WordWolf

I think this is the best summary I've read to date.

There's 2 ways to look at the manipulation that twi gave. One is to say the person rarely was drugged or had a gun placed to their head. The other is to say that one's view was often manipulated so that one saw the choices as being roughly equivalent to doing what was told or dying. I shall clarify. [Folks in the corps often were grossly misinformed as to the activities and contents of the corps. They made a free-will decision based on ex-corps and staff talking it up-sometimes- as the greatest thing they could possibly do with their lives- vpw said it was MORE important than going to college, was more important than ANYTHING someone to do. It's what GAWD ALMIGHTY wants! Don't you want to do what GAWD wants? Then people made the free-will decision to enter the program.... ...and that decision was based on bad information. Then came the next level- activities IN the corps. Anyone, technically, could have gotten up at any point in the corps, and said"I was lied to- this is not what I was told." When surrounded by one's peers and being heavily indoctrinated, some posters here were told that they had signed up for A LIFETIME COMMITTMENT TO SERVE IN THE WAY CORPS and not 4 years of the corps, followed by serving God on their own recognizance- a LIFETIME DOING WHATEVER TWI TOLD YOU TO DO- whether MOVE, perform manual labour, and so on, FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE- some posters have pointed out that they were aware they were being hosed, and regretted, in hindsight, not leaving then. Why didn't they leave? Mostly, there was an executed plan to make that as difficult a decision as possible. Let's say you decide, at THAT moment, that the gross dishonesty is too much- so you're leaving no matter what. Now, the fun begins. You're on grounds, in the corps. You will be told in private that you made a committment-not to twi, but to GAWD ALMIGHTY, and that leaving the corps was disappointing God, and you'd be walking outside of God's protection, which meant that you'd be putting the lives of yourself and your family AT RISK of DEATH or PERMANENT INJURY. Still leaving? There's the PUBLIC HUMILIATION, where everyone's told in your earshot what a scummy quitter you are, and unfit and so on. Still leaving? After you leave, the public humiliation is SPREAD, so you're seen as inferior when you go home- a leper, to a degree. That means your ENTIRE FAMILY AND FRIENDS will be told horrible lies about you. You're in twi, and told to forsake all friends and family who didn't join, so once you had no friends when it comes to God's Word, and NOW you have no friends, if twi has anything to say about it. But, yes, you had the choice to leave, and go home. No one placed a physical gun to your head. They just destroyed your social life, savaged your walk with God, threatened harm to your family, and slashed your self-image. But you had the free will to leave despite all that. See the two points of view here? Just because there's no gun, does not mean there's NO COERCION. Turning aside from friends and family (see above), and outside the protection of GAWD ALMIGHTY-as many were told, some specifically, as in "Which member of your family do you want to die?" which, of course, frightened children in earshot out of their wits, and did little good for the adults. However, the adults had complete free will to leave. No one had a gun to their heads. COERCION does not equal a gun- then again, some of us consider COERCION to be a big deal on its own, and WRONG. BOTH concepts are true of all twi activities, especially the staff and corps, and the entire group from the mid-90s onward.

There's others of similar concepts, like "the Smiling Jesus by the Sea".

Give them another day, Hiway, I'm sure they'll get it...... "Remember the Boy Scouts' motto." "'Be prepared'." "It would do well to keep that in mind at all times." "Greek is still Greek to me." "It's Greek to a lot of Greeks too. It's one of the world's oldest, most important, most beautiful languages." "It may be, Aunt Harriet, but can't we take a breather and work out in the gym for a while?" "But the mind needs exercise too, Dick." "Well, my mind is getting muscle-bound." "Ahhh, there is an old saying, Dick. A sound mind and a sound body. A worthy goal." "I thought Lima was the capital of Ecuador." "As you can see, I was right. It's the capital of Peru." "Oh, I just love this game of capitals. It's just so educational!" "Not only that, if we don't know all about our friends to the south, how can we can carry out our good neighbor policy?" "Those look like honest eyes." "Never trust the old chestnut, 'Crooks have beady little eyes'. It's false." "Gosh, botany is tough. I'll never learn to recognize all these trees!" "Come come, Dick. Pine. Elm. Hickory, chestnut, maple. Part of our heritage is the lure of living things, the storybook of nature." "Stop fiddling with that atomic pile and come down here!" "Awww, heck! What's the use of learning French anyway?" "Dick, I'm surprised at you! Language is the key to world peace. If we all spoke each other's tongues, perhaps the scourge of war would be ended forever." "Cattail Lane and Nine Lives Alley. The Grimalkin Novelty Company is on that corner." "Grimalkin? What kind of a name is that?" "An obscure but nevertheless acceptable synonym for cat" "Go back outside and calm the flower children." "They'll mob me!" "Groovy." Wow, you'd think a show with appearances by actors/actresses like Milton Berle, Ethel Merman, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Jerry Mathers, Alan Hale Jr, Edward G. Robinson, Art Linkletter, Rob Reiner, Don Ho, Sonny & Cher, Shelley Winters, Dick Clark, Teri Garr Jill St, John, and OTHER famous actors, would be remembered by my old chums MUCH quicker than this.

