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The Sinister Nature of Cliches


shortfuse
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I have a long standing disdain for the cliches in any form. While in the Way I was aware of a great many cliches expressions people seemed to like latching onto - definitions, expressions, turns of phrase. I would habitually stop myself when I found myself speaking in Way jargon and would restate my point in a different, fresh fashion if possible. I was really bothered by RFR's teaching to the corps about communication. I can't remember what it was called (which makes me feel good - so many Way things I wish I could forget), but the point of it was to teach the corps how to write way magazine articles. Among other things, she specifically instructed us to use "familiar" terminiology and word definitions so as to be comforting to the minds of the reader or listener. We were specifically discouraged from using words that were new to describe concepts - stick to the simplest term that works and stick to the familiar definitions and phrases. I disliked it then, but I didn't see it as mechanism of control until later.

What's wrong with cliches, you say? For one thing, THEY"RE BORING! But more to my point, they give you a shortcut to a generalized answer, and get you to stop thinking, stop questioning, stop looking for a better more precise way to describe your thoughts and observations. Way and cultists elsewhere, favor a limited range of cliches with which to address most aspects of life. There are words, thoughts, and ideas they will NEVER get to because the stop at the cliche.

Looking back, I think this is a tool of control, knowingly wielded by Rosalie, LCM, VPW. I don't know about the rest of the current BOD. I think are just as manipulated and mush minded as anybody they try to control. But I think Rosalie gets what she is doing. Doesn't matter. I think cliches are boring at best, sinister tools of control at worst. What do you think?

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yeah.. they make me feel like jumping out of my skin..

:biglaugh:

sowie.. I love your avatar.

"a fool and his money are soon parted"..

not necessarily true.

there were a lot of smart guys who invested in technology stock.. no, they weren't fools..

then there's a stitch in time saves nine. A quote from a fellow who constructed magic squares of even order just for the FUN of it.. the guy was brilliant..

I like this one:

The most famous is 'Never get involved in a land war in Asia,' but only ... less well known is this: 'Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line.'"

:biglaugh:

I think those are pretty.. what's the word.. innocuous.

But then maybe you're referring to ones like "you can't outgive gawd.."

as in what. What are you trying to say? Does He want me to try? And if I can't does he even WANT me to try? And give what, to whom?

Surrrrrrre, fella.. sure. Put 90 percent of your meager income in the horn.. forget the rent, heating costs, or whatever. Can't outgive gawd..

Maybe these kind of cliches need questioned..

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What's wrong with cliches, you say? For one thing, THEY"RE BORING! But more to my point, they give you a shortcut to a generalized answer, and get you to stop thinking, stop questioning, stop looking for a better more precise way to describe your thoughts and observations. Way and cultists elsewhere, favor a limited range of cliches with which to address most aspects of life. There are words, thoughts, and ideas they will NEVER get to because the stop at the cliche.

Looking back, I think this is a tool of control, knowingly wielded by Rosalie, LCM, VPW. I don't know about the rest of the current BOD. I think are just as manipulated and mush minded as anybody they try to control.

Hey Shortfuse, I think of it in terms of "jargon." My last few years in TWI I became increasingly aware of jargon and tried to eliminate it in my language. Maybe it was because of my years in Way Pub and seeing people write the same $h1t over and over. Like "wonderful." It was OK to say "wonderful" but "fantastic" was not because it had its roots in "fantasy." [cough, cough] Sticking with the approved language makes the person look good in front of other people. I became very aware of this when we did a fellowship for the younger adults. I saw that they would speak a certain way around us "adults" but act differently with their friends. They were trying to "talk the talk" to BS us. And the funny thing is, most of the other adults bought it. They thought these people were so great because they had "the Word" at such a young age.

To this day, my husband and I laugh and joke over jargon terms like "available," and "it would be great if..." and "that doesn't bless me." I want to shout, "For the love of God, just be a real person! Be YOU!"

