Manipulation of child minds

Marvin Shilmer

Today I read a comment on my blog about an image found in a 1958 Watchtower publication titled From Paradise Lost to Paradise Regained. It reminded me of what went through my mind back in those years.

Watchtower meeting agendas were notoriously boring with the result of children (including teenagers) spending their time looking at pictures in great detail. Back in those days the kids were likely to get spanked for having anything other than a Watchtower publication in their hands to look at during a meeting. So what would they do? They'd exploit what they had in hand (a Watchtower publication) to relieve boredom.

Children would scrutinize those pictures in great detail, and Watchtower knew it. So what did those children find to look at in that 1958 book? An illustration of a little girl and puppy being killed by God at Armageddon.

Showing children horrific acts of violence carried out on innocent and defenseless victims has devastating effects on those children.

I remember looking at those pictures. I remember looking into the eyes of children who'd been staring at those pictures too.

Pete Zahut

GET EM' WHILE THEY'RE YOUNG....

Gulf Coaster

I became a highly skilled daydreamer. I would sit there and zone out most of the time. I'd pretend to be paying attention once in a while to keep my mother off my back. Some of my fantasies weren't exactly pure or JW-approved as I got into my mid to late teens but they helped me deal with the excruciating boredom of those meetings. Unfortunately, I couldn't employ my excellent daydreaming skills while out peddling propaganda.

Yeah, those pictures were something else. Fortunately, I was probably old enough to not be traumatized by them - my mother dragged us into that cult when I was about 10. After I became free, married and had kids, my 5 year old daughter was really freaked out by those pictures when my JW mother sneakily started proselytizing to my kids, against our wishes. I suppose if you grow up with that fear mongering crap all around you, as part of normal discourse, it's not as horrifying as it is to a kid from a normal family who's suddenly presented with it.

breakfast of champions

Yep, that little girl/puppy picture (also the foot-on-the-snake picture) have been indelibly imprinted on my mind.

Only took me about 35 years to figure out it's all bullshit.

Marvin Shilmer

Yep, that little girl/puppy picture (also the foot-on-the-snake picture) have been indelibly imprinted on my mind.

Not too long ago at a medical round table I was approached by two mental health specialists and each recounted middle-age JW patients who brought up those very images. These providers said the patients were haunted by the illustrations, in particular the one with the little girl and puppy being killed at Armageddon. It is beyond paradoxical to tell a child God loves you, but even as a child God will kill you and your puppy (and throw your doll in an abyss!) because your parents aren't living right. It is mental abuse. That's what it is!

berrygerry

My Book of Borg Speak is/wasn't much better.

I heard someone say this month, that it is no longer being printed.

Can anyone confirm?

I

umbertoecho

OMG! I grew up with that book and remember those illustrations. They worried and frightened me because I knew, just knew...........I was never going to make it!!

Marvin Shilmer

OMG! I grew up with that book and remember those illustrations. They worried and frightened me because I knew, just knew...........I was never going to make it!!

I can't tell you how many middle-age JWs have told me that, as children, they lost sleep at night worried sick they were not good enough to make it through Armageddon. Nearly every one of these recounted the very image discussed here. As recounted to me, the fear was heightened to nearly unbearable levels on nights of bad weather with lots of thunder and lightening.

Manipulation of child minds

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