"They're out to get me!"

by Nan 26 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Dansk

  jgnat

  Family doctors know who their JW patients are (they are the same ones who have a "no blood" directive on their files). Family doctors would also be able to give statistics on their caseload - incidence of illness (mental or otherwise) of their "no blood" patients versus the general population.

  Such a study would get around the reluctance of the WTBTS to come under public, empirical examination.

  This is, obviously, a good idea in the way to go to get at such information. However, for such information to be retrieved the researcher would have to have good credibility, such as by way of working for a university or hospital for research purposes. Occasionally, a good journalist could get doctors to reveal all (without their naming patients, of course) otherwise the information is never likely to see the light of day. How many of US here would a doctor reveal such information to? That's the problem. Somehow we've got to get someone with genuine credibility to do the research.

  Best wishes,

  Ian
• 

  Phantom Stranger

  I concur with the idea that it's a personality trait that is emphasized by many religions, including JW's... but not created out of nothing.
• 

  undercover

  I tend to think this is more of a personality trait, as I have this ,"they're out to get me" in many people I have known throughout my lifetime who were and weren't JW's

  I've seen the trait both inside and outside the org. But, how do I put this delicately, most of the people that I know of that have a persecution complex are not very well educated. I don't mean college educated, I mean well-read, up on current events, uses commen sense and logic in forming opinions and attitudes. JWs fall into the category, even when decently educated, because they stick their head in the sand when it comes to anything outside their Kingdom Hall world.

  I had this trait. Even in everyday things, I thought people were trying to stick it to me. Even in little things, from fighting over a parking spot to arguing over getting my McDonald's order right, it was the world against me. As I ventured out from WT land and saw that the world wasn't the evil place that had been painted by my religion, I eased up on my "complex". I realized people were just people, no different than me and that the world really wasn't out to get me. It's really nice to go out and accept people as they are instead of casting some evil intent on them as the WTS would have us believe.
• 

  Phantom Stranger

  Good point, UC. Yes, the less we know about the big world, the easier it is to think that we are the center of all things.
• 

  patio34

  A related cause for this common trait may be that they believe what the Bible says about the world lying in the power of the wicked one. And that all these followers of Satan (i.e., everybody but them) are evil enough to be destroyed at Armageddon.

  Therefore, they have to put the worst spin on everything that the non-JWs do, to prove to themselves that they're evil enough to be destroyed by God.

  I remember when I was a dub (and kids had this "doubt" all the time too) thinking about people at work and why on earth they would be judged as worthy of execution by God. Then you would think well maybe they'll turn "good." Or you would deliberately look for flaws and supposed "sins" in them to justify their impending execution.

  Strange. But JWs aren't the only ones like this.

  Pat
• 

  new light

  It's true that this mindset is perpetrated in the literature. Many of the people who read enough of it and listen to what's being said are affected, They then pass these traIts to their children. I was completetly of this mindset well into my twenties. Can you imagine the level of psychosis required to not only imagine that persecution, for behavior you invented by your own interpretation of a 2,000 year old book, is proof that you are God's chosen servant, but to then foment this onto millions of unsuspecting people and enforce behavior that they probably never would do naturally and will most certainly result in persecution given enough time and effort. And time and effort they will give, if not to move into better "privileges of service," then at least to chip away at the enormous mound of guilt shoveled onto them almost every time they read you interpration of the Bible. People have been institutionalized for less. A person with this tragic level of mental illness really should not be allowed to walk among us without copious amounts of lithium.
• 

  willyloman

  It's good to read Gary Bussman's classic internet series, Armageddon Okies. In one segment, the hillbilly dubs are head for a convention, driving an old bus that is held together by chewing gum and bailing wire. When it inevitably breaks down, the driver sees it as a sure sign of being "persecuted by this old system." Gary's stories are very funny, and laced with truth about the persecution complex and paranoia that runs rampant in the organization and affects almost all the JWs in one way or another.