Do JW's examine the nature of the imagery of their sect?

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Do JW's examine the nature of the imagery of their sect?

Post #1

Post by William »

Imagery is a powerful device in which to capture the imaginations of individuals for the purpose of enticing them into supporting that which is imaged.

Every business - secular or religious based - know the importance of imagery in relation to attracting investors/supporters of said business.

Q: What are the kind of people who are attracted to JW imagery, and why do these particular types fill a niche in the market?

The organisation is able to be studied in this light, as an example as to how long it takes for a small business to gain popularity and how long it takes for the business to grow in the hustle-bustle of the market place and what clientele the organisation is attracting which are otherwise not accounted for in said market place.

The image below, is just one of many which are used to attract a particular type of human being with the expectation of getting them to part with money, and the method used to spread this organisations advertising involves getting the clients themselves to promote the business by freely distributing the propaganda door to door, not even having to pay said clients for the service, as the clients believe they are doing so for the Christian sects claimed leader, "Jehovah", and therefore willingly promote the JW.Org for free, based upon the promise of reward "When Jesus (Jehovah's representative) returns" - or some similar type promise. "Pay in this life - get your reward for service in the next"

With images of what that promised next life will be like.

Image

There are of course many types of imagery used by this organisation, which gives a clear indication of the types of individuals that the business is focused upon attracting, to build the numbers and maintain their piece of the action in the marketplace.

The image above, represents a white middle-class nuclear family walking hand in hand toward an idyllic scene, appropriately costumed in acceptable garb, and no other humans around.

Q: What does this image invoke in the individual who identifies with it?
Q: Who is most likely going to identify with it?

Obviously the JW organisation is reaching out to white middle class family orientated folk as one type of customer in which they feel their message will take hold and earn money from.

I, for one, can bear witness to the fact that white middle class people representing the organization are predominately the ones knocking on my door, trying to get me to buy into the JW.orgs imagery.

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Re: Do JW's examine the nature of the imagery of their sect?

Post #11

Post by William »

[Replying to post 3 by JehovahsWitness]
The pictures in Jehovah's Witnesses literature are made to appeal to any nationality or class of people who would like to see a peaceful world.
Imagery is a powerful device in which to capture the imaginations of individuals for the purpose of enticing them into supporting that which is imaged.

The images are used to attract a particular type of human being with the expectation of getting them to part with money, and the method used to spread this organisations advertising involves getting the adherents themselves to promote the business by freely distributing the propaganda door to door, not even having to pay adherents for the service, as they are lead to believe they are doing so for the Christian sects claimed leader, "Jehovah", and therefore willingly promote the JW.Org for free, based upon the promise of reward "Whenever Jesus (Jehovah's representative) returns" - or some similar type promise. "Pay in this life - get your reward for service in the next"
Our literature is given away free of charge to any member of the public that wants it. Jehovah's Witnesses do not charge for pastoral visits, wedding or funeral services or bible studies. They do not have a paid clergy.
One has to remember that we live in a money orientated world and nothing is made without money being involved.

Printing costs and building costs, are two of the major costs in any business.

Donations (which are what tithes are) can be in the form of money, jewelry and other valuable assets. There is nothing of monetary value which cannot be donated - including stocks, wills and trusts.

Giving away the Watchtower literature free of charge is in no way different than junk mail advertising which other type businesses also deliver... only they pay people to do this.
The JW organisation deliver the same throw-away advertising but they can afford to offset the printing costs by having their members freely deliver the advertising literature and they do not simply give the literature away - but ask the public if they could leave the literature with them, and those who agree to that are then regarded as potential initiates, and that is how the business advertising is achieved cost effective.
Jehovah's Witnesses do not charge for pastoral visits, wedding or funeral services or bible studies. They do not have a paid clergy.
So - the trade-off.
The assets of the organisation spread the recruiting advertising around free of charge and get perks such as all the free stuff mentioned above.

The artwork shows that even on the 'New Earth', there is segregation of humans based upon race/color of skin, so the org attracts the kind of folk who prefer this type of world view.

Image

The nuclear families are not integrated with each other as they are still imaged as being within their racial groupings.

