Jehovahs Witnesses Release Caleb And Sophia Video About Isolating Children
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 18 ก.ย. 2024
- In this video, I debunk a caleb and sophia video about who you should have as friends. the answer? definitely not outsiders. jehovahs witnesses only. This is episode 47.
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"Sophia, do you understand the meaning of this story?" "Yes. Martha was a traditional Jewish woman surrounded by other traditional Jewish people, but because she was willing to befriend a man outside of her group and didn't listen to the people in her life telling her to stay isolated, she was able to expand her understanding and think for herself. And ultimately, that's a good thing. She wasn't closed minded like everyone who tried to tell her who she could and couldn't be friends with." "That's right Soph.... wait a second...."
LMFAO
Yeah that was me. I remember always arguing things like this and getting in so much trouble. Jesus broke the rules all the time.
😂💯💯💯👊👍 damn ! - You are 100% right 😆
Owen, my son is about your age and thankfully we both escaped. He left it first as a young adult and I followed a few years after.To hear how you felt in that situation is important for me to hear. My son rarely talks about it except recently he did say how it made him feel to be excluded on birthdays and how he would never want to do that to his own daughter. I was thinking not only of the terrible isolation but it is also very embarrassing and nerve wracking. To always have to be different and have it called attention to in front of the whole class is traumatic. Calling it child abuse is not over the top.
No because a scene like like that would be hilarious
Imagine a kid who is good at science telling their parents, "I'm not going to join the science club" and getting a "That's my girl" response! I just can't get over that aspect of it. I mean this is an educational opportunity. It might be fun but that's part of the reason it's an effective learning tool.
Yeah, but as I understand it, JW don't want their children to go to college or anything. Learning about science doesn't seem important to them.
Education and fun are evil in their eyes.
Also the world’s gonna end soon, so why the hell would you waste your time on something as insignificant as your educational development?
Yes I was a witness and my parents forbid me to go to school. I was homeschooled instead. My only friends were my siblings since there wasn’t any other children around. I left the faith three years ago though and finally went to college. One other sister also left but the rest of my family shuns us cause that’s their way.
Education and learning to think critically is kryptonite where they are concerned. It means they lose control.
@@grahvis Yeah. Now its being introduced to entire states via the anti-woke/ anti-CRT bills and education funding cuts.
The saddest part is the “club” was nothing but nice to Sophia. And she ends up seeing them as trying to hurt her.
Sophia is confused. She does not know what to do. She is not deliberately spiteful.
This is, (per everything I’ve ever experienced, learned or have been exposed to), a fundamental part of all religion. If it’s practiced in its most traditional form, it’s isolating and fear based in nature. Religion is toxic and dangerous. It breeds hate, radicalism and judgment. It creates narrow minded views and intolerance. There’s not a single good thing about it. Religion is completely separate from spirituality or a belief in a higher power, or belief in other realms beyond the one we reside in now. Nothing so stringent and dogmatic could ever be good. If god represents love, then immediately the contradiction becomes obvious. Love is warm, accepting, forgiving, hopeful and enduring. God may be love, if God exists, but religion certainly isn’t.
The part of this video that hurts me the most is a lot of Caleb and Sophia videos emphasize how smart Sophia is. She really seems to enjoy math and science. Her face lights up when she' s applying her skills and talents and or being acknowledged for them. Any good parent who loves their kid would be ecstatic that their kid was getting an opportunity to be part of a science club and be appreciated for their intelligence. It also builds he self-esteem. While obviously the main message is don't have outside friends. I think another message is don't have activities or hobbies that distract from " Jehovah". Don't have goals or anything that makes you happy unless it has to do with the Organization. It makes me sick.
Also "Don't think". "Don't use independent or critical thinking". The atheist who pointed out that the god in the very beginning of the bible forbade the 'Tree of KNOWLEDGE' to humanity, and that the Abrahamic religions have tried to limit man's knowledge ever since, was bullseye accurate.
Yeah, she could easily be a programmer if she wanted to be, but the cult won’t let her be anything but a workhorse for them.
@@WWZenaDo Yeah. I don't think the attacks on the USA's education system (and in other places but I comment on what I know) by Christians is talked about enough. Especially with the recent anti-woke/ anti-CRT stuff being passed in red states and the decades of funding cuts.
@@Badartist888 True. At least an increasing number of people appear to be aware of that fundamentalist anti-education mentality.
If she learned too much science, she might find out that her turtle is actually a tortoise.
My headcannon is that when Sophia grows up she'll leave the religion, follow her love of silence, and cut contact with her parents.
And finds a boyfriend/husband who's either an athiest or doesn't take his religion too seriously and supports and loves her while she's making a scientific breakthrough.
@@yami-no-kami3586 her and her three trans girlfriends are going to share a policule
She's a lesbian and has a nobel prize for her work in astrophysics. Her girlfriends are so proud of her.
I like silence, it's peaceful, but after a while it becomes eerie.
@@Montesama314 girlfriendS 🤨
I was mormon but jw is pretty similar. MY parents didnt allow me to have any outside friends, now at the age of 26 I have to learn how to socialize. The damage that iscolation causes young religious kids is insane. The only people I was allowed to hang out with were abusive narcassistic devils. The parents would excuse abuse all the time at church and I was left to assume I was the problem. I would have been so much happier as a kid without the religion. Even when I made friends that were buddhist or gay, my parents forbid I see them at all. Got to a point where I just self iscolated until I had sucidal ideation. Hopefully this year I can get my act together haha
I'm in the same situation you were in. i only have one friend and shes not even in my town, and i dont have any friends out of the church. reading this made me feel less alone, and gave me some hope for my future.
Oh, gosh, I'm so sorry you had to go through that... 😢😢💔
No child should EVER be shielded from being able to socialize with others in the outside world, and ABSOLUTELY NO ONE deserves to suffer like this.
I hope you're doing okay now. You deserve to live a fulfilling life. 💙
I'm LDS too and we weren't taught to isolate ourselves, we could have friends outside of our religion and join clubs
I used to be a Jehovah Witness, I remember when I was visiting my cousins home, their father showed how they beat up their children when they behave "wrong" (smacking their lips)r. They would pin them to the wall and if they moved an inch the father would hit them. This was excused because they used their books and magazines that the church owners made as justification. I always hated this excuse because it doesn't even algin with what the Bible says which is their excuse on why their books are "just". I luckily escaped at a young age (14 years old) so I do know how to somewhat socialize lol. The only thing Im grateful for is never baptizing there
@@PAUK118 You’re not alone. This must be so stressful and traumatizing for you but one day you will have your freedom and you are worthy of it. So many people are rooting for you. Don’t give into despair. I can’t imagine what you’re going through but you are worth so much more and one day you’ll be able to escape this. Until then, know that so many people are on your side and that if it becomes too much don’t be afraid to reach out to a teacher or a peer or someone outside the “church”. I am so sorry for what you are dealing with right now but you are strong and I am sending you the best vibes to make it through. Don’t forget how strong you are and don’t forget about those rooting for you. You are worthy.
It’s crazy how concerned and worried I am for these fictional children. Though I know in actuality, I’m worried for all the real kids that they represent.
I know and what breaks my heart is how this is happening to real kids.
Same. I want someone to make an offshoot of these kids where they get out of the cult and live their best lives. They'd probably have to change names to avoid copyright, but whatever. Every time I see these animations, I just want to see Caleb and Sophia be free.
@@ReverieNightengale I know! I play The Sims all the time, and I’m always so tempted to recreate this family and give the Sophia and Caleb sims good lives for my own personal head cannon 😭
@Lauren Elizabeth
This might actually be a Good Reason for me to get back into The Sims.
I Feel Bad for these Kids.
And All The Real One's Out There.
th-cam.com/play/PLw38oVNZjAQPguygYI_TEHcNB-m7Vb22h.html
The thing that kills me is that their peers aren’t even mean to them, those kids could easily make friends if they weren’t brainwashed into this cult. It’s just a cartoon but it represents the real isolation these kids are forced into
In this cartoon scenario, yeah, the kids are as NPC as they can be and easy to make friends with. In my young age, literally half the time i was met with dislike and refusal to get along, or just pity sometimes. Valentines day was met with some girls giving just a note, no candy nor anything, just a friendship note. I couldnt be given cake on birthdays, and they'd look lowkey upset that the teachers either made me do nothing on a holiday themed activity, or just gave me a simple task to do while they did the harder looking one cuz its a holiday task.
@@Nanashi20 yes and my point is exactly that. It’s a cartoon but the isolation is a real thing.
@Hopeless I'm not a fan of Valentine's day at all. Literally just made up to sell cards and expensive shit BUT to say almost nobody cares about it is insane. Billions of people on this planet. Clearly most people do, that's why it still exists and people make a fortune from it.
It's not 'just a cartoon' though. It's a cartoon made purposefully to brainwash and suck kids into the cult! It's dangerous propaganda.
@Hopeless It's more about the idea of isolation than it is wanting material items and stuff. It sounds simple, but being excluded from something like that is not only hurtful in the moment but changes the way you develop into an teenager, and then to an adult.
