Posts by Farkel

93

Scary Stuff

by Farkel in

jw
friends

today's high school students in the usa:.

less than 1/2 of them cannot identify the century when our civil war happened.. one in four thought columbus discovered america sometime after 1750.. one in three cannot name one right enumerated in the bill of rights.. three out of four cannot name the first us president.. two out of three do not know the length of term of a member of the house of representatives.. half cannot find britain on a map.. one out of four cannot find america on a map.. when my oldest daughter, who is now a physician was in 9th grade in this once-great state of california, i asked her about the three branches of our federal government.

she was clueless and told me she would take civics in her junior year in high school.

Farkel

:George Bush thought Africa was a country.

Our current president said he had campaigned in 57 states and was about to visit the 58th state. I saw the video of him saying this.

I was in a check out line some time ago and the store's computer went down. I had just given the cashier some money and was waiting for change. The cash drawer in the register was open, but the clerk said she couldn't give me my change until the computer came back on and told her how much to give me.

In the early 1990's, I had my two youngest children over for the weekend and asked my son if I could take a look at his homework. He was in the 8th grade at the time. His writing, grammar and spelling was atrocious, so I started to talk to him about it. He started crying and said the teacher told the class not to worry about spelling and such but to just write what he felt the words should be.

Slimboiyfat on this very thread is probably high-fiving himself for thinking that bashing someone personally means winning an argument of ideas.

Don't tell me our youths aren't getting dumbed down by our shitty education system.

Farkel

93

Scary Stuff

by Farkel in

jw
friends

today's high school students in the usa:.

less than 1/2 of them cannot identify the century when our civil war happened.. one in four thought columbus discovered america sometime after 1750.. one in three cannot name one right enumerated in the bill of rights.. three out of four cannot name the first us president.. two out of three do not know the length of term of a member of the house of representatives.. half cannot find britain on a map.. one out of four cannot find america on a map.. when my oldest daughter, who is now a physician was in 9th grade in this once-great state of california, i asked her about the three branches of our federal government.

she was clueless and told me she would take civics in her junior year in high school.

Farkel

slimboyfat,

: Yeah old people reckon the world's going to hell in a handcart. What's new?

What you lack in age, wisdom and experience, you make up with it with youth, foolishness and inexperience.

If I would have been 21 and offered the facts that I offered, would it be more truthful than it was when I offered it?

Farkel

93

Scary Stuff

by Farkel in

jw
friends

today's high school students in the usa:.

less than 1/2 of them cannot identify the century when our civil war happened.. one in four thought columbus discovered america sometime after 1750.. one in three cannot name one right enumerated in the bill of rights.. three out of four cannot name the first us president.. two out of three do not know the length of term of a member of the house of representatives.. half cannot find britain on a map.. one out of four cannot find america on a map.. when my oldest daughter, who is now a physician was in 9th grade in this once-great state of california, i asked her about the three branches of our federal government.

she was clueless and told me she would take civics in her junior year in high school.

Farkel

Today's High School Students in the USA:

Less than 1/2 of them cannot identify the century when our Civil War happened.

One in four thought Columbus discovered America sometime after 1750.

One in three cannot name one right enumerated in the Bill of Rights.

Three out of four cannot name the first US President.

Two out of three do not know the length of term of a member of the House of Representatives.

Half cannot find Britain on a map.

One out of four cannot find America on a map.

When my oldest daughter, who is now a physician was in 9th grade in this once-great State of California, I asked her about the three branches of our Federal Government. She was clueless and told me she would take civics in her junior year in high school. I told her I learned about the three branches in 5th grade.

I knew then our education system was doomed and failing our children. That was 30 years ago. It is much worse now.

After four years and about $40,000, a student gets a college degree and a huge debt. Most of them after all of that did not even get the HS education I received. Many of them end up slinging burgers. Many jobs at minimum wage or a little more require a college education. Why? At least the companies who are hiring feel, the applicants can read and speak decent English is their answer.

What has happened here?

Farkel

81

What constitutes 'proof' on JWN?

by besty in

jw
friends

recently there have been a few threads where claims have been made alledging personal negative effects in 'real life' following internet activity on jwn and other ex-jw related sites.

discussion then ensues, aspects of which may include 3rd parties either disputing the truth or affirming the likelihood of the claim.

questions are asked.

Farkel

Also, Marvin Shillmer talked about a "sound argument." It is important to know that a perfectly logical argument may not be a sound one. That is the beauty of science. They must first make a logical argument and if logical, then go on to make sure it is sound.

Here is an example of a syllogism which is logical, but not at all sound:

All fish are mice.

Flounder are fish.

Therefore, flounder are mice.

Logical? Yes. Sound? No.

Here is another simple example that I used to use as a dub (being taught this by my religious master high-school drop-outs in Brooklyn):

"The fact that the Bible is so old and yet is still being printed is good evidence that it is the Word of God(tm)."

So the basic argument is this:

"Old books still being printed is good evidence that it is the Word of God."

"The Odyssey is old and still being printed."

"Therefore, it is good evidence the Obyssey/Tao de Ching/Bhagavad Gita/Beowulf/Little Orphan Annie is the Word of God."

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Farkel

81

What constitutes 'proof' on JWN?

by besty in

jw
friends

recently there have been a few threads where claims have been made alledging personal negative effects in 'real life' following internet activity on jwn and other ex-jw related sites.

discussion then ensues, aspects of which may include 3rd parties either disputing the truth or affirming the likelihood of the claim.

questions are asked.

Farkel

Marvin Shimler said much of what I would say and he said it first.

