by OnTheWayOut 21 Replies latest watchtower scandals
WTS is a cult. This excerpt is from Steven Hassan’s book. He says that there are four components
for Mind Control. Controlling Behaviour, Thoughts, Emotions, and Information. I could comment on
all four as the WTS uses each in some ways, but as I read Thought Control, I knew this was something
special that could be used to classify WTS and the religion of JW’s as a dangerous mind control cult. I will quote from the book and check back later on your comments before I add any of my own.
From the book, COMBATTING CULT MIND CONTROL,
chapter 4- Understanding Mind Control. Pages 61-63
Thought Control Thought control, the second major component of mind control, includes indoctrinating members so thoroughly that they internalize the group doctrine, incorporate a new language system, and use thought-stopping techniques to keep their mind "centered." In order to be a good member, a person must learn to manipulate his own thought processes.
In totalistic cults, the ideology is internalized as "the truth," the only “map" of reality. The doctrine not only serves to filter incoming information but also regulates how the information can be thought about. Usually, the doctrine is absolutist, dividing everything into "black versus white," "us versus them." All that is good is embodied in the leader and the group. All that is bad is on the outside. The more totalistic groups claim that their doctrine is scientifically proven. The doctrine claims to answer all questions to all problems and situations. A member need not think for himself because the doctrine does the thinking for him.
A destructive cult typically has its own "loaded language" of words and expressions. Since language provides the symbols we use for thinking, controlling certain words helps to control thoughts. Many groups condense complex situations, label them, and thereby reduce them to cult cliches. This label, which is how the loaded language is verbally expressed, governs how one thinks in any situation.
You might appreciate this breakdown of the WTS using Hassan's BITE model.
Continued
In the Moonies, for example, whenever you have difficulty relating to someone either above or below you in status, it is called a "Cain-Abel problem." It doesn't matter who's involved or what the problem is, it's simply a "Cain-Abel problem." The term itself dictates how the problem must be resolved. Cain must obey Abel and follow him, rather than kill him as was written about in the Old Testament. Case closed. To think otherwise would be to obey Satan's wish that evil Cain should prevail over righteous Abel. A critical thought about a leader's misconduct cannot get past this roadblock in a good member's mind.
The cult's cliches, or loaded language, also put up an invisible wall between believers and outsiders. The language helps to make members feel special and separates them from the general public. It also serves to confuse newcomers, who want to understand what members are talking about, and think they merely have to study hard in order to "understand" the truth. In reality, by incorporating the loaded language they learn how not to think. They learn that understanding means believing.
Another key aspect of thought control involves training members to block out any information which is critical of the group. A person's typical defense mechanisms are twisted so they defend the person's new cult identity against his old former identity. The first line of defense includes denial ("What you say isn't happening at all"), rationalization ("This is happening for a good reason"), justification ("This is happening because it ought to"), and wishful thinking ("I'd like it to be true so maybe it really is").
If information transmitted to a cult member is perceived as an attack on either the leader, the doctrine, or the group, a hostile wall goes up. Members are trained to disbelieve any criticism. Critical words have been explained away in advance as "the lies about us that Satan puts in peoples' minds" or "the lies that the World Conspiracy prints in the news media to discredit us, because they know we're onto them." Paradoxically, criticism of the group confirms that the cult's view of the world is correct. The information presented does not register properly.
Perhaps the most widely used and effective way to control cult member's thoughts is thought-stopping rituals. Members are taught to use thoughtstopping on themselves. They are told it will help them grow or be more effective. Whenever a cult member begins to experience a "bad" thought, he uses thought-stopping to drown out the "negativity" and center himself, thus learning how to shut out anything that threatens his reality.
Continued
Different groups use different thought-stopping techniques: concentrated praying, chanting aloud or silently, meditating, "speaking in tongues," singing, or humming. These actions, many of them ordinarily useful and valuable, are perverted in destructive cults. They become quite mechanical because the person is programmed to activate them at the first sign of doubt, anxiety, or uncertainty. In a matter of weeks the technique becomes ingrained. It becomes so automatic, in fact, that the person is usually not even aware that he had just had a "bad" thought. He is only aware that he is chanting or ritualizing all of a sudden. By using thought-stopping, members think they are growing when in reality they are just making themselves into addicts. After leaving a cult that employs extensive thought-stopping techniques, a person goes through a difficult withdrawal process before he can overcome the addiction.
Thought-stopping is the most direct way to short-circuit a person's ability to test reality. Indeed, if someone is able to think only positive thoughts about his involvement with the group, he is most certainly stuck. Since the doctrine is perfect and the leader is perfect, any problem that crops up is assumed to be the fault of the individual member. He learns always to blame himself and work harder.
Continued
Thought control can effectively block out any feelings that do not correspond with the group doctrine. It can also serve to keep a cult member working as an obedient slave. In any event, when thought is controlled, feelings and behaviors are controlled as well.
Article completed.
You might appreciate this breakdown of the WTS using Hassan's BITE model.
You might appreciate this breakdown of the WTS using Hassan's BITE model.
Thanks, Blondie, the subject was well covered. My point is that reading this chapter was like a light going on in the head that we were controlled. I hoped that others will read this particular section of chapter 4, and that same light will go on for their heads.
Dear Onthewayout,
It's good to have this information readily available as there are so many new to the board. Steve's book was made a gift to me and, as an avid note-taker (required and learnt in school), I have this vital information pretty much embedded in the brain. We who are helping others to escape (though they may not realize it yet) need to know this material and how to seamlessly incorporate the underlying principles into our conversations. What gets me is how we once methodically policed our own thoughts, believing it was merely scriptural admonition to make all thinking subject to the Christ. It is too overwhelming: the CULT controls information, behavior, emotions and thought to one's detriment, yet one sincerely thinks it is loving discipline ' for the life now and that which is to come.' It's so clear now what horrid carnage lies waste on the so-called "Way of Holiness". Thank you again for reminding us of this valuable tool.
Yours truly,
CoCo
Thanks OTWO, I've never actually read Steve Hassan's books, though I don't need to to know that the wts is a cult. I guess they would make interesting reading.