Did you notice how her complaint went from not having friends HER AGE to just not having friends at all? The friend that she made at the end wasn't her age. Her original problem still wasn't resolved!
Considering that the only person she called a friend in this series was around 80 she probably really considered her her age. They probably depicted someone older to tell the kids on the audience that they should just take what they could get, even if it isn't ideal.
@@hekate5561 How fo you mean "take what they could get?"
I love how she says, "I'm not going to join the club," as if it was her decision. The answer was always no from her parents. If this was real they'd show her inner dialog where she realizes there is no point continuing the discussion and consciously decides to make it look like she agrees simply to end the lecture and avoid any possibility of being punished for not complying or agreeing with their fucked up decision
Agreed. You described it very well.
That is literally me when I have a conversation with my dad. I always make it seem that I agree with him, but in reality I don't. There are times I see where my dad's coming from, but whenever I voice my opinion he gets mad at me and acts like I said the most offensive slur in the world. Now he acts like he never took offence in my opinions and views of the world.
@@thelightandsalt91 are you still a jw?
Agreed my mother would always return "do you think this is would be good association" spoiler alert NO one was a good association.
@@f4rnsworth138 I was never a jw, I was raised a baptist. For context, my parents grew up during the Soviet Union (1970's-1991) and became Christians when the Soviet Union was almost over.
Isn’t anyone creeped out by the fact the little girl is encouraged to only make OLDER “friends”?
Like- you just know those teens will have extremely different interests than the lil kid very soon- it’s so sad and devastating and leads to a grooming-acceptance behavior too. 😢
That's kind of unfair as it is possible for children with differences in age can still be friends with a sibling-like dynamic, i.e. one can be a friend with their babysitter. And not all teens are bad influences.
That said, only having friends in the same religion is not a healthy mindset.
@@DisneyFanatic2364 Yeah, I was also thinking Big Brother/Big Sister type of programs.
You'd be surprised.
If only the Fbi can actually do there job on that remark
Is it a surprise that JWs have a huge child abuse problem?
I remember a girl from my class who was JW. Her name was Tonya. I still can see her sobbing while leaving the class whenever there was a celebration; Valentine’s Day, Xmas, Halloween, birthdays. It was heartbreaking and cruel! That was almost 60 years ago and I can still see her face clearly.
That reminds me of my parents except it was Christianity
My mom deeply regretted it
Cause also, that religion led her to avoid a family member and after she got out of the religion, my mom wanted to talk to that family memeber
But couldn’t cause that family member died
She was very sad
I’m glad we got out of that religion when I was young
😢 😢😢
@@quit3118 Your parents treated their kids like that or your parents were treated like that? Either way it’s bad!
My evil teachers made me draaaag my desk out into the hall while the non JW kids had their party. These teachers acted like it was MY idea! It wasnt.
@@meloniesghost I’m really saddened that your moronic teachers did that to you! They should know better!
I think what bothers me the most is that there’s an unspoken message of “if you want friends from school, you need to ‘recruit’ them” and because of how hard it is for a child to convert other kids, it essentially makes it impossible to make friends. It’s insidious as f*ck
Yeah, especially since the only socialization they get to have is with other Jehovah's Witnesses or people they're trying to recruit, so the only thing these other kids will know about them is that they're the weird kids that, whenever they try to interact with them, it always turns into trying to recruit them into some weird religion. Even if they did manage to get another kid to want to convert, most parents aren't going to let their children join a cult.
@@PixieoftheWood there was one JW kid in my classes when I was in elementary school and i felt so bad for them not being able to celebrate holidays that I told the teacher that I wasn’t allowed to celebrate holidays either, just so they wouldn’t have to be in the library alone.
We never really spoke or hung out, but I hope he felt better for not being the only kid that didn’t celebrate with the class
@@CraftyVegan I actually remember a JW kid in my grade school, too, and the only thing I remembered about her was that she'd always get up and leave the class whenever there was any celebration of any kind. I'm autistic, and honestly, as socially isolating as that was in grade school, I think being raised JW is far worse. I had trouble making friends and would often just play next to other kids instead of with them, but at least if there was a class activity I could still participate just as much as anyone else, and at least when there was someone wanting to include me, I knew it was okay to let myself be included.
@@PixieoftheWood I’m autistic, too ^_^
My mother hammered into my head that if I saw someone being excluded, that I should make sure to make them feel included.
It worked I guess…
All my friends are and were neurodivergent and/or outcasts 🤷
I probs would have walked over to you with all the purpose I could muster in my little self and invited you to be my friend and do something you wanted to do, lol
Mostly I just wanted to read on my own in a corner, but she gave little kindergartener me a mission that I took so seriously that i still seek out people who seem to be being excluded
Had a HS classmate and I remember she was nice as could be but she couldn't even sing and eventually she stopped talking to all of us and only had one other friend i know was really religious and mean about it so that confused me a lot. I'm not sure if it was because of stuff like this but... it would be an explanation at least. I've heard recently she's out of the cult tho and that made me feel a lot happier for her.
it absolutely destroys me every time one of these animations comes out and shows their peers going above and beyond to include these kids in their lives - i was an isolated child, too, and not every school reacts the way these kids do, which just makes everything about this series they're making worse. caleb and sophia have everything they need to become well-rounded people but these covert child abuse tactics just stunt so many kids with so much potential
That's the worst part. People TRY to give them kindness but the cult tells them to smack away that kindness..
I'm about halfway through so far & find it kind of ironic that the moral that seems to be being pushed, right now, is you should shun everyone for not being part of your religion because your God was shunned for not being part of everyone else's religion.
I've been excluded all my life too. My parents didn't take it all that serious thankfully but specially with field trips and activities like that I was never allowed to do any of those... This organisation is not only tolerating child abuse they're actively pushing it
Sophia is shown to be very smart and thoughtful. The popular headcannon I've heard is that she turns out to be a lesbian who eventually leaves the cult to run off to college with her girlfriend. And Caleb follows with his own non - believing girlfriend to become a video game developer. Both kids seem to have the kind of spark that indoctrination just can't quite extinguish
I "like"(hate with a passion) how no one questions that the adult lady "befriending"(preying on) Sophia isn't a M.A.P, yuck-y.
When your beliefs are so fragile, simply being friendly with anyone who might have a different perspective is the most dangerous thing you can do
People with faith so weak that merely knowing other people exist is enough to shatter the poorly made illusions they created.
Or, in the worse case, the weak-willed individual ceases logical thoughts and lash out like a trapped beast, in an attempt to preserve their "normal" that is extremely detrimental to everyone involved... 🤔
The video talks about choosing your friends wisely no where in the video is it pushing the message that kids shouldn’t have friends but to choose who you wanna associate with. I swear people like to twist the message to fit there own insecurities
@@Lynn5150rr get the hell outta here, indoctrinator
@@Lynn5150rr Still wack though lmao
@@Lynn5150rr Except it's a fact that JWs discourage associating with people outside the religion except to convert them.
And the cartoon definitely pushes the idea that it's a bad thing to have non-JW friends. (It doesn't help that the JW org is also opposed to any science, history, or education that disagrees with their religious propaganda.)
It also blatantly pushes the idea that gay people are bad, despite the _objective fact_ that gay people are born that way.
I made friends with a JWitness kid in middle school, and we NEVER interacted outside of school. Even at school, we would sometimes not even talk for a week at a time, but me and my other friends were always cool when he wanted to interact with us. By 10th grade, he confessed that he wasn't really a Witness anymore, and as soon as he was old enough, he'd be leaving his home and the church. He said being my friend at school helped him realize that. I kept his secret and he did indeed get out at 18. Got accepted to a good college a state over and just never came back. He's a high school music teacher and band coach now.
That nice to know
I’m so glad your friend is doing well now :)
Ey happy endings. Good on them.
The most unbelievable thing is the dad not swearing while fixing the car. I've held the flashlight plenty of times and that's just part of the process.
Unfortunately it is
The most unbelievable part for me was the scene where the dad is fixing the car. NO father is that patient when their kid is not pointing the flashlight in the proper direction.
😂
I’m kind of reminded of a story my dad told about doing a home repair project with his father-in-law, my grandpa. Grandpa could be a bit of a curmudgeon-I always compare him to the Old Man in A Christmas Story-and the whole time, he was grumbling, picking at my dad for every little thing he did wrong. Then, at one point, my dad REALLY messed up. Like, they would have to redo a huge chunk of work messed up. He was sure Grandpa was going to lose it. But that was when Grandpa said, “Oh, don’t worry about it. We can take care of it.”
I think fussing and complaining was just a way Grandpa coped with anxiety. But when my dad actually felt bad about a mistake, no way was Grandpa going to add to that.
@@glamourchick21 I never implied that dads who do that don't love their children or are mean spriited, I just noticed the pattern. It's the same as when they are pissed at themselves for losing that tool that "was in my hand five fucking seconds ago!!!!"
No kidding,
I had a friend in high school who was Jehovas Witness. Yes we were friends. Against the religion. She even bought me a Christmas present once. It was small, but it seemed to mean a lot to her. She hated her religion and wanted to leave all the way back then. Dont know if she ever did, but it was hard for her at the time. I hope she got out.