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Re: Do JW's examine the nature of the imagery of their sect?

Post #12

Post by William »

[Replying to post 6 by JehovahsWitness]

Image

[Directly quoting from the OP]

The image above, represents a white middle-class nuclear family walking hand in hand toward an idyllic scene, appropriately costumed in acceptable garb, and no other humans around.

Q: What does this image invoke in the individual who identifies with it?
Q: Who is most likely going to identify with it?

Obviously the JW organisation is reaching out to white middle class family orientated folk as one type of customer in which they feel their message will take hold and earn money from.


(Bold to emphasis where the context is)

The reader please note that in post#6, the author quotes me OUT OF CONTEXT, 3 times, and she uses this underhanded tactic to promote the organisation. Be aware that when these folk knock on your door, they WILL and they DO use similar method of dishonesty to try and sway the individual to join and work for the organisation in exchange for the promise of reward in the next life, on the new earth.

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Re: Do JW's examine the nature of the imagery of their sect?

Post #13

Post by JehovahsWitness »

William wrote: The image above, represents a white middle-class nuclear family ....
Yes it does. So? So what?!

There are thousands of images on the JW website, this is one of them. What is your point?
  • Are you suggesting this one image represents THE MAJORITY of the images published by Jehovahs Witnesses?

    That this one image represents the ONLY demographic Jehovah's Witnesss are interested in?

    That this one image means Jehovah's Witnesses are uninterested in poor single people of colour?

    That this one image communicates that Jehovah's Witnesses themselves all white People?

    That this one image communicates that Jehovah's Witnesses believe only white middle class families will be in paradise?

    Or that this image means Jehovah's Witnesses are racist?
What are you attempting to extrapolate from this ONE image amongst the THOUSANDS Jehovah's Witnesses have published over the century and a half they have been publishing images?
Could your point be Jehovah's Witnesses have no RIGHT to appeal to any white middle class families because they may have a disposable income? That we should segregate our message and keep to the ghettos, prisons and red light districts where we belong and away from people with careers, children and labradors?

Do enlighten me as to what your point is as I fear it has been lost on me.



Kind Regards,


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Re: Do JW's examine the nature of the imagery of their sect?

Post #14

Post by William »

[Replying to post 13 by JehovahsWitness]
Do enlighten me as to what your point is as I fear it has been lost on me.
The reader will note that this particular forum member is asking a question to which I have clearly answered already.

The context has to do with a niche market. The members of the JW Org obviously deny that the organisation they support and are proselytes of - is in any way, a business - attracting a certain clientele into the ranks.

The imagery clearly shows the reader exactly which type of individuals the organisation is focused upon attracting.

It isn't any wonder that such points are 'lost' on the adherents of the organised religion this thread is addressing.

Note too, that the member makes no effort to correct her quoting me out of context in order to attempt to mislead...the response is purely defensive and devoid of any sincerity.

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Re: Do JW's examine the nature of the imagery of their sect?

Post #15

Post by JehovahsWitness »

William wrote:
The imagery clearly shows the reader exactly which type of individuals the organisation is focused upon attracting.
QUESTION Is a picture of a white family evidence that the Jehovahs Witnesses wish to appeal ONLY to white middle class families exclusively ?
  • ♦ANSWER Absolutely not. The viewable evidence clearly indicates the Jehovahs Witness website ( www.jw.org ) deliberately presents images to appeal to wide variety of ethnicities. However they do not exclude images of white people that may appeal to "middle class" people as they do not believe their message should be thus segregated. For this reason there will, amongst the images blacks, Asians, Hispanics, ect, be images white people in western dress.
Jehovah's Witnesses do not pander to the rich but neither do they display prejudiced against them by excluding any imagery of people that may be economically comfortable from their website. They believe some white people that presently may have disposable incomes, will indeed be in paradise and see no reason to exclude all images of white families from their site.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Jehovahs Witnesses absolutely reject the racism behind the implication that any picture of WHITE PEOPLE is offensive or reprehensible and should be censored from their literature.

