Is Brahmakumaris.info an impartial website?

for measuring opinion on matters relating to their BKWSU experiences
Forum rules A forum specifically for polls on any topic relating to Brahma Kumaris. Anyone can vote here or discussion the poll. General conversion about the issues is best kept to the Commonroom.

Do you consider http://brahmakumaris.info to be impartial?

Yes, it is impartial.
11
31%
It is impartial as it is possible to be.
15
42%
It could be more impartial.
4
11%
No, it is not impartial at all.
6
17%
 
Total votes : 36

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proy

ex-BK

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No Bias.

Post28 Jan 2007

bansy wrote:I guess the answer to "neutrality" is simply for all people from all perspectives to post their opinions and discussion. This forum has allowed everyone from the entire spiritual spectrum to post, so if PBKs want to do so, they can, likewise BKs, and likewise ex-BKs. Hence the problem is not that the the forum has any slant or not, but that BKs, given their large numbers, are simply not participating for reasons unknown.

Exactly. That is why I voted that the forum is impartial. The posters on the forum are free to be as partial as they would like to be. The forum itself therefore, must be called impartial. You are free to say what you want. Come on and answer some of the questions, contribute some Murlis, post some positive news. Come on BKs. I posted here as a BK and I was never censored. There is no bias in the way the forum works. One or two people may have been excluded, justly or unjustly, but not, as far as I know, because of their viewpoints.
ex-l wrote:What is taking me time to come to terms with is the weird psychic stuff one is subjected to.

Me too ex-l. I think that one deserves a thread of its own.

bansy

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Post28 Jan 2007

I've just seen this section of the site; http://www.brahmakumaris.info/articleindex.html

My bookmark is set to go straight into the forum, and so the first page on the website is skipped. Brother amarathine has maybe highlighted, the front page can have more news topics, whatever BKs or ex-BKs or PBKs feel, though how this to be managed will depend on Admin. Everyone's scrambling to get on the front page ! But there is always going to be an editor who will decide, whether you like it or not.

And it's because what is not in the front page, that ends up in the forum, which I still feel is a place for discussion rather than posting a stream of cut and past news articles. So we are limited in website space to provide for the unlimited.

However at the same time, whilst BKs have official websites they can go to, and the PBKs have theirs they can go to, ex-BKs especially those who may have been hurt badly may not have a place for them and which this forum has been an opening for them. There may be many many more ex-BKs out there who have yet to even come close to this place. So if BKs and PBKs wish to make up their news and articles and whatever viewpoints, they are equally able to set up their own forum to serve their own communities.

Maybe the Raja Yoga experience for ex-BKs did not always work out, but I think also many ex-BKs also have benefited. I had previously set up a thread about the positive BK experiences of ex-BKs and PBKs. Here it is "These are a few of my Favourite things". Hence my stance has always been that this forum has been impartial, and only the narrowest of minds think it is otherwise. IMHO.

And maybe this type of thread is what newcomers may like to see, more about experiences rather than streams of blogs of news or adverts. So anyone is welcome to set up a similar thread, though preferably experiences rather than just cut and paste news. Sharing experiences is much more interesting.

Yes, maybe some members have recently joined but have not seen the way this forum has developed, and all they see is a snapshot of the past few months. It goes to show how much and how deep this forum runs back to.

So whoever is the editor of the front page, whatever one's own personal opinion, needs to be respected for even allowing any of us get this far.

(I recall that in the UK there is a tabloid that coined the term "Page 3" which is almost worldwide known English term, and even though so many people were against the page 3 content, they still bought the newspaper. If you don't like what you see, don't. But many did. Is "page 3" still there?)

So finally to respond to the title of this thread: No, I don't think it is no joke.

bansy

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Post29 Jan 2007

I forget to add to the previous post that although it may seem as if I am defending the new article (interesting how it is to re-read one's post), I have nothing to do with that news article, and neither for or against it. It is a fact that has come out, been spotted and reported, then it is up to each of us to decide ourselves about the article content. It is there and so it is.

Censorship issues are editorial responsibilities, and "better" editorials will come about from feedback from the members. Controversy is always going to occur in an open forum when many parties are involved. More BK members will simply get more BK feedback.

Finally, if you're fed up of reading the usual newspapers and the implicit negativity, but still want to keep in touch with worldly things, here's another nice news site :
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abrahma kumar

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Post29 Jan 2007

Amaranthine, what are you up to?

amaranthine

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Post29 Jan 2007

Mr Green wrote:I say good on ya amarth, you no fool and you appear to be a voice of reason for the BKWSU ... they should be proud of you, in fact if Shiv exists, he probably is ...

Thanks!
Abrahma Kumar wrote:Amaranthine, what are you up to?

