The system of privileges in WTS - any thoughts on how it works?

by Pole 26 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

  • Pole
    Pole

    WTS has quite a few traits which are typical of totalitarian systems. Many of them have been demonstrated on this board (labeling, shunning, monopoly on truth, propaganda, indoctrination, polarization of reality etc.).

    There is one more aspect of the WTS religion which can also be observed in most totalitarian systems and that is the system of granting privileges. It's no coincidence that the word "apparatchick" comes from Russian.

    Making someone an elder usually obliges the person to disown any doubts and "spiritual weaknesses" that the person may have had before becoming a WTS officer. What I find amazing is that despite the claim that all JWs are equal almost all of them have special privileges or are reaching out for them (from carrying mikes to becoming a CO).

    Another funny thing is that the WTS promises real fame, fortune and power for those who are the most faithful apparatchicks in the spiritual paradise. Just think of this quote:

    *** w99 3/1 p. 17 ?The Temple? and ?the Chieftain? Today ***
    In the new world, Jesus will appoint ?princes in all the earth? to take the lead among Jehovah?s worshipers on earth. (Psalm 45:16) No doubt he will select many of these from among the faithful elders of today. Because these men are proving themselves now, he will choose to entrust many with even greater privileges in the future when he reveals the role of the chieftain class in the new world.

    My questions:

    Would you agree with the statement that granting privileges is one of the most effective mind control techniques?

    Did you feel privileged to be a WTS officer (elders, MSs, "sisters" having convention parts, etc.)?

    Did you really believe that you'd be princes on the Paradise Earth_TM?

    Did you know of any elders who might be genuinely nice people but who would become merciless robots when fulfilling their duties?

    ---

    Pole

  • gerbils
    gerbils

    I think that the push for men in the congregation to reach MS/elder status is very powerful. It seems to me that if you are just an 'ordinary' man in the congregation it is assumed that there is something seriously spiritually wrong with you! My dad used to be an elder, and when he was, the other elders were very lovely to him and our family were put on a pedestal. when he asked to step down due to personal reasons, suddenly he was viewed by some as a drop out, a person to be pitied and looked down. Our family was put under a lot of critism...and you seriously would not want to hear the gossip that went round about dad's reasons for stepping down!

    There are some kind lovely elders who are totally genuine and caring...very humble men. But there are some right gits too, who are so full of their own self-importance that they believe that they are above everyone else. In particular some P.O's!

    I'd be interested to know why its so hard to remove elders who dont fulfill the criteria anymore??!!!

  • ko38
    ko38

    i agree, ihave seen many even strive to have the best comment at the wt study or bk study.some strive to have the most comments.you can plainly see the amount of pride one gets when he is given the HONOR of handling the mics.get tapped for mservant forget about it your on your way baby parts on the ms school prayers at meetings.get tapped for elder and its the first step in being part of the controlling of others lives and a supreme esteem of the others wich are required to do so.

    i am a salesman by trade and have managed a few sales organizations, my job primarily was to blue sky the sales force about their rewards and even more importantly their climb up the ladder so that they can have their ultimate fulfilment by having their own staff.(we did this of course because we didnt want them to quit)we filled their days with 12 or 13 hours of activity so they couldnt look for another job) sound familiar? oh by the way unless you were in management the job sucked.

    those poor sales guys didnt have a chance. our philosophy or i should say the companys was hire in masses train in classe and fire their asses

  • M.J.
    M.J.

    Margaret Singer's 6 conditions for thought reform:

      1. Gaining control over a person?s time, especially his thinking time and physical environment.
      2. Creating a sense of powerlessness, fear and dependency in the recruit, while providing models that demonstrate the new behavior that leadership wants to produce.
      3. Manipulating rewards, punishments and experiences in order to suppress the recruit?s former social behavior and attitudes, including the use of altered states of consciousness to manipulate experience.
      4. Manipulating rewards, punishments and experiences in order to elicit the behavior and attitudes that leadership wants.
      5. Creating a tightly controlled system with a closed system of logic, wherein those who dissent are made to feel as though their questioning indicates that there is something inherently wrong with them.
    • JustTickledPink
      JustTickledPink

      I hope I don't offend or hurt anyone's feelings with this post... but here goes.

