Good grief, Band!!!
What a MONSTER!!!
There does indeed seem to be something about the Watchtower Society that brings out abusive behavior - perhaps it's a case of the drones imitating "Mother"...
As I was growing up in the cult, I experienced physical, emotional, and psychological abuse from both "baptised-as-Jehovah's-Witnesses" parents. My father hit, kicked and slapped me frequently while I was growing up. Picture a grown man kicking a little nine-year-old-girl in the shins with his steel-toed work boots - that usually happened at the dinner table.
Most of the abuse took place during those infamous "family bible studies"... Yeah, that's the behavior to entrench your children into the cult, all right... He knocked me unconscious when I was 17 because I tried to be the "peacemaker" in a squabble he was having with my grandmother - his mother-in-law...
And all the while, my idiot mother was telling me, "But your father REALLY LOVES YOU!!!"
Of course, it turned out that SHE was the 'master manipulator' in our family; much of my father's foul moods probably originated from her emotional manipulation.... Oh, and "Mother" Watchtower's fear-mongering and manipulation, too... I grew up in the pre-1975 period of hysteria...
BOTH parents were manic-depressive, just to give you the picture... After being raised by those two monsters, I prefer the term "manic-depressive" to "bi-polar", because the former term just delivers a more vivid mental image...
But they shot themselves in the foot, in so many ways... Because they were such monsters, I lost ALL love that I might have had for them. They seemed to think that, no matter HOW much they abused me, that I would continue to "love" them - and would allow them to walk all over me...
Boy, were THEY ever wrong...
I finally escaped in my early 30's - I went into therapy, and began to realize just how destructive their behavior was - and that the Watchtower Society was a GEN-U-INE CULT... Within 3 years, I was so furious at their mistreatment of me, that I was ready to totally cut myself off from them - the "threat" of "shunning", intimidation and manipulation by the Watchtower Society was TOTALLY ineffective at forcing me back into the cult... In fact, I am GRATEFUL for the "shunning" edict - it keeps THEM AWAY FROM ME!!!!
After finding out about still MORE monstrous manipulation, lies and endangerment that I won't go into, here, my final words to my mother were, "I don't EVER want to hear from you people again!!!! I will NOT EVEN ATTEND YOUR FUNERALS!!!! You were NEVER MY PARENTS - you just used me as a WHIPPING POST - and I will NEVER TALK TO YOU AGAIN!!!!!!"
I have never spoken with them, since. Mommie Dearest sends me some cutesy little "non-birthday" card, every year, around my birthday, but this year I sent back a letter that must have seared their fingers when they read it. I don't expect to receive ANYthing from them, in future...
My experiences weren't unique - I personally witnessed several child-beating incidents committed by "good" Jehovah's Witnesses, while growing up. Of the children who were thusly abused, I suspect that most left the cult as soon as they could. Which meant still more membership loss for the Watchtower boys and the Gov.Bod - I love it when abusive peoples' and abusive organizations' behavior TOTALLY BACKFIRES on them!!!
Zid