoritarianism.

  I tend to disagree. I don't think there was ever a golden age for the JWs. Dunlop and R. Franz might have been nice guys who could write a coherent sentence, but the entire religion has always been completely absurd. They supported that absurdity until they were forced to stop.
• 

  transhuman68

  IMO the writing has always been awful. There never was any real research done, it's just that the books were thicker, and more full of BS. From now on though, it will get worse, as the Borg is in decline, and has a bad 'name' due to the child-abuse scandal, so attracting quality writers and artists etc. is going to be much harder for the Borg, as many JWs will think twice before signing up for Bethel servitude. It's a downward spiral.
• 

  Bungi Bill

  Unfortunately, even at their best, WTS publications were nothing more than well written nonsense.

  Let the facts speak for themselves!

  Bill.
• 

  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  The old publications were also bullsh!t, but it was a more complex and thought provoking bullsh!t. It was as if the turds were sculpted into something interesting enough to look at. Now it's simplified bullsh!t. WT pinches one off and leaves it as it falls, no fancy wrapping or perfume sprayed on it. WT just tells the sheeple to grab their spoons and be grateful for the bullsh!t they get from the GB.
• 

  breakfast of champions

  Old guard bullshit had the logical twists and turns of a Pennsylvania Dutch pretzel
• 

  Balaamsass

  Billy you crack me up..Sand castles made of Bull LOL!!!

  " It was as if the turds were sculpted into something interesting enough to look at. Now it's simplified bullsh!t. WT pinches one off and leaves it as it falls, no fancy wrapping or perfume sprayed on it."
• 

  simon17

  IMO the writing has always been awful.

  There's really three things here...

  1) The writing style

  2) The content

  3) The research

  #1 has clearly declined dramatically, as has the rest of the country. The literature now is probably 4th grade level reading. At least in the past it was high school quality maybe.

  #2 has clearly declined. It used to be many more deep topics and scriptural examinations and, even if it was BS, it had the appearance of being deep study of the scriptures. Now its 95% cookie cutter nonsense and the same few scriptures regurgitated ad nauseum. There is just very little substance anymore.

  #3 is what hasn't changed much. Its still a lot of nonsense, and, as some have pointed out, may be even a little less nonsensical because they're focusing on such basic, baby stuff most of the time.
• 

  Jesuit Scholar

  This is an interesting topic to me, working in academia - especially at Jesuit universities whose 500+ year philosophy of indepth research, study, scholarship and emphasis on knowledge and understanding strongly permeates those halls.

  Having said that, I have a number of observations on this subject, but would like to add to this discussion one notable milestone in the recent move to void any reliable semblance of scholarship in Watch Tower Society publications or in the organisation of Jehovah's Witnesses internally, or in the public sphere. (The latter was even noticeable in projects like the year-long first-floor temporary exhibit in the United States Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C., and the collaboration with dozens of scholars and historians. However biased the effort may have been.)

  The milestone I wanted to draw attention to was the ouster of W. Liverance and L. Bowen from the teaching staff at Gilead. While debatable, Gilead was the closest effort to scholarship, registered as a school of higher learning, a bible college, even officially founded as The 'Watchtower Bible College of Gilead.'

  This move has been rumoured to have been as a result of those genuine men actually researching reliable sources in their work as instructors, dare I say, as Watchtower Scolars or even professors of Watchtower's Gilead "College." Members on this board have even heard reports that indicate that their dismissal was viewed as a "light" sentence, as they teetered on possible disfellowshippment or "excommunication."

  Now, Gilead has moved from a "Bible School" to a training entity on policy matters for appointed Watchtower representatives in a variety of capacities, or already in "special full-time service."

  Is it a coincidence that only two of the seven-member Governing Body studied at the school? And maybe such centres of potential scholarship, like the once-prolific, and seemingly more "research-oriented," Writing Department threaten a tight control? So that now the goal is simply, a focus on JW and WT policy, a complete limit on free-thinking, and an adherence to old and stubborn doctrine?
• 

  Scott77

  bttt