I am just off to morning class :).
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sparkal

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Post29 Jan 2007

The BKs offer spiritual charity. If the souls of the world do not want to take it, there is nothing the BKs can do about that. We did not come here to get all religious/ spiritual, these are things which have become a necessity for survival. Because my seed has germinated, it does not mean that all others have. So, what is the best way to inspire soul consciousness in the world? What is the reason for the BKs existence in the first place?

The BK successes are running around with people in their heads, they are personal successes rather than collective. The method for change is to change the self. Giving physical charity is not the BK reason for existing, they recognise the need for self change to change the world.

Whether that is still the spearhead of the agenda, I would not like to say.
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ex-l

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Post29 Jan 2007

bert wrote:Sunday Mail story, (the UK's most right-wing tabloid, where if you and your friends don't happen to be all of CofE, conservative and hetrosexual then you can expect to be fair game).

Hi. I guess it is pretty clear form my posts that I am not a regular Mail on Sunday reader BUT I did buy that copy.

Just to balance your claim, the same issue gave away a free DVD on Hatha Yoga and employs the astrolger Jonathan Cainer, who the leftie "Independent Newspaper" reported to be "a self-declared touchy-feely liberal and 'unreconstructed hippie' who took his children on the anti-Iraq war demo".

You cannot call The Mail the "most right-wing tabloid" when you have the likes of The Sun, The Star and whatever the British National Party or UKIP publish. ... It is center-right, family values etc. Even The Express is probably more reactionary and I don't even think that The Mail and its blue rinse Sister The Evening Standard are trully what individuals think of pejoratively as "tabloids", except in size. No page threes, you see. I mean, the honorable warhorse of The Left, The Guardian, is now a tabloid ... so?
sparkal wrote:The BKs offer spiritual charity. If the souls of the world do not want to take it, there is nothing the BKs can do about that ... So, what is the best way to inspire soul consciousness in the world? What is the reason for the BKs existence in the first place?

As we know, you are bang on target here. Even in the Murlis it states clearly that service through the mind is the highest and soul-consciousness is the BK's magic bullet.

But how do you square that with all the VIP/microphone hunting, letters to King George stuff and all the PR programmes? Lekhraj Kirpalani's issues?

bert

ex-BK

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Post30 Jan 2007

ex-l wrote:You cannot call The Mail the "most right-wing tabloid" when you have the likes of The Sun.

Well, I wouldn't have said there was much dispute about it. Discounting niche markets, there are five national daily newspapers currently targeted at a tabloid press readership. The Mail, The Mirror, The Express, The Sun and The Star. "Tabloid" in this context is more meaningful as a marketing term, identifying a tendency to emphasis sensationalism and celebrity gossip, typically by employing headlines such as 'The PM's wife, the Druid Priestess and the no-sex guru'.

Although the "redtop" tabloids (Sun, Mirror, Star) are the most sensationalist, they are by no means the most right-wing. Political leaning BTW, is gauged by editorial policy rather than the views of individual journalists and the record atleast for most of the time I've been following the political scene, speaks for itself.

Amid the enthusiastic gusto with which all the other tabloids exposed the sleaze and incompetence embedded in the last Tory goverment, and resulting in the Express, Star and Sun joining the Mirror in support of the Labour's 1997 election campaign, the Mail alone, refused to switch political allegiance, preferring to downplay the Tory party antics, focusing instead on attacking the new Labour Leader and his Catholic, feminist, New Age dabbling, minority rights lawyer wife. In the 2001 election run-up, despite a highly successful Labour first term of office, it was the same story, the Mail again, isloated amongst the tabloids maintaining it's obstinate backing of the Tories.

However in the 2005 election run-up, with the Labour party now in some difficulty, the Express and Star joined the Mail in supporting the Tories, with the Sun and Mirror sticking with Labour.
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abrahma kumar

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Post30 Jan 2007

Thanks for your post bert, I was not able to understand all of the points in it - perhaps due to my unfamiliarity with all the the political/social nuances at play in the UK - so in response I feel only able to 'add' to the thread continuing along the lines of my last post.

Question: Do we think that it is UNLIKELY that after reading that article a student of the BKWSU would have legitimate questions to ask, or even wonder about in private?

I agree without reservation that to describe Dadi Janki as "no-sex guru' is a great misrepresentation but what does the world know of Dadi or the BKWSU for that matter?( I mean REALLY KNOW?) I offer that the wider-world knows very little about Dadi Janki (for all the positive news articles we see posted on the forum or elsewhere). Consequently it is an inescapable fact that as things stand at the moment the BKWSU is more like to find itself 'pinpointed' for the things that make it stand out from 'society's norms' rather than the things that illustrate how it embraces the world while yet still standing at the forefront of a Spiritual revolution. That tendency is aided and abetted with greater ease if it can be alleged that the associates are also in some way - proven or otherwise - 'different' ...

The more 'newsworthy' the individual that is seen in close proximity with the BK's the less manageable will be the potential fall-out from the media interest. I need to remind myself that the BKWSU does not set the news agenda nor does it shape editorial policy in the national newspapers - yet.

