Yes?
;-)
i've received the following news from a reliable and trusted source: .
the demise of printing literature in the u.k. is being brought forward by one year - to march 2018. graphic design and printing support will go too.
large numbers of "disposable" bethelites will now have to make their own way in the world, when their "mother" abandons them.
Yes?
;-)
in response to this thread.
i've put forward the argument that i believe that the 'organization' is financially effectively bleeding itself dry - it is actually financially imploding.. i believe that over the last 45 or so years, in particular, it has evolved from a relatively 'lean machine' into what is now a huge unwieldy organization.
as an organization grows i would expect increased efficiency through by both economies of scale, and advances in technology.. how has the watchtower organization fared?....
In fact they operated with fewer than 3000 in 1973. I reckon 1975 was a real boost for revenue and they increased personnel accordingly.
in response to this thread.
i've put forward the argument that i believe that the 'organization' is financially effectively bleeding itself dry - it is actually financially imploding.. i believe that over the last 45 or so years, in particular, it has evolved from a relatively 'lean machine' into what is now a huge unwieldy organization.
as an organization grows i would expect increased efficiency through by both economies of scale, and advances in technology.. how has the watchtower organization fared?....
Sorry I just read the first page and all the sources! Excellent.
i've received the following news from a reliable and trusted source: .
the demise of printing literature in the u.k. is being brought forward by one year - to march 2018. graphic design and printing support will go too.
large numbers of "disposable" bethelites will now have to make their own way in the world, when their "mother" abandons them.
darkspilver what is your opinion on where WT is headed in terms of book production and branch personnel?
in response to this thread.
i've put forward the argument that i believe that the 'organization' is financially effectively bleeding itself dry - it is actually financially imploding.. i believe that over the last 45 or so years, in particular, it has evolved from a relatively 'lean machine' into what is now a huge unwieldy organization.
as an organization grows i would expect increased efficiency through by both economies of scale, and advances in technology.. how has the watchtower organization fared?....
I find it amazing that they operated their worldwide publishing empire with fewer than 4000 branch employees in 1975, which must have been something of a peak in production, what with the blue Truth book, NWT in various aditions, Aid book, KIT, and numerous hardcover books in print, combined with the frenzy around the 6000 years.
Yet 40 years later they needed 26,000 employees at a time when book and magazine production was in steep decline. It shows how bloated the organisation had become.
Maybe when all the cutbacks are done they can shrink down to under 1000 bethelites worldwide?
By the way, are the sources for these figures listed anywhere?
i've received the following news from a reliable and trusted source: .
the demise of printing literature in the u.k. is being brought forward by one year - to march 2018. graphic design and printing support will go too.
large numbers of "disposable" bethelites will now have to make their own way in the world, when their "mother" abandons them.
Like others have said, production of physical books and magazines is down dramatically. The question is, what will they do when they've cut production by 90% or so? The last 10% production of books and magazines is going to cost a disproportionate amount to preserve. The variable costs (paper, ink and so on) are cut, but the fixed overheads remain. So when production reaches such a low, won't the temptation soon be to eliminate production altogether?
So I think they may halt printing altogether, publish online and contract a few items (Bibles and tracts) to outside printers.
At its peak the worldwide "bethel family" was, what 26,000 or something? How low can they go? Maybe a couple of thousand in 5 or so branches? United States, Brazil, South Africa, Japan, and Germany. A thousand in the United States and less than a hundred in each of the rest. Something like that?
just thought i'd start a thread about favourite movies.
mine, in no particular order, are .... alien - a great visual film.
the chest-bursting scene is still great to watch, no matter how many times i've seen the movie.
Emerald Forest
Son of the Morning Star
Pan's Labyrinth
Cacoon
Bourne Identity
Batteries Not Included
Manhattan
Distant Drums
About Schmidt
Beetlejuice
just got to share this, zizek at his very best.
explaining how the traditional view of the ransom makes no sense and reverts christianity to paganism where god is subject to a superior notion of justice.
how the injunction from jesus to hate mother, father, brothers and sisters is really a call for a non-hierarchical society, of which the holy spirit is a symbol.
just got to share this, zizek at his very best.
explaining how the traditional view of the ransom makes no sense and reverts christianity to paganism where god is subject to a superior notion of justice.
how the injunction from jesus to hate mother, father, brothers and sisters is really a call for a non-hierarchical society, of which the holy spirit is a symbol.
I find it very easy to listen to Zizek. He has ten interesting ideas a minute. His take on the book of Job has fascinated me for years. I like it. But he is no expert on the Bible or theology. Leolaia pointed out that he may have misunderstood Job, which is not his own reading, but based on Chesterton. Plus he apparently confuses Origen with Tertullian during the interview.
just got to share this, zizek at his very best.
explaining how the traditional view of the ransom makes no sense and reverts christianity to paganism where god is subject to a superior notion of justice.
how the injunction from jesus to hate mother, father, brothers and sisters is really a call for a non-hierarchical society, of which the holy spirit is a symbol.
He talks in more detail about the New Atheists in the full interview.
Maybe you think the two quotes from me are contradictory but I don't think so. Zizek seems to be saying that Jesus undermined the family to create a more egalitarian society, not that he made families more egalitarian.
Like I said above, undermining family can be a good or a bad thing, depending on context. And remembering that the idea of "family" is itself a fluid concept, meaning radically different things in 1) tribes 2) feudal societies 3) capitalist and 4) late capitalist societies, to name a few. There were ways in which capitalism undermined feudal conceptions of family which were both emancipatory and oppressive. Developments are rarely all good or bad. Hence the endless debates about the merits and demerits of the Thatcher revolution, or revolutionary Cuba, and so on.
So I don't subscribe to the idea that anything that undermines family is tyrannical. Sometimes that's true, of course. And sometimes family itself can be tyrannical. Reality is complicated and not easily, or wisely, reduced to fixed statements.