In Medieval times, the ruling class lived in great castles enjoying the good life while the common folk toiled and exhausted themselves on hand-to-mouth labor for the Lord of the Manor. Whatever was left over as scraps became theirs.
The dwellers outside were called pagans. That's really all that word means. People who don't live the good life inside the walls.
The biggest problem rulers had was keeping people busy rather than asking for things, or god forbid, speaking out against bad treatment! This is why Dungeons were built--in order to keep potential troublemakers separate from the rest.
In front of the King or Lord or Baron's throne was a false floor on which commoners stood when they'd approach or address his majesty.
If the person petitioning for justice (or making complaint) proved irritating the annoyed potentate could unlock the floor. It tilted and down they tumbled into the Dungeon below.
Or--worse, the ruler would order them placed in an OUBLIETTE. The Oubliette - or the 'forgotten room' - as a punishment worse than being thrown into a castle dungeon.
The oubliette was a tiny, vertical shaft which was often only large enough for an individual to stand up in - they wouldn't have been able to crouch down, to kneel, to sit, or perhaps even to turn round in it.
They would have been lowered into this shaft by a guardsman, and, once they reached the bottom, the rope would have been taken up and the trap-door above them would have been closed.
Often, the shaft would have been so deep that there would have been no way to reach up to the trap-door.
In the oubliette, the prisoner would have been forced to remain standing, in the dark, until they were released - if ever.
What is an Oubliette? (from http://sparrowlet.hubpages.com/hub/Oubliette-French-Torture-Halloween)
The "oubliette" is a French term f rom the verb "oublier" or "to forget".
It was so named, because a prisoner was thrown down into one, and then forgotten. An oubliette was a specialized type of dungeon, with the only entrance a trap door at the top, agonizingly out of reach of the prisoner. These were often built within the upper floors of a castle, rather than in the cellar, so that victims could hear and smell the life of the castle as they slowly died of deprivation in unspeakable conditions. Corpses were left to be consumed by vermin, and many oubliettes were discovered, centuries later, to be strewn with human bones.
The point of all this? The Watch Tower Organization is like the Medeival Barons controlling all they survey using threats of isolation until protest dies. Disfellowshipping and Shunning is their modern day version of Medieval torture of the Oubliette.
