Season 1 Episode 1 A&E Cults and Extreme Belief (Video)

by TerryWalstrom 46 Replies latest watchtower scandals

• 

  LongHairGal

  It just aired on Lifetime Movies.

  Again, it is nice to know that the Witness religion has had it’s “holy” facade stripped away and has joined the ranks of religions and groups that are featured on TV expose programs replete with whistleblowers and victims. No more holy mystique.

  I also watched the show on that NEXIVM group. Wow 😮. Even though there is no danger of me ever joining a cult/high control group again, I watched it anyway... It spoke of young women sex slavery to a narcissistic leader, branding, snuff films, etc. Even though it is not in the category of the Witness religion, I saw the similar elements of intrusiveness and breaking down a person’s self-esteem.

  It should be a required course for young people about cult indoctrination so that fewer will fall prey to these groups that seem to pop up like weeds!
• 

  jaydee

  @AverageJoe1 ......My Hero....thanks for the share.

  
  
• 

  AverageJoe1

  My Hero....thanks for the share.
  

  You're more than welcome JD!

  Glad to have been of some use.
• 

  eyeuse2badub

  I watched it on A&E but was mostly disappointed. It was a fairly vanilla documentary. I hope this was just the first episode of jw expose' on A&E and there will be others to follow. Barbara definitely saved the story as it was headed in the direction of just one abused person against the borg! My sympathy and heartfelt feelings go out to any and all victims of child abuse. Never having been such a victim, it is very hard to comprehend the long lasting affects that it can have on a person. However, we all know that jw's are not the only organization with child abuse problems!

  Hopefully A&E will look deeper into the history and secretive nature of the wtbts and expose some of it's very cultist beginnings like the pyramid connection and Beth-Sharim!

  just saying!
• 

  flipper

  My wife & I saw it on Lifetime Movie channel last night . Extremely well done, Barbara was great, thanks for all of your help Barbara ! And it really exposed the JW cult for being hateful, uncaring, and inhumane. More shows like this need to keep coming out to expose the criminality of this evil cult. I felt so sorry for this lady abuse victim on the show- she definitely was having a first hand look at the callousness of the WT Society when she tried to drop her dissassociation letter off at Warwick. The response she received from WT reps was certainly predictable- yet disgusting and callous nonetheless. Good thread, thanks for posting this
• 

  slimboyfat

  Yes we know it’s extrmemly unlikely the GB would speak to someone at the gate. But the question is why should that be so unlikely. Isn’t it a reasonable request?

  One strange thing in the video. At one point they had a picture of Russell with people standing next to him with their faces scratched out. What was that supposed to mean?
• 

  TerryWalstrom

  Without proper permission to show a non-public person's identity, a legal problem could arise. (Not that the Watchtower would ever sink so low...:)

  I think scratching out the faces created a disturbing sensibility, like a Japanese horror movie.
• 

  Jehalapeno

  I loved the show.

  I thought it was great and things like this will inoculate the public to think twice before listening to JWs.

  I did have one criticism, though. And this is just a criticism when putting myself in the shoes of an indoctrinated JW.

  The way A&E edited the show, it looked like the woman wasn't really crying. Like, I'm sure she was, but every time it looked like she was going to have tears streaming down her face, they cut away...it made the times she got choked up seem less genuine, from a critical point of view.

  I'm not blaming Romy for this. I think it was an editing issue. They should have shown her tears...

  If I was a JW watching that, my confirmation bias would focus on that and say, "She must be lying...she's not even really crying."
• 

  Incognito

  There are numerous reasons to obscure the identity of persons in the photos. A few quickly come to mind:

  • privacy - the person hasn't given their consent to having their image used in the production.
  • the person is not relevant to the story being presented.

  As far as those few expressing disappointment with the episode, consider only 1 year ago, many here were asking about methods that could be used to result in an expose being made about JWs. Now there has been this A&E production and Leah Remini is also anticipated to produce at least one episode with JWs as the subject.

  People who constantly complain about being too cold, shouldn't be so quick to complain about it being too hot when the weather turns warm. (it's a Canadian thing )

  If you wish there to be additional episodes on JWs, suggest writing to A&E, Elizabeth Vargas or Leah Remini with your suggestions. There are no guarantees but the people involved in these productions, probably want viewer feedback and an indication of what viewers wish to see and are willing to invest their time to watch.
• 

  cha ching

  I loved it!

  I know this camera crew spent so much time with Barbara and Romy, and they had to condense the tens of (hundreds? of) hours down to a 45 minute show. I tried to picture myself doing this, and STILL getting the picture conveyed! Pretty hard to decide what to put it, what to take out.

  I think they did a great job blending between Romy & Barbara, a great balance that would give people 'on the outside' a peek into what happens on the 'inside'.

  When they asked about "cults" and if JWs could be one, because "Aren't cults usually run by one person?" The expert, Janja, said, "Well, it began that way, and the leadership became the governing body"....... "They have, what we might call, charisma by proxy. So they're the authoritarian leaders that cannot be questioned"

  Let's not forget that. What about Jim Jones? What if only half the people died, and 3 or four men took his place? They would still have a cult... What if more people joined? Still a cult.