GOOD cult control techniques

by philo 28 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  waiting

  philo,

  I think your idea of a positive spin on the WTBTS is a fine thing.

  Their ability to translate lofty ideas into lowly words, pictures, even comicbook-style brochures is a gift for us so even if we wanted to think - we don't have to.

  "All propaganda must be popular and its intellectual level must be adjusted to the most limited intelligence among those it is addressed to. Propaganda which only aims at intelligent people will not accomplish anything. If you demand intelligence from the public, if you expect them to rise to a higher level, you will be disappointed." - Adolf Hitler

  They are masters of the written word.

  waiting
• 

  TR

  Conflicted,

  you started to mesmerize me with that 'repetition is the key to indoctrination' post! See? See how easy it is?

  Philo,

  I have trouble sugar-coating things. I guess tact is not one of my virtues! Hey, I'll help stumble anyone who wants to stumble. In fact, I'll build a stinkin' lopsided staircase to the Kingdom Hall! The sidewalk leading to the front door will have strategically placed pot holes. I'll bunch up the carpet that runs down the center isle inside. The best part; I'll put in a trap door behind the podium!

  TR
• 

  siveld

  There is definite merit in all of the cult control techniques that have been mentioned. it is my belief, however, that the number 1 technique has yet to be mentioned.

  FEAR

  Fear of annihilation, or eternal cutting-off (sounds like a Bobbit trick!) at Armageddon. If you are not nestled safely in the arms of 'mother' when the big A comes, you've had it. And, even worse, so have your innocent children, who will no longer come under your protection. To lose a child is every parents' worst nightmare. This fear alone can cause a person to put aside doubts.

  Fear of shunning in the event of disfellowshipment - for many witnesses have no friends outside the society. This is even worse of course for those whose families comprise mainly JW's.

  Fear of your friends and family! yes, just like in Orwell's '1984', or Hitler's Third reich, they are all potential spies and backstabbers. Witnesses are ENCOURAGED and told they they will themselves be BLOODGUILTY if they don't dob in to the elders anyone who may have confided in them anything untheocratic or slightly suspect (such as doubts about 'big mother').

  FEAR that you are not doing enough, that you are not absolutely, 100% , whole-souled, in Jehovah's sacred service. Nobody is assured of salvation, and less than 100%+ will mean that you are BLOODGUILTY and sure to die when the big a comes.

  FEAR FEAR FEAR

  No wonder they are such joyful people.

  greetings from DaveDownunder (now living without fear).
• 

  TR

  Hey Siveld,

  I think you may be right. WT wordspeak, guilt, and repetition all have their place, but FEAR causes real damage. I was was afraid of armageddon the whole time I was a dub and for two years after.

  TR
• 

  LovesDubs

  Spiritual blackmail. What more effective way of controlling ANYBODY than to threaten to remove them from their loved ones?

  "You only read OUR literature, you dont QUESTION our word, dont even make a FACE if you disagree, dissention will be met with swift penalty. You love your kids? Love your family and those friends youve had for 30 years? Then you damn well better toe the company line and we better not see your sniveling apostate comments on the web Bunky...we have your FAMILY...and the best part is, you cant do a damn thing about it." Welcome to the Worldwide Brotherhood of Love.

  Loves
  "My task is to bear witness to the truth. For this was I born for this I came into the world, and ALL who are not deaf to truth listen to my voice" - Jesus before Pilate, John 18:37
• 

  VeniceIT

  Reminds me of something a friend told me!!!

  He said he knew someone who said this about the School and service meeting:
  'Isn't it kinda like Groundhogs Day!!!' (the movie)

  Soo true!!!

  Venice
• 

  AuSet

  Yes, I agree: fear, repetition, dependent thinking, and language use are all good cult control techniques.
  My Mother's stock answher for any comment or question that I pose to her is "I know, this old system of things. Just wait until the new system comes."
  However, all these explanations fail to address the positive aspects that tend to attract and keep people in the WBTS. The organization presents an extremely close, tight-knit community of (apparently) loving brothers and sisters who will accept you into their flock as long as you shut up and do what you're told. This kind of collective togetherness is not present in the larger society (particularly in the U.S., where the larger society places high value on individualism.)
  Remember when we could go to conventions and leave our purses/valuables on our seats without fear that someone would come by and steal them? Was that not a great feeling at conventions, knowing that you were part of this huge, wonderful organization, in which you were accepted and treated as close as a family member? Where you not willing to put aside doubts, to forgive, to erase history from your mind all for the common good of your larger family? In my opinion this is a magnificent form of control, and the WBTS has capitalized on people's desperate need for belonging.
• 

  JAVA

  Being HUMBLE

  When I started missing a few meetings and questioning some things about the Tower, I was told I needed to be more humble and wait on Jehovah. Questioning anything about the Tower was a sure sign of not being humble.

  After reading Crisis of Conscience, I had a t-shirt made that read, "HUMBLE, and PROUD of it!" That was one of two t-shirts I wore when jogging by the KH during meetings. The other shirt read, "I Survived '75!"

  A JW questioning their religion is not humble. A Catholic questioning their religion is humble. GroupThink is alive and well.

  ---JAVA, counting time at the Coffee Shop

  Edited by - JAVA on 2 March 2001 16:17:3
• 

  philo

  Auset

  :the WBTS has capitalized on people's desperate need for belonging

  That is interesting. But I am having difficulty pinning your ideas down to a control technique or influence.

  I agree that people are more attracted to the WTS for this reason rather than out of fear of say, Armageddon. (Circuit overseers are always having to teach their flocks the big preaching message: "it's smiles stupid"). But after people commit to the WT community I think motivations change. Their ears are no longer ringing from the love-bomb and they start to hear things. They speak about a cooling off of love. They notice too that beneath the (control maintained) veneer of love and acceptance, to which you referred, their new associates are not so remarkable They are not much (or at all) better than their 'worldy' friends who they, by now, have foolishly given up, and who are probably lost permanently.

  I am not saying this is universal. But there are too many expressions of this sort to ignore. And I have even heard this stuff while I was a witness. So I think there is a point of control switchover that happens for many JWs. It seems to me this occurs at baptism, where one becomes subjected to WT judicial law. From here on, I think, siveld's various fear techniques (and others) may be a better explanation of dominant control methods that your sense of community and belonging.

  Perhaps it comes down to ownership. If you accept the WT as rightful owners of its world-wide community of individuals, then you can talk about its dominant influence of community and belonging. If you see individuals as existing primarily for themselves, and for their communities next, you have to see the WTS as authoritarian. And from there arises the criticisms of that authority's various controlling techniques.

  What do you reckon?

  philo