Appreciate all the comments, guys. Here's an update in my little 48-hour mental awakening: I've discovered Danmera has some great vids over on YT, y'all should go watch some if you haven't seen them, and this one in particular ("JW's: The Watchtower is Laughing at You") just made me spew my coffee across the room and say bad words: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylVFghVHEeQ . Which is talking about the brainwashing techniques the WTBTS admits to in black and white!
She reads these quotes in the vid and posts the texts too - Holy Crap! Emphasis mine:
"Consider some of the other "twisted things" used to mislead God's people today. On occasion opposers will question the various teachings that Jehovah's people hold in common. Often this becomes a debate about words, just as it was in the first century. (1 Timothy 6:3, 4) They may also question the need for an organization to direct the minds of God's people. Their view is, God's spirit can direct individuals without some central, organized body of men giving direction." Watchtower March 1, 1983
"Minds must be cleansed and made over, mental circuits formed by old-world thinking and acting faded out and new ones put in according to new-world specifications. By privately studying regularly, by attending all meetings regularly, and by engaging in all features of the preaching work regularly mental circuits are deepened and such good activities become habitual, not at all the struggle they are when the mental circuits are weak and faint because used only occasionally. For ourselves and for others, make them strong!—1 Tim. 4:16." Watchtower June 1, 1953
It hardly takes "spiritual discernment" to see what they are really talking about - in plain view. So they totally knew what they were doing - deliberate thought control - the bloody b*stards!
I'll say it again: HOLY F*^&@%# CRAP!!!
Wow. Oh wow. And here all this time, even four decades after leaving the borg, and totally rejecting all the other indoctrination I got, I was still in the back corner of my mind resisting the cult label. Amazing.
Man, the brainwashing really goes deep, don't it?
*****
PS - Having been through the whole 1975 debacle, it's been amazing to me all these years that the JW's are still even around. But the cult leaders are soooo slick, so devious, they obviously managed to massage the message enough to keep it going. Here's some totally creepy sh*t I just found that they are pulling right now - pure cultic manipulation:
http://jwsurvey.org/cedars-blog/jehovah-and-watchtower-are-they-now-to-be-thought-of-as-one-and-the-same
http://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/w20131115/seven-shepherds-eight-dukes/
Wow oh wow.