Getting Someone Out (Part 2)
In the previous thread of this series:
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.asp?id=20047&site=3
we discussed some subtle but rather gentle and benign approaches to getting someone we love out of the Witnesses. Most of us are familiar with the good points brought up in the various posts of this thread but we also recognize the truth that A Witnesses really needs to wake up and start asking questions before we can ever get to the point of having deep and constructive dialog with them, and openly show them what they were unwilling to see before. This of course might take years or even never for this to transpire. It reminds me much of someone having a life threatening disease, and all we can do is keep them warm and provide company. Perhaps you might wonder if there is another way around this disheartening set of circumstances. I suggest to you that there may be, but it too is somewhat of a long shot and comes with a big price tag to boot.
Would you pay between $3,000-$10,000 to get someone you loved out in a week?
All of us have heard of the term Brainwashing. It was coined sometime in the 1950’s to describe what happened to captured American servicemen in Korea. Since then, brainwashing has been investigated a lot by the CIA and psychologists but actually little has turned up to show that people can be instantly have their minds controlled. Regardless, it is still useful to discuss how behavioral manipulation is used by the WTS and how it can also be used against individual Witnesses to free them.
Typically, the techniques in which a person seeks to influence another is either by choice respecting (uses techniques that honors the autonomy of the person being influenced) or compliance-gaining (which includes techniques that get the desired response, regardless of what the wishes of the person being influenced are.)
When we look at the methods used by the WTS we find that they use a combination of both methods to program people into becoming Witnesses. Why the Witnesses differ from other religions is that they use a greater proportion of compliance-gaining techniques of persuasion and control, than do other religions.
How does the WTS achieve compliance-gaining? Here is how I see it:
1. They use Deception. Prospective members are deceived into believing that the Society is benevolent and that they will have a rewarding and enriched life, both now and in the future. They claim that your self-esteem will go up and that you will feel secure. You won’t have any worries as Jehovah will provide and protect you. By using peer pressure and other manipulative techniques they get new recruits to baptize themselves and of course recruit more members themselves.
2. They make you Dependent. We all know how the WTS gradually isolates the new convert from outside influences and creates guilt-inducing expectations that are sky high (remember them telling us that we should have the same urgency in helping someone as if their house was on fire?). In addition to this any critical thinking is thrown out the window, no doubts are allowed, you are not supposed to be negative and you must absolutely rely upon the association of the group for any love and support.
3. They make you fearful. Once you are dependent upon them, then a huge sense of dread is dumped on you. If you leave, you risk losing the psychological and even physical support if you are a woman and married, from your new collective family. Of course there is always Armageddon too, to worry about that is right around the corner, not to mention worrying about persecution, the horrors out in the world, the bogeyman, demons and everything else.
The Witnesses don’t have to use sensory or food deprivation or physical force to break your brain down to being submissive. They don’t need to give you drugs to make your mind receptive or induce a trance state in you. They don’t use physical torture on you. You get sucked in very willingly and subtly. It is a backdoor approach that works and works well.
It is not stupid people, mentally challenged people, or emotionally needy people that fall for this. We all know we did, and there are a lot of smart people here. We were willing victims, ripe for the picking.
Well, there is probably nothing new to any of you here so far but what about using these same techniques to get someone out? Some of you might remember an intervention method called “Deprogramming” that became popular in the 1970’s. Counselors did these interventions at the request of a cult victim’s family. It was usually something along the lines of abducting the family member and forcing him or her to listen to negative information about the cult and its leaders. The cost ranged from about $3,000 to $10,000.
What happened though is that the freedom of religion issue got involved and lawsuits were brought against deprogrammers and this more or less ended this dramatic rescue operation. In time, counselors trying to help people out of cults became known as exit counselors and they use a less confrontational approach. Exit counseling focuses on the family of the victim and teaches them how to influence the family member. They will counsel the cult victim but will not restrain them.
Does it work? I copied some material from such an exit counselors website who claims that a 75% success rate is possible. I will let you read over the material and decide for yourself.
Before going there though, I might mention a potential strategy that you could use in getting a JW to submit to playing this game. It is a variation of what is good for the Goose is good for the Gander. Essentially you agree to listen to the JW propaganda by some elders for awhile (say a day or two) and then after this, the person you wants out agrees to listen to your “friend” and you. Sounds like making a deal with the Devil doesn’t it?
Here is the link to the website for additional information:
http://www.rickross.com/prep_faq.html
Kind Regards,
Skipper