"Don't get saucy with me, Bernaise!" "Seize him!" "Seize THIS, honkus!" "Geez, don't ever say that to the COPS!"

"Did the table do something wrong?" "No." "I'm glad you weren't that hard on Ensign Lopez." "He made a mistake. The duty roster was inaccurate." "Would you like to talk about what's bothering you? Or would you like to break some more furniture?" "May I ask you a personal question?" "Certainly." "Does your hair grow?" "I can control the rate of my follicle replenishment. However, I have not yet had a reason to modify the length of my hair. Why do you ask?" "Just curious. Power conduits ready." "Is there something wrong, Doctor?" "You're breathing." "Yes. I do have a functional respiration system. However, its purpose is to maintain the thermal control of my internal systems. I am, in fact, capable of functioning for extended periods in a vacuum." "And you have a pulse." "My circulatory system not only produces bio-chemical lubricants, but regulates micro-hydraulic power. Most people are usually interested in my extraordinary abilities. How fast I can compute, my memory capacity, how long I will live. But no one has ever asked me if my hair can grow, or noticed that I can breathe." "Your creator went to a lot of trouble to make you seem human... I find that fascinating." "We're ready to begin the transfer." "The power connections are complete."

Gotta be logged in to see it.

You're supposing I saw the first one.... Ok, next movie..... "Don't get saucy with me, Bernaise!"

No.

The only movie that would be THAT obvious would be "Rocky"...

Is this "On the Waterfront"?

Ok, next one. "Did the table do something wrong?" "No." "I'm glad you weren't that hard on Ensign Lopez." "He made a mistake. The duty roster was inaccurate." "Would you like to talk about what's bothering you? Or would you like to break some more furniture?"

Who was the psychopath- Liquidator Brunt?

So, let's see if I can put together a profile of what happened, as someone who missed all the real persecution, based entirely on the posts at the GSC, and some elementary Psychology and Sociology: First, the young and impressionable are sent off to twi's locations for 4 years. There, they learn blind obedience to the mog and moglets. They learn to snap out answers to questions based on twi books, and that success comes from confrontation, and keeping your boot on someone's neck, ruling by fear, and that inculcated by someone "finding problems" in your life, even if they had to INFLICT those problems or make them up. They learn that higher-ups demand menial labour from lower-downs. They're also taught that leadership consists of wearing a suit, flourishing a title, pretending to know it all and covering up ignorance with shouting and attacking any witnesses using the fear principles, and otherwise giving orders to be obeyed unquestioningly like THEY did, and receiving the Chief Seats and perks of office. Upon graduation, Mr Leader then is sent to some location with humans. There, he arrives and begins barking orders. His attempts to get to know people have NOTHING to do with service, but rather with establishing his rulership- either by establishing who's boss, or with "finding" problems and intimidating people into agreeing he found problems and solved them. He enjoys the perks of his office- which consist of demanding menial labour from others- babysitting, household chores, all kinds of stuff. Refusal to perform manual labour when "asked"/ordered is dealt with by use of intimidation and the fear principles. Either locals cooperate, or they do not. If they cooperate, everything plays into their plans. If they do not, then locals either leave and are slandered, or punishment is attempted to get them to fall in line. Those who accept it and fall in line serve as examples of what happens to those who don't, who are socialized to avoid confronting these scum. Those who refuse it are kicked out, and are slandered. This is then used as examples of what happens to those who didn't rebel, and who are socialized to avoid confronting these scum. Sound familiar? I bet some of you have specific incidents and names that sprang to mind. Evil performed in God's name is hardly new or revolutionary, but the SPECIFIC names change continually throughout all of recorded history.

Let's see, child, moron, failure, psychopath, as viewed by someone else... Ensign Nog, Engineer Rom, Quark?, but I forget who the psychopath would be.... Was this the episode where a handful of them tried to rescue Grand Negus Zek from the Jem'Hadar?

Thanks kindly. I knew I was just looking in the wrong place...

Moderators, where do I find the "block poster" setting? I know we've had the setting for years, but I've never run into a poster who was completely devoid of content in their posts before, who kept posting, and I'd like to read around them and read the content of the other posters. Please remind me where the control for that is- I didn't find it just now when I was looking...