The accusation of "targeting" has been addresses on post #10 (link below)
http://debatingchristianity.com/forum/v ... 294#960294







BELOW IS A SELECTION OF IMAGES FROM THE JEHOVAH'S WITNESS WEBSITE DEPICTING FAMILIES IN WHAT THEY BELIEVE TO BE A COMING PARADISE EARTH SETTING

A WHITE family in paradise
Image

A BLACK family in in paradise
Image
https://www.jw.org/en/publications/maga ... -psalm-37/

An "ASIAN " family in in paradise
Image

An "INDIAN OR PAKISTANI " family in in paradise
Image

An "INDIGENOUS NATIVE AMERICAN or SOUTH AMERICAN " family in in paradise
Image


CONCLUSION It seems abundantly clear that any attempt to imply that, taken as a whole, Jehovah's Witness imagery is designed to appeal exclusively to only one particular ethnic group is entirely without basis. A picture representing a white family in paradise is just one of a plathora of pictures that cover families of all types of ethnic groups in a similar context. This is evidently done to communicate the central Jehovah's Witness teaching that they believe people from every nation, language group and ethnicity will be represented in the future paradise earth.



JW



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Does the Jehovah's Witness artwork present a "racially" SEGREGATED paradise?
http://debatingchristianity.com/forum/v ... 56#p960456

Do Jehovah's Witnesses ONLY show pictures of white families in paradise?
http://debatingchristianity.com/forum/v ... 54#p960454

Does Jehovah's Witness literature depict people of colour?
http://debatingchristianity.com/forum/v ... 35#p959735
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Re: Do JW's examine the nature of the imagery of their sect?

Post #16

Post by JehovahsWitness »

William wrote:
The artwork shows that even on the 'New Earth', there is segregation of humans based upon race/color of skin ... The nuclear families are not integrated with each other ....

QUESTION Does the Jehovah's Witness artwork present a "racially" SEGREGATED paradise?


♦ANSWER Absolutely not. Any reasonable appraisal of JWs artwork taken as a whole , shows people of various ethnic groups fully integrated. While as highlighted in the post above, the Jehovah's Witness literature sometimes shows single families, when depicting more than one family or groups of people in paradise, the idea comes over of a fully integrated society rather than one divided along ethnic grounds.
WORD FOCUS: Segregation is the action or state of setting someone or something apart from others. In the past certain political regimes, such as in the South Africa and the United States of America (in the 20th century up until the 1960s and 80s respectively), attempted to "segregate" or divide people along ethnic lines by implementing laws that restricted movement, education and access to facilities.
Refering to the Unted States the online crowd sourced reference "Wikipedia" states the segregation of non-whites dictated "where they could legally walk, talk, drink, rest, or eat." Other areas effected were where people could live, go to school or worship. Such regimes resulted in a divide that discouraged social interactoon between whites and people of colour.


WE WILL EXAMINE A NUMBER OF JEHOVAH'S WITNESS IMAGES TO ASSESS HOW THEY DEPICT SUCH ACTIVITIES


Continued below.....
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Re: Do JW's examine the nature of the imagery of their sect?

Post #17

Post by Tcg »

JehovahsWitness wrote:
William wrote:
The artwork shows that even on the 'New Earth', there is segregation of humans based upon race/color of skin ... The nuclear families are not integrated with each other ....

QUESTION Does the Jehovah's Witness artwork present a "racially" SEGREGATED paradise?


♦ANSWER Absolutely not. Any reasonable appraisal of JWs artwork taken as a whole , shows people of various ethnic groups fully integrated. While as highlighted in the post above, the Jehovah's Witness literature sometimes shows single families, when depicting more than one family or groups of people in paradise, the idea comes over of a fully integrated society rather than one divided along ethnic grounds.
WORD FOCUS: Segregation is the action or state of setting someone or something apart from others. In the past certain political regimes, such as in the South Africa in the 1970s and the United States of America in the 1950s and 60s, attempted to "segregate" or divine people during their daily activities according to the colour of their skin by implementing laws that restricted movement, education and access to facilities.
WE WILL EXAMINE A NUMBER OF JEHOVAH'S WITNESS IMAGES TO DETERMINE IF THE ACCUSATION OF SEGREGATION ACCORDING TO SKIN COLOUR CAN JUSTIFIABLY BE LEVIED AT JWs REGARDING THEIR IMAGERGY




Image

I don't see any evidence of segregation according to skin color here, just the opposite in fact. I see two families preparing to share a meal together. The table might be a bit small, but I'm sure they'll work around that.