As for rosie and the BOD, yes, they are manipulated and controlled by her, and if she can't subdue them to her liking, they're gone. Why do you think she's blazed through more directors in the past 10 years than TWI has even had (outside of them) in the past 60 years?

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Hey Shortfuse, I think of it in terms of "jargon." My last few years in TWI I became increasingly aware of jargon and tried to eliminate it in my language. Maybe it was because of my years in Way Pub and seeing people write the same $h1t over and over. Like "wonderful." It was OK to say "wonderful" but "fantastic" was not because it had its roots in "fantasy." [cough, cough] Sticking with the approved language makes the person look good in front of other people. I became very aware of this when we did a fellowship for the younger adults. I saw that they would speak a certain way around us "adults" but act differently with their friends. They were trying to "talk the talk" to BS us. And the funny thing is, most of the other adults bought it. They thought these people were so great because they had "the Word" at such a young age.

To this day, my husband and I laugh and joke over jargon terms like "available," and "it would be great if..." and "that doesn't bless me." I want to shout, "For the love of God, just be a real person! Be YOU!"

As for rosie and the BOD, yes, they are manipulated and controlled by her, and if she can't subdue them to her liking, they're gone. Why do you think she's blazed through more directors in the past 10 years than TWI has even had (outside of them) in the past 60 years?

Yeah, jargon is certainly a big part of what I was thinking of. That's really interesting that Way Pub censored "fantastic". Craiggers pointed out years ago that references to idolatry and paganism are everywhere, citing days of the week, months, etc, certainly in a lot of word origins. Puts a lot off limits if you think about it. I used to cringe when he would say "by Jove", (well, I would cringe on a lot more than that) like, "doesn't he know where 'Jove' comes from?!" Wishing you, no wait scratch that, Believing with you for... a happy birthday... no, I mean... blessed birthday! Sure love ya! Oh, and Merry Christmas!

I wonder if the cliche jargon is just a symptom of the cult or if it is an actual tool. Seems like the latter to me.

A few more Wayfer adjectives I loathe.

Variegated

Multifarious

(Okay, we get it, you have a Thesaurus.)

Adverbs:

Aboundingly

Prevailingly

(Actually, might want to get that Thesaurus back out)

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  • 3 weeks later...

I've often wondered if the jargon and cliches were tools of control or if it was just language perpetuated by a bunch of non-thinking tools. If you wanted to look good in the Way after all you had to do the three "R's" ... resolve to remember to regurgitate. If you could do it in your manifestations,....er, I mean if you were inspired to do so in your manifestations, all the better.

Maybe you'd know better than me, but it seemed to me that when I hung out with corps they were much more likely to do what I just did and make fun of the jargon than the everyday Wayers were.

I do wonder why they chose the words they chose to pick on. The fantastic vs. wonderful is pretty hilarious. You can be sure FABULOUS would have been turned down. But why not change the days of the week and the months as well? They already came up with new names for holidays and many other words, why not rename the plants while they were at it? Can't think of any good names off hand..... maybe Blesstune instead of Neptune.

I think it has mostly to do with the culture of keeping people from thinking critically which I think was by design. Side effects include everyone's favorite secular book being the one that was mentioned on the latest STS, like "Death in the Tall Grass."

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. . . Side effects include everyone's favorite secular book being the one that was mentioned on the latest STS, like "Death in the Tall Grass."

see now you've picked on "long" . . . grass ain't long, it's tall . . . unless it fell over . . . or does "long" imply some sort of stretching? Maybe an elephant stretching in its sleep knocked the grass down?

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Let's not forget that "Easter" comes from Astarte, a pagan goddess. That's a name they didn't try to change.

I do wonder why they chose the words they chose to pick on. The fantastic vs. wonderful is pretty hilarious. You can be sure FABULOUS would have been turned down. But why not change the days of the week and the months as well? They already came up with new names for holidays and many other words, why not rename the plants while they were at it? Can't think of any good names off hand..... maybe Blesstune instead of Neptune.