Most likely she wasn't baptised yet to be a Jehovah's Witness to give you a Xmas gift as JW's don't celebrate Xmas or any other holidays, but if she is baptised, she may not be really loyaled to the religion and she may be a PIMO(Physically In Mentally Out) which she's probably doing things that the religion prohibits participation in Holiday parties or other things the religion doesn't allow their members to take part. I hope she's free now from the cult like you mention because it can hurt and waste her time just as i been through.
I hope so too.
I can only imagine what she's going through, and I can only imagine that she didn't like some of the doctrines, but was afraid of speaking out for fear of being punished.
This is something NO ONE should have to go through. Leaving a religion like Jehovah's Witnesses is SO much easier said than done due to threats of shunning...
I had a similar friend. Dude was literally the best guy when no one he knew outside of school was watching. All I know is he went to the doctor without permission and got diagnosed with Schizophrenia and he disappeared. Like gone, never saw him again. Anytime I tried to contact him, his father responded then blocked me. I really hope he got out and got the proper help he needed.
Sophia: “Why won’t anyone be friends with me?”
Also Sophia: “Your mom’s trash.”
Sad part is that it’s really not even Sophia’s fault.
@@hwtvi3466 exactly! Sophia has just been brainwashed by her sick mother to think this way!
Why even send your kid to school if they can’t associate with anyone? This is so traumatic. I feel bad for Sophia even though she’s not real 😭
To recruit people into the religion
If you look it the other way, Sophia DOES represent real children going through the same situations as her. Which is really sad and frustrating.
I can imagine this is mostly a case of
a) because there are countries with laws about visiting school (i.e. Germany. You are legally required to do 12 years of school or the parents have to pay huge fines) and the JW organisation tries to at least kind of appeal to as many countries as possible.
b) To show how the kids get in contact with ''wordly'' kids and to have better examples how ''bad'' these kids are in comparison to JW children.
A lot of them end up being home schooled past junior high oe high school. But the only reason they are sent to begin with for kindergarten is because it's the law, so they'd get in trouble if they don't. But like I said, a lot of them turn to homeschooling so that they don't associate and for then to become "pioneers"
And their next method would be homeschooling every isolating and depression
It's not kind of like child abuse, Owen. It is one of the most heinous forms, of child abuse.
Denying a developing, juvenile, social creature's mind, contact with its own kind, is about as cruel as you can get, without being physical.
Big difference in avoiding a contagious illness and deliberate social isolation with infantilisation. Don’t be daft!
@@dancingnature don't mind little Mark the mook...it's one of the common right wing trolls.
It's not a normal human being and doesn't understand what its talking about.
With Covid we could at least video chat. But this literally is: stay in our echo chamber, outside people bad.
@@markzuckergecko621 Except COVID measures are meant to be temporary and because you can spread it and kill high-risk people. It's not meant to be a permanent way of life like subscribing to a religion is supposed to be.
@@dancingnature Logic is never these guys' strong point.
I literally grew up with this video series, everything caleb and sofia went through in these videos is what i went through ever since out the womb. im 16 and hate EVERYTHING. especially being isolated and all that, messed me up mentally and i eventually became depressed
same
my paternal grandmother is a JW (i am catholic along with the rest of my mom's side of the family), and she would make me watch these videos as a kid. It really messed my perspective up for a bit until I got older.
My heart hurts for you
@@AshSmith_Hades aww thank you! once im 18 im already making a plan to leave. Not to also mention i was groomed and sexually assaulted so
@@dewco8007 I'm doing my best not to trauma relate right now. Glad you have a plan to get out
It's so fucked how this form of child abuse is still overlooked by so many people. Glad you and other people have been covering it.
What is messed up is parents whatever religion, philosophy they have being pushed on to children. If parents for example want to be vegans...fine, but don't force your kids to be and don't try to brainwash them. Just tell them why you believe X or act in X manner, just don't brainwash them into your beliefs.
People can child abuse kids by forcing their beliefs religious or non religious on them.
@@andrewjohn2124 It can be, but the non-religious side is a much more difficult argument for you to make.
Thank you for instance the form of child abuse. That's when their minds are forming and if they keep getting left out of things they're not going to live a productive life
@@zacheryeckard3051 my parent pushed non-religious propaganda on me in the form of extremist political propaganda and completely isolated me for most of my childhood, it is indeed abusive
@@bercedesmenz956 That sounds more like political propaganda than anything having to do with nonreligion. Atheism makes no claims about politics.
I remember a kid in my high school who was a JW. He was nice, but so weird, and didn’t know what was appropriate to say at any time. And he was always isolated and crying. I felt so awful for him. I tried to ask how I could help but he dismissed it. I hope he got out.
They're not nice. They're civil. Nice people don't see you as inferior and assume you'll burn in hell
I hope he got out too.
Poor boy. :(
That's just sad. I also hope he managed to get out and find happiness.
I feel the same as him, but I was never JW, just autistic.
I am glad you were kind instead of mocking. Hopefully he remembered that as an example of an outsider who wasn’t what the JWs claim they are. ❤
I feel the most sorry for that girl that becomes friends with Sophia. She like 14 years old and from the looks of the church in the beginning, Sophia is the only other kid. They obviously have a big age gap and I feel like the girl thinks that if she doesn’t befriend this 9 year old she’ll have no one. It is very sad and disheartening.
She even behaves like a teen being super polite and encouraging to a lil kid the way nice teens would. There's no deep friendship where they are on the same level. Just a really nice babysitter type behavior.
@@ollievendor7413I’m a babysitter and the girl Sofia befriends lit acts like how I treat those kids
The way my boyfriend describes his childhood, it was even deeper than that. He was told that all the children he knew were going to burn for eternity unless he could convert them.
Imagine the terror of believing all the kids you go to school are going to burn in hell, and it's your fault.
Jehovah's witnesses do not believe in hell.
I wasn’t Jehovahs witness but I believed the same thing. I often worried about my friends who were not religious or even just in a different denomination. I tried to convince them to go to church with me because I didn’t want them to suffer in hell for all eternity.
but JWs don’t believe in hell? I’m confused as to why he was even told that
@@oriana7396 Maybe he was some other religion?
JWs believe in eternal destruction vs eternal life
Omg I grew up with that, except I was Baptist.
We had a jehovah witness kid in my kindergarten class. She always had to leave when we had birthday parties and Christmas crafts and valentines Day, and I always felt so bad for her sitting alone in the hall way. None of us knew why or how to approach her. My grandmother was the principal and talked about how sad it made her to see her be excluded.
My son had a JW kid in his class in first grade whose birthday happened to be the same as my son’s. He was never allowed to partake in the treats sent in for children’s birthdays. I told my son that I was going to send cookies in a week after his birthday and he wasn’t to call it his “birthday treat”. Thankfully he understood and so did the teacher. I just couldn’t bring myself to send in a “birthday treat” and someone who had the same birthday wouldn’t be able to eat the cookies (or cupcakes) I hope that little boy grew up and got out. They moved away from our area so I don’t know what happened to him.
@@beverly719
That's very kind of you, we need more people like this in our world.
@@beverly719 You're a good egg.
@@ReverieNightengale thanks…I just felt so bad for him. During any holiday celebrations he had to sit in the office. His parents didn’t even keep him home. He looked so sad sitting there…it was awful.
@@beverly719 did the same with a friend of mine in high school. She loved collecting porcelain dolls, so I gave her a really nice one I found a week after her birthday, and pretended that I didn’t go out looking for a gift, I just happened to come across it and thought she’d like it. She really did, made me happy to see her feel special for once.
Damn, never thought I'd feel genuinely awful for a kid from a Jehovah's Witness cartoon
I legitimately want Sophia and Caleb to rebel, for the sake of their own happiness
Because they represent real children.
The depressing thing about the “friend” she gets at the end is it feels like the older girl is putting on a performance for the sake of the kid. Like to pacify her want for a friend for the time being. This isn’t how friends are made. It should be organic. This is sad.
I mean, the look the mom gives to Sofia as if saying "see? She's a good person to be your friend!" It shows the girls is trying to be friends with Sofia because her parents asked her to
HOLY SHIT!! THE REAL WESKER!! REAL!!(real)
The thing is she's shown to have friends (somewhat) in other episodes. That girl Zoe (Zoey?) and her are friends/they look at Jehovah things together/she'll ask Sophia about him. She even seems nervous when Sophia sees she's in the science club too. The kids literally seem to like Sophia and want to hang out with her. It's not like she said 'oh no i cant make it, i have worship that night' and they got angry at her. All they said was 'hey Sophia, you should join.You're really good at science!"
I had a jehovah witness school teacher in third grade in texas, in the 1980's. We found out we were the only ones not getting a party on the day everyone was celebrating Halloween. The other 3rd grade teachers even invited us to their parties, but our teacher refused. Well the mothers had a fit when we all complained how we were the only kids who weren't going to have a xmas, valentines, or easter party. Luckily a mother in our class who was a rich Karen went to the superintendent, gathered mothers, etc & raised hell. She was forcing her beliefs on us. When we could go celebrate in another class. Shed been doing this for 20, years to students, & it was our class that got it changed. She had us say the pledge, because it was required. Yet she didn't say it. This is the only time I'm glad of a rich Karen!
