good info in this thread on the form of group hypnosis the dubs use
Is the "Watchtower Study" = Question and answer a form of brainwashing??
by Witness 007 42 Replies latest watchtower bible
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Vanderhoven7
Worse than brainwashing, these "studies" are an insult to intelligence; besides they are a total bore. I couldn't wait to leave.
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00DAD
InterestedOne: Hmm, so Teary is equating the Watchtower study to taking a class. In his comparison, the Watchtower magazine is the textbook, the KH is the classroom, the study coordinator is the professor, and the people in the congregation are the students. Anyone have any thoughts on this comparison?
I do. I have a B.A. in education and I currently teach high school. My area of specialization is music. One of the classes I am teaching this semester is AP Music Theory, which is a college level music class.
In reference to the comparison, we have a textbook and a classroom as well as students and obviously a teacher, yours truly! So in those respects the comparison is valid.
However, the methods of actually teaching in a REAL classroom is far different than what happens at a WT study. I assign material for the class to pre-study and then we discuss it in class together. This is where the similarity to a WT study ends.
In a real classroom, the students will have many questions to get clarification about things they don't understand or will ask why something is the way it is. Always, the perennial "Why?"
Interestingly, the way Music Theory is taught involves the promulgation of certain "rules" regarding musical composition. I am very careful to explain that these "rules" are really more like observations about how the best composers from what we call the Common Practice Period (think: Beethoven, Mozart, Bach ...) wrote music. It's more about learning what they did, rather then trying to tell you (the student) what you must do.
I also point out how more modern forms of music such as Jazz and Rock & Roll frequently "break" these "rules" or conventions. This is in fact one of the reasons why classical music sounds the way it does and why Jazz and Rock sounds the way they do. They are after all rebellious forms of music. Ironically, Classical music was itself a rebellion from the Baroque, but I digress!
We will often play and/or listen to musical examples to demonstrate a particular musical concept or idea and when appropriate discuss relevant exceptions. It's about exploring the material and ideas together and trying to come to an deeper, better understanding; it is NOT about forcing someone else's ideas down another someone's throat. Bach wrote music to praise God, he was not God. (The WT is not God, in spite of how they act.)
My goals are to encourage creativity and to expand thinking ability, especially regarding learning to think critically.
While we do have lots of songs, the only times there might be prayers are when I administer tests. Even then the prayers are silent and no doubt to the Muses!
Cheers,
Daniel
PS - Oh, and I never, ever Disfellowship students the like Swedish Death Metal or even Justin Bieber. But come to think of it, no one likes Justin Bieber!
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Room 215
Teary's classroom analogy is flawed in several respects; in the first -- and most obvious -- case, the WT conductor is not a "teacher" in the academic sense; he does not prepare the curriculum, select the reference materials or grade any paper submissions. He's as much of a student as those sitting in the KH seats, he just has the job of leading the session and is no futher advantaged with prior knowledge of the subject than anyone else in the room. His marching orders from Brooklyn are clear and unambiguous -- song, get the paragraph read, take comments, song, prayer and don't stray to far afield.
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jay88
@Vanderhoven7
I did not know you attented a "meeting".
It is good to get an opinion from folks looking from the outside in
If you think it is a bore, then it has to be for those already attending
PSOC
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InterestedOne
Teary, after reading the above comments from 00DAD and Room215, do you understand how the dynamic in the WT study is different from that of an academic classroom?
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lohengren
The washtowel (i chuckle every time i see that) "study" is an absolute joke. I was known as one of the "good" watchtower readers. People would always complement me on how clear my reading was, and how nicely it flowed. They said they could really tell that I studied diligently.
Uh, I never studied that trash.
Half the time i wouldn't even bother fake underlining my magazine. And several times I could be seen grabbing a fresh copy of the study issue on my way to the stage to read.
It was easy enough to throw a few comments together. Just use a lot of "key words", ( jehovah, jesus, faith, armageddon, internet ) and you could have the whole hall nodding in agreement to whatever you said.
The last 2 years I was in I stopped commenting altogether, although I was still a watchower reader.
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Resistance is Futile
Speaking of "brainwashing" or thought reform, lets see how the Watchtower views it. How this article was every printed I'll never know. I suspect there might be an "independent thinker" in the writing dept. From the Awake! 2000 June 22 in the articles "The Manipulation of Information" and "Do Not Be a Victim of Propaganda!"
"The cunning propagandist loves such shortcuts-especially those that short-circuit rational thought. Propaganda encourages this by agitating the emotions, by exploiting insecurities, by capitalizing on the ambiguity of language, and by bending rules of logic.
Certainly, the handiest trick of the propagandist is the use of outright lies.
Another very successful tactic of propaganda is generalization. Generalizations tend to obscure important facts about the real issues in question, and they are frequently used to demean entire groups of people.
Some people insult those who disagree with them by questioning character or motives instead of focusing on the facts.
The sly art of propaganda can paralyse thought, prevent clear thinking and discernment and condition individuals to act en masse.
Emotional appeals are fabricated by practiced publicists, who play on feelings as skillfully as a virtuoso plays the piano. For example, fear is an emotion that can becloud judgment.
There is a difference-a big difference-between education and propaganda. Education shows you how to think. Propaganda tells you what to think. Good educators present all sides of an issue and encourage discussion. Propagandists relentlessly force you to hear their view and discourage discussion. Often their real motives are not apparent. They sift the facts, exploiting the useful ones and concealing the others. They also distort and twist facts, specializing in lies and half-truths. Your emotions, not your logical thinking abilities, are their target.
The propagandist makes sure that his message appears to be the right and moral one and that it gives you a sense of importance and belonging if you follow it. You are one of the smart ones, you are not alone, you are comfortable and secure-so they say
So we need to be selective. We need to scrutinize whatever is presented to us, deciding what to accept and what to reject. Also, if possible, try to check the track record of those speaking. Are they known to speak the truth?" -
Vanderhoven7
Thanks Jay88. It's nice to be appreciated as an outsider.
Yes, "a meeting" was certainly enough for me.
I hesitate to speak for others.
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punkofnice
Is the "Watchtower Study" = Question and answer a form of brainwashing??
Yeah. Why not?!?!
Actually I'd call it indoctrination in the negative form.
"Minds must be cleansed" (Watchtower, June 1, 1953, p. 350 par. 24). 24 In these closing days of wickedness Jehovah’s people must demonstrate holiness. They must not foul their minds with the filthy mental food on the propaganda tables of this old world, but must feed on the feast of fat things Jehovah provides. (Isa. 25:6; 28:8) Minds must be cleansed and made over, mental circuits formed by old-world thinking and acting faded out and new ones put in according to new-world specifications. By privately studying regularly, by attending all meetings regularly, and by engaging in all features of the preaching work regularly mental circuits are deepened and such good activities become habitual, not at all the struggle they are when the mental circuits are weak and faint because used only occasionally. For ourselves and for others, make them strong!—1 Tim. 4:16.