"Wonderful" would be okay because "Signs, miracles and wonders" are supposed to follow believers.

Sonday

Nissiday (Jehovah-nissi, =banner)

Jirahday (Jehovah-jireh, =provider)

Veepday (VPW -day - in celebration of Corps teachings usually being on Wednesday)

Timday (named after Timothy, Paul's great follower

Rohiday (rohi=shepherd, Ps 23)

Shalomday (peace and something equating a day off)

Of which I've just found 42, yes 42 Jehovah-names (where TWI has taught the spiritual perfection of 7). Ah well. 7x6=42, spiritual perfection on man??

I think it has mostly to do with the culture of keeping people from thinking critically which I think was by design.

Absolutely certain this was the reason.

Help you to keep your mind going along the same track, way of thinking. Keep your hind legs trackin' with your front legs, as that man said.

It just might not be PFAL if you "put it into your own words" by adding a word, subtracting a word...or daringly substituting a word...pretty soon you don't have the word of PFAL at all.

And it's lazy. So very lazy, to be unable to give anything a fresh look. To draw something new out of a familiar passage in the Bible. To make you really think beyond what you already know. Because that way, you know that you now that you know just what the Bible says.

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Let's not forget that "Easter" comes from Astarte, a pagan goddess. That's a name they didn't try to change.

"Wonderful" would be okay because "Signs, miracles and wonders" are supposed to follow believers.

Sonday

Nissiday (Jehovah-nissi, =banner)

Jirahday (Jehovah-jireh, =provider)

Veepday (VPW -day - in celebration of Corps teachings usually being on Wednesday)

Timday (named after Timothy, Paul's great follower

Rohiday (rohi=shepherd, Ps 23)

Shalomday (peace and something equating a day off)

Of which I've just found 42, yes 42 Jehovah-names (where TWI has taught the spiritual perfection of 7). Ah well. 7x6=42, spiritual perfection on man??

Absolutely certain this was the reason.

Help you to keep your mind going along the same track, way of thinking. Keep your hind legs trackin' with your front legs, as that man said.

It just might not be PFAL if you "put it into your own words" by adding a word, subtracting a word...or daringly substituting a word...pretty soon you don't have the word of PFAL at all.

And it's lazy. So very lazy, to be unable to give anything a fresh look. To draw something new out of a familiar passage in the Bible. To make you really think beyond what you already know. Because that way, you know that you now that you know just what the Bible says.

Funny stuff and there you go THINKING, again, Twinky!

I do think they changed "Easter" to "resurrection Sunday" - what a mouthful to say when you were planning "Resurrection Sunday egg hunts"!

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I do wonder why they chose the words they chose to pick on. The fantastic vs. wonderful is pretty hilarious. You can be sure FABULOUS would have been turned down.

Funny, had a flash back. Went to HQ for an event and people came back with a new adjective: MAGNIFICENT. You know who was dropping that majestic modifier likea mofo.

I gotta admit though. It was a pretty Mag-friggin-ificent time.

* edited to mask expletives

Edited by shortfuse
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Back in the day, everything was "tremendous." I think there was some motivational speaker named Charlie "Tremendous" Jones? Absolutely everything was tremendous... "I got my car tuned up and it gets 25 miles to the gallon. Isn't that tremendous?" "Our twig went witnessing at the mall. We had a tremendous time."

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I've often wondered if the jargon and cliches were tools of control or if it was just language perpetuated by a bunch of non-thinking tools. If you wanted to look good in the Way after all you had to do the three "R's" ... resolve to remember to regurgitate. If you could do it in your manifestations,....er, I mean if you were inspired to do so in your manifestations, all the better.

Maybe you'd know better than me, but it seemed to me that when I hung out with corps they were much more likely to do what I just did and make fun of the jargon than the everyday Wayers were.

