OMG! When does it end? Cognitive Dissonance is pandemic!

by upside/down 19 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  upside/down

  I just had a "sister" leave our house... she was getting her hair done, by my wife...

  She is married to a demoted-elder and is very R&F... Her poor hubby has been on the receiving end of so much abuse from the bOrg... and they "don't understand it".

  I've been sowing seeds of "new light" with her from JWD and even though their sitch just keeps getting worse and worse and her hubby just keeps getting more and more depressed... she actuall laid on me today the old " but where else can we go? Only the WTS has the truth".

  I thought I was going to puke...

  She even laid out the old " don't forsake the gathering of yourselves"...proof we need to be at the meetings. Even though she admits that that is where the source of all the abuse eminates. Despite the fact that she gets NOTHING at all out of the meetings...

  She says... "well you know J can read the heart and we just have to remain loyal...no matter what! ....UGH!!!

  So I said.... What about "love"...isn't THAT the most important thing?... She agreed but went right back to her Dub default reasoning....
  there's nowhere else to go".

  So there you have it...even intellegent, semi-reasonable people not only succumb to but advocate WTS "theology"....

  The bOrg is alive and well... make no mistake.

  u/d (of the can't believe I actually ate this crap too class)
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  tetrapod.sapien

  The bOrg is alive and well... make no mistake.

  hey u/d,

  i know, i agree. my wife is still in too, and i see it all the time.

  people are their own freaking worst enemies. if one fool can see the WTS shite, any can.
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  RichieRich

  what we need to focus on is how do we knock down that one wall that they all go run behind. If we can do that, we can succeed.
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  Scully

  The key is to unmask the FDS doctrine. If they can see the entity as a total farce, it's the beginning of the end.
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  Markfromcali

  That doesn't sound like cognitive dissonance to me. Someone has to actually be conflicted for there to be CD, otherwise they are just rationalizing things according to the WTS doctrine. Yes there may be some of it at a subtler level causing the depression, but it sounds like they are just "plugging along."
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  patio34

  I say what all the others have said.

  Plus, it's also a protection for one's belief system. I think it's what George Lakoff calls "frames" of thinking. Everything is filtered through that frame of reference--especially if it's a simple slogan (and the Bible's full of those) such as "where else do we go?" The WTS has cleverly (as has most other religions probably) inserted themselves as that narrow channel and then drums it into the dub through high mind-control. It also cleverly has forbidden "independent thinking." If something doesn't fit the overall frame, it's rejected out of hand.

  BUT, you never know what it is that leads to the chink in that web encasing dubs' minds. There must be a chink or else we wouldn't all be here!

  Pat
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  JamesThomas

  I know this has been posted many times, but it helps to read it often a it helps to understand this particular bizarre behavior.

  http://www.csicop.org/si/2000-11/beliefs.html

  j
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  GetBusyLiving

  My friend was telling me about a conversation he had with his cousin that ran pretty much the same way. The freaking guy even said "I know there are a lot of things that aren't true about the truth. I don't care about facts and figures.. it's just what I believe." That sort of comment can only make sense to a cultist.

  GBL
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  Elsewhere

  Even though she admits that that is where the source of all the abuse eminates. Despite the fact that she gets NOTHING at all out of the meetings...

  (Matthew 7:15-20) 15

  "Be on the watch for the false prophets that come to YOU in sheep’s covering, but inside they are ravenous wolves. 16 By their fruits YOU will recognize them. Never do people gather grapes from thorns or figs from thistles, do they? 17 Likewise every good tree produces fine fruit, but every rotten tree produces worthless fruit; 18 a good tree cannot bear worthless fruit, neither can a rotten tree produce fine fruit. 19 Every tree not producing fine fruit gets cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Really, then, by their fruits YOU will recognize those [men].
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  tetrapod.sapien

  thanks james,

  that's a great article.

  a highlight that hopefully makes all you folks on JWD feel a little better about the fact that even though this religion is alive and well, it is a very unique thing that you are out:

  it should be comforting to all skeptics to remember that the truly amazing part of all of this is not that so few beliefs change or that people can be so irrational, but that anyone's beliefs ever change at all. Skeptics' ability to alter their own beliefs in response to data is a true gift; a unique, powerful, and precious ability. It is genuinely a "higher brain function" in that it goes against some of the most natural and fundamental biological urges. Skeptics must appreciate the power and, truly, the dangerousness that this ability bestows upon them. They have in their possession a skill that can be frightening, life-changing, and capable of inducing pain. In turning this ability on others it should be used carefully and wisely. Challenging beliefs must always be done with care and compassion.