"Plenty of girls and bands and slogans and lots of hoopla, but remember, no politics. Issues confuse people!" "I'm called Little... Buttercup... Poor Little... Buttercup... Though I could... never tell... why..." "Let's make tracks!" "The only tracks you'll be making are straight to the penitentiary!" "For the 2nd time, let's make tracks!" "The only tracks you'll be making are straight to the penitentiary!" "Some sort of delayed echo in here?" "Belgravia's such a small country. We'd beat them in a few hours." "Yes, and then we'd have to support them for years." "No thank you. I never use tobacco in any form." "That's the first time I've ever heard a cat purr in French." " 'Ghoti' is 'fish'? "See here. English phonetics. GH becomes F, as in 'tough' or 'laugh'. O becomes I as in 'women'. TI becomes SH as in 'ration' or the word 'nation'." "Boy! That was our closest call ever! I have to admit that I was pretty scared!" "I wasn't scared in the least." "Not at all?" "Haven't you noticed how we always escape the vicious ensnarements of our enemies?" "Yeah, because we're smarter than they are!" "I like to think it's because our hearts are pure." "Gosh, Economics is sure a dull subject." "Oh, you must be jesting, Dick. Economics dull? The glamour, the romance of commerce... Hmm. It's the very lifeblood of our country's society."

I think I know the team, but I'm trying to remember why they teamed.... I'm sure I'll remember soon....

Next time you see the movie, make a note of the names of the boxers mentioned in the begining. DD's dad was Battlin' Jack Murdock, and he was a small-time boxer who got in trouble when some criminals wanted him to throw a fight, and he didn't. Anyway, there's a number of boxers mentioned in the beginning- they're all names of Marvel comics staffers. The marquee also shows the match between John Romita and Jack Murdock. John Romita- both Jr and Sr- were longtime artists at Marvel, and fairly well-known. Back in the 80s, artists occasionally snuck into the art in Iron Man, t-shirts for the "JR Jr Fan Club." In the scene when that stick is being examined (I think it's that scene), one of the characters is named Quesada- no relation to Joe Quesada, current Editor-in-Chief (and head windbag, second only to DC's own Dan DiDio in empty bluster and talentless self-promotion.) Stan Lee's "Where's Waldo" moment comes when young Matt Murdock stops someone from crossing the street against the light- that was Stan Lee with the newspaper. My one complaint was Matt Murdock-with superenhanced hearing- comes home and blasts his radio. Shouldn't that be the same as someone with normal hearing with one of those huge concert speakers up to the ceiling, and turning THAT up? The story- Elektra & Bullseye especially- was taken from when Frank Miller wrote DD, and that's the best DD, IMHO, ever written (early 80s, and all DD is compared to that.) They even had Bullseye recite the line "You're good, but me? I'm magic" before dealing the fatal blow.

You got me. It drew from the best source material available, with one exception, it was pretty faithful to it, had a good script, good casting, successful action scenes, and a good soundtrack. Despite my own reticence on adaptations, I thought it was great. I'll pass along the inside joke they snuck in once the movie's named.

I thought this bore repeating.

Want to give them one more line, or should I go for it?

Glad you won't spoil the fun.... " Most Americans don't realize what we owe to the ancient Incas. Very few appreciate they gave us the white potato and many varieties of Indian corn." "Now whenever I eat mashed potatoes, I for one will think of the Incas." "Am I ever glad I take good care of my teeth!" "True. You owe your life to dental hygiene." "He's from Philadelphia." "How did you know?" "You dipped your diphthong. People from Philadelphia are known for that." "Would you like to come in for a glass of milk and cookies?" "I'm afraid it's rather late. Why, it's 10:30!" "What is it that no one wants to have yet no one wants to lose?" "A lawsuit!" "Correct!" "Did you hear about Greta Garbo? She dreamed one night she sprinkled 6 boxes of grass seed in her hair, and woke up moaning: "I vant to be a lawn!" "...give yourself up. We can get help for you... medical help!" "In prison? This, I do not believe. No, you must PAY for what you did to me, for forcing me to live like this: never again to know the warmth of a summer breeze, never to feel the heat of burning logs in vintertime! Revenge. That is what I need! Revenge! I will have revenge!" "The junior prom's coming up, isn't it?" "Yes, but... " "Well, we don't want you to be a wallflower, do we? Dancing is an integral part of every young man's education." "Where do you come from? Where do you go? What is your scene? Baby, we just gotta know!" "Are you a chick who fell in from outer space, Or are you real with a tender warm embrace? Yeah, whose baby are you?"

Well, I couldn't find any good quotes for the Banana Splits, so here's something else. " Most Americans don't realize what we owe to the ancient Incas. Very few appreciate they gave us the white potato and many varieties of Indian corn." "Now whenever I eat mashed potatoes, I for one will think of the Incas." "Am I ever glad I take good care of my teeth!" "True. You owe your life to dental hygiene." "He's from Philadelphia." "How did you know?" "You dipped your diphthong. People from Philadelphia are known for that." "Would you like to come in for a glass of milk and cookies?" "I'm afraid it's rather late. Why, it's 10:30!" Knowing this set of posters, I imagine someone's already got it! (Although I'm confident I'd need another set if I were guessing.)