Everything we do in life we choose to. Nobody (unless you believe in demon possession of the human body) can take away our choices.
If somebody holds a gun to our heads and tells us to do something, we still have a choice. But I think everyone would agree that when having a gun held to our head, to do something someone else instructed us to do, would be considered Physical or Body Control. Is that because we did not have a choice? Wrong! We have a choice, that doesn't mean that we wanted to do what the person with the gun says, but we would probably do it out of fear for our lives. It wasn't initiated from our own hears, but we would do it because the gunman told us to do it. And that is physical control. How much more so, if we saw others shot before our eyes by the same gunman for not following his instructions.
It's the same with witnesses, they have choices, they make choices, they make the choice to shun people, to go out in service, to do all the things WTS says to do, but don't they also have a gun to their heads, a spiritual gun? And they have certainly been eyewitnesses to the WTS pulling the trigger on those who chose to disagree or disobey. So as most people would not argue with a gunman, so do most witnesses not argue with the WTS, for it means death just the same.
I know as a JW, I was deeply afraid of dying in Armageddon which was strongly insinuated by Elders and WT, that it would come in a few years. I did things I didn't feel right about because the WTS put a spiritual gun to my head telling me that God would hate me and kill me. After baptism, it was like having another gun to your head, you have to worry about Armageddon and Disfellowshipping. I made the choices to do things as a JW, I conciously made the choice to follow the WTS, even if it did not feel right in my heart, but that is because of the two big ass guns to my head, I definitely was afraid of being shot spiritually.
So that is why JW's are under MIND CONTROL because they are controlled by the fear of death and are instructed what to do in order to avoid death. They make the concious decision not to die by the WTS by following their commandments. That doesn't mean they feel right about the decisions they make.
And isn't that what control is? Instructing somebody to do something that they would'nt otherwise do, by a mental threat of death by God and death by disfellowshipping.
And as far as the previous comment: "Membership in any group is contingent on playing the game by their rules." In most cases that statement is 100% accurate, but comparing WTS to other organizations is like comparing apples and oranges. WTS is unlike any other organization that I know of. They are the only organization that I have belonged to that has threatened me to die if I did not believe and obey everything they sat. I have been apart of many organizations, Work related, YMCA, Youth baseball, boy scouts, school's, debate groups, you name it I've done it. And to be apart of those organizations, for the most part I had to play their game. But I was never threatened with death by those organizations for disagreeing or leaving them. They didn't tell me that if I did not advocate for that organization I would die, they didn't tell me how to think. My friends from those organizations, didn't shun me because I changed shools or jobs (even leaving on bad terms from the job, ie fired), they were still my friends and my employers in most cases supported and encouraged me to find employment elsewhere. I didn't live in fear of death because I didn't play by their rules. Can't you see the difference in comparing the WTS to other Organizations? And that's why other organizations who want you to play their game do not exercise mind control, can you see the difference?
"The fact remains that any JW can leave whenever they want to, and many of us are living proof. You just have to want to leave badly enough to pay the prices,"
Saying a JW has a choice to leave is like telling a person with a gun to their head, that it is their fault, and they could of chose to have been shot then to do what the gunman says. JW's make the choice, but they are under mental control by the WTS because the only reason they make the choice is the big spiritual gun to their heads. Can you blame them?
Just imagine if the WTS told JW's they no longer had to fear Armageddon or disfellowshipping, that God will be happy with them no matter what. Do you think the JW's would still act the same? Hell no! They would be totally different people, they would in fact act like people who are not under mind control.