What a great story! Glad that Karen used her power for good, at least that time. How wild that teacher got away with no parties for 20 years, wtf!!!
It's nice that issue got resolved but like...this woman helped you and you're still calling her a Karen.😐
I remember when the JW learning difficulties teacher the day before the sleep in she didn't turn up to (no I don't know why second grade teacher thought a brilliant idea) tried forcing her beliefs on the Scripture teachers. They were I think Protestant reformation.
@@valentinaperez8256I think he measn the woman is *usually* a Karen.
For several years my Mom studied and became a JW. I stood during the pledge but had friends outside. Dad wasn’t a a JW so in our house we celebrated holidays but minimally. I am not a JW and after about eight years Mom pulled away.
Some people might think it’s extreme to say, but I agree with you that forcing your child to isolate themselves is borderline, if not fully a form of emotional abuse.
I think it’s 100% abuse.
One of my best friends in middle and high school was a JW. Apparently us being friends and her being welcome in my friend group, which was a bunch of LGBTQ+ people, started her doubts about the religion. She's married now, and we're still good friends.
It was the same thing with me when I was younger ngl
I felt so left out when I was younger on holidays and such. Thankfully I was allowed to have "outsider" friends and such. My friends and teachers were having fun and made me realize on how stupid the realigion is
Surprise surprise, I turn out to be a part of the lgbtq community lol
Wish it were me. My cousin is a JW and invited me out with her JW friends. We all went to an escape room and had lunch, we had fun & there was no talk of Jehovah just cool stuff we all had in common! I assume word got out they really liked me, a non-JW, because the next time I was told they couldn’t hang with me again as I “could be a negative influence”. Oof!
one of my best friends is JW too but they definitely aren’t as extreme as im hearing here- he wasn’t isolated and supports lgbtq and stuff
when I was a JW child, the ONLY kids willing to be my friends were the lgbtq+ clique, despite how vocal I was about how "I don't hate the person, but I don't approve of the lifestyle. It's not your fault, but it is bad for your health." I have no idea why they put up with me but they were my only friends. And now, one of those kids is my roommate, one of those kids is my Sister-in-Law, and I'm out as trans.
@@elrohirelrondion I had a mormon friend who gave me the 'it's bad for you' talks when I was in high school (i'm a lesbian - though I think I was calling myself bi at the time), for me it really rolled off my back - I could tell by her tone and how she didn't really follow through on the conversations that it was something coming from her family & religion, not from her. At the time, I just found it funny that she was so concerned about something that made me so happy - if maybe a little pitiable. She didn't have to go through that worry.
coulda been a similar situation for your friends! It could be fun to ask them, I apologized wayy later for proselytizing to my friends when I was in middle/early high school (I was raised evangelical), and they all found the conversations I look back on and cringe so inconsequential that they'd forgotten, lmao.
My husband has lost his entire family to this cult. He's the last person who should be treated this way. He's survived 16 brain operations, a brain tumor, a shunt, & many other problems like seizures. Since he wont submit completely to jehovah, & leave a lot of medical options behind, he's not family. They consider him dead to them. Its horrible!
I’m so sorry your husband has and is dealing with this! This is why I think JWs is a destructive cult. They destroy families AND encourage those who need blood to survive a medical issue to not accept it an therefor die. I hope your husband is doing well.
Lost all of mine too. I'm over 60, have had a stroke and have nobody who cares. I hate religion espescial those who divide families
I’m sorry your husband had to go through that and still going through it . That is horrible. It’s what cults do ..breaks up families .
This is horrible. 16 brain operations? wow. Bless his heart. I cant believe his family is so anal. They should be going out of their way to love him to death instead of treating him this way. This religion is a disease.
Why would that bother you?
The trash took itself out.
I still remember my last days in the cult, long story short is my father and mother were divorced, my mother in my father out. I gained the courage to move with my father. The last days of the cult were hilarious, they acted almost afraid of me since they all knew and I had decided to start challenging them. I would go and sit down, people avoided me. I took pride in the power since it was the first time I had ever had any. Sad and glorious.
The way they isolate their kids from their peers is sickening. My oldest's father is unfortunately a JW and he would tell the school not to allow our son to participate in classroom parties. I'd arrive at school to find my son is tears in the hallway bc of it. He felt left out, isolated, his peers would treat him differently bc of it. Then his dad who remmarried an elder's daughter and had 2 other kids with her, kicked our son out of his house at 10 bc his wife said she didnt want him there bc he was not of her blood. The psychological effects that this cult have done to him ate substantial. Hes 14 now. He's got ptsd from religious trauma bc of it.
Grew up in the Mormon church, so my experiences were different but I still had to deal with incredibly authoritarian and controlling people in my life. I hope your son realizes someday that even though his childhood was kinda stolen, he still has a whole life of freedom ahead.
Who kicks their kid out at 10? where the hell would they go at 10? they cant support themselves. wtf. This man was no Christian.
@@robinkish-miller2990 so we have 50/50 and when he kicked him out of his house, instead of him just letting me have him full time, our son spends the time he would be spending at his dad's house at his grandmothers house(his dad's mom). We have to go back to court for me to get full custody and i dont have the $ for a lawyer, but it just goes to show how petty they are. The only time my son sees his dad is when he picks him up from my place to drop him off at his moms house and sometimes when my son is at his grandmas house, his dad will come and visit for a few hours,but other than that, thats it.
@@modeljennalynn1 I feel for you and your son. Bless you and your family.
@@markzuckergecko621 wtf are you talking about?are you drunk?
Presenting Sophia as getting an acceptable friend who is older than she is actually a good ploy. Most kids would really, really like to have a kid older than themselves to befriend them. If you're a kid, an older-kid friend increases your status and self-esteem. The religion allows Sophia extremely few ways to increase her status, and I think she is quite low on self-esteem.
I have to disagree. That really creeped me out. If you notice, the "friend" is using a very condescending tone to Sophia, so this doesn't feel so much like a friendship of equals as an adult for some unknown reason paying attention to a kid. It feels creepy and almost like the beginning of a grooming situation. I can't imagine that this person, who is at last 16 and more likely in her 20s, has much in common with an elementary school-aged child. An earlier post talked about how JWs like to use infantilization to control members, and I'm wondering if it either worked too well on this woman or if this is some ploy to keep Sophia in the religion. I know Mormanism has this thing called "home teaching", where people come over and socialize (keeping the focus on the religion, of course) to keep people from getting disconnected. Do the JWs do the same? Or is creepy in more of a "To Catch A Predator" way?
It's actually a bit creepy because it sets them up to be easier for actual real grooming... if they have an older victim of grooming, being tethered to a younger person, it makes it easier for the grooming to be seen as normal to the victim, so they won't question what's happening to them.
@@NameOfRain @DigiVixen I don't think @keisbuddy was saying that Sophia befriending the older girl was a good thing at all. I think by "good ploy" they meant it's a draw for kids Sophia's age who love the idea OF having an older friend. "Good" in a warped sense. Bad good. But I may have misunderstood.
I absolutely agree that it's creepy, though. Why would a teenager seriously befriend a nine, ten year old?
@@test-kf2zv Thank you for the clarification.
Did you notice that Sophia's eyes got greener whenever she was jealous? Most of the rime her eyes are a greenish hazel, but right after she sees something she wants they are a brighter green. Subtle.
Here's what drives me crazy about that whole Jesus friend story in the video: Jesus WAS the weirdo who no one wanted Martha to "befriend." By that logic, Sophia actually should have befriended those kids even though her parents told her not to. WTF.
Right? The ancient story is about a woman who her friends worry is joining a cult where some oddball calls himself God's son in human flesh and the savior of earth. If Christ was real and told people that kind of claim nowadays, he'd be laughed at.
Plus, pretty sure Jesus in the Bible was the weirdo who took literally anyone as friends, your backgrounds be damned as long as you're genuine and sincere.
The story of Martha completely fails as a comparison. Martha, supposedly, couldn’t be friends with those people because they didn’t believe in Jesus, but most of Sophia’s classmates are Christian because most Americans are Christians. But she can’t be friends with them because they’re not members of the right cult.
The creepiest part for me is actually the lengths they went to to make these kid characters pretty well-rounded & relatable by kids show standards. It’s an incredibly sneaky indoctrination method, yet as someone who regularly watches cartoons, I kind of engage with it the same way I engage with characters like Hunter (Owl House), Adora (SPOP) or Zuko (ATLA)- I want to see them get out & never go back, I want to see them find real friends & real, unconditional love. But that’s not going to happen because Caleb & Sofia were created to be propaganda pieces. Yet, even in the propaganda, you can still see the tragedy plain as day.
I too have adopted Hunter Noceda into my heart.
We all have.
No because this. Especially with hunter, as an ex jw I related so hard to his story and the way he still struggles with former indoctrination, I love this type of character
Big hunter and amity kinnie right here, and i understand EXACTLY what you're talking about. I want to see Caleb and Sophia escape so bad, even though I know they were created to teach obediance and confinement.
