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Date Posted: 03:49:10 05/20/04 Thu
Author: Chris
Subject: How should we name it?
In reply to: Tony Lang 's message, "Re: Your testimony" on 01:28:06 05/20/04 Thu

Was it indoctrination or brainwashing, I dont know if these things are acceptable scientific concepts.

Hi Tony. This is not meant to criticize you but I think it is a crucial point we should talk about.

Maybe you could give us an idea how to call it if not indoctrination or brainwashing.

How would you call it if you are exposed to an environment where you 1) regularly and exclusively are treated with the same teachings, 2) you are confronted with powerful group dynamics and authority pressure for obedience from above, 3) pressure to perform and little time for quiet time on your own to think about this all, 4) all of this is strongly linked together with your salvation, fate, condamnation or blessing by God.

I agree that you can have group pressure also in your company or school, and that you are exposed to propaganda also in advertisements, but this is normally not connected with the question of your fate or your position before God. Point 4) is the ultimate ingredient that makes it all so extreme abusive.

How would you call the "usual" indoctrination of people in Muslimic countries (for instance with the view that Americans are bad people and Jews are particularly evil), and the extreme indoctrination that happens in the trainins camps for al-Qaida where they even make people believe that by killing innocent people you will please God and enter paradise?

What would be the proper words for this kind of indoctrination? Or shouldn't we speak about these things because no proper, scientific wordings exist? However, I believe that these things may be the most sever threat to the world in this century, so we have to talk about these things and understand them.

Or, to use a less militant example, how would you call the indoctrination used by the Jehovah's Witnesses, where they have to read the writings of the watchtower society every week and use 1)-4) as listed above?

These things are not fiction. They are real and have extreme impact on the souls of people. So we should find proper names for these processes and methods. If indoctrination is not a proper name, then I would like to use a better term. But we cannot simply ignore these things because we have no proper name for it.

I think by enabling people in cults to give names to the confusing, obscure and often unnoticed practices they are exposed to, you enable them to see the system behind this. Only by speaking out the "unspoken rules" that exist in cults, you can already often break their ban and power they have over people.

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