All authoritarian high-control groups need an existential enemy. In the absence of a real threat, the collective will fabricate one out of whole cloth, or latch onto what seems to be the likeliest candidate.
Vidiot, I'm reading Conservative Without Conscience. It sounds like maybe you have read it, and I'm just wondering.
I wasn't there in the 80's, but TWENTY years later, there was still a mother who was freaked out about smurfs. The version I heard was that a little girl had smurf undies and was sexually abused by them in her bed at night. (scuze me, puked a little in my mouth) I remember being extremely irritated because I felt that as Witnesses with the Truth, we shouldn't be drawn in by superstition or false rumors. Yet, everyone tolerated such insanity--even though I suspect I'm not the only one that saw it as nonsense.
Clearly smurfs were more evil than other magical creatures---duh--they were BLUE. AND, THREE APPLES HIGH! Look, it only took ONE apple to get Eve in trouble! THREE indicates INTENSITY. Unholy, Unholy, Unholy. Now, of course, any reasonable dub knows that the fruit in the garden was not necessarily an APPLE. But be honest. How many of us always pictured an APPLE when we thought of the fruit? LOL
APPLES PEACHES PEARS AND SUCH---OF THIS FRUIT YOU MUST NOT TOUCH.
Don't buy second-hand, you may be bringing home a demon. (oh, but be thrifty)
Don't listen to Stevie Nicks, (she's Wiccan) or Red Hot Chile Peppers, (they are gay), but all other fornicating, false worshipping artists are just fine.
Don't talk about your temptations out loud---The DEVIL is listening, he'll know what to offer you. (I don't know if it is okay to pray OUTLOUD about such things. Does Satan listen to our prayers. . . ?)
If you are in the presence of a Psychic, say Jehovah's name OUTLOUD. Because that will work like a "charm" to protect you from the devil's tool.
One of my FAVORITE, (in the sense that I hate it most) was the following admonition: When the Tsunami hit the coast line in Asia, Jehovah's Witnesses were saved because they had gone inland to their hall to meet for field service. The 2 witnesses that died were vacationing from Sweden (Or Switzerland, or something) That should be a lesson to us. Scuze me, what is the lesson? That vacationers will be killed by Tsunami's? That we must go out in FS every day to avoid catastrophe? Snuggling on the coastline with your husband or wife is wrong? What was that lesson again?
Oh, I know someone that died in a car accident while out in FS. Perhaps there is a lesson there?
I hated the superstition. They were suppposed to know better. Even then I just had no tolerance for manipulating events to fit some grander plan. Well, to some degree. I still believed in prophecy, so I suppose I was duped also.
Boy, I got a few more posts for the next 6 hours, and I just can't shut up!