I’m really happy for you that you were able to get out. It must’ve been hard, but you just keep on loving every second you get to live a life that’s your own, us weirdos have to stick together ❤️
Didn’t grow up JW but did grow up Pentecostal. My mom headed most religious conversations (though she said my dad should be the one “guiding us”). Dad just agreed with whatever mom said and would just occasionally, randomly talk about religious stuff with us.
My siblings and I grew up with the sentiment that each person we save was a jewel in our crown in heaven. When I was around 10-12 the conversation got heavier with the “and the people you don’t save, you will see on judgement day. They’ll stand before you and ask “why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you save me?”
Needless to say, that was pretty hard to hear as a kid. I had a lot of anxiety surrounding spirituality growing up. I remember having random intrusive thoughts that I’d been damned, I was going to hell, I was possessed, I sold my soul, etc.
Every nightmare I had, my mom said to pray to god about it, even though I prayed every night and my mom even said that my prayers were beautiful. Any struggle was because god thought I was “strong enough”. Every depressive episode, I just needed to pray harder because therapy won’t help. Only god can.
So I really resonate with Sophia, especially since I did have a Muslim friend and Hindu friend as a kid. My parents let me be their friend but discouraged going to their house or them to ours. Made racist jokes and my mom always expressed that she wished I made friends in church, good Christian friends.
Which made me feel kind of on the fence with my friends. Looking back at it now, I wasn’t a great friend. I had conflicting feelings of being lonely but not wanting to make friends I wouldn’t “see again in heaven”. So some days I’d just stew at recess, sitting with them while we did our own thing and that’s really sad. Partially was also due to social anxiety, I will say and being painfully socially awkward that any social interaction was a struggle for me. Was no wonder they stopped talking to me and we grew apart.
I’m atheist now, but not just because of my upbringing. I’ve done my own self-reflection and looked into other religions, other belief systems. Even considered crafting my own but nothing really clicked.
I’m more at peace and satisfied as an atheist, though I won’t say I’ll never go into religion again because I don’t want to just close myself off completely. But finding religion again will be on MY terms. No one elses. I don’t want to be preached to, I prefer conversation that is mutually open.
And that’s what I recommend to anyone struggling. Self-reflect, read up on things, and come to your own conclusion. Even if that conclusion is a belief system without a label. We aren’t here long enough to dictate the beliefs of others as long as their beliefs aren’t sacrificing virgins every full moon and kicking puppies or something.
I'm sorry for what you've been through, and I'm glad you're more at peace now. I'm Catholic and I have friends who are outside my faith, and we occasionally talk about our differing beliefs. The way I see it, the only way to know the truth is to test it against other viewpoints and consider all the evidence. I personally believe that religion is necessary for people to find hope and purpose in this chaotic world, but I take no offense if others don't share that belief. I have many friends outside of my religion, and while I have no problem with their differing beliefs, I do pray for them to get to heaven and hope that they'll find God someday, just because I want to see them again in heaven. It's a shame you were guilt-tripped into following your faith rather than given a more wholesome upbringing by your parents, and I hope you're in a better place now.
It seems to me that if you are trying to draw people you know into your religion, showing them that if they do join, the cost will be having to discontinue friendships with "outsiders" and only associate with those who share your beliefs, would not cause many to be interested in learning more about your religion.
youd think. but they hide a lot of that until later
Also, it can be a valid elimination tactic. Make sure those who'd make trouble and maybe take people with them when they leave aren't interested in the first place...
@@markzuckergecko621exactly.
After all, only 144,000 can fit into heaven and they're already way overbooked.
the rules are different for the recruitment process. they internally justify any amount of deception and manipulation because its "for their own good", since they are trying to "save" the would-be converts. they will act like they are the friends of the people they are bringing into the fold. be the absolute pinnacle of patience and kindness. and then, once you are somewhat enmeshed with the cult, THEN they make you choose between the evil outsiders and the kind, loving, righteous cult insiders. you dont find out the friendship with outsiders is all an act and you are not allowed to associate with the non-brainwashed until you're already in.
The terror of being afraid you were going to accidentally participate in something you weren’t supposed to was rough. Then, sitting there wondering what you’re going to tell the teacher. One time I came home after Halloween and was locked in my room for the entire day while my mom cried and called the radio station. It was so traumatizing as I waited in my room feeling like I was a horrible person. I was 7. I agree with you, this is child abuse. I’m so sorry for what you went through.
I'm guessing they also have the mind set of "If you have to ask or you are unsure if something is bad or sinful then it most likely is ."
Exactly
I was left out this way in middle school with no religion involved and am literally scarred and traumatized with severe attachment and abandonment issues. I literally cannot comprehend how much worse it would have been to know all my classmates would have been my friends if my parents has let them. Horrific.
Right after this video concludes at the annual meeting, Splane addresses the audience and says, "Admit it. You enjoy watching Caleb and Sophia just as much as the kids do." That's a perfect example of infantilization. When a narcissist infantilizes someone, it makes that person much easier to control. The governing body has done this many times, but one other time that I remember was when Splane said that all Jehovah's Witnesses have free will. They can pick things like their favorite animal, or their favorite color. He then asked, "What's your favorite color?" He might as well have been teaching kindergarten.
I do, I'll freely admit it. I'm a lil baby at heart. Cartoons are the shit.
@@titanomachy2217 Cartoons are great. It's the propaganda I have a problem with.
He said to the viewers, "Let me Splane this to you". JK!
Sofia’s expressions look depressed. At least they were accurate with that.
My daughter’s JW friend she went to school with just killed himself this past summer. He was so isolated and strangely raised. He never had a chance.
Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that! Unfortunately suicide is somewhat common among Jehovah's Witnesses, even though the Watchtower Society would NEVER admit it.
@@WWZenaDojws never admit any wrongdoing they are taught to think that they are perfect
Yes we do all the time especially at meetings and if you choose to repent. Where do you get that info from!?
@@FreespeechUnite well considering the fact that jws in their own congregations have a rampant issue with their own members abusing kids and covering it up instead of letting the proper authorities deal with it they choose to think they are above the law and think they can investigate it themselves
Someone in the staff or leadership of this animation company is totally getting off to those cartoon kids' despair.
Dad: Sophia, move the light. Sophia: Maybe have Jehova move the goddamn light.
It is absolutely wild that they took a story where a woman puts her trust in a teacher she doesn't know, an outsider, in spite of her friends and the authorities in her community being against it, and he helps her in a way they couldn't; and they use that story to justify obeying their authority figures and rejecting outsiders with different teachings?
It'd be great if some talented animator made a spin off where the kids escape, have loads of fun times and become fully rounded members of society.
Copyright infringement could be problematic, but I’d like that as well.
@@VenetusAlpha it could be covered under "parody", just like Weird Al's music is
@@davidgriffin9247 Reasonable point, but I could still see a protracted legal battle with the church if someone did this.
It may not be from a talented animator, but a channel called JW Chronicles created some parody episodes called “Caleb and Sophia All Grown Up.”
The legal system needs to start enforcing fair use'
I remember in 5th grade we had a JW in class and he was allowed to be friends with other kids, but, I distinctly remember we were going to watch Christmas and holiday movies and he told the teacher he wasn’t allowed to watch them, so, he had to sit in the hallway while we watched them. I can’t imagine how embarrassing and isolating that must’ve been to be stuck in the hallway as a 5th grader, while all the other kids get to play games and watch movies for the day.
Happens to me all the time and used to be really bad. All my friends were gonna watch a scooby doo movie when I was 10. They were watching it on a huge screen outside and my mom said I can’t cuz it’s Halloween related. I felt terrible the whole week
To me, the creepiest part of the video is Lydia coming up, introducing herself and already knowing Sophia's name. Not checking who she is, either assuming or already knowing.
An older community member just approaching a younger member without parents present. Really feels weird.
The look they give eachother at the end is also weirdly romantic
@@Sarah-og3mp I thought that was just me. The touching of the hair especially is normally a visual signal of romantic attraction.
I'm not saying you shouldn't think it's weird, bc it probably is, but as someone who grew up in the community I can tell you it's not weird at all for everyone to know each other's names. Each congregation is around 100 people that meet twice a week and are very strongly encouraged to associate before and after the meeting, plus going out and working with different members in the public ministry. And it's a very insular community, so new people get absorbed very quickly. It probably does seem weird from the outside but from the inside it wouldn't be weird for one member of the congregation to be able to name all the other members. Also, everyone is encouraged to trust each other so trusting another jw with your child isn't viewed as weird, either. Little kids got passed around at my hall quite a bit, childless couples or single sisters helping out with kids during or after the meeting or out in the ministry was very normal. When I was 15 I spent almost all my time with a married 27 year old sister bc she was seen as a good influence for me.
Lydia showing up wearing turtle earrings after Sophia's parents knew she was struggling with finding friends just made it more obvious they prompted Lydia to do that. So now Sophia can't even truly make friends (1) in her own age group or (2) organically 😞
@whimsical_me5135 That's fair, I guess it depends on your background and upbringing as to what seems normal. I understand how small community members would be familiar with each other, but it seems an odd dynamic for an older member to know a younger member's name before introducing herself without explaining how she knows her.
The animators do a spot on job showing the vacant stares from the kid.
