Are we suffering from a victim mindset? (page 3)

tula

Are you really a victim of WTS or could it be your own personality flaw?

excerpt from:http://skepdic.com/mindcont.html

Cults have complicated ideologies and practices that mentally or emotionally upset people have difficulty grasping. These structures are what allow the cult to control the person. Cults do not want people who are difficult to control.

Thus, while some recruits might be very vulnerable to those who would like to control their thoughts and actions, recruiters look for people they can make vulnerable. The recruiter quoted above also said

Cults seek out strong, intelligent, idealistic people. They also seek out the rich, no matter what their mental status is.

The goal is make the recruits vulnerable, to get them to give up whatever control over their thoughts and actions they might have. The goal is to make the cult members feel like passengers on a rudderless ship on a stormy sea. The recruiter or cult leader has a rudder and only he can guide the ship to safety.

The techniques available to manipulate the vulnerable are legion. One technique is to give them the love they feel they do not get elsewhere. Convince them that through you and your community they can find what they're looking for, even if they haven't got a clue that they're looking for anything. Convince them that they need faith in you and that you have faith in them. Convince them that their friends and family outside the group are hindrances to their salvation. Isolate them. Only you can give them what they need. You love them. You alone love them. You would die for them. So why wouldn't they die for you? But, love alone can only get you so far in winning them over. Fear is a great motivator. Fear that if they leave they'll be destroyed. Fear that if they don't cooperate they'll be condemned. Fear that they can't make it in this miserable world alone. The manipulator must make the recruit paranoid.

Love and fear may not be enough, however; so guilt must be used, too. Fill them with so much guilt that they will want to police their own thoughts. Remind them that they are nothing alone, but with you and God (or some Power or Technique) they are Everything. Fill them with contempt for themselves, so that they will want to be egoless, selfless, One with You and Yours. You not only strip them of any sense of self, you convince them that the ideal is be without a self. Keep up the pressure. Be relentless. Humiliate them from time to time. Soon they will consider it their duty to humiliate themselves. Control what they read, hear, see. Repeat the messages for eyes and ears. Gradually get them to make commitments, small ones at first, then work your way up until you own their property, their bodies, their souls. And don't forget to give them drugs, starve them, or have them meditate or dance or chant for hours at a time until they think they've had some sort of mystical experience. Make them think, "It was you, Lord, who made me feel so good." They won't want to give it up. They have never felt so good. Though they look as if they are in Hell to those of us on the outside, from the inside it looks like Heaven.

What religion doesn't use guilt and fear to get people to police their own thoughts? Even some therapists use similar methods to control their patients. They prey on the vulnerable. They demand total loyalty and trust as a price for hope and healing. They often isolate their prey from loved ones and friends. They try to own and control their clients. The methods of recruiters are not much different. Are the recruits, the converts to the faith, and the patients willing victims? How would we tell the difference between a willing victim and an unwilling victim? If we cannot do that, then we can't distinguish any true cases of mind control.

Recruiters and other manipulators are not using mind control unless they are depriving their victims of their free will. A person can be said to be deprived of his free will by another only if that other has introduced a causal agent which is irresistible. How could we ever demonstrate that a person's behavior is the result of irresistible commands given by a religious, spiritual, or personal growth leader? It is not enough to say that irrational behavior proves a person's free will has been taken from them. It may be irrational to give away all one's property, or to devote all one's time and powers to satisfying the desires of one's divine leader, or to commit suicide or plant poison bombs in subways because ordered to do so, but how can we justify claiming such irrational acts are the acts of mindless robots? For all we know, the most bizarre, inhumane, and irrational acts done by the recruits are done freely, knowingly and joyfully. Perhaps they are done by brain damaged or insane people. In either case, such people would not be victims of mind control.

LouBelle

I don't know where all the apostates hang out in my country - if I could hook up with them, I would be picketing conventions - trying something.

Junction-Guy

Good for you Loubelle, anything helps. "All it takes for evil to prevail is for good men (or women) to do nothing" I sincerely believe this quote.

nvrgnbk

Good for you Loubelle, anything helps. "All it takes for evil to prevail is for good men (or women) to do nothing" I sincerely believe this quote.

How many have you gotten out with your "activism", Dave?

You don't use a hammer to kill a fly.

NanaR

The best answer to the Watchtower is to leave and live a fruitful and happy life.

To be preoccupied with the Watchtower, even in the sense of "combatting" it, is to continue to allow it to control your life.

"Shake the dust from your feet" and don't look back...

Ruth

sweetface2233

Has anyone considered the fact that because the WTS is so hypocritical, secretive, and monstrous, that it will eventually fall on it's own? Do you have any idea what will happen if there is an apostate revolt against the WTS? Every single faithful member, and most who aren't, will be convinced that Jehovah's Witnesses DO have the truth, Satan's world is finally attacking "Jehovah's Organization", and the Great Tribulation is closer than ever. Current JWs will cling to the "nucleus" of the congregation and their eyes and ears will be stopped even more, if that's at all possible. Any doubts they had would be washed over w/ the "fortold prophecy" that you helped accomplish. There are many, many XJWs who still have the teeniest bit of contact w/ their JW relatives; maybe a letter, email, or card every year or so. If there was a radical attack against the WTS, you bet your ass that minimal contact would become NILCH! Stop thinking about yourselves and how to get your revenge and justice. It is so obvious that you may have left the WT, but the WT is still deeply embedded in you. Once you let go of your hostility and bitterness, you will be at peace and you can pursue things that make you happy, like a degree and family, instead of wallowing in misery (which has become a comfortable place). If you want to make a difference in this world, you should start w/ yourself.

cognac

they have people so freaken brainwashed so in a way, I do feel helpless.

Any suggestions would be awesome though!!!

Barbie Doll

All religions are evel. HORTENSIA yes I agree.

For a Fruitful and happy life, you need to move on with your life.

If you don't you will get bitter.

Are we suffering from a victim mindset?

Alex Delta