      In my opinion and observations, most JW's are encouraged to learn a trade, be a carpenter, a painter, lay tile, lay carpet, etc. In fact most JW's I know are tradesmen. Being in that type of career field doesn't lend itself to much recognition or commendations. I mean you can get really good at laying carpet, but you still lay carpet.

      In the corporate world or professional career world, people are encouraged to excel and then their talents and hard work are recognized, they get promotions, they get raises, they are asked to handle big accounts, or they can put in for a different job. There is usually some carrott being held out as bait to get employees motivated to work harder for the company. A lot of people get fulfillment from their job, either it's a challenge, or maybe they get a 4-6 year degree and do some specialized work that makes them feel good about themselves.

      Back to the JW's.... being trades-people there isn't a lot of recognition or advancement on the job. So the need for recognition is there, and the JW's take advantage of that. They praise people and give them special titles and sort of promotions.... it's a carrott. But the whole time they can't realize that it's nothing, it's an empty title. So what if you are a MS or an elder? or even the PO? What difference does that make?

      If they spent as much time on acquiring a "title" in school, they could probably earn a real title such as M.D. or whatever.

      But my theory is that people need something fulfilling in their life, career, religion, relationship, etc... and some people have such empty lives that the "title" and "power" in the religion does it for them.

    • AK - Jeff
      AK - Jeff

      Pole -

      I think is all part of the 'labeling game' - in other words judging by categorizing everyone into one cubby-hole or another.

      I certainly think that it has a positive effect (from the WTS standpoint) on keeping witnesses in line. I think the 'carrot' idea is reinforced with the 'stick' - if you are not in a postition, you are relegated to third string status, ignored, sort of a mini-shunning. Trying to bring you back to your 'senses'. It certainly carries the feel of mind control as practice by some very accomplished organizations in the past.

      Jeff

    • metatron
      metatron

      First, thank you for recognizing the similarities between the Watchtower and the former Soviet Union. I 've been saying this

      for years.

      When I was in Bethel many years ago, some of us thought how funny it would be to create a board game

      that really explained what life was like in the "Big House".

      It should have been called "Shafts and Privileges". Reading Catch 22 helped a lot, too.

      metatron

    • kwintestal
      kwintestal

      The privilege is a carrott dangled in front of someone to make their effort seem to be for a purpose. Of course it's like forcing a horse all day to hard labour, to in the end get 1 carrott. They make it such a big deal, mics; answering; service and whatever else, then the gossip chain gets going, "Did you see brother Tryingrealhard doing the microphone yesterday?"

      Maximum effort, minimum reward.

      Kwin

    • czarofmischief
      czarofmischief

      I would agree that our culture's prejudice against trades jobs (even though they are more stable, just as well-paying, and in the case of unionized jobs, have better benefits than their white collar counterparts) is a tool the Society uses. It makes people take jobs that the culture tends to shunt to the side - further ostracizing them. It is even subtly anti-union in its propoganda, as it puts down the political process that many unions undergo - making it "wrong" to contribute to union political funds, etc. So you wind up with non-unionized, lower class labor force in your religion. People with no option but to keep working for the BOrg and hope the New System jackpot pays out someday.

      So all that energy that would go into self-improvement, through bargaining, action, etc. is wasted on a system that rewards you with "talk slip filling out duty" and the like.

      IF I were a cynical man, I would say the Borg is a deliberate attempt to destabilize a segment of labor... cheap window washing, anyone? No SEIU workers here...

      CZAR

    • FairMind
      FairMind

      JustTickledPink, how well you stated the truth about why WT privileges mean so much to some. Once when discussing (gossiping) the attitudes of those in our congregation a friend commented, "for some the truth is all they've got. He was right they had nothing else.

      FM

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