Everyone's favourite COG leader, Dave Pack, has gained a lot of free publicity in recent days. Notoriety, in fact.
Gary Scott was the first to point out that the Great One has unleashed a new ruling on his hapless flock. NO BLOGS.
Yes, members of the Restored sect are forbidden from creating either a blog or a personal website; and that applies to their teenagers as well!
Kevin D. Denee is the author of an article in the Pack-rag Ambassador Youth which lays out the Packatollah's edict.
Thus speaketh the Oracle: "The Internet—and more specifically blogs—has enabled everyone to have a voice on any matter. Now everyone’s thoughts are “published” for all to see. Whether or not it is effective, as soon as something is posted the person has a larger voice. It often makes the blogger feel good or makes him feel as if his opinion counts—when it is mostly mindless blather!"
"As if his opinion counts." Ah, there you have it, only One opinion counts, and that's you-know-who... (Women apparently don't count, any opinion they might have being beneath the notice of the all male packriarchy.)
Kev (who is apparently the son in law of the Master) continues: "Let me emphasize that no one—including adults—should have a blog or personal website (unless it is for legitimate business purposes). When this policy, now being instituted, was discussed with Mr. Pack and other Headquarters ministers, there was not a shadow of doubt in anyone’s mind that blogs are something youth should not be doing in any way."
No one.
Ach ja. Seig heil!
But while King David has been preoccupied with FOTting his flock, word of the RCG ban has spread through the blogosphere well beyond the usual COG/exCOG community. The Wadsworth Wonder is unexpectedly infamous. Gary has updated the situation in his latest post.
Surreal!
13 comments:
One of the fundamental characteristics of Armstrongism is the manipulation of the flock through carefully managing information. As an advertising executive, HWA was steeped in the concept that information is power. Information must be rigorously managed by those in power to maintain a carefully constructed facade and to control thinking among followers. The egalitarian approach of a blog is, of course, a direct attack on this kind of nefarious management of information.
In the old days, the terms "rumor" and "gossip" were applied to anything that fell outside the boundaries of what the Armstrongite leadership wanted anybody to know. The Web, although it permits the publishing of inaccuracies, has ended that era.
Neo
Gavin,
It is a bit of a BLOGGER for the Pack devotees to be unable to transmit information on the Net.
Jawohl, mein Fuehrer, we will be obedient little disciples and abstain from worldly pursuits.
As Neotherm so correctly observes, it is all about manipulation of the flock.
The word "flocculate" comes to mind..indeed, they follow their beloved leader like a lot of woolly-minded sheep.
Of course, it is quite kosher for the LEADER to use the Net for his his "divinely" ordained purposes.
But, that of course is an entirely different matter..it is properly called HYPOCRISY.
JH
This world is going to the dog
When some proscribe the legal blog;
We wonder what has been restored
As great unwashed declare the Lord.
And should to vomit we turn back?
A spewrious diet to make us hack.
"The Lord avers " all say in vain,
Fork-ed tongues all split in twain.
Blind the people ,one and all,
Responding to a tithing call:
A lust for silver and bright gold,
A chariot new, lo and behold.
They deem it as conferring status,
A load of noisome,rotten flatus.
What they serve is doubtful stuff,
Their meal of tripe quite enough.
JH
Words are something on which I sometimes dwell in great depth. There is often much lying below the surface of a person's written or spoken verbiage.
What I read from Denee's article, is that here is a young man who is totally acting in his father-in-law's valence. The words he has written, sound as if they could have been written by Pack, himself.
If the article had no byline, who wouldn't have mentally credited David Pack as the author?
This is nothing new to the COG organizations. If a person knows the personalities behind the various splinter groups, in reading letters to various forums and blogs, one can almost tell by an individual's word usage and figures of speech which splinter group he or she attends. One example would be someone using the expression that something or other "simply won't wash". That is GTA to the bone. There are still those who run around saying "hogwash", or "balderdash" a la HWA.
Hero worship is very much in style in the A-COGs. Original thought is not.
BB
When my trifling commentary has to bulk out the numbers it is unfortunate indeed. It could be that some of the faithful bloggers are away on pseudo or supplementary FOT activities such as fishing or sight-seeing.
Byker Bob quite correctly makes the point that original thought was/is not exactly a strength of the extended COG family."Follow the leader", pardon Fuehrer, is the byword.Let your pastor do your thinking for you.Funny,in the COG it was many minds with but ONE THOUGHT. I wonder what that single gem of limited neuro-transmitter activity could be.
JH
So much for brethren preaching the gospel any way they can.
Apparently God doesn't work through blogs?! The way my UCG Pastor says God doesn't work to cnonect singles through eHarmony.com?
"Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty" -- to shut up and quote the party line, apparently. I thought COG's were opposed to Communism.
Boing Boing now has it. An unbelievable number of people will now see this insanity and shake their heads...
No blogs? How about movies?
Oh my. I guess I’ll have to delete my blog and web sites because surely I don’t want to offend Pack by thinking for myself or, dare I think it, speak my mind.
Hey Gav, I got my 2 cents on this BS on my site. These guys make Kim Il-Jung look reasonable!
The Packatolla forgot to tell us the Biblically mandated internet speed, and to send Restored COG blocking software for Ambassador Watch and other such ungodly websites.
TEHRAN - Iran's internet service providers (ISPs) have started reducing the speed of Internet access to homes and cafes based on new government-imposed limits, a move critics said appeared to be part of a clampdown on the media.
An official said last week that ISPs were now "forbidden" by the Telecommunications Ministry from providing Internet connections faster than 128 kilobytes per second (KBps), the official IRNA news agency reported. He did not give a reason.
Internet technicians say speeds of 256 KBps, 512 KBps or higher are increasingly common internationally. Iranian surfers will now find it much slower to download music or anything else from the Web. Businesses have not been affected by the move.
Critics said the restriction would hinder the work of students and researchers but said it appeared in line with what they see as a squeeze on the media by the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who rails against the West.
"Once more, one of the most important tools for providing information is faced with new government red lines and restrictions," the opposition reform-minded daily, Etemad-e Melli, wrote in an article on the new speed limitation.
The authorities have shutdown the leading pro-reform newspaper and launched a crackdown on those flouting a ban on satellite dishes. Critics say the authorities have put increasing pressure on opposition journalists, academics and students.
The government denies the charges, saying it welcomes criticism.
An Iranian Internet engineer, who asked not to be identified, said his firm had this week started reducing speeds provided to homes and Internet cafes, but not businesses.
The Telecommunications Ministry official said the order would stay in place until "new regulations for providing ADSL (high-speed Internet) services" were issued, IRNA reported.
Iran blocks some Web sites, including the BBC Persian-language site, which Iran says has an "anti-Iranian tendency". Satellite dishes are banned because officials say they bring "corrupt" Western values into Iranian homes.
Dave has edited reference to himself out of the article along with some other offending offerings. Ruling still stands. It's just kinder and gentler..
Dave has edited reference to himself out of the article along with some other offending offerings.
Fortunately, the original version is still cached in various places, and quoted on other sites. For example:
http://www.foldedspace.org/weblog/2006/10/god_hates_blogs.html
Pack's cult looks pretty bad for having published the original article, but actually looks worse for editing it without acknowledging the changes. Talk about cultic information control!
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