By now , most of you have probably been aware that the Watchtower Society and governing body has done a real cover up on the child abuse scandal that came out this year . It has truly been amazing , that in spite of NBC news coverage of the child abuse crisis in the organization - probably 90 to 95 % of Jehovah's Witnesses did not know it even took place or happened at all . And what causes that ? The governing bodies way of exercising " information control " on the Jehovah's Witness rank and file members ! In Steve Hassan's book, " Combatting Cult Mind Control ", he mentions this as a powerful controlling method many cults use to control what information a member can hear, and what information they are denied access to . Hassan said , " Deny a person the information he requires to make sound judgments , and he will be incapable of doing so . People are trapped in destructive cults because they are not only denied access to critical information , but also lack the properly functioning internal mechanisms to process it ." The book continues, quote, " In many totalistic cults , people have minimal access to non -cult newspapers, magazines, TV, and radio. This is partly because they are kept so busy they don't have free time . When they do read, it is primarily cult-generated propaganda or material that has been censored to " help" members stay focused . People are not allowed to talk to each other about anything critical of the leader , doctrine, or organization . Members must spy on each other and report improper activities or comments to leaders . Most importantly, people are told to avoid contact with ex-members or critics. Those who could provide the most information are the ones to be especially shunned . " He continues, " Information is usually compartmentalized to keep members from knowing the big picture. A member in one city will therefore not necessarily know about an important legal decision, media expose, or internal dispute that is creating turmoil in the group somewhere else . " Hassan finishes by saying, " Cult members naturally feel they know more about what's going on in their group than outsiders do , but in counseling ex-members I find that they often know the least. " So does this sound eerily familiar to all you ex-Jehovah's Witnesses ? I know it made my skin crawl somewhat after reading it ! In 2002 the governing body apparently sent a directive to elders to announce to their congregations to not watch a Dateline program which would show allegations of child abuse within the organization. In this way, the GB exercised " information control". In September 2007, once again the governing body gave out directives through their Kingdom Ministry that indicated , " Jehovah's Witnesses only needed to research the Watchtower societies publications for information they need. No outside secular publications are needed. " So, once again the Watchtower society promotes within their members " information control". So, is it any wonder the witnesses are not informed of anything that they should be informed of ? It goes to show the Watchtower society does NOT have the well being of their members at heart by denying them information about scandals occurring in their organization. And Jehovah's Witnesses are controlled as to what they can access . So how does this make you folks feel on JWD ? Many of us who have been there, done that ? Does it make you understand how duped these people really are ? Do you feel a bit more compassion to want to help some of them escape this mind control ? I am interested in your takes and comments as always ! As you know, I'm gonna try to help my daughters out of this insane cult if I can ! But, thought some of you would enjoy some quotes here to help you ponder this subject ! Look forward to your takes, and as always, Peace out, Mr. Flipper
Information Control- The Governing Bodies Way of Controlling JW ' s
by flipper 27 Replies latest jw friends
-
-
flipper
O.K. Folks. Sorry for the lack of paragraphs here. My son earlier this week changed me from internet explorer to Mozilla Firefox . Apparently though it has affected my ability to get things into paragraphs. Help?! Anybody to straighten this out ? Or how do I straighten it out on my computer ? Thanks, Mr. Flipper ( Computer Dinosaur)
-
Gopher
Some folks paste (or type) the text into a notepad or wordpad and then copy it into a post over here. That would preserve paragraphs.
(Gopher of the likes-to-read-between-the-lines klass)
-
MissingLink
My copy of "Combatting Cult Mind Control" should be arriving in the post next week. It sounds very interresting. I plan on hilighting the parts that apply to JWs. (or maybe it would be easier to hilight the parts that don't)
This information control was one of the red flags that made me wake up.
-
Elsewhere
Firefox does not work with this web site.
If you cannot see IE in your menu or on the desktop you can:
Click:
Start > RunType :iexplorer
Press enter.
-
Gopher
Here's the first post -- with some paragraphs added.
By now , most of you have probably been aware that the Watchtower Society and governing body has done a real cover up on the child abuse scandal that came out this year . It has truly been amazing , that in spite of NBC news coverage of the child abuse crisis in the organization - probably 90 to 95 % of Jehovah's Witnesses did not know it even took place or happened at all . And what causes that ? The governing bodies way of exercising " information control " on the Jehovah's Witness rank and file members !