Logic is king, but it is not always possible to reach a decision with it. Sometimes, it is not even needed.

Res ipsa liquitur is one example. "The sun is hot" illustrates res ipsa liquitur. No arguments needed.

Inductive reasoning is another. There are many occasions when an almost perfect argument can be made with inductive reasoning when pure logic cannot be used.

The burden of proof is always upon the one making the claim or assertion. No one needs to disprove an assertion which is made without any proof. Only a fool would respond to something as stupid as this: "The Bible is the word of God. Prove me wrong." That is logically as absurd as saying, "Aliens came to my bed last night and played with my pee-pee. Prove me wrong."

BTW, what constitutes "proof" on JWN is what constitutes "proof" in any environment where people are honestly seeking it, and not pretending to seek it.

Farkel

6

I rest my case

by Glander in

jw
friends

get called on in the watchtower study and (with blondies notes in hand) refute the gb drivel.

you will not get called on again at best.

at worst, you'll be hustled out of the kh..

Farkel

stillin,

: Blondie is one cerebral woman. She is thinking "outside the box" when she writes her "Comments."

:As things are for now, I attend most meetings and I only wish she would prepare her lesson a little earlier in the week so I could go with her refreshing insights already dancing around in my head.

Blondie is NOT thinking "outside of the box" in her WT summaries except when it comes to the "box" dubs inhabit. There only "box" is that they have lost the ability to actually think and reason on their own. That is no slight to her and her great observations. Thinking 'outside the box" is a term that needles me. The more appropriate term is "lateral thinking" and it involves looking at and solving old problems in ways never imagined before by most people, including "experts" on the subject.

You really don't need Blondie as a crutch for your silly WT indoctrination sessions. The bullshit is right in front of you in your little books and magazines, and it is SCREAMING "THIS IS TOTAL MADE-UP BULLSHIT" at you in every paragraph. Don't depend upon someone else to help you reclaim your braincells sacrificed on the WTS altar of bullshit. Just look at every sentence as ask yourself "where is the bullshit in this one?" You will find it.

Blondie will merely reinforce what you should discover on your own, and she provides great laughs, wit and fun to boot!

Happy hunting!

Farkel

32

Stuff You Would Lose If You Went Back

by Nosferatu in

jw
friends

so we know all the things the wts prevents us from doing, but that's much, much different than the stuff we've grown accustomed to.. for those who have been out for a number of years, what kind of things would end up being abandoned if you suddenly started going back to the kingdom hall?

you know, stuff that you now do on the nights you used to attend meetings, the things you own, the things you wear, etc..

Farkel

If I went back, I would be compelled to take back all the guilt, self-loathing, fear and feelings of never being good enough for their God.

Nothing could be worse than that to once-again be one of the "happiest people on earth."

Farkel

74

Do You Care About "The Royal Baby"?

by minimus in

jw
friends

i don't get it.

(and i don't care about america's "royalty" either)..

Farkel

:Do You Care About "The Royal Baby"?

I care about every baby, but especially babies that will live in luxury by sucking tax-payer's money for his entire life simply because of an accident of birth.

But I care just as much about those idiots who stupidly believe all that shit somehow makes a difference in their lives.

In my Country, our most noble and first and possibly greatest steward wisely rejected being crowned a King. Notwithstanding our current Imperious leader who thinks he is king when he couldn't even wisely rule a dog kennel, we've done pretty well without nobiility and in fact, our Constitution forbids it.

Farkel

23

The real reason allegations of child abuse among JW's are not reported

by jeremiah18:5-10 in

this is my opinion, i don't have official quotes or official instructions to back this up.

what i have is real life experience of having been an elder that was involved in investigating an allegation of child abuse, why we didn't report, why we didn't encourage the parents to report.. its simple really, the main reason elders don't report is concern that they may lose their position in the congregation.

if you in any way "run ahead" of the society, you will be perceived as proud and arrogant and will be deleted!

Farkel

jeremiah,

: Sorry to mislead you, it wasn't intentional.

No problem. Merely putting a question mark at the end of your post topic would have been sufficient.

I'm not nit-picking just to nit-pick. Dubs hold apostates up to a much higher standard of honesty and integrity than they hold themselves or their religious masters. Little errors are seized upon by them to use to try to invalidate everything else that is said. Yeah. They are so desperate, they won't let any little mistake slide by, even when 99.99% of the material is honest and/or factual.

By the way, that 99.99% number is exactly equal to the percent that Freddie Franz used when he declared the percent of this planet who would be slaughtered by his loving God(tm) "real soon now."

Heh, heh.

Farkel

48

What's the weirdest health advice given by a JW?

by Julia Orwell in

jw
friends

from radio biola to a sister who said you can treat autism and ptsd with scented oils, jws have had some weird some weird ideas about medicine.

what gems have you heard?.

Farkel

:What's the weirdest health advice given by a JW?

A sister in her early 40's passed out in our Kingdom Hall one night. An "anointed" sister who was somewhat older than the Dead Sea Scrolls came rushing to her rescue and started rubbing the patient's feet. Now this sister loved to eat garlic. So much so that even dragons kept their distance, but she was "anointed" so that means to "Jehovah" she was really special(tm).

Someone in the KH called this woman's worldly daughter and told her what happened. (I wonder why they didn't call an ambulance.) The daughter was told about her mother's treatment and she yelled, "you idiots! My mother is in a diabetic coma! Given her a candy bar or something with sugar in it. Now!"

That was done and the mother came right out of it.

"Spirit-directed" my ass! More like Faithful and Discrete Quacks.

Farkel