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I'm going to do my best to explain how Dr. Lifton's Eight Criteria for Thought Reform are being applied by the Watchtower Society. My thoughts are in red. I hope everyone who reads this benefits from it:
1) Milieu Control. This involves the control of information and communication both within the environment and, ultimately, within the individual, resulting in a significant degree of isolation from society at large.
The Watchtower Society regulates the use of secret meetings within the group where confidentiality is exhorted (elder meetings, pioneer meetings, etc) which gives certain members hidden knowledge through secret publications (Elders' textbook, pioneer textbook) which serves to psychologically isolate these "privileged" members from the main group. The main group (congregation members only) use publications the general public are normally not aware of such as the Watchtower "Study Edition" magazine, the "Organized to Do Jehovah's Will" book, "Our Kingdom Ministry", etc. The use of the internet or other media sources are often discouraged as a way of controlling information coming into the environment with continual warnings of dangers associated even with general use. An example would be recent warnings given by the Watchtower Society that when doing something as general as online banking, pornography may suddenly appear, something basically impossible unless someone had previously downloaded a virus from a porn site:
*** g 12/07 p. 12 How Can I Avoid Pornography? ***
"Says one 19-year-old girl, 'Sometimes I’m browsing or shopping on the Internet or even just checking bank statements online when wham—pornography pops up!'"
2) Mystical Manipulation. There is manipulation of experiences that appear spontaneous but in fact were planned and orchestrated by the group or its leaders in order to demonstrate divine authority or spiritual advancement or some special gift or talent that will then allow the leader to reinterpret events, scripture, and experiences as he or she wishes.
1914 and 1975 come to mind as manipulated dates where timelines are used with numerology to allegedly coincide with scriptures, giving a type of mystical appearance of the ones handling the environment. Another event that was magnified as having special meaning was Katrina which occured right after a magazine was distributed headlining natural disasters. The coincidence of the two mentioned events, first the publication distribution followed by Katrina was alluded to as having special meaning, giving the propagandists the appearance as having some kind of supernatural connection to divinity.
3) Demand for Purity. The world is viewed as black and white and the members are constantly exhorted to conform to the ideology of the group and strive for perfection. The induction of guilt and/or shame is a powerful control device used here.
The term "world" is often used among Jehovah's Witnesses to represent wicked mankind alienated from God, or, all those outside the cult environment. "You're either in the ark (the so-called 'Christian Congregation'), or you're in the sea of mankind (the 'world')." "Friendship with the world is enmity with God" - the so-called world being anything outside of the cult environment. Good vs. bad, weak vs. strong (Christian), good slave vs. evil slave, brother vs. apostate. You're either a brother or you're not. Black or white. No gray areas. "He's not 'reaching out'", when regarding "weak" Christians. "Encouragement" is a word used by Jehovah's Witness handlers to induce guilt and shame upon members.
4) Confession. Sins, as defined by the group, are to be confessed either to a personal monitor or publicly to the group. There is no confidentiality; members' "sins," "attitudes," and "faults" are discussed and exploited by the leaders.
This is interesting, because I often get met with ones who say, "we don't confess our sins openly to the group. True, but the members are "encouraged" to, or guilted into telling their sins to a "trusted, mature man" (elder) who then tells all the other elders during a "confidential" elders' meeting. This weakness is then further exploited by the handlers at a later time, perhaps when the member begins trying to "reach out". This inflicts even more guilt upon the unsuspecting member, leading to despair and helplessness in regard to the handlers, furthering the psychological isolation from the main group even more.
5) Sacred Science. The group's doctrine or ideology is considered to be the ultimate Truth, beyond all questioning or dispute. Truth is not to be found outside the group. The leader, as the spokesperson for God or for all humanity, is likewise above criticism.
The "truth" says it all with this one. The "faithful and discreet slave CLASS" represents the entire cult and cannot even be thought of negatively, let alone spoken against for fear of reprisals from the handlers (shunning, stereotyping (labeling) as "marked", "apostate", etc).
6) Loading the Language. The group interprets or uses words and phrases in new ways so that often the outside world does not understand. This jargon consists of thought-terminating clichés, which serve to alter members' thought processes to conform to the group's way of thinking.
The word "encourage" takes on new meaning, as previously mentioned, now meaning "to guilt or shame". The word "condescend" has been redefined to mean "a lowering of oneself" as in "God condescended himself to man". Yet, no other word source anywhere defines this word this way. "Apostate" is one of the most common thought terminating clichés I can think of. A former member must be evil. He cannot simply leave the environment in search of further truth. Words the outside world would never understand can be words with new meaning. "Faithful" "discreet" and "slave" are all words used by people outside the environment, but when used together take on a whole new meaning unknown to these folks. "Newly interested ones" interestingly enough coincides with the term "investigators" of the Mormon faith.
7) Doctrine over person. Member's personal experiences are subordinated to the sacred science and any contrary experiences must be denied or reinterpreted to fit the ideology of the group.
1914 may have been the greatest year for many people alive at that time, but when entering the cult environment of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, they must surrender their own feelings and memories and adopt the new thinking that it marked the worst year in the history of the world for everybody alive then. Someone may believe angels can appear to people today. Some may feel they were helped by an angel at one time or another. But because the sacred doctrine of the cult states that "angels do not appear visibly today", the entire group must accept and conform their thinking to this idea, though it is not scriptural, nor can such a claim be proven or disproven with any real evidence.
8 ) Dispensing of existence. The group has the prerogative to decide who has the right to exist and who does not. This is usually not literal but means that those in the outside world are not saved, unenlightened, unconscious and they must be converted to the group's ideology. If they do not join the group or are critical of the group, then they must be rejected by the members. Thus, the outside world loses all credibility. In conjunction, should any member leave the group, he or she must be rejected also. (Lifton, 1989)
The handlers (elders) have the authority to expel anyone at any time for any reason (Ray Franz comes to mind) yet the ones in danger of expulsion do not have equal authority, setting up an authoritarian environment of cult mind control, under the guise of being a "loving Christian arrangement". Former members who are critical of the group and see it for what it really is, such as myself, are stereotyped (labeled) and rejected as "apostate". Ones who refuse to be recruited into the group after being exposed to the doctrines of the group are stereotyped and subsequently rejected as "unsuitable fish". Ones who have not been exposed to the Watchtower Society's doctrine yet are often stereotyped as "blind" and must be recruited, or "made into disciples".
*** w08 7/15 p. 21 par. 19 You Do Not Know Where It Will Have Success! ***
"As with the unsuitable fish, many who once studied the Bible with Jehovah’s people have stopped studying."
http://www.jehovahswitnessrecovery.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=3488
