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Understanding Mind Control Among Jehovah's Witnesses
Much has been written on the biblical approach. A few books have been written which document the Watchtower's false prophecies and changes as well, such as Thus Saith Jehovah's Witnesses. However, very little has yet been written clarifying their particular technique of mind control. I believe many will benefit from a new approach in talking to friends and relatives who are caught up in the Jehovah's Witnesses.
The first two techniques mentioned above have their merits, and they should not be neglected in reaching the Witness. Indeed, we need all the tools we can muster in reaching out to free them from mind control. Yet I believe that a person who is trying to reach Jehovah's Witnesses must truly understand the mindset of the person they are ministering to before they can set them free in many situations.
An excellent book has been published by Steven Hassan called Releasing the Bonds. Having worked with Steve personally (and with good results), I feel that this type of information needs to be applied specifically to Jehovah's Witnesses.
What is "Mind Control"?
While many have spoken of the methods used by the cults as a form of brainwashing (a forced reprogramming of a person's thoughts), a more apt designation would be mind control. Hassan clarifies the difference between the two:
Mind control, also called `thought reform,' is more subtle and sophisticated [than brainwashing]. Its perpetrators are regarded as friends or peers, so the person is much less defensive. He unwittingly participates by cooperating with his controllers and giving them private information that he does not know will be used against him. The new belief system is internalized into a new identity structure.
Mind control involves little or no overt physical abuse. Instead, hypnotic processes are combined with group dynamics to create a potent indoctrination effect. The individual is deceived and manipulated--not directly threatened into making the prescribed choices. On the whole, he responds positively to what is done to him. (p. 56)
Hassan constructs his methodology from his own personal experiences, as well as Robert J. Lifton's classic study, Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism and Leon Festinger's "cognitive dissonance theory" and its three marks of mind control. Hassan adds one more to make four:
* control of behavior
* control of thoughts
* control of emotions
* control of information
These methods, when used by unscrupulous cults, form a powerful tool for seducing converts. The appeal is not just to the ignorant and gullible, either; the best recruits are often quite intelligent.
What's Wrong with Mind Control?
Using mind control is a question of ethics in today's society; not all forms of mind control are harmful. Advertising and sales pitches seek to influence our minds daily. What we must take issue with, however, are certain methods of mind control employed that are not understood by the person seeking help. Often they do not know what they are getting into (until it's too late). Religious cults employ mind control tactics that are kept secret from the rank and file members; that is one reason why they are called cults. Cults believe that "the end justifies the means" when it comes to making converts. They sincerely believe that they have the only answers to life's problems, and since most people "don't know what is good for them," the cult leaders assume the role of "parents" to the victim, often referring to themselves as their "mother" or "father." Unlike a good parent who explains what he is doing to the child, however, the cult leader finds it to his advantage to keep the recruit as much in the dark as possible, preferring obedience and blind loyalty to making full disclosure. Cult leaders are sophisticated when it comes to understanding human nature! They know that the average person would object to the indoctrination program if they really understood the whole picture, so information is provided on a "need to know" basis only.
This reveals the underlying foundation of cult leadership--a total lack of faith in the neophyte's ability to make responsible decisions. The neophyte is viewed as a worthless individual unless their entire way of thinking is overhauled. They must have their minds swept clean of former ways of reacting to life's situations, and then reprogrammed entirely. The cult's program of mind control will ultimately only work if the person sublimates their former personality.
Hope for the Deceived
Is it a waste of time to try and get a Jehovah's Witness out of the organization after being in it for years? It might seem that way to outsiders. The blind zeal and imperviousness to critical thought on the part of the Witness might appear permanent to the relative trying to rescue their loved one caught up in the Watchtower.
Yet the organization itself is aware of the need to constantly drill their subjects with the same material week after week, lest the individual begin to think and act like the others who live and work around them once more. Sometimes all it takes is a long vacation from the Kingdom Hall activities, a time of emotional depression, or a bad experience with another Witness to spark doubt in the mind of the Witness. Many simply get tired of the very mind control process itself, and their cult identity loses its attraction.
Any exposure whatever to literature about mind control methods or experiences of others from various mind control cults may spark new or resurfaced doubts in the Witness mind. The goal is to help them see clearly that the Watchtower is no different than hundreds of other religious organizations that use the very same phobias, promises and mind control methods to seduce and retain their members. Such comparisons are devastating. Nothing can be more effective than a well-planned "casual" discussion between the Witness and a former member of another cult who simply feels like talking about his or her experience in the cult, without their even inferring the Witness is in a cult. One of the very first alarms that went off in my mind a year before my exiting the Watchtower was the reading of a Reader's Digest article on religious cults that, to my remembrance, didn't even mention the Watchtower. Something just clicked inside, as I asked my roommate, "Why doesn't the Watchtower reach out to cult victims?" Little did I know where attempting to answer that haunting question would lead. Freedom, for me at least, was just around the corner.
Understanding Watchtower Mind Control
I have found in the vast majority of cases where Christians are trying to talk to a Jehovah's Witness about the errors of the Watchtower, they are unable to relate to the Witness at all. They may be well acquainted with Watchtower theology, but then proceed as if the Witness is simply lacking factual material, naively assuming that once presented with the truth, the Witness will give his faith up and become a Christian. This almost never works.
The basic assumption of this approach is that (1) the person is merely lacking accurate information, and (2) once presented with the truth, it will "trouble" them enough to make an intelligent decision to leave the Watchtower. They are thereby making two generally false assumptions: that the person has not heard information critical of the Watchtower, and that the Witness is objective enough in their thinking to weigh the truthfulness of the Watchtower on their own.
It is uncommon to find a JW who has not seen or heard information exposing the dishonesty of the Watchtower. Why, then, do they not see a problem? Evidently, something else has prevented them from objectively analyzing factual information. Their minds are trained to stop short of doubting the organization. A wall has been erected which says, in effect, "This far you may go, and no further." The Christian or concerned relative does not realize that the person is a victim of mind control, and whatever biases or presuppositions that have been placed in their minds by the Watchtower will effectively prevent the JW from seeing things objectively.
One could liken it to a child who loves her mother very much (and who is loved by the mother) discovering that her mother is on trial for first degree murder in a court of law. Not yet having the maturity to understand human nature and the complexities of personalities, the child will be overwhelmingly driven by her feelings towards her mother and almost always reject (though without factual basis) any efforts to convince her that her mother is a murderer.
The illustration is not far off from what actually occurs within the mind of the Jehovah's Witness. The JW is taught that the organization is the "mother," and that Jehovah is the Father. Since Jehovah does not speak directly to the JW, he must rely on the organization for guidance and instruction. The JW is reminded over and over how trustworthy the "mother" is and how he cannot get along without her. Anyone else who tries to help the JW is viewed as "of the devil" and is considered dangerous. Since the JW is part of a family with its normal amount of brotherhood and togetherness (five meetings a week), the feeling of being safe and even "loved" reinforces what the "mother" is saying. The "mother" has taught him not to listen to anything critical of her, calling it satanic; thereby preventing the JW from thinking objectively and causing him to react with strong emotions whenever he senses a critical spirit towards the Watchtower. The JW will simply not question the motives