I do wonder why they chose the words they chose to pick on. The fantastic vs. wonderful is pretty hilarious. You can be sure FABULOUS would have been turned down. But why not change the days of the week and the months as well? They already came up with new names for holidays and many other words, why not rename the plants while they were at it? Can't think of any good names off hand..... maybe Blesstune instead of Neptune.

I think it has mostly to do with the culture of keeping people from thinking critically which I think was by design. Side effects include everyone's favorite secular book being the one that was mentioned on the latest STS, like "Death in the Tall Grass."

Insightful post, lindyhopper.

IMO the jargon and cliches are used by the ruling class absolutely as tools of control, and perpetrated by the masses as the language of non-thinking tools. For the masses, it's a new sense of belonging to have a completely new sanitized language. It makes them feel safe, feel part of something.

And yes, absolutely the Corps mock it in private, as it is completely stupid. However, these are the same Corps that can spit out some of the most fascinatingly regurgitating Wayspeak greetings that have ever been read by mankind. They play the game to get by.

They also keep repeating the same old external references too. "Death in the Tall Grass". I mean, geez, can't they even update that reference to the movie that was made about that book - "The Ghost and the Darkness", with Val Kilmer? But there is comfort in repetition of the same stupid ideas over and over.

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To this day, my husband and I laugh and joke over jargon terms like "available," and "it would be great if..." and "that doesn't bless me." I want to shout, "For the love of God, just be a real person! Be YOU!"

This made me laugh out loud. My daughter and I joke around (she was in TWI with me long ago) and use terms like "renew your mind" etc. Using TWI jargon is an inside joke with us - sometimes. Sometimes I can't stomach the nerve to use it even after all these years since I left (1987).

Even when I go to Costco I cringe, when at the door when I'm leaving, a woman who often works there when I shop checks off my reciept and says, "Have a blessed day." I have an aversion to the word, "bless," which is unfortunate because it is such a lovely word. The poor lady is just trying to be nice to me. I hear VP's voice saying "God bless. " Yuk.

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Back in the day, everything was "tremendous." I think there was some motivational speaker named Charlie "Tremendous" Jones? Absolutely everything was tremendous... "I got my car tuned up and it gets 25 miles to the gallon. Isn't that tremendous?" "Our twig went witnessing at the mall. We had a tremendous time."

WG, your post is tremendous. All the other ones on this thread are magnificent and awesome, too. :biglaugh:

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IMO the jargon and cliches are used by the ruling class absolutely as tools of control, and perpetrated by the masses as the language of non-thinking tools. For the masses, it's a new sense of belonging to have a completely new sanitized language. It makes them feel safe, feel part of something.

And yes, absolutely the Corps mock it in private, as it is completely stupid. However, these are the same Corps that can spit out some of the most fascinatingly regurgitating Wayspeak greetings that have ever been read by mankind. They play the game to get by.

Yup and yup

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And letters from WC you sponsored always seemed to begin something like "Greetings and Salutations in the wonderful, tremendous Name of Jesus Christ, our living Lord and risen Savior. I am exceedingly abundantly blessed by your faithful partnership with me..." yada yada yada.

By the time you got through all the flowery phrasing you finally realized the poor soul just needed more money.

The later ones were especially sad. All the flowery language and cliches referred to LCM, not Jesus.

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And letters from WC you sponsored always seemed to begin something like "Greetings and Salutations in the wonderful, tremendous Name of Jesus Christ, our living Lord and risen Savior. I am exceedingly abundantly blessed by your faithful partnership with me..." yada yada yada.

By the time you got through all the flowery phrasing you finally realized the poor soul just needed more money.

biglaugh.gif That was tremendous. It also "blessed my socks off." Don't you go changin', WG... in other words don't look to the right nor to the left but stay on the path laid before you.

In the name of the exceedingly great and powerful, prevailing name above all names Jesus Christ. Amen.

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