MJ was heavily abused physically and mentally in his youth. Being raised as a Jehovah’s Witness fucks you up in a lot of ways so those of us from that era and background were never surprised at how he became a fucked up adult.
And to be clear, none of that excuses the things he did, but it does help explain how they came to be.
They don’t believe in birthdays or toys or gifts for Christmas. As far as I can tell all of their beliefs about children are centered around creating the most joyless upbringing possible.
There was one girl in my class that was Jehovah’s witness when I was little. Every time we would have a class party she would have to go sit in the corner and just watch us all stuffing our faces with sugar and having fun.
That only just scratches the surface, mon ami. ANY celebration, except Passover, (which they refer to as the Memorial) is evil and to be rejected. On top of that, the JWs underwent a major shift around 1975. Internal discipline was ramped way up and overall the religion went to a “Armageddon is coming any day” footing. Children as young as 3 were told that the End was coming soon, and it could happen next month, next week, tomorrow, or an hour from now, and if they weren’t obeying the teachings of the faith that they would die in a fiery apocalypse
This message was repeated to them multiple times a day, with parents being told that they would be held responsible for their children as well. If child was found unworthy of survival at Armageddon, so would they.
Every single waking moment was viewed as a moment to demonstrate faithfulness to the teachings of the Governing Body, every single opportunity to attempt to bring in new worshippers had to be taken. If not, you risked death.
And this is without mentioning that all JWs were expected to have as few contacts with non-believers as possible, except when preaching to them. No friends outside the faith. No relationships on any level with anyone who wasn’t a believer. From the oldest down to the babies, you were supposed to have only absolutely necessary contact with those who weren’t JWs.
MJ was heavily abused physically and mentally in his youth. Being raised as a Jehovah’s Witness fucks you up in a lot of ways so those of us from that era and background were never surprised at how he became a fucked up adult.
And to be clear, none of that excuses the things he did, but it does help explain how they came to be.
They don’t believe in birthdays or toys or gifts for Christmas. As far as I can tell all of their beliefs about children are centered around creating the most joyless upbringing possible.
There was one girl in my class that was Jehovah’s witness when I was little. Every time we would have a class party she would have to go sit in the corner and just watch us all stuffing our faces with sugar and having fun.
That only just scratches the surface, mon ami. ANY celebration, except Passover, (which they refer to as the Memorial) is evil and to be rejected. On top of that, the JWs underwent a major shift around 1975. Internal discipline was ramped way up and overall the religion went to a “Armageddon is coming any day” footing. Children as young as 3 were told that the End was coming soon, and it could happen next month, next week, tomorrow, or an hour from now, and if they weren’t obeying the teachings of the faith that they would die in a fiery apocalypse
This message was repeated to them multiple times a day, with parents being told that they would be held responsible for their children as well. If child was found unworthy of survival at Armageddon, so would they.
Every single waking moment was viewed as a moment to demonstrate faithfulness to the teachings of the Governing Body, every single opportunity to attempt to bring in new worshippers had to be taken. If not, you risked death.
And this is without mentioning that all JWs were expected to have as few contacts with non-believers as possible, except when preaching to them. No friends outside the faith. No relationships on any level with anyone who wasn’t a believer. From the oldest down to the babies, you were supposed to have only absolutely necessary contact with those who weren’t JWs.