As a JW, I don?t feel that I?m a mindless robot
LMAO......ya, that's a sign that the cult is doing a good job of brainwashing you, when you don't even realize that you are a robot. I found an interesting site talking about mind control in a cult...........does this sound familiar or what?
What is Mind Control?
Mind control (also referred to as "brainwashing," "coercive persuasion," " thought reform ," and the "systematic manipulation of psychological and social influence ") refers to a process in which a group or individual systematically uses unethically manipulative methods to persuade others to conform to the wishes of the manipulator(s), often to the detriment of the person being manipulated.
Such methods include:
- extensive control of information in order to limit alternatives from which members may make "choices";
- deception;
- group pressure;
- intense indoctrination into a belief system that denigrates independent critical thinking and considers the world outside the group to be threatening, evil, or gravely in error;
- an insistence that members? distress?much of which may consist of anxiety and guilt subtly induced by the group?can be relieved only by conforming to the group;
- physical and/or psychological debilitation through inadequate diet or fatigue;
- the induction of dissociative (trance-like) states (via the misuse of meditation, chanting, speaking in tongues, and other exercises) in which attention is narrowed, suggestibility heightened, and independent critical thinking weakened;
- alternation of harshness/threats and leniency/love in order to effect compliance with the leadership?s wishes;
- isolation from social supports; and
- pressured public confessions;