A rational look at MIND CONTROL vis a vis Jehovah's Witnesses

by Terry 4 Replies latest watchtower scandals

  • Terry
    Terry

    On the topic of Mind Control.....

    A child is disciplined (controlled) by parents, educators and custodial representatives.

    As children we grow accustomed to this dynamic (being controlled for our own welfare) and we learn to adapt.

    MIND CONTROL is neutral in this context.

    Educators must seek to control the attention and comprehension and behavior of students. The mind is certainly the primary target.

    Religious and Political leaders are themselves operating out of noble motives (in their view, of course.)

    At some point, a line can be crossed when an authority seeks to eliminate resistance to such control...even for the best (seeming) motives.

    The Armed Forces seeks to remove all primary and arbitrary decision making on the part of conscripts. Automatic obedience is the goal.

    Parents, Educators and other authorities (such as religious) can cross the line of autonomy and not be aware they are violating an implicit trust.

    In a time of war rhetoric and propaganda become persuasive to the point violating ordinary societal norms.

    In a religiously radical group a constant state of War might well be imagined leading to the same approach to persuasion. i.e. propaganda replaces persuasion.

    Jehovah's Witnesses do not trust their own hearts or minds. They have been taught (biblically) to believe they are wretched sinners under a satanic assault and their only safe recourse is to explicitly follow orders without question. This is socially reinforced to seem like a virtue.

    MIND CONTROL on the part of the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses is not an openly declared boilerplate mission statement. But, the difference between their own exerted Authority and the punishments and threats to those who do not comply amount to the same result.

    AUTOMATIC OBEDIENCE through pressure, threat, fear, social enforcement and indoctrination---all framed as LIFE or DEATH---amount to MIND CONTROL.

    The enemy of Jehovah's Witnesses is the individual whose thoughts are their own & who demand reasonable access to alternate forms of source material other than officially approved ones.

    There is no Loyal Opposition permitted for redress of abuse or clarification of policy. There is only the semblance of representation of the "rights" of the individual in the form of one-sided colloquy.

    There are enemies, however. Any person or group who does not agree is the declared enemy.

    This is the brute force result of the de facto "MIND CONTROL".

    If any two actions produce the same result, we might well ask ourselves what essential difference exists between them?

    JW authority to persuade and enforce compliant behavior without resistance does not differ meaningfully from MIND CONTROL.
  • Sayswho
    Sayswho

    The problem is...is getting us Jw's to see this. It seems to be something different with each Jw as to what it will take to put a crack in what we think we know.

    Sw

  • pirata
    pirata

    Thanks Terry for spelling it out simply. I've find it hard to articulate how JW leaders use mind control. This is a big help.

  • Joliette
    Joliette

    >>>Jehovah's Witnesses do not trust their own hearts or minds. They have been taught (biblically) to believe they are wretched sinners under a satanic assault and their only safe recourse is to explicitly follow orders without question. This is socially reinforced to seem like a virtue.

    VERY TRUE, especially the first part of the sentence.

  • leavingwt
    leavingwt
    Jehovah's Witnesses do not trust their own hearts or minds. They have been taught (biblically) to believe they are wretched sinners under a satanic assault and their only safe recourse is to explicitly follow orders without question. This is socially reinforced to seem like a virtue.

    Good point. Speakers repeatedly tell the audience that their hearts are treacherous. Therefore, if common sense, mercy or sympathy conflict with WT dogma, one must persist with WT dogma, despite the ill effects.

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