Just a few thoughts.

Thank you for your post.
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ex-l

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Post31 Jan 2007

Today's Page 3 girl* is upset to hear that Dadi Janki is being slated by the Mail. Says Shashi (22, from Slough, wearing only a white g-string made by Bollywood Belles): "She is a born leader and I am sure that whatever she does she will get the same well-deserved respect. Its not her fault if other people worship her".
bert wrote:Well, I wouldn't have said there was much dispute about it. Discounting niche markets, there are five national daily newspapers currently targeted at a tabloid press readership. The Mail, The Mirror, The Express, The Sun and The Star.

That is a misrepresentation, see below;
Media Resources wrote:The Daily Mail readership profile is ideal for advertisers looking to connect with a large ABC1 audience. Over 5 million adults read the Daily Mail Monday to Friday and over 6.5 million read it on a Saturday. Around 66% of which are ABC1.

ABC1 are your middle and upper classes. C2, D, E are working classes. Whereas I agree they are right wing, The Mail and The Express are of a different class. Small newspapers, not derrogatively described "tabloids". You need to be able to read sentances and small letters to read the Daily Mail, not just look at boobees and footballers! Tabloids are marketed at working classes. Actually, The Mail is one of the most progressive papers are promoting alternative and New Age things, where they fit within health and women's interests. You'd hardly get The Sun giving away a Yoga DVD ... unless the girl doing it had huge knockers and no clothes on.
"Tabloid" in this context is more meaningful as a marketing term, identifying a tendency to emphasis sensationalism and celebrity gossip, typically by employing headlines such as 'The PM's wife, the Druid Priestess and the no-sex guru'.

I thought the placement and article was wonderful and had to laugh at it all. As far as I am aware, their first bigtime feature in mainstream press and look at it ... straight into a pot of mania and sleaze.

That was a very fair and a very plain karmic return for all the greasy pole climbing, taudry VIP smoozing ... AND MOST OF ALL ... (yes, I am shouting) ... the BKWSU's projection of Janki Kirpalani as some kind of guru. Its all true. From very specific instruction NOT to base spirituality on personality cults, even that of Brahma Baba, they and she especialy have perverted Gyan in this manner.

But the bottomline is, any publicity is good publicity in that world. So, now the upper and middle classes know her name and all about them. They have been positioned in people's minds for what they have become.
    *a "Page 3 Girl" is a fine old British tradition where each morning the working class male is served up a young perky girl wearing nothing but sexy underwear, displaying her 'best assests' and 'upstanding principles' ... the byline is often used for some editorial/political purpose. Yup, usually right wing
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proy

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New Thread

Post31 Jan 2007

I will be starting the new thread in the Newcomers section under the New Post title "The Psychic Dimension"
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abrahma kumar

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Post31 Jan 2007

Cheers

bert

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Post31 Jan 2007

abrahma Kumar wrote:Question: Do we think that it is UNLIKELY that after reading that article a student of the BKWSU would have legitimate questions to ask, or even wonder about in private?

For most, I would be surprised if it didn’t raise questions, certainly if any of it resonates with their own experience.

The point I was trying to make in my original post, was that some background on the original source might help clarify the legitimacy of those questions. - Although I am starting to sense that this websites editorial team may not share my view on the quality of the Mail’s journalism.

That being the case, then at least supply a link to the original source. Readers should hopefully then be able to see that the assertion in the articles title, - that the Gibbs are 'bankrolling' the BK, is based on the following quote from the Mail. "Both Dwina and Robin make regular donations to Brahma Kumaris".

I think this will then allow them to make a more informed judgement not only on the legitimacy of the rest of the article but on the wider Editorial policy in place on this website.
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abrahma kumar

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Post31 Jan 2007

Thanks bert.
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ex-l

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Post31 Jan 2007

bert wrote:That being the case, then at least supply a link to the original source. Readers should hopefully then be able to see that the assertion in the articles title, - that the Gibbs are 'bankrolling' the BK, is based on the following quote from the Mail. "Both Dwina and Robin make regular donations to Brahma Kumaris".

I think this will then allow them to make a more informed judgement not only on the legitimacy of the rest of the article but on the wider Editorial policy in place on this website.

Is it true or is it false, that is what I would like to know?

Please don't tell me what I think ... or read. The marketing/readership stats are as stated. It is objectively wrong to put The Mail in the same category as The Sun whose ABC1 readership is around 12%. That is all I said. Papers like that cannot afford to just make things up. They get sued if they do.

I thought according to the Murli BKs should only accept donations from BKs. Or does not it matter what is written in the Murli any more?

If the BKs go against what it says in the Murli, and the **** comes back to hit the fan, what can they say? Ditto if they spend their time popstars and politicians. I am sure you know the game.
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