Canada got rid of solitary confinement because its so damaging to people. I remember my cousins never had friends. They would only associate with their brothers and sisters because they were also JW. This did a LOT of harm to them over the years and of the 7 of them, they all have depression/anxiety and 5 of them deal with addiction. 3 are in and out of jail.
I did not know that having friends was considered a "real need" until I was playing SIMS as a 30 year old. My parents completely rejected my need for friends or any social events except for my siblings. We even stopped going to church for a while because it wasn't strict enough for my dad.
Now, I realize my intense lonliness led to my zealotry as a teen. And I've always struggled to fit in or feel normal.
The video talks about choosing your friends wisely no where in the video is it pushing the message that kids shouldn’t have friends but to choose who you wanna associate with. I swear people like to twist the message to fit there own insecurities
@@Lynn5150rr yeah, it talks about how you should choose friends from the same religion, otherwise you shouldn’t interact with them (unless you’re trying to convert them of course). Also have you considered that the man in the video and many commentators aren’t blindly taking the original video’s message in isolation, and are instead aware of how these messages are put into practice.
@@Lynn5150rr So why did Sophia not choose to become friends with her classmates? Because she was told to choose "better", leaving her with no friends at all, until that older girl/woman, however old she is supposed to be, came along, and was "good enough" because she is from the same religion. Sophia still doesn't have any friends of her own age, because she is being told they are not good to be friends with. So, even though they are not saying kids shouldn't have friends, Sophia is still in that situation because of them.
@@Lynn5150rr copy and paste is awesome copy and paste is awesome copy and paste is awesome copy and paste is awesome copy and paste is awesome
I hope you know you are worthy of love and respect. I wish you nothing but happiness and wholeness in your life. You are worthy just the way you are.
The year I went to public school, I ended up befriending a jehovah's witness. I remember being really confused and sad when she wouldn't come to my birthday party. I kind of took it personally, because I didn't know she wasn't allowed to come. I hope I never made her feel this isolated.
It wouldn’t have been your fault for being a normal kid anyways. Her parents and the congregation would be making her feel isolated
What I really like is that it gives you a chance to reach out and make the extra effort to be sympathetic with the pariah of the tribe and treat them with respect. I was reading in a Book about a guy who was into that.
Also-- those kids are so needy you can get them to do literally anything.
When I was a teen, there was this kid in our class who was a witness, and every time peoples tried to be his friend or invite him to activities, he kept refusing... he ended up so lonely, it was so sad and confusing to see, but now I understand better... still very sad, but not confuing.
It's always heartbreaking to hear about your childhood. I'm glad you got out
I knew some kids that were JW in my hometown. They didn’t pledge the flag or participate in class birthday parties. My teacher taught us that their religion didn’t allow it and that we should not treat them any differently because of it or tease them. But you could tell they were being traumatized. I asked the girl once why they didn't celebrate birthdays and she said, "If people read the Bible they'd know." I knew that I read a lot of the Bible, too and had never seen anything like that. I just thought that she must be feeling weird because she didn't know either.
Another twisted thing they did in this video that bugged me was that they made Martha the hero. In the story, Martha was a bully that was only concerned with being praised about her food and how clean her house was. She bullied Mary for wanting to hang out with Jesus instead of cleaning house. Martha even demanded that Jesus tell Mary to help her and he shut her down. Jesus said that Martha was too worried about appearances. That was super cringy to see her as the hero. And I'm not even Christian anymore! I've been an atheist for like 15 years.
I was thinking the same thing. That was actually the scene I thought they were headed for when the townspeople were saying women shouldn't be taught.
Jesus actively fought against the suppression of Mary’s thirst for knowledge. She wanted to listen, and shouldn’t be made to put herself behind the men spiritually in the name of “service.” Martha was following a toxic mindset and Jesus set her straight.
That’s cause there isn’t anything in the Bible. A JW told me, years ago, ‘It’s because celebrating birthdays is a pagan tradition.’
@@WizardClipAudio it's because in a sense celebrating birthdays is revolving around a person which is idolatry, and we aren't supposed to worship those aside from God/Christ. I'm not a JW but that's my intake and yes there's paganistic origin with it.
Martha was NOT a bully.
I am actually surprised they are allowed to go to public school instead of having there own school.
The don’t want to have to pay for it
Owen mentioned that the shading in this episode looked terrible, but I think a good chunk of that was intentional. In this episode, lighting is very important. If you look at all the times Sophia is looking on at her classmates while she's lonely, she is always in shadow. The kids she looks over at are always in the sunlight or in brightly lot areas, and wearing brightly colored clothing. But Sophia is always in some way sitting in the shadows, or shaded over; even in the classroom, her face is shaded over while the other kids aren't. You can also see / hear the things the kids are playing with in the first playground scene to let you know the kids are having fun, while Sophia only has a magazine. This is intentionally done to create a sense of loneliness, and you subconsciously pick up on Sophia's sad situation and feel bad for her.
Take note as well, whenever she is happy and with friends, she is not shaded over, instead lit up like the others, and her clothes seem to have a brighter hue. Like Owen said, everything in the episodes has a purpose, and I think the lighting is especially important in this one. When done right, simple things like color and shading can create strong emotions in a scene, and I believe this is what the JW Organization did with this episode.
I'm not done watching yet (and I might come back and edit later), but I'd also like to take note of the lamp lighting when Sophia's dad is talking to her. Note that the lighting means "happiness" or "fulfillment" in this episode; the lamps in her room while Sophia is reading light up her face and the magazine with God's word. Its not much, but I think this is supposed to be saying that you should find fulfillment in God, Jesus, and the Holy Word, NOT your friends and fun things like parties.
It's very sneaky, but I believe this is the message they are trying to send, by flipping the meaning of the lighting, having it light up God's Word and not those "silly non believers". I'll come back later when I'm done watching and see if this is the case.
I think that you're exactly right and accurate in your observations.
Wow, they put so much effort and detail into their propaganda it's kinda scary
Framing devices or environmental storytelling are good to use in writing, yes, but if used with propaganda can lead to some feeling emotions that can hijack the logical part of yourself telling you something is fishy here.
There are so many symbols and repeated themes in these videos, they're very well planned and executed, I must say. I love decoding text like this and this series is rich with their worldview, a lot of it very subtle.
Rewatch a bit starting at 8:12: Note that at the height of Sofia's temptation in the classroom, a boy in a purple hoodie walks by squeezing a soft Earth stress ball going, "I love my priiiize" like Gollum. That's the Devil. I LOL'd seeing him, it was so obvious. (I also LOL'd at how distracted by him Owen was, but he lets it pass without comment! "There's something messed up about that kid but I can't put my finger on why, hmmm."
@@The_Serpent_of_Eden omg your right! If I remember correctly in another episode when Satan was trying to tempt Jesus he was in the colour purple or something. In the same episode Caleb and Sophia thought about giving into temptation (cheating on a test/playing *gasp!* video games!) the background was purple around them.
✨Symbolism✨
My oldest son, age 14 at the time, missed receiving top awards in his class because his abusive hypocritical J.W. father said that he couldn’t miss the book study that night. His teacher was very upset & this definitely wasn’t a “good” witness for Jehovah. I had not watched you before tonight. You are one of very few who can hold my attention & I’m now a fan! Btw, I was in from 1972 till 2017 & I’m soooo happy to be out, although my life was wasted & I’ve lost all family & friends. It’s wonderful people like yourself who bring me comfort with the work you do.
Being a total slave to an imaginary mega ghost, dedicating your life to making the ghost happy... it's no way to live.
And I totally agree that the isolation is child abuse.
Why is Sophia's only friend an adult? Doesn't that ignore her original problem? She explicitly said, "I wish I had kid friends." A child can only relate to the adult "friend" so far.
Also, did anyone else get an odd vibe in their interaction? Looks more Sophia has a crush than a friend.
Weird how they reject it when it's two people of the same age, but when it comes to getting the younger person groomed into staying in that circle it's okay :\
What is the most creepy about Sophia's friendship is how they are so awkward together. It reminds me of when I was Sophia's age and I had a crush on an older girl and was so awkward talking to her.
The video talks about choosing your friends wisely no where in the video is it pushing the message that kids shouldn’t have friends but to choose who you wanna associate with. I swear people like to twist the message to fit there own insecurities
@@Lynn5150rr I didn't say anything about it saying it tells people not to have friends. I said her friendship that was shown felt creepy. Please take time to read and make sure you're replying to the correct person because you either didn't read my comment or you meant this comment for someone else. Cheers and have the day you deserve
@@kiterafrey Don't mind them, they copied and pasted this same reply to a bunch of people
@@Lynn5150rr Go read the Bible stop copy pasting the same message in every comment Lmao
@@kiterafrey That cultist doesn't give a shit. Whether one points out the actual message or no, he'll just spam that denial-filled response because he's been brainwashed into hating the truth.
Dude the flat tone of , “Oh Lazarus died…I forgot about that.” Like it was from an old episode of Seinfeld hand me cracking up.
I *REALLY* wish I knew how to animate similar to their style, because I'd love to make an animation of Sophia and Caleb being spoken to and later taken away from their parents by social workers. Getting therapy and maybe a nice foster family.
