Steven Hassan on Huffington Post: Who's Calling Whom A Cockroach Now?

Dogpatch

This is in my opinion an excellent article by Steven Hassan about rebuilding trust after shocking circumstances and previous hatred. I will quote the first two paragraphs. The link to the full article is here:

http://www.linkedin.com/share?viewLink=&sid=s284831013&url=http%3A%2F%2Fow.ly%2F461fF&urlhash=J22t&uid=5448515043408752640&trk=EML_nus_share-NOTC22:

Recently in the news is political cult leader Muammar Gaddafi calling the Libyan people "cockroaches" -- the very term used by radio hosts to dehumanize Tutsi in Rwanda on the cusp of the hundred-day slaughter in 1994. How could people turn on their friends and neighbors, and murder them?

I recently saw a brilliant new documentary film by Adam Mazo called Coexist, which tells the story of victims, perpetrators, and survivors of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, and what they face as they try to rebuild shattered trust in their country. A key theme in the film is the government-mandated process of reconciliation, and the need to break the cycle of violence so today's victims don't become tomorrow's perpetrators.

Randy

leavingwt

Thank you for posting this. I like how he mentions the BITE model in his article.

Direct link to HuffPo: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steven-hassan/from-rwanda-to-libya-whos_b_829416.html

Hassan's Twitter Feed: http://twitter.com/#!/@cultexpert

mrsjones5

Thanks for the link Randy.

Mad Sweeney

Steve Hassan rocks. I want to meet him. I'd also like to meet Philip Zimbardo, whom he mentions in the article.

Thanks for the link, Randy!

slimboyfat

Are Governing Body members or other WT leaders know for using diparaging terms for regular JWs?

jgnat

He mentions a great documentary on the aftermath of the genocide in Rwanda, which I have had the honor of viewing. Cockroaches. One step among many to dehumanize others.

The video he mentions is so humanizing; both for the grieving struggling to move on, and for the perpetrators nearly destroyed by guilt. Forgiveness did not come easy. But the confrontations, patiently facilitated...so human. By watching that video, I saw how even I am only a step away from being a monster. Instead of denying it, I owe it to everyone to know how such a thing might happen and make every effort to make sure it doesn't.

slimboyfat; how many disparaging terms are given for regular people; not Witnesses? (I've heard them from my own husband's lips) How about the disfellowshipped? If regular Witnesses abandoned their leadership, how long would it take for them to condemn their followers? As soon as we take that first step and divide people in to "us" and "them", we are in danger.

InterestedOne

I just checked the quote from Gaddafi, and he referred to the protestors as cockroaches. I think the parallel with the WT leaders would be the way they describe those who disagree with the WT, not the regular JW's.

slimboyfat

Has anyone actually seen footage of Gaddafi calling his own people cockroaches? When I saw him on TV I heard him say that his people loved him and would defend him and that the protesters were foreign al Qaeda and youths they had given drugs. Calling his own people cockroaches doesn't seem to fit that narrative. Perhaps he calls them all sorts of things in private but I don't know that we have access to his private conversations.

Jgnat I have heard some people mention that Fred Franz in particular had a tendency to call regular Witnesses disparagingly "the rank and file". I was wondering if anyone had experience of that or even more derogatory terms. Sure they call outsiders and the expelled names too, but I find the idea of leaders calling their own followers names particularly interesting.

Mickey mouse

I heard him on TV calling his people cockroaches (at least, that's what the translator said he said).

Mad Sweeney

Like the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses, once you turn against Muammar Gaddafi, you're no longer "his people" anymore. That's the whole point of cults: exclusive loyalty and obedience ONLY TO THEM. Once you protest against Muammar Gaddafi you are an apostate, a cockroach. So it isn't about how cult leaders treat "their own people" it is about how they define "their own people."

Just as a religious cult might use 1John 2:19 to describe their apostates, "They went out from us, but they were not of our sort; for if they had been of our sort, they would have remained with us. But they went out that it might be shown up that not all are of our sort," a political cult will redefine protestors as "others" "foreigners" "cockroaches" and "traitors." To Muammar Gaddafi they aren't true Libyans just like apostates are thought of as not being true Christians (and probably never were).

When you redefine your opponents as something other, something different, it is MUCH easier to commit atrocities against them. I thought humanity learned that lesson. We haven't forgotten have we?

Steven Hassan on Huffington Post: Who's Calling Whom A Cockroach Now?

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