Origin of High Control Groups by Natural Selection

by Londo111 2 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  Londo111

  I'm about halfway through reading Steven Hassan's 'Combating Cult Mind Control', a very enlightening read to be sure. There are many misconceptions as regards high control groups and mind control. The popular conception is that of a nefarious mastermind that is knowingly using mind control and deceiving their members. And for smaller groups, that indeed might be the case.

  But other groups, like the Bible Students, seemed to have evolved into a high control group. There have been many such similar groups that have come and gone throughout history. But such fringe systems do not survive unless by trail and error the BITE model arises within them. And by that time, it is part and parcel to their self-perpetuation.

  Of course, such phenomena are endemic to the human condition and have been present throughout history. The Witnesses are not the first and they will not be the last. All this has happened before--it will all happen again.

  Religious fundamentalism in general seems to use the BITE model. From personal observation, I had a Pentecostal friend in high school who was just as much under mind control and unknowingly perpetuated it as much as anyone else. He used to say, "Don't think, just believe." He used to get this glazed look in his eyes, the same I have seen in other fundamentalists when I was at their doors, or Witnesses when they are adamantly defending the Society.
• 

  Phizzy

  If natural selection is involved, as your thread title claims, these mutants( the WT, Fundies etc) who are so woefuly adapted to the real world should disappear from the world very soon.
• 

  Londo111

  I suppose not 'natural selection' as in stemming directly from biology...though I suppose there might be some adaptive mechanisms indirectly at work. Using natural selection more as a metaphor.

  Alas, as long as the human condition remains the same, high control groups will persist. A system, biological or social, finds a way to become a self-contained cycle and propagate itself to the next generation or it ceases to be. Eventually circumstances change too drastically, and if they cannot adapt, these groups go extinct.

  I do wonder when and how things will end for the Society...with a whimper or a bang, a fizzle or a schism. I wonder if the dynamics are deterministic and can be projected.