Or basically, I just wish there was an animation series that had the opposite message of this propaganda. I want an animation series featuring some kids like Caleb and Sophia escaping their situation and the struggles that come along with that.
Same here, and I'd have Sophia grow into a goth death metal loving teenager and eventually a world famous scientist and Caleb becomes a therapist who also speaks out against abusive cults. Meanwhile, the parents are arrested for child abuse, neglect, and the dad is deported after it's discovered he was taking pictures of the local elementary school.
Start with a comic. Or fuck, even a fanfic and tag Owen in it. He might just present it and who knows, you might start something positive.
Maybe AI can help?
@@shappy.b.o.t.s4508 That would be a good idea.
Hearing the pain in your voice when you talk about getting left out hits hard. I'm happy for every person that got out of that cult.
"It's a ridiculous story, top to bottom." is now my favorite description of biblical stories.
When I was in 6th grade we were assigned first grade buddies. My buddy was a sweet little girl who was a JW. Mostly we read books with them--I remember she liked horses. But when it came time for class parties she was not allowed to participate. The teachers came to me very apologetic asking if I would stay out in the hallway and read books with her while the other kids had their party. My teachers felt bad that I had to miss out so always gave me extra of the treats afterward. Since the end of the year party wasn't holiday related they had hoped she could finally participate. But we were going to watch a movie with our buddies. They told me they tried and tried but every movie suggestion was turned down by her parents and once again we were in the hallway. The feeling of isolation was strong for me, and I was older and going to be rewarded for having to miss out. I remember thinking how hard it must be for her. She would try to peek in the windows to watch the other kids.
That is so sad, that poor little girl. I hope she's doing okay
That’s very sad. I’m glad I’m not a JW
I grew up a JW, I was once that little girl. It was awful.
The whole thing at the end where the parents actively discourage her from making friends with kids her own age, but are okay with someone older being around their daughter feels like an open door for grooming tbh. Lydia's like...maybe 14-16? Sophia is probably supposed to be about 8-10 (Caleb is around 6 given one of his classmates in the Cupcake episode turned 6) its hard to say, and Im sure they meant for her to be like a 'big sister' figure for Sophia, but since she's Sophia's only friend, it seems unhealthy and there's a definite power imbalance. Really gives off the 'why is this grown adult hanging around these kids/teens' vibe. Also she flat out says "I wish I had some _KID_ friends", why couldn't they have her friend be like, Lydia's little sister or another girl her age?
Also Zoey (the black girl who invited Sophia to the club) is a reoccurring character. She first appeared when her grandmother died, and Sophia's parents encouraged her to use this moment of emotional weakness to talk about Jehovah, then she's later seen studying Jehovah at school with her on a few occasions.
Well in the congregation everyone knows each other, including the kids. It’s very normal for parents to trust their children with other jw’s. And yeah there’s a lot of inconsistencies with these videos, like zoey. I don’t think it’s weird that Lydia and Sophia are friends, I understand how you think that though.
The video talks about choosing your friends wisely no where in the video is it pushing the message that kids shouldn’t have friends but to choose who you wanna associate with. I swear people like to twist the message to fit there own insecurities
Lydia can't have friends outside the congregation either. She's playing big sister to Sophia because she can't go hang out with kids her age. Zoey is a potential convert. When Sophia is reaching out to Zoey, it's depicted as a good thing. It means Sophia may bring Zoey into the faith. When Zoey reaches out to Sophia, it's depicted as a bad thing. It means Zoey may bring Sophia out of the faith.
I was the ONLY JW kid at my high school. ALL the other kids hated me because I was a JW.
Definitely affected me. I ended up leaving before the final year and gave up my dreams of being an engineer.
A couple of the kids would talk to me but only if no one was watching.
I'm Jewish. Jewess is an accepted term. I have said I'm a Jewess. I'm 60 years old, almost 61. It's not used as much anymore as people prefer gender neutral terms. It's not considered offensive however.
Good to know! X
Thanks for the context
I knew it was an (forgive me) an older term but was 50/50 on if it was offensive. ::The more you know rainbow::
There are younger Jewish girls and women who dislike the term because it feels separating. Jehovah’s witnesses are obsessed with gendering everything to the point they are trying to bring back old gendered terms for people outside of their own religion. It’s very strange.
@@Mehk yes, I agree. I just mean it's not generally considered offensive. It's basically passe now. Unfortunately orthodox and ultra orthodox Jews are also obsessed with gender roles. When I went to Yeshiva we girls were basically taught that no matter what our education we should basically get married and become homemakers. This was 1973 - 1975.
"What is this? are they all married? Is this a poly relationship?" Bro forgot 30 seconds before when sophia said theyre siblings lmao
... that doesn't necessarily mean they aren't both married to him >.>
Rebecca and Leah were sisters AND Jacob’s wives.
Lazarus was their brother. Martha and Mary I think were both unmarried so they were living with their brother (presumably because their father was already dead).
It is so horrifying to know these things are happening to children. Even the plights of these fictional characters like Sophia just tug my heartstrings and make me want to be able to give them a better childhood.
the cartoon broke my heart as a teacher I had some kids who weren't allowed to participate in activities like birthdays, and the kids always nearly cried, when they couldn't participate
I honestly can’t imagine, I still remember some of my harshest experiences from grade school on. Being forbidden from fun is abusive.
The weirdest thing to me is that this “friend” Sophia has is so clearly older than her, a bit creepy if you think about it. This lady looks like a full on adult, and Sophia is like ten.
its exactly like this for me - im around 12, and the only people i can really communicate with are grown ass adults...it sucks.
In my experience, older girls “befriending” younger girls (like me when i was in elementary school) only ever turned out bad. I was either bullied, or worse, taken advantage of/abused. It’s not always the case of course but it’s just something that happens.
This is true. Kids who are going through puberty are very likely to abuse without even understanding that it's wrong or why if they have no guidance anout what they are experiencing, and younger kids are more likely to be damaged by these experiences than when to tweens or teens are just experimenting with eachother because they aren't at the same developmental level. Girls are just as likely to do weird shit to younger girls, and then there's the fact that abusive adults will groom the older kids to help them get access to younger kids.
American schools seem to have a huge bullying problem from what I read on the internet.
I am so sorry that was your experience, I was bullied a lot by my peers in my first 4 years of high school so I understand how hard it must have been for you and I wish that it had been better/different. I was an older girl with a lot of younger friends when I was in secondary school, I was year 12 and they were year 8. I was basically their Mumma bear who made sure that all of them were eating, getting enough rest, etc. I was the one that they came to whenever they needed help either with schoolwork or needed someone to talk to I was always there. I became friends with them because one of my friends' younger sisters was in their group so we would often go check on them and hang out while they caught up so we just naturally bonded. They're still my baby bears and I miss them dearly and think of them often.
I was never a Jehovah's Witness, but my best friend was raised that way but was never baptized. Because his family liked me, later as an adult they got me a job at a company where I was the only atheist, and everyone inside were Witnesses. I met a guy that was so segregated from everything he was only ever allowed to listen to Elvis Presley and Kingdom Hall music. That was it. He had no idea of any bands from any era. It was mindboggling.
The funniest contradiction about that guy to me was that he played Magic: The Gathering. But only played White.
Haha fun fact white tends to be the color of religion in mtg. Guess he could relate.
@@brandonhann1508 or a combination of white and black.
@@thomasfplm jw does kind of remind me of orshov. They exploit people under the guise of religion
I swear It's rare to even see a black/any other race but white. They portray Jesus and his apostles white aswell, even though they'd be darker skin back then. It's just a bit racist
@@NewbieTuesday yeah I noticed that too. Why is jw jesus (a traveling middle eastern man that in the bible is explicitly described with non white feature(i.e afro features) depicted as the cleanest cut white guy ever. Alot of these fringe sects tend to dabble in white supremacy. They just tend to be subtle about it nowadays
I was rejected at school and rejected in the Kingdom Hall
I see that Sophia it's the best developed character, and usually is: Sophia asks about something that intrigues her, usually what children are attracted to, and her family is like "oh, yeah, normal child behaviour, that's something Jehova doesn't approves" and so she's told to STFU and pray.
They are making her a normal child and raising her with issues.
The video talks about choosing your friends wisely no where in the video is it pushing the message that kids shouldn’t have friends but to choose who you wanna associate with. I swear people like to twist the message to fit there own insecurities
@@Lynn5150rr 35:55 it very literally says only be friends with people of the same religion (or if you’re trying to convert them). And since there are no JW children at her school, (& the parents know that), Sophia’s parents are openly encouraging her to be isolated.
@Omar Marrufo Yes choose your friends wisely. But what the hay was wrong with the friends she was choosing? Absolutely NOTHING. Except they weren't JW.
@@Lynn5150rr You're the only one twisting things to fit your own insecurities, mate.
@@reptoidrenaissance I simply have not done anything mate.
There's a TH-camr called JW chronicles who did a series of Caleb and Sophia All Grown Up cartoons, where they woke up and realized they were in a cult and talk about how messed up their childhood was. They just did it with this crappy program called Plotagon where you use fake computer voices, but it's better than nothing.
