Door-to-door preaching as surveillance

by john.prestor 33 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  john.prestor

  I wanted to share some thoughts about Jehovah's Witnesses and their door-to-door preaching.

  Door-to-door preaching is supposedly about gathering converts, but in fact, as we frequently discuss, doesn't actually bring that many "sheep-like ones" in. I want to suggest that a second meaning (what we call the latent meaning in academia) is facilitating surveillance of the congregants who attend some congregation. Let me explain.

  -Congregations go door-to-door within a specific geographic area known as their "territory." Most congregants for practical reasons and the Governing Body's instructions (as in a recent convention video) live within the territory of the congregation they attend.

  -Each congregation also preaches across its entire territory ideally every 6-12 months, and most succeed at this from what I can gather. This means that congregants will drive or walk by the residences of other congregants in their territory at least once or twice per year.

  -Because the Governing Body makes displaying certain objects a disfellowshipping offense, congregants would thus gather evidence for a Judicial Committee unintentionally by passing by residences with, say, Halloween decorations, say, or where many cars were parked in their driveway on Thanksgiving. On this site I've seen accounts of Elders being called on someone because they spoke briefly to a female congregant who stopped by to ask a question, for instance.

  -In other words: door-to-door preaching functions as a form of surveillance, and facilitates the discipline of congregants, ensuring their compliance and complicity.

  Thoughts?
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  _Morpheus

  overwrought and overthought.
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  LV101

  It would be very difficult to hide holiday decor and they did like to drop by to use the restroom or show someone the dog - need a favor, etc., but it was mostly because of convenience. Too many JWs lead double lives (or sneak off and gamble, call their full time job 'part time', spend the entire day at the gym having fun) but there are the hardliners that act like the clipboard nazi. Always good to live in a manned, gated, security, hood, and learn not to answer the phone.
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  john.prestor

  I figured you'd say something like that Morph, I can just discard that out of hand. LV101, I didn't know that additional detail and that fits with my claims. Thanks!
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  stillin

  I think that the surveillance is incidental, not really by design incorporated into the door to door work. The Witnesses love to talk about those things. "I heard that Stillin went back to CHRISTMAS!" "Morph had a political campaign sign in his yard!" Etc
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  sir82

  Yes, such surveillance would be incidental, certainly not a principal motivation for the work.

  Your point on few converts gained is well taken though.

  I'd say the principal reason for the door to door work is to keep JWs busy doing something that appears to be important, while it is merely time-consuming so as to keep JWs "out of trouble".
  
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  _Morpheus

  How easily some forget the orgs history. It started out as having a free sales force. Any other benefits are ancillary and coincidental. It evolved over time into something of a loyalty test as well. Suggestions of “surveillance” are at best paranoid and poorly thought out.
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  sir82

  Yes, I should say the principal reason now for the door to door work is [what I wrote above].
  
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  john.prestor

  I want to clarify my original post: I am not claiming door-to-door preaching intentionally was created by Charles Taze Russell (when it began all those years ago, yes Morph, I'm aware of how door-to-door preaching started) for the purpose or intention of surveillance. I am saying that door-to-door preaching facilitates surveillance, i.e., makes it easier to accomplish, as in examples stillin provides.
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  LV101

  I concur - j.p. It's an added, free, control, feature, that Big Brother has automatically with the D2D waste. They demand conformity and obedience to the point of telling you where you should shop and buy your clothes. Yeah, like that went over big - NOT!