by Gill 46 Replies latest watchtower scandals
Is the WT policy of five meetings a week, daily text, book study prep, book study, Thursday meeting prep, Thursday meeting, Watchtower pre study, public talk, Watchtower study, a deliberate ploy to keep the members under mind control?
Is this 'routine' carefully thought out and planned by someone or did the Watchtower Society just evolve this way 'accidentally'?
Is there a 'mastermind' at work aiming to keep JWs tightly under mind control and if so , who is it?
Good question, but it's not easy to know the answer. It's not just the quantity of the propaganda and how often they get exposed to it but also the nature of it. I believe that it was all planned by specialists in mass psychology such as Edward Bernays the nephew of Freud. Certainly not something inspired in the FDS by God's spirit but something very man made, specialist services purchased with money.
Other people may think that they themselves developed these tactics over time but to me they seem very precise and intricate for that.
I would think the type and frequency of meetings have been around for a while
now Gill. I believe the tms/service meeting came in in the 1940's or thereabouts.
I have no idea how often they met in the early days, when CT Russell started
printing his rag.
The org must realise that the meeting and study schedule they try to impose
on members keeps them far too busy to get involved in much else if they follow
it, so I'd say it's an integral part of their mind control tactics.
Maybe that's one of the main reasons the elders get so anxious when a jw
stops attending meetings regularly - they are afraid that they won't be able
to exert as much control over them.
Thank you Greendawn and Depoet!
I am only aware of the last forty odd years of JW meetings and they have always been as they are now, except for a small reduction in length of time of meetings and more control over meetings NOT being allowed to go overtime. But that too could be interpreted as more 'control' from Brooklyn.
Certainly the wording used by the WT, always using control phrases and encouraging fear and negative thinking can be interpreted as mind control. However, as a JW I remember being always overwhelmed by the theocratic process and the guilt propaganda if there was anything else that I wanted to do. I would like to know if this was thought out.
But, I have just remembered something I read on the board about 'mind control' first being instructed to be practiced at the German Bethel as an experiment by Rutherford. Does anyone remember this, or has this got something to do with the book 'Thirty Years a watchtower Slave?'
This is a very good subject!! Every "piece" of the routine has control as it's goal. I now actually enjoy reading the daily text just to see how in depth the control tactics are. Amazing!
Watson - that is the same reason I like to read the mags and then Blondie's Watchtower study!
Mind control is a fascinating subject when you become aware of how it is being use. The Watchtowers make me laugh now instead of fearful!
But I still think it would be extraordinarily creepy if it was discovered this level of control had been deliberately devised by a machiavellian mind.
Not to "over do it" on the Examining the Scriptures Daily thing, but, we are encouraged to read the bible daily, with the daily text as the starting point, if you don't have a lot of time. The scriptures chosen along with the Watchtower quotes, which keeps our thinking going in the right direction, are very effective.
Watson - Not having a days text book any more myself, but what would you say are the most common prevailing themes?
I would say that the majority revolve around, "following direction," "humility," "patience," "associations," "the light getting brighter," "the worth of higher education," subtle remarks about those that would be critical of the organization, and being careful not to "open ourselves up to dangerous thinking." A lot can be said in just a few words.
I have the feeling that most on this discussion board no longer get the "Examining the Scriptures Daily," daily text book. It would be worth getting if you can. You won't beleive it.
Watson - It sounds as if they apply a little mind control regularly to keep the sheep in line. Very subtle!
It is as if someone is whispering in their ears every morning to 'remember, don't do this, don't do that, do this and do that.'
No wonder, reasoning with a JW is like talking to a Watchtower on legs. They are so brainwashed!
