I'm going to use screenshots this time, as IBLP's statement is more verbose.
If you read Jim Bob Duggar's statement, you will notice a similarity in structure and verbiage.
Both of them lead off with DARVO. IBLP is slightly more emphatic with it.
This is not only DARVO, but a backhanded TRANSCENDENCE.
How so?
By categorizing the documentary as "a reflection of today's culture", they are aligning the victims with the world and themselves with God.
So it would be fair to call this DARVO via TRANSCENDENCE. (@jdahlmd we have another "winner" here.)
Why is it DARVO? It's an implicit Denial of wrongdoing, a flagrant Attack on the victims' accounts, and it casts IBLP as victims, thus Reversing Victim and Offender.
Here is more ATTACKING.
This time, by calling the producers of the documentary "Media story makers", they are accusing them (and the victims by extension) of lying.
It doesn't get more DARVO than this.
More DARVO here. And note that they are imputing ulterior motives on their accusers.
Let's talk about that for a minute.
Yes, media outlets seek profit. So does IBLP. (Hey Bill, how much money have you made over the decades with IBLP?)
But when the media ran favorable coverage of your conventions in the 1970s, was that also for profit on their end? If you benefit from favorable coverage, then why complain at unfavorable coverage?
And if you have 30 accusers of sexual predation, I'd say that meets the "two or more witnesses" standard that Paul gave in the NT.
Don't blame THAT on the media.
Ok...moving right along.
In this one, we have MINIMIZATION via TRIANGULATION.
He is using faint praise for the victims, using their character against them by calling them "manipulated", WHEN HE'S THE ONE DOING THE MANIPULATION.
The end-result: more DARVO.
Here we have MINIMIZATION "IBLP is neither a church nor a religion...", as this implicitly attempts to shield IBLP from accountability to which church elders are Biblically subject.
But we also see TRANSCENDENCE: appealing to the Gospel, & IBLP as a "Christian ministry."
This paragraph is an example of BOLSTERING. What IBLP is doing here is elevating themselves by appealing to the "good" that they've done for decades. This helps minimize the perceived effect of their offenses.
Here we have BOLSTERING (appealing to the work of IBLP to help believers use the Bible as a guide). It is also TRANSCENDENCE in that by appealing to the Bible, they are taking the high road & casting their critics as being on the low road.
This paragraph is textbook MINIMIZATION via attempted INOCULATION by TRIANGULATION. By throwing Bill Gothard under the bus, IBLP is aiming to immunize themselves from further attack.
BUT IT'S GOTHARD'S CULTURE, GOTHARD'S BOOKS, GOTHARD'S STRUCTURE, that is also at issue.
Getting near the end, we have BOLSTERING via DARVO. They are clearly using a DARVO-style attack, while using it to BOLSTER their "ministry".
This is brazen on a large scale.
Finally, we have TRANSCENDENCE. This is an insidious form, as it is also wrapped in an ATTACK. The implicit message: the docuseries producers, and the victims of IBLP, are enemies of the Gospel.
In summary, this response by IBLP is a massive exercise in DARVO and gaslighting. Every other Image Repair tactic they use is in support of a DARVO and GASLIGHTING strategy to dismiss critics as agents of Satan, and present themselves as soldiers of the Gospel.
This is as evil as I've ever seen in a public scandal response. And that's saying something.
*NOTE: this is also an example of using TEMPORAL DISTANCING as a BOLSTERING tactic. In this case, they use it to highlight a long record of "good".
Usually, people use TD to MINIMIZE an abuse they committed "many years ago". But in this case, TD is a BOLSTERING tactic.
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Image Repair Analysis, Gateway Elders' Email to Members
Here we are, a week after @wartwatch and @watchkeep broke the story of Robert Morris and his 4-1/2 year stretch of sexual abuses of Cindy Clemishire from the time she was 12 until she was 16.
Since then,
(1) the elders circulated an internal communication to staffers on their Slack channel--in which they ran with a narrative of Morris repenting of an "inappropriate relationship with a young lady" 35 year ago. The blowback was disastrous. #SheWas12
(2) In the wake of that false narrative, they forced Morris to resign, claiming they did not know the details.
