PBS "Amercian Experience" WW1

by Bill Covert 8 Replies latest social current

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  Bill Covert

  I watched PBS "American Experience" 3 part WW1. The theme was President W. Wilson. They dealt with how he was the most religious president ever had, with the highest moral principles. Yet when he entered the war he was the centuries greatest suppressor of human and civil rights. Being as to how he needed to mobilize an entire nation for war in the shortest amount of time. He was far more effective at suppressing dissent in the shortest amount of time than Hitler or Governing Body.

  The point being; the imprisonment of Rutherford and others, we were taught was a real act of courage for the reason of their speaking out "hard hitting waters of truth" . When the reality was that they were hardly heard. Anyone who said anything against the war would have the same fate. Now this is not a new point as I have heard before how Rutherfords imprisonment was anything but special but just a reality of the time and Wilson's policies. It was just a powerful program as to how governments mind control people to do things that they would not normally want to do. A lot of WTB&TS style Lev.5:1 informant policy going on, to where people were afraid of neighbor.

  The spin that was put on Rutherford's imprisonment had an impact on our minds when we were on the inside. What struck me was the exact same spin is now being put on the Canadian Supreme Court case on disfellowshipment.

  Just a interesting history program which dealt with mind control.
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  steve2

  Wilson’s “mistake” in marshaling the law to imprison anti-war proponents was unintentionally turning them into religious martyrs. Post-imprisonment, these martyrs would dine off their imprisonment for the remainder of their lives - and in Rutherford’s case, it fuelled his anti-establishment sentiments and galvanised his organization-minded “henchmen” to action his orders.

  Post-war, and needing to further establish his credentials as the new President of the Watchtower Society, he turned against Russell’s followers who tried to argue he was ignoring proper procedure. Yes he hated the leaders of Christendom but he reserved especial venom and unrelenting attacks on Russell’s followers who questioned his methods. Read in the pages of the Watchtower of the day this man’s obsessive rants and you gain a revealing peek into what the organization was to become over the decades: An arrogant, intolerant, hate-filled body of people who have perfected the art of punishing any and everyone who dares question the organization’s religious authority.

  Thsnk you Woodrow Wilson, for kick-starting perhaps one of America’s worst examples of institutional oppression.
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  Bill Covert

  well said!
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  waton

  WW2 could have been averted had his 14 point program was put in place instead of the Versailles Treaty.
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  zeb

  what was the 14 point program please I have not heard of that.?
  
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  waton

  what was the 14 point program please I have not heard of that.?

  please do your research, it is probably well hidden, (and will be disputed) but roughly:

  Wilson wanted to squelch future European conflicts and demanded that no frontier adjustment, reparations, penalties would be included in the peace agreement. The fight after all was among related royal families, cousins, blame for the start disputed.

  He was bamboozled by his generous hosts, and heavy penalties, territorial losses, imposed on the losers. Reversing (rightly) the Brest-Litovsk "treaty", for example.

  WW2 was a revenge against the failure to heed Wilson's warnings.

  Similarly, somehow American aid was loosely linked to freeing the colonies (after all, the US was a power that had shaken off a colonial rule). Again there was reluctance to follow the US lead, terrible "end the colonialism" wars had to and were fought in Indochina, Algeria, the Congo, Kenia.

  just my take on these development, having had to suffer through the tail end of it all.

  
  
  
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  humbled

  WW2 was a revenge against the failure to heed Wilson's warnings.—waton

  Indeed, l too read that the heavily punitive and humiliating sanctions imposed on Germany after WWI insured the recurrence of the world war.
  
  
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  zeb

  Thanks for the info.
  
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  steve2

  Hello waton, you asked an excellent question. Here's what I found when I googled your question.
  

  What Are the Fourteen Points?

  There are few speeches in history that influenced the world in the way Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points speech did. As the leader of the free world, Wilson addressed a global audience as he outlined the characteristics of an everlasting peace. His words were echoed in the policies of every major Western power for the rest of the 20th century. But, how did Wilson find himself in the most influential position in the free world and how did he develop these characteristics of peace?

  The Fourteen Points are a list of moral guidelines that were developed by Woodrow Wilson as a response to the various causes of World War I. He declared these guidelines to the world in a message to Congress on January 8, 1918. When the war ended and the leaders of the victorious countries met to develop peace treaties and dole out punishments, the Fourteen Points were used as a basis for negotiations. The key features of the Fourteen Points include:

  1. No secret agreements
  2. Freedom of navigation on the seas
  3. No economic barriers between nations
  4. Disarmament of nations
  5. Impartial decisions in regards to the colonies
  6. The German Army was to leave Russia, and Russia would be able to develop its own political setup.
  7. Belgium should regain her independence.
  8. France would be liberated from any kind of occupation and would have Alsace-Lorraine returned.
  9. All Italians should live in Italy and the borders of Italy should reflect the lines of nationality (in other words, if Italians make up the majority of the population, then that piece of land should be a part of Italy).
  10. People living in Austria-Hungary should follow national self-determination.
  11. The Balkan States should also be allowed to national self-determination and their independence should be guaranteed.
  12. The Turkish government should govern only the Turkish people. For the non-Turks that were living in the old Turkish Empire, they should be able to govern themselves.
  13. Poland should be recreated and should have access to the sea.
  14. The League of Nations should be set up (the purpose was to guarantee political and territorial independence of all states).

  The League of Nations was the precursor to the current United Nations and was an organization of nations that would discuss issues diplomatically before resorting to war.

  Hello waton, you asked an excellent question. Here's what I found when I googled your question.