Brainwashing

by Lady Lee 25 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  czarofmischief

  13. continue to beat/punish/torture at irregular intervals.
  
  Child abuse victims: Once a child learns the patterns of abuse within the family, suddenly the rules change and they become unsure of what to expect next.
  
  JW: N/A unless someone can think of something
  

  dude, totally, remember getting yanked into the back for no reason - except some elder thought that maybe you could use a little "counseling"???? About your hair length, or the music somebody heard that you might have been listening to, or the time you knocked over a liqour store and fled to Canada with your three demon-possessed whores, killing every virgin on the way as an offering to the Bull God? Oh, wait, that was just in my head, but the fact that they yanked you back there on strange occasions to just yell at you for no reason, really, was bizarre and made me walk warily, until I started getting pissed and stopped listening.

  Oh, dear God, grant every congregation a young misanthrope like me.

  CZAR
• 

  Lady Lee

  OMG Czar - you are so right. I sure know of a lot of others who went through the endless grillings.

  From the short time I went through it it was sheer torture
• 

  Lady Lee

  I'm posting this to a e-group and hoped no one minded me taking what they said and including the comments - names not used but the comments were useful in filling in the gaps
• 

  reniaa

  i'm sorry but i find this posting thoroughly distastful, Its so contrived in many of its paralells that it makes for uncomfortable reading, it borders on offensive in some of the comparisons. I hope more see this like I do than you do lady lee,
• 

  Homerovah the Almighty

  Religious cults like the JWS frown on any individual self expression, they call the shots and you obey or else, its about men needing power folks more than anything

  and who is the highest power around of course its God, thats why so many men are more than willing to attach themselves to him and say they represent the almighty.

  Sweet power

  There are many more corrupt and bogus cults like the jws its just that they are hidden away in some obscure place out of the publics eye, and for a good reason.

  Say I could start me up a cult I've got money, having all that power over people does sound enticing when you think about it !
• 

  BizzyBee

  Interesting - I'd not seen this before.

  However, I have come to think that the term "brainwashing" may be inappropriately applied to JWs. It's just too much of a stretch I don't think anyone who is not physically restrained by imprisonment, at least initially, can be considered "brainwashed" according to the original use of the term.

  The "hard" methods used by the Chinese and Russians (influenced by the Inquisition) - from whence came the term "brainwashing," include systematically keeping subjects in filth, sleep deprivation, partial sensory-deprivation, and psychological harassment, etc., could only take place in the context of imprisonment.

  "Soft" methods - guilt, persuasion, inculcation, conditioning, exploitation of weaknesses, positive, negative reinforcement, intimidation such as practiced by the JW's but taking place in a technically "free" environment - are not truly "brainwashing." Coercive, mind-controlling - yes.