Watchtower using YouTube to preach to the deaf in Australia

by cedars 32 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  cedars

  Hi folks

  I've noticed a huge amount of videos being uploaded by the YouTube channel "AuslanNews". "Auslan" is an abbreviation of Australian Sign Language.

  Here is one of the videos...

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHVD9wnbAfY

  Here is the YouTube description for the above video...

  This is the Bible story about when God's people finally returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple after living in Babylon for 70 years. Four years after the temple was built, the people were very poor and the temple wan't looking very good. Would Jehovah look after them and help them fix the temple? Watch the story to find out more. It has been translated into Auslan (Australian Sign Language), by Jehovah's Witnesses. For more information or for free downloads of other videos in Auslan, please visit www.jw.org.

  Having checked on jw.org, there is indeed an entire menu option for deaf people to select their local variant of sign language. Here is the JW.org page for Australian Sign Language. Interestingly, there are 59 variants of sign language to choose from, so why is Australian Sign Language receiving such special attention? Why not flood YouTube with, say, videos in Taiwanese Sign Language? One can't help but wonder whether it has anything to do with the affluence of the country being targetted and/or the ability of the recipients of this "education" to donate.

  In any case, it seems the Society truly is serious about using the internet to get its message across. What I find disturbing is the cynical attempt to take advantage of deaf people, for whom very little anti-Watchtower material is available in sign language. Why only upload videos for deaf people? Why not go to similar lengths to upload videos for the hearing?

  It's also noteworthy that the organization went to such extreme measures to pull the initial surge of "Listen, Obey and Be Blessed" videos from YouTube, even though these were supposedly educational and free of charge - but they are now flooding YouTube with similarly educational videos designed to target deaf people. Why remove videos designed for the hearing, but then upload videos designed for the deaf? Why the disparity?

  Also, what can be done to counter this flood of Watchtower propaganda, which seems cynically aimed at taking advantage of the hearing-impaired? Does anyone know sign language out there who could upload similar videos explaining the fallacy of JW teachings?

  (As always, if you haven't yet voted in the 2012 JW Survey, please do so!)

  Cedars
• 

  Aware!

  Can't the hearing impaired read? I'm not being sarcastic, I don't know.
• 

  cedars

  Aware! -

  Can't the hearing impaired read? I'm not being sarcastic, I don't know.

  Yes, they can. They have just the same access to the wealth of written anti-Watchtower material as the hearing do. However, some may be actively looking for material on YouTube in the language they "speak" (or, to coin a JW expression, the "language of the heart"). I don't know of any anti-Watchtower material on YouTube in sign language. It seems Watchtower now has the monopoly, at least for Australian Sign Language.

  Cedars
• 

  Aware!

  As a side note, don't you think English speakers are at an advantage? We are able to read Russell's crazy writings, for example.
• 

  cedars

  Aware! -

  As a side note, don't you think English speakers are at an advantage? We are able to read Russell's crazy writings, for example.

  Absolutely. I actually think that, if you're one of Jehovah's Witnesses, speaking English is a HUGE advantage when it comes to researching your beliefs and the historical evidence that the Society is not God's chosen channel. I despair sometimes to think of those in my own family who don't speak English and have no way of, for example, reading for themselves how ludicrous The Finished Mystery is.

  However, in the case of these videos, the likelihood is that a deaf Australian who stumbles on them will have no prior knowledge of JW beliefs from an objective viewpoint. They may also be more inclined to believe the "spoken" version of JW beliefs on face value than start trawling the internet for written criticism of the organization.

  Cedars
• 

  Aware!

  What about a text-to-sign-language translator?

  I found a site that recommends two computer programs.

  raisingthefloor.org/projects/features/texttosign
• 

  cedars

  It may be worth putting some information for Auslan speakers up on YouTube, even if it's just a written message warning them about the profusion of Watchtower videos.

  I've just done a search under "Auslan", and these videos show up on the first page. If you search "Auslan Jehovah's Witnesses" there seems to be NOTHING but pro-JW videos, and nothing of an objective or critical nature.

  Cedars
• 

  Aussie Oz

  Thats my thoughts too cedars...

  WT picking what they hope is an easy target. BUT, i also think deaf people just like those with no hearing imparement will make good use of the internet to read...and what they read may well turn them off the WTs youtubes. In the end the only fans will be JWs anyway...

  Oz
• 

  cantleave

  Not many views on them. I made sure they got a big "Dislike"!
• 

  Iamallcool

  Aware, can deaf people read? Well, There is a huge majority of deaf people that can't read that well like me, but there are some good majority of deaf people that can read well like me. Same thing with some hearing people.