Control Tactics

by joelbear 2 Replies latest jw friends

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  joelbear

  I posted in another thread that the control tactics are probably ones of the things we look back on with a range of sadness to anger. Here are a short list of control tactics I found harmful as one of Jehovah's Witnesses and whose wounds I still need healing from.

  1. Shunning

  Clearly the most destructive control tactic. Threatening to take away a person's emotional, mental and sometimes physical support network is the ultimate in psychological blackmail. Think as I think and do as I say or be prepared to face the world alone. I shudder to think of the harm this has caused.

  2. End time threats

  I rank this a close 2nd to shunning in its destructive capabilities to someone's life. It has the power to cripple a person's mind, stealing their dreams and putting them in a box to await some future time period when they can open the box and look upon their dreams again. Think of the millions of life decisions made on the basis of "the end is almost upon us."

  3. Manipulation by marking

  As we know, the idea of behavior modification through peer pressure is widespread among witnesses. Don't go out in service enough, then you don't get invited to get togethers. Attend a questionable movie, don't get called on at the Watchtower study, etc. Similar in its insidiousness to shunning is the constant evaluation of your worth based on viewed behavior with feedback ranging from loss of participation to public humiliation.

  I'm sure there are others than could be listed but these are the 3 that came to my mind. All 3 have left their mark on my soul.

  Joel
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  Leander

  I could'nt agree more. It really seems to me that the WTBS just picks and chooses what scriptures it wants to use in order to further its own agenda.

  I can't even count how many times the Society has contradicted itself, but yet if a member of the congregation makes an unintentional mistake they are often publicly as well as privately humiliated. As if that was'nt enough they are made to feel unwelcome even among their own families.

  Also lets not forget the little buzzwords used to label various individuals who are'nt keeping up with the magical national average. "low-hour publisher" "inactive" "spiritually weak"
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  lauralisa

  Hi Joelbear,

  Another one that I know is experienced by a huge number of people:

  Being taught that you are an invalid life form

  Although the borg has written about the fact that some souls find that they have different sexual orientations, those individuals cannot practice behaviors that FEEL NORMAL to them and still be found acceptable. They must live a life of continual denial of their needs, sacrificing most things that provide "quality of life" - i.e. a mate, self-honesty, self-acceptance, love, sexual gratification, companionship....

  To remain "safe" within the congregations, one's choices are:

  Live your entire life in denial of what your true nature is in order to be categorized as "salvageable" and worthy of Jehovah's approval

  Believing that you are a freak of nature - a victim of inherited genetic "imperfection"

  Keeping your inner world secret from everyone you are acquainted with, or risk being categorized as "bad association" or as you put it, "marked"; such a choice means one lives in constant fear and anxiety of everything they do and say

  Kind of a high price to pay to remain in the confines of an organization with serious credibility issues in and of itself.

  The list of mental, physical and even social "orientations" is too long to even try and define, but can be substituted for sexual orientation in the above no-win situation....

  Thank you for an interesting topic.

  lauralisa

  If the world didn't suck, we would all fall off