Why Do People Try To Defend The Watchtower or JW's In General?

Nathan Natas

Stockholm syndrome:

``They weren't bad people. They let me eat, they let me sleep, they gave me my life''

- A hostage from Flight 847

In the summer of 1973, four hostages were taken in a botched bank robbery at Kreditbanken in Stockholm, Sweden. At the end of their captivity, six days later, they actively resisted rescue. They refused to testify against their captors, raised money for their legal defense, and according to some reports one of the hostages eventually became engaged to one of her jailed captors.

This struck some folks as weird, and as a way of coping with this uneasiness, as they started seeing more examples they named this class of strange behavior the ``Stockholm Syndrome.''

Notorious in the United States is the case of Patty Hearst, who after being kidnapped and tortured by the Symbionese Liberation Army, took up arms and joined their cause, taking on the nom de guerre of ``Tania'' and helping the SLA rob banks.

The Stockholm Syndrome comes into play when a captive cannot escape and is isolated and threatened with death, but is shown token acts of kindness by the captor. It typically takes about three or four days for the psychological shift to take hold.

A strategy of trying to keep your captor happy in order to stay alive becomes an obsessive identification with the likes and dislikes of the captor which has the result of warping your own psyche in such a way that you come to sympathize with your tormenter!

The syndrome explains what happens in hostage-taking situations, but can also be used to understand the behavior of battered spouses, members of religious cults, Holocaust victims, household pets, and perhaps even users of Internet Explorer. I think it may also help explain the popularity of government and of the mass institutionalization of young people.

--- This was copied from http://www.sniggle.net/stock.php

Consider:

The Stockholm Syndrome comes into play when a captive cannot escape and is isolated and threatened with death, but is shown token acts of kindness by the captor.

Can a JW "escape"? No - they are not free to leave. Only by dying -either literally or figuratively, by being disfellowshipped or disassociated.

Are they isolated? Yes indeed. They are proud to be "no part of the world" and within the congregations, cliques exist to create other virtual isolation cells.

Are they threatened with death? Dubdom is about nothing if it isn't about Armageddon and the destruction of 99.99% of humanity.

Are they shown "token acts of kindness"? Again, yes. In exchange for everything the loyal Dub gives up, he can experience the freedonm of selecting an unoccupied seat anywhere in the Kingdom Hall for each of the required five indoctrination sessions every week.

minimus

I'm not talking about EXCUSING them. I'm referring to DEFENDING them.

Frannie Banannie

Min, it's due to their definite and far-reaching lack of knowledge about the WT-BATS' and its members' activities "behind closed doors"....

Frannie B

jgnat

Jehovah speaks to man through Jesus his son, the Word of God
Jesus has chosen the WTBTS to be his mouthpiece in Earth, the Word of the Watchtower
Therefore, the WTBTS speaks for Jehovah
Therefore, defending the WTBTS is synonymous with defending Jehovah
Since Satan was cast to Earth in 1914, the Heavenly Warrior Angels class have taken a much deserved break, and allow the ~~WTBTS~~ sheep class to do all their fighting for them.

Nosferatu

jgnat described it quite well. Also, we learned at the meetings that Jehovah's Witnesses are known worldwide for their honesty and kindness (which is a load of shit). JWs are taught to defend that reputation (even if it IS made up by the WTS). They're taught to give a "good witness" to worldly people, hoping to convert them into JWs because of their reputation. They're also taught that worldly people (Satan's system of things) is going to launch attacks on Jehovah's people, and they need to "stay awake, stand firm, and grow mighty" in these trying times. They need to stand up for their God, Jehovah.

Happythoughts

Why do most people defend anything? I would say it's one of two things: a. they believe it is the truth or b. fear of God.

Hamas

Minimus,

people are idiots.

People eat blood sausage...

...

would you like some blood sausage ? I have some in the glove compartment.

amac

I often end up defending JWs on this site, but seldom do elsewhere. Usually when I defend them here, it is more arguing against a statement I disagree with rather than defending the WT.

blondie

It's not too different from the phenomenon of abused children defending their abusive parent(s), even saying they still love the parent, a misplaced loyalty.

Blondie

Why Do People Try To Defend The Watchtower or JW's In General?

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