new watchtower on jw.org Americans don't know their own history

by hoser 20 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  hoser

  I started reading the feb 2014 public watchtower about a war that changed the world. I had to do a double take in the very first paragraph.

  "A century ago, millions of young men left the security of their homes and went off to war. They went eagerly, swept along by a wave of patriotism. "I am happy and full of excitement over the wonderful days ahead," wrote an American volunteer in 1914."

  Something didn't sit right with that statement. Didn't the Yanks only join the conflict in 1917 after the sinking of the Lusitania? So who is this volunteer who went off to war three years ahead of his countrymen?

  hoser
• 

  adamah

  LOL! Historical revisionism at it's best (or worst)....

  Hey, setting prophetic dates is hard stuff, and God cannot be confined by our flawed mortal concepts of time, donchyaknow. Setting dates is a bit like playing horseshoes: what's +/- 3 years amongst friends!

  However, it seems there was a small contingent of Americans who volunteered as ambulance drivers, or fought in the French Foreign Legion, etc. Of course, they're ignoring the MAJOR issue that the US didn't get officially involved in WWI until 1917, so are focusing on the exceptions in order to create the illusion of 1914 being a prophetic 'hit' for American readers (it'll be interesting to see if they do the same for EU readers). If the WT would play those kind of games with well-known events from the fairly recent past that people are likely to know from their US history course in school, they'd likely see no problem with playing loosie-goosie with the facts, when it comes to ancient history, too.

  Adam
• 

  tornapart

  Perhaps they should have read this first:-

  http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/america_and_world_war_one.htm
• 

  caliber

  A century ago, millions of young men left the security of their homes and went off to war. They went eagerly, swept along by a wave of patriotism. "I am happy and full of excitement over the wonderful days ahead," wrote an American volunteer in 1914."

  Didn't the Yanks only join the conflict in 1917 after the sinking of the Lusitania?

  Perhaps this volunteer , like a great uncle of mine , who migrated to the U.S. but then went back to fight for his mother country

  when war broke out in 1914. My grandfather , his brother also went back to England early in 1914 from a homestead in Canada.

  though they were both English one fought for England... one fought with Canadian troops

  A century ago, millions of young men left the security of their homes and went off to war. They went eagerly, swept along by a wave of patriotism.

  It doesn't actually say "millions of American men" left eagerly in 1914

  It's not saying America is the "centre of the universe.". it is only implied
• 

  eyeuse2badub

  Anything to highlight the year 1914. Who cares if it's accurate?

  eyeuse2badub
• 

  adamah

  IU2BaW said-

  Anything to highlight the year 1914. Who cares if it's accurate?

  I bet the WT is kicking themselves they couldn't figure out how to play some numerology cryptology game to make big deal out of the date of dropping the first atomic bomb (in 1945), or better yet, the landing on the Moon (in 1969). Surely if building a mud ziggurat warranted mention in Genesis (the Tower of Babel), travelling thru space to land on the Moon was an event that warranted at least SOME prophetic mention in the Bible?
• 

  caliber

  atomic bomb (in 1945), or better yet, the landing on the Moon (in 1969). Surely if building a mud ziggurat warranted mention in Genesis (the Tower of Babel), travelling thru space to land on the Moon was an event that warranted at least SOME prophetic mention in the Bible?

  How about 1957 ? ....

  "Raymond Franz claimed that in 1980, unease with doctrines surrounding the significance of 1914 surfaced within the Governing Body. In February of

  that year, three Governing Body members—aware that those who had been alive in 1914 were dying out despite the teaching that their generation

  would live to see Armageddon—proposed a doctrinal change to identify the "generation" who would see Armageddon as those who witnessed the

  1957 launch of the Russian satellite Sputnik, which would be considered a 'sign in heaven'." (that would have involved the "evil " Russians though) )

  Moving 1914 to 1957 could have brought another 43 years of grace without the overlap theory
• 

  sir82

  Many US citizens wee swept up in war fever, even as early as 1914.

  They could join the French Foreign Legion, for example.

  There was a squadron of American fighter pilots who were based in France long before the US entered the war.

  Of course, what is more likely is that the JW writer was just lazy and didn't do his research.
• 

  caliber

  "As the war progressed, Canada’s successes in battles like those at Vimy Ridge, France and Passchendaele, Belgium, had earned its army the reputation for being the best-attacking Allied troops on the Western Front. When the Allies planned the offensives that would ultimately win the war, Canada’s soldiers were given the responsibility of being at the forefront of the attacks"

  .http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/history/first-world-war/fact_sheets/hundred-days

  There was some bitterness let me say among Canadian soldiers like my (English birthed ) but Canadian Grandfather

  they jokingly had this expression " The Americans claim they won the war .....but the Canadians won it the day before "

  

  Canadians entering the Square in Cambrai, France, October, 1918. Photo credit: Library and Archives Canada PA-040231

  My grandfather fought through four years of hell... God rest his soul.. & lived to tell about it... though few would ever spoke of it
• 

  respectful_observer

  Haha...I saw you're thread title and expected to open it, read an example in the Watchtower demonstrating that Americans don't know their own history...followed by your observation of how ironic that would be since most J-dubs don't know the real history of the Organization TM .