A&E - Cults and Extreme Belief - Jehovah's Witnesses

by Incognito 45 Replies latest jw friends

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  LongHairGal

  INCOGNITO:

  I’m watching the program right now! Bravo!

  Just hearing the Jehovah’s Witness religion’s beliefs described on TV is sobering...And I know the TTATT for years so I can only imagine how gut punched some JWs will be who are seeing and hearing about this for the first time.

  I give a lot of credit to Romy (beautiful lady) for coming forth with her traumatic molestation experience that spanned many years! It’s nice seeing Barbara Anderson speaking out courageously against the religion!

  All I can say is that this publicity has been long overdue!!!
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  No Apologies

  Watching it now, very well done show.
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  Nathan Natas

  For anyone like me who has never heard of NXIVM, they pronounce it just like the drug used to treat gastroesophageal reflux disease (acid reflux). WHY? Because these damned quasi-religions make you want to puke!

  From Wikipedia:

  NXIVM (NEKS-ee-əm) is an Albany, NY-based multi-level marketing company that offers personal and professional development seminars through its "Executive Success Programs. NXIVM has been labeled as a pyramid scheme, and a report for the Ross Institute described its seminars as "expensive brainwashing".

  NXIVM has also been accused of being a recruiting platform for a cult operating within it (variously called "DOS" or "The Vow") in which women were forced into sexual slavery and branded.

  In early 2018, NXIVM founder Keith Raniere and associate Allison Mack were arrested and indicted on federal charges related to DOS, including sex trafficking. A trial has been scheduled for October 2018.

  During NXIVM seminars, students were expected to call Raniere and Salzman "Vanguard" and "Prefect", respectively. The Hollywood Reporter states that Raniere "adopted the title 'Vanguard' from a favorite arcade game he'd played as a kid, in which the destruction of one's enemies increased one's own power."

  For several years, NXIVM was accused of being a cult controlled by Raniere. In a 2010 article in the Albany Times Union, former NXIVM coaches characterized students as "prey" for use by Raniere in satisfying his sexual or gambling-related proclivities. Kristin Keeffe (a longtime partner of Raniere and mother of his child) left the group in 2014, describing Raniere as "dangerous" and stating that "[a]ll the worst things you know about NXIVM are true."
  
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  dubstepped

  Well done Romy and Barb! I'm so glad that she disassociated at the end. You could see the freedom in her spirit almost immediately. It was the best decision my wife and I ever made.

  Oh, and you see Jehovah's loving organization there at the end. The cowards won't speak to her behind the gate, and the brother that took her letter couldn't be bothered to listen or give a hurting person a hug.

  Fuck them all.
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  OneEyedJoe

  I thought this was really well done. It might've been good to add a little more about how they control members, but obviously there's only so much time for the episode. I think this is the first thing I've seen on JWs in the media where they I didn't catch minor mistakes that'd turn off normal JWs... I'm not sure if that means it was especially well done (I think so) or that I've just been out long enough that I'm not so sensitive to mistakes. In any event, it's wonderful to know that, at the very least, lots of non JWs are now inoculated against this cult.
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  dubstepped

  An active JW will always find something wrong. There is none so blind as he who will not see.

  People are reacting on Twitter, even non dubs comparing them to Scientologists. My wife told me some of the comments. I love it!
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  HappyDad

  The show centered around Romy for much of the hour. It was well done but I think there was so much more that could have been brought out. The last minute or so had brief cuts of other news items about the molestation coverups and they could have covered other cases.
  
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  dubstepped

  I think they only focused on one story because it's easier for people to connect to that, to follow this one person's journey, than to impact people with a bunch of stories in just one hour. That's nothing, especially when you have time spent on ads. They could always do more, and I'd have loved for them to bring out people that lost loved ones to the blood doctrine or whatever, but I feel like they got as much as they could out of one hour. They told one cohesive story front to back, and got viewers to connect to her.

  I get it though. I could have envisioned a panel of abuse survivors or something, but sometimes it's so strong to stay focused.
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  ShirleyW

  Well maybe when Leah Remini's show about the Dubs comes out she will have more than one story, because I'm under the impression she will have a few episodes instead of just one like tonight on A&E, I think she did more than one on Scientology, so the same may hold true when she does the JWs.
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  Incognito

  This clip whereby Elizabeth Vargas is interviewed about the series, she describes each episode will be from the perspective of one member who recently extricated themself from the group being discussed. There is probably enough information for any of those groups being investigated, to fill numerous hours of programming.

  Romy was likely chosen as her child molestation situation would probably have broader interest to the general viewing public whereas an in-depth on shunning or loses due to blood doctrine may have lesser interest.

  Having gone from NO programs about JWs now to this one plus anticipating the Leah Remini episode yet to come I think is positive and more than any of us hoped for when watching Leah's show last year.

  Perhaps if a significant number write in appreciation to A&E for this episode, might cause them to consider producing a further episode from a different perspective.

  Elizabeth Vargas clip