Its crazy how they straight-forward show you: "Those kids having fun? Yea, NOT YOU! Because you are meant for higher purpose and those other kids are sinful spoiled brats!" Its so obviously evil, twisted and judgemental. I never saw this "You feeling bad is actually good" gaslighting towards kids this strong before.
So the dad is trying to teach his daughter to listen to their religious leaders and avoid outsiders.... with a story about a woman who chooses to ignore her religious leaders' orders and associate with an outsider?
In Kindergarten, my mom didn't dress me up for Halloween because of her Catholic beliefs. All the kids in costume roasted me for the whole day, and made me feel like crap.
I only missed out once and it still hurts 25 years later. I don't want to imagine the pain of missing out on everything. My heart goes out to those kids.
Peer pressuring isn't okay, Halloween is a demonic holiday and I'd rather "miss out" on the things of this world than miss out on being with God
We aren't supposed to be like the things of this world, but we are called to be set apart from it.
I'm not a Catholic nor agree with Catholic traditions because of worship of mother Mary however we don't celebrate with the world
@@John-ls4xh "Peer pressuring isn't okay" says the person who is pressuring others to not celebrate the "demonic" Halloween. Lol. Hypocrite.
I’m so sorry that happened but I really don’t think it’s the biggest deal for some kids. I come from a very Christian family, and we don’t celebrate Halloween.. and in all honesty it’s really not that big of a deal. It’s a lame holiday anyways, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with not celebrating Halloween if you don’t want to/don’t want your kids to.
The other kids are more at fault there, not your mom. The kids sound like crap
I don't have any kids of my own, but I can't imagine my daughter telling me about a group she wants to be a part of but can't because of our religion. It just sounds so ridiculous, not to mention cruel. 😭 Being Sophia's age is already difficult enough. Why do we have to make it even more so? Sophia isn't even real but her wish to be included is so innocent and earnest that it hurts. 😭
And, it's very likely her parents don't understand at all. I don't know their backgrounds, but I would imagine they're adult converts so they would have NO idea what it's like to be a JW in an environment where you're literally set up to fail socially.
Feeling that left out and excluded is most definitely child abuse, a sense of belonging is so important to feel safe and is even at the base of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, only thing below it is physical shit like food, air, shelter.
This hits home so strongly. I STILL don't have friends. I'm 46. It's ingrained so deeply, that I struggle with making and then keeping friends. All my friendships have been short term. I have ZERO lifelong friendships. Only some people I've known for years. Like old classmates. Sigh.
What are some of your interests and hobbies? You could look for local groups that share those. Also you can look on social media, discord can be great for finding friend groups. I think there's even apps that are like dating apps but for platonic friendships.
@@gaybatgosqueak I second this. Discord is absolutely great for making friends and finding others with similar interests. I've met a number of mine on there.
Free to download/use too.
@@Centurion97 I don't think people over the age of 30 have a discord. I do think the platonic app thing could be useful. Language learning (if your into it) also could give you people to just talk too over apps etc, sometimes friends if your interest are simialar enough.
@angelbabies I would love to be your friend ! I know the feeling all too well
@@ohwowitsme8548 I know a number of people over that age who have it. It's easy to use and great for any age, honestly.
I used to be a Mormon and we were allowed to have outside friends but the church pressured us to convert and save our friends. We were responsible for their salvation and to change their “bad” habits. They portrayed it with us dying and our friends asking us why we didn’t “teach them the gospel” and pressured us to give book of Mormons with written testimonies inside to them. I had a friend who drank and partied around and I had invited them to my church a few times but it felt like I was unable to “save” them. I shouldn’t have felt like their life was my responsibility.
I dunno if it's just me but there is something so very poignant about Sofia's new friend seeming to be a teenager/older kid. Not a kid her age, someone who might be having the same struggle and doubts as her, but no, someone older- more indoctrinated. Someone who can be a friend but keep her in line when she has those doubts. It's very interesting, and as someone who experienced that type of friendship when I was in the congregation, it's always such a power imbalance. It's awful and ridiculous.
Yeah its kinda...gross. I mean i can see it as a 'big sister' figure, but they could've easily made Lydia a girl Sophia's age who just moved to town/that hall and is lonely/brings up how she doesnt have any friends,and the two discover they both love drawing, science, and turtles.
It definitely feels intentional - the best intentions I can come up with is that they're trying to make it more realistic to the congregant's situations, where it sounds like you almost certainly wouldn't have the option to befriend someone your age at the church, so they made it look more like what the kids who are watching could expect. Still very creepy.
It looks like the teenager grooms a 8 year old girl - you love turtels - I love turtels - let's bee friends -
.... very creepy.
It's actually VERY encouraged for older kids or even young adults to 'befriend' younger kids in the church. It's less like a friend and more like a guard.
Generally, older children tend not to mix with younger children, as try have different interests. They are at different stages of development. It is sad, though, that Sophia has to find friends from OUTSIDE her school a d who are much older than her. School for her must be torture.
I'm glad so many intelligent people online are going after these cults.
I remember there was a Kingdom Hall near where I lived. When my parents found out, they gave my sister and I a talk about how JW's were a cult and they would forbid us from having friends and celebrating holidays and to immediately reject any offer to attend, even once. I didn't even know there WERE kids in the religion because they were treated with the same tone as "Stranger Danger" talks.
I feel so bad for them.
I grew up very isolated. I would cling to any sign of kindness from anyone. I had no friends, no REAL friends, until I was in middle school. I was bullied mercilessly at school by, not even kidding, a good 70% of my classmates. The rest typically ignored me. And I moved so often that it just...wasn't worth making friends most of the time. So I was all alone. No friends, no playmates. I would spend entire summers as a kid without seeing another child my age I could play with (before you mention my sister, we hate each other. Always have). To this day I don't know how to have friends. I can't talk to people my age, can't keep up conversations. I'm STILL lonely, and nothing can repair the damage done by 12+ years of total isolation
You grew up in much the same way as most JW kids. Frankly it sounds like there was something terribly wrong with your parents. They would have made "good" little JWs...
@@WWZenaDo Oh my parents were abusive for sure, but they always encouraged me to make friends. The issue is that I'm autistic and the other kids knew "there is something wrong with her" even though I didn't. THAT'S why I had no friends for such a long time (along with the moving) the fact that I was dirt shit poor really didn't help matters...
@@myheartismadeofstars Oh, I see.
Hey, if you want, we can be friends!
If the parents hadn't stifled her scientific curiosity, she might know that she owns a tortoise, not a turtle.
im a survivor of catholic abuse and know a few folks who survived abuse in the mormon church. i always really deeply appreciate everything you share about your experiences with the JW and your insights into their social culture. i think we can share a lot of common ground in how people twist these beliefs for greedy control
There was a JW kid in my elementary school and all he ever talked about was fishing. Fishing, fishing, fishing. All his personal essays were about fishing. If he had to do a project he would somehow incorporate fishing. All I ever remember him talking about or expressing any interest in was fishing. He also fainted when we were dissecting owl pellets and he saw a mouse skull. Everyone thought he was weird (including me) but in hindsight, being an adult knowing more about the cult it's just so sad, fishing was probably the only interesting thing going on in his life. He was probably neurodivergent too which makes it even sadder.
I can’t say I’ve ever been a JW but I knew a girl who was in middle school with me. A lot of the time their parents don’t allow them to have many outside hobbies either. The girl I knew wasn’t allowed to play video games ((including things like animal crossing or sims)) and I don’t think she was allowed to really have friends outside of school. It made me feel bad for her when I realized how traumatic and dull kids lives as JWs are.
Caleb has isolated himself as well. Remember when he decided not to join to play a videogame with other children? Or when he refused the cupcake because he is not allowed to celebrate birthdays? In those instances Caleb isolated himself from the group by refusing to participate in their activities, eventhough he does want to.
Talk about triggering! I grew up as a JW. What do I remember about school? Nothing good , no happy memories... Just all the times I couldn't do things. No school friends, no parties, no holidays. All I remember is being excluded and sitting in the hallway when I couldn't participate in things...I was the only JW in my school..it was horrible.
yes my school only had one family. The girl was in my class-she had to go sit in the hallway or go to the cafeteria every single time some mom randomly brought cupcakes even. If I was a teacher idk if I could participate in isolating a child like that. Like I would at least be sneaking her a cupcake…but the isolation is the worst of if I know.
Seems like in all these Caleb videos the kids learn the “right” thing to do by getting their parents’ praise. Parents ask leading questions and when they get the response they want they say how proud they are. They don’t see thier choices helping or hurting other people, they see being moral earning them praise
It’s kinda weird that they want her to be friends with a teenager instead of kids her own age… like… idk how to explain it but it gives creepy vibes. Also no way a teenager wants to hang out with a child… I never wanted to spend time with my brother and his friends and we’re two years apart
I still get social anxiety and I'm already 32, and left when Iwas 17. But the consequences of isolating people as kids from the real world and making friends, is forever imprinted on us. It's really difficult to see these videos, and I just cry knowing that so many kids are going thru this. But they have to keep up the front and say they don't feel like they're missing out, and they'd rather be preaching on a Saturday morning, than get in trouble for not faking how they really feel. So sad