In Steve Hassan's book, " Combatting Cult Mind Control ", he mentions this as a powerful controlling method many cults use to control what information a member can hear, and what information they are denied access to . Hassan said , " Deny a person the information he requires to make sound judgments , and he will be incapable of doing so . People are trapped in destructive cults because they are not only denied access to critical information , but also lack the properly functioning internal mechanisms to process it ."
The book continues, quote, " In many totalistic cults , people have minimal access to non -cult newspapers, magazines, TV, and radio. This is partly because they are kept so busy they don't have free time . When they do read, it is primarily cult-generated propaganda or material that has been censored to " help" members stay focused . People are not allowed to talk to each other about anything critical of the leader , doctrine, or organization . Members must spy on each other and report improper activities or comments to leaders . Most importantly, people are told to avoid contact with ex-members or critics. Those who could provide the most information are the ones to be especially shunned . " He continues, " Information is usually compartmentalized to keep members from knowing the big picture. A member in one city will therefore not necessarily know about an important legal decision, media expose, or internal dispute that is creating turmoil in the group somewhere else . " Hassan finishes by saying, " Cult members naturally feel they know more about what's going on in their group than outsiders do , but in counseling ex-members I find that they often know the least. "
So does this sound eerily familiar to all you ex-Jehovah's Witnesses ? I know it made my skin crawl somewhat after reading it ! In 2002 the governing body apparently sent a directive to elders to announce to their congregations to not watch a Dateline program which would show allegations of child abuse within the organization. In this way, the GB exercised " information control".
In September 2007, once again the governing body gave out directives through their Kingdom Ministry that indicated , " Jehovah's Witnesses only needed to research the Watchtower societies publications for information they need. No outside secular publications are needed. " So, once again the Watchtower society promotes within their members " information control". So, is it any wonder the witnesses are not informed of anything that they should be informed of ?
It goes to show the Watchtower society does NOT have the well being of their members at heart by denying them information about scandals occurring in their organization. And Jehovah's Witnesses are controlled as to what they can access .
So how does this make you folks feel on JWD ? Many of us who have been there, done that ? Does it make you understand how duped these people really are ? Do you feel a bit more compassion to want to help some of them escape this mind control ?
I am interested in your takes and comments as always ! As you know, I'm gonna try to help my daughters out of this insane cult if I can ! But, thought some of you would enjoy some quotes here to help you ponder this subject !
Look forward to your takes, and as always, Peace out, Mr. Flipper
-
Gopher
I agree with his assessment:
Most importantly, people are told to avoid contact with ex-members or critics. Those who could provide the most information are the ones to be especially shunned.
Disfellowshipping controls the inflow of possibly negative information to current organization members. It has nothing to do with being a "loving arrangement trying to win back the erring ones".
As far as whether this makes me have more compassion for current members, I am torn. I don't like to see good people trapped in Watchtower land, but at the same time it seems really hard to turn the tide to help someone out. Hassan does point to some things worth trying, but in many cases a person will only come out when they are ready.
-
kifoy
Elsewhere wrote:
Firefox does not work with this web site.
Of course it works in Firefox!
You just need to remember to uncheck the HTML and only check the "Automatic Cr/Lf" below the textarea before you submit your post.
With HTML checked you need to manually put <br><br> between your paragraphs.
Mr. Flipper wrote:Cult members naturally feel they know more about what's going on in their group than outsiders do , but in counselling ex-members I find that they often know the lea
Yes, I found this paragraph really mind blowing too (check my post here).
I just finished the book a couple of days ago, and have been taking notes. I definitely recommend this book!
kifoy -
flipper
GOPHER- Thanks for posting the paragraphs for me ! I agree with you that by disfellowshipping people it does control any negative feedback that will influence rank and file members . More " information control". Also, I agree that although Hassan mentions techniques to get people out of cults, people will only exit when they are ready !
MISSING LINK- I agree information control hurt me too. It made me wake up and smell the coffee and get out of the cult ! -
flipper
KIFOY- Well it looks like you were right ! Thanks for your help ! It went into paragraphs and skipped spaces. That's what I needed. thanks again! Peace out, Mr. Flipper