by pale.emperor 26 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
They will even say that the members minds are washed clean of the satanic filth of the world.
My brother in law said this to me in the middle of a rant because i was leaving the bOrg "you think we're brainwashed? Well good! I want my brain washed from all the evil in the world. The Organisation has washed my brain of badness."
Cant really reason with that sort of stupidity can you?
Good question. I think they came to the mindset that it was their duty to do whatever they could to persuade people to join/stay years ago (for their own sake) and once you are in that mindset, it is not mind-control but helping people. The various tools they use are things that are either obvious (shunning makes people reluctant to leave) or known from the advertising industry (play on emotions, simplify the message and repeat). So I don't think they feel they are brainwashing people, but I do think they talk about the strategy for making their religion as persuasive as possible and I doubt the question of ethics ever come up in those talks (they think whatever they do is ethical by definition).
pale.emporer: The "my brain needed brainwashing" quip was also used by father moon, lol. (see "combating cult mind control").
"The Organisation has washed my brain of badness!"
Damn.
Talk about throwing out the baby with the bathwater... :smirk:
I'm wondering if the bOrg actually studied mind control and coercion tactics deliberately or wether they just evolved over time through trial and error.
I believe that the methods evolved over time. It is just "see what works" and then the methods that work most effectively are the negative ones. Just look at how some of the early decisions were made in the organization versus how they are made now. A heavy hand is used for everything because that is found to be effective.
There are several different tactics used by the JW.Org to keep their followers addict of their cult. One of the best way is to bring their followers over the years to feel as much uncomfortable as possible among non-JWs.
I think people are either bullies and abusers or they aren't. I don't think it's learned, it's just something that they innately know how to do. It just so happens that they have scratched their way to power in the WTS and it's been that way ever since this org was formed back in Russel's time.