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Re: Do JW's examine the nature of the imagery of their sect?

Post #18

Post by JehovahsWitness »

[Ccontinuing from post # 16 by JehovahsWitness]
William wrote:
The artwork shows that even on the 'New Earth', there is segregation of humans based upon race/color of skin ... The nuclear families are not integrated with each other ....
IMAGE #1 : A Black family is sitting down to a meal, they seem to be on the patio of their house. A member of the family gestures a welcome to a white family (a couple and their little girl) seen in the background approaching the house. The white woman seems to be carrying a dish, we can presume of food. This implies they haven't travelled from a great distance and indeed since houses can be seen in the background we can reasonably assume the white family are neighbours of the black family. The little white girl is running towards the black family, which implies she is familiar with them and is happy at the prospect of further interaction.

CONCLUSION The artist seems to be trying to convey that people of different skin colours will freely live in the same neighbourhoods, eat together and enjoy association


Image




IMAGE #2 : An interacial couple holding hands converse with other couples who are sitting at a table drinking juice and eating what may be a breakfast of fruit and cerial. The couples that are sitting are comprised of a black couple and a white couple.

CONCLUSION The artist seems to be trying to convey that people of different skin colours will not only freely associate but that there will be no social stigma or legal prohibtion against people of different skin colours marrying


Image


IMAGE #3 : The scene seems to be taking place in a park or garden. A woman carrying a basket of vegetables stands in the foreground smiling; various couples relax in the background, enjoying the peaceful setting. A white woman, kneeling, we presume near a flowebed, hands a flower to a black man. We cannot tell if it is a romantic gesture or simply one of platonic friendship.

CONCLUSION The artist seems to be trying to convey that people of different skin colours will interact socially and there will be no segregation of public areas or private areas based on ethnicity. Further again there is the notion that relationships, even romantic ones, between people of different skin coulors will be seen as anything but normal with absolutely no stigma attached


Image


IMAGE #4 : Two men (one white one black) wearing hard hats, consult what seem to be the blueprint of a house. They seem to be on the site where house is being constructed, in the background a men and women of various ethnicities are building.

CONCLUSION The artist seems to be trying to convey that people of different skin colours will work harmoniously together. There is no notion of only one race doing the manual work or of slavery but rather of people of different backgrounds working to a achieve a common aim


Image


CONCLUSION: Even recognising that the interpretation of artistic expression is far from an exact science, and that two people can come away from the same picture with radically different impressions, it seems reasonble to conclude that the Jehovahs Witnesses are NOT trying to convey the idea that people of different skin colours will eat, live, work or worship in segregaed areas or communities in the paradise they envision. Not least because this would be the exact opposite of what they officially advocate in their written literaure. Jehovahs Witneses pride themselves even now of being a global, multinational, multilingual brotherhood and openly preach their beliefs in a coming new world, without national barriors where mankind will live and worship together in complete harmony free of prejudice or any kind of racial segregation.
Image

FURTHER READING Global Brotherhood Is Certain!
https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/101990883



JW




RELATED POSTS

Do Jehovah's Witnesses ONLY show pictures of white families in paradise?
http://debatingchristianity.com/forum/v ... 54#p960454

Does Jehovah's Witness literature depict people of colour?
http://debatingchristianity.com/forum/v ... 35#p959735
http://debatingchristianity.com/forum/v ... 86#p959786

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Re: Do JW's examine the nature of the imagery of their sect?

Post #19

Post by William »

[Replying to post 17 by Tcg]
I don't see any evidence of segregation according to skin color here, just the opposite in fact. I see two families preparing to share a meal together.
You misunderstand.

The nuclear families are not integrated with each other ... as far as the imagery shows.

JW understood what I was referring to, as is evident by her following post (#18)

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Re: Do JW's examine the nature of the imagery of their sect?

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