As Cindy Clemishire showed in statement through @BozT--as well as @UT_Grad_Amy and @watchkeep-- that narrative was also bovine ejectus.
Meanwhile, the mainstream media--from the Dallas Morning News to the New York Daily News, CNN, MSN--have been reporting the details.
But the elders had not given ANYTHING to the membership of Gateway. Members were learning everything from the news media and watchbloggers.
So FINALLY, a week later, in one of the worst public communication delays I can recall, the elders get around to sending an email to the members. Here it is, courtesy of @watchkeep. Let's give it a quick loo.
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Discerning between Damage Control and Good Image Repair: What does a real apology look like?
Case study: Robert Morris, Gateway Church
On Friday, I provided an assessment of Gateway's--and Robert Morris'--responses to revelations that he molested a 12-year-old girl and continued that for almost 5 years. I Substacked it here. substack.com/home/post/p-14…
But can someone use GOOD forms of Image Repair? And what would that look like?
To answer those questions, let's use Gateway as an example.
What should Gateway have said and done?
What should Robert Morris have said and done?
First off, this is a statement by the Gateway elders, not by Robert Morris. While it is incumbent on them to issue a statement, what they are saying is IN HIS DEFENSE.
So this is one big use of TRIANGULATION. Robert Morris is using the leaders of Gateway to speak for him.
"Pastor Robert has been open and forthright about a moral failure he had 35 years ago."
They lead off with MINIMIZATION. And they do it three ways:
(a) They call it a "moral failure". That's sanitized. He took sexual license with a girl, starting from age 12, through 17.
(b) They phrase it in passive voice: "a moral failure 'he had'" instead of "a moral atrocity he committed."
(c) They use TEMPORAL DISTANCING: by pointing to the fact that it was 35 years ago, they appeal to the passage of time, the "why are we dredging this up now?" defense. Why is this a problem?
That passage of time may have been good for ROBERT MORRIS, but for his victim that time may have included a lot of Hell to unpack.
"It has been my glorious joy and privilege to serve as your senior pastor over these last 48 years."
This what is known as BOLSTERING. He is presenting himself to you as not just YOUR pastor, but YOUR SENIOR pastor. He is asserting his status.
"I praise God for giving me the opportunity to witness his hand of power and blessing that took 10 people in a house and brought us to where we are today"
This is TRANSCENDENCE. He is framing himself as God's man. The implication: you criticize him at your own risk.
Whenever you, or a cause that you represent, is in crisis, your damage control/crisis communication strategy will often take several forms:
(1) Seize the high ground to shut down all critics (TRANSCENDENCE); (2) Elevate your perception in the public eye (BOLSTERING); (3) Shoot the messengers (DARVO); (4) Mitigate the perceived severity of your offenses (MINIMIZATION).
What Bentley has here is classic TRANSCENDENCE. Let's look at it.
Here, he casts himself as a man of God ("I was in prayer today for KC, as I know there's a lot of demonic attacks...")
This is a BOLSTERING tactic coming out of the gate, and TRANSCENDENCE is a spiritualized variation of that. It is bolstering here because he is positioning himself.
But what makes it transcendence?
(1) The spiritual overtones. Anytime these guys use spiritualized language to elevate themselves, it's a dead giveaway;
(2) where he goes next: "I'm not taking sides on any current issue in IHOP..." He is positioning himself as a spiritual arbiter with a special vision from God.
Except a real prophet would actually take a side. There is no place in Scripture where a prophet didn't do this.
Image Repair Analysis, IHOPKC's statement in response to the revelations by Tammy Woods.
For context, here is the @ihopkc statement.
The entire first paragraph, like that by Sliker, is totally self-serving.
They are talking about their anger, their heartbreak, their sadness. While they do acknowledge the reality about Bickle, they do not acknowledge their own role in this disaster.
The second paragraph is good in that they state their belief that Bickle is guilty. Why is the statement problematic? They are not acknowledging that they have spent most of the last 3 months minimizing, spin-controlling, attacking, and gaslighting Jane Doe, the Advocate Group, and the larger congregation at IHOPKC.
What they are doing here amounts to MINIMIZATION, as they are minimizing their culpability.