Guys, I am having just TOO MUCH FUN with this series of articles! Here is a rough draft of something I've written, so far:
Propaganda - Should You Believe Everything
the WTBTS Tells You?
("A liar starts out by lying to himself." - Ziddina)
"You malevolent apostate!" the woman shrieked, as she scurried past her disfellowshipped twin sister. "You're just a wolf in service to Satan!" Then the woman slammed the door of the Kingdom Hall shut in her sister's face.
Taking advantage of widespread prejudice against those called ‘apostates', the Jehovah's Witness sister was fostering hatred of her twin. Despite the fact that she knew her twin sister had only asked for further clarification of the February 2009 "Questions From Readers" regarding the ‘new light' that kept Jehovah's Witnesses from eating any forms of fats, this sister was eager to use hatred and vicious propaganda to keep her sister in a subservient position of having been disfellowshipped.
The disfellowshipped twin sister lived to tell her story. Many others weren't so lucky, as evidenced by the "Awake" magazine cover of ... that showed photos of all the innocent young children who had died as a result of the WTBTS' skewed philosophy on blood transfusions.
Yes, propaganda can be displayed openly, such as the teachings within the pages of the Watchtower urging family members to totally shun and cut off their family members, or it can be shown subtly by the practice of ‘marking' which allows Jehovah's Witnesses to subtly judge, condemn, and avoid those that they deem not sufficiently ‘spiritual' to measure up to the WTBTS' stringent standards. These pervasive techniques are regularly applied in a dictator-like manner by the Governing Body, District Overseers, Circuit Overseers, Presiding Overseers, and Elders in the congregations.
How has propaganda been used to affect Jehovah's Witness' thinking and actions throughout the decades? What can you do to protect yourself from this pernicious form of dangerous propaganda? Are there solid sources of trustworthy information? Let us continue on to answer these questions...
The Manipulation of Information
As the WTBTS has expanded its methods of communicating from printing presses and phonographs to going so far as to start up a website on the Internet that they frequently refer to as: "Satan's Tool of Seduction", in addition to the requirements that Jehovah's Witnesses in good standing be prepared for at least two if not more meetings per week, we can see that ‘his' people are inundated by countless messages from every quarter. To their credit, many good Jehovah's Witnesses respond to this pressure by absorbing messages more quickly, accepting them without questioning and refusing - or failing to - analyze them fully.