wizzstick: The problem I have with the whole 'hidden images in WT publications' is...
Why?
I think it is important to remember that you are dealing with a group of men whose cultural background includes many erroneous ideas about 'scientific' discoveries.
The WTS does not have a very good batting average when it comes to evaluating science and you don't have to scratch their history very far to find all sorts of bizarre beliefs in what passes for quack science. Just think of their history - Judge Rutherford wore a radium belt for a while, they opposed vaccinations, they continue to think that Noah and the flood is a real story, they give their followers all sorts of erroneous advice on blood, they once told the JWs that a heart transplant would make you take on the personality of the donor....the list goes on and on about the strange beliefs of the WT fellows upon whom this religion is founded on.
The notion that subliminal images can influence behaviour became popular with the advent of psychoanalytic theory proposed by Sigmund Freud in the early 1900s, right at the time that wackos like Clayton Woodworth was embracing the strangest and most alternative treatments in medicine that were out there.
The idea of subliminal images having an impact on the unconscious was reinforced by experiments in the 50s - the idea that people thoughts and behaviours could be controlled by images was right up the alley of military organizations that were embroiled in the Cold War following WW2. Subliminal imaging was a natural outcome of the culture during that time.
It is likely that the WTS jumped on the bandwagon of those who believed in the power of subliminal imaging during the early 2oth century and propaganda imaging was their 'thing' - religious propaganda enhanced by images. If the WTS would embrace other crazy medical and scientific theories - they would certainly not hesitate to embrace anything they would feel would further their cause. Subliminal imaging actually fits quite nicely into the many and strange beliefs in the history of the WTS.
Whether or not it works is actually a moot point. They still hold erroneous views about many things, including the medical use of blood - it would be no surprise if they believed in the power of inserting odd and unrelated things in their images, The WTS would do it anyways if they thought it had validity.
Does it work? Well, the WTS might have got it right on this one - recent studies confirm that subliminal images can influence behaviour. Whether or not the WTS is sophisticated enough to chose the right images to reinforce or enforce behaviour...I don't know. They have been pretty successful in fooling millions of people with their wacky doctrines on Armageddon and blood and 1914, etc,...and I do know that the WT images have a power over those who leave, so they might have got the choice in images right, after all..
