Does shunning a person who quit going to the meetings make him want to go back? Well that's the reason why they shun people. They think you'll go back if you're shunned. In the Aid to bible understanding book, I looked for the word shun, and nothing is written. How funny that the word is not important enough to be explained in the aid book, but happens to be a perfect weapon against it's members.
Does Shunning Work?
by JH 16 Replies latest jw friends
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DIAMOND
I think it matters how deep you are into it. If you have many friends and family in da truth then shunning will work because you want to come back for the association. But if you don't have many ties just screw it and come back whenever or not at all.
Diamond
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minimus
THEORY....It used to work well because EVERYONE would shun you. Now, not everyone will shun you because they don't apply all the restrictions and more people are out than in, so they'll talk to you!
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rocketman
JH, though perhaps not in the Aid book, the subject is, to my knowledge, discussed elsewhere in WTS publications, though usually under the topic of disfellowshipping.
Does it work? Well, in a way, yes, it works - as a strong-arm tactic. It's obviously a way of depriving people of an essential human need until they see no recourse but to rejoin the group.
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cruzanheart
The whole process is Machiavellian, in my opinion. First, you are pressured to have ONLY Witness associations, then if you mess up and get DF'd, you have absolutely no support group unless you crawl on your belly and beg to be let back in. So they have the power.
Nina
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metatron
My df'd daughter always knows all the local congregational gossip before we do.
My guess is, that just like every other aspect of Witness kids leading a 'double life',
shunning is quietly breaking down. For God's sake, if you can't keep them away from
dope, internet porn and fornication, you're not likely to keep up shunning.And beyond that, association with Witnesses generally isn't that wonderful. Most I know
have no hobbies or depth worth conversing about. Most have minimal education and little
little knowledge of current events. As deeply faithful as I was an elder, it was difficult
to find real friendship in the organization because most of them were so one dimensional.What the heck is there to talk about besides the weather and (dead, boring ) field
service?metatron
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freedom96
It is emotional blackmail.
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garybuss
The stated purpose of shunning and snubbing is to create pain and induce the victim to return to the control of the Book Publishing Corporation in order to end the pain. The real reason is to protect the members from information and facts known by the outcasts, i.e. information control.
Just think if members were freely allowed by the group leaders to associate with US . . . .
They would have to deal with all the information we presented to them like the United Nations association scandal, the child abuse issue, the real Organization history, and the conflicted blood doctrine. They wouldn't get anything else done. With the current shunning policy in place, anything we do say is dismissed without consideration because we are not approved sources for information. When the source is demonized, no information is relevant.
A high control religious group tends to use high control tactics on it's members.The Way I See it http://www.freeminds.org/buss/buss.htm
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Englishman
The Brits call shunning "Being sent to Coventry", as this is where it all started, apparently.
Looked up the phrase on Google, which also threw up this tit-bit:
Englishman.We ought to add that the phrase has been perpetuated into this century by British labo(u)r unions, which uses shunning as a punishment for strikebreakers and "scabs." No one speaks to or interacts with the person sent to Coventry, until they (eventually) resign. It's a powerful tool for social pressure.
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