Almost everyone who leaves the Watchtower organization acknowledges the fact that the Jehovah’s Witnesses leadership is quite masterful when it comes to using guilt as a means of motivation and coercion. Throughout the Watchtower articles, convention talks, and talks given by traveling overseers, there are often statements woven into the material that are designed to evoke feelings of guilt in those who are not robotically falling in line with all organizational programs and group-think.
In addition to the many clichés, buzzwords, and catch-phrases used in Watchtower material, the organization also makes comparisons between the field service activities of Witnesses in one part of the world to another part of the world. The purpose of course, is to make the friends in the more affluent / advanced country feel guilt for not putting in as many hours as the friends in the less affluent country. How may of us have heard a traveling overseer lament the "low field service hours" by comparing them to the hours turned in by friends in some war-torn country? The examples could fill an entire library.
I have come to realize that the Watchtower organization is very similar to a toxic parent. One common characteristic of toxic parents is that they are very skilled and adept at manipulating and coercing their children (even adult children) through guilt tactics. They are so good at this, that when their son or daughter protests their manipulative tactics, they will react with righteous indignation, hurt feelings, and a persecution complex. They will then proclaim themselves the victim of unfair criticism; unconsciously attempting to induce even more guilt than before.
The son or daughter eventually learns that the only way to deal with the situation is to greatly limit, or cut off all contact with their toxic parent all together. The toxic parent then continues to lament the unfair treatment that they are getting. They simply do not have the ability to demonstrate personal responsibility and honest self-appraisal.
I believe that the Watchtower organization is virtually the same. In similar fashion, the organizational leadership believes that its members are fair game for constant critiquing, prodding, coercion, and guilt inducement. But let any members dare to protest such coercive methods, and the leadership immediately plays the "fault-finder" card.
Like the toxic parent, they accuse the members of having an "independent spirit" and showing an ungrateful attitude for the "timely counsel from the Slave". It is okay for the leadership to have a fault-finding attitude toward the rank and file members, but the rank and file must never show a fault-finding attitude towards them. This isn't enough. They feel it necessary to lament and chastise those who have left the organization as ungrateful malcontents who "did not want to serve shoulder to shoulder with their brothers". Honest self-appraisal by the organizational leadership seems sorely lacking.
Much like the adult children of toxic parents, many of us saw that the only recourse for us was to cut off contact with a toxic parental figure, and leave behind the manipulation, coercion, and guilt tactics.