Re: them being brainwashed or what have you into thinking there were only 8 survivors. What I've been figuring was just that it was a cover story they came up with amongst themselves to protect the people who stayed behind on the island. Hence Mr. Abaddon asking Hurley, "Are they still alive?" and Jack checking with Hurley to make sure he wasn't going to spill the beans about the other people. I figured it was pretty obvious they were covering for the people who stayed behind by just saying they never survived the crash.

MaryAnn, what if the fate of Those Who Remain On The Island is to become part of the Others, aka the Natives? If it is as Ben says and the Island is special, and if FF Jack now believes it was a mistake to leave the Island, then it's in their best interest (and the Island's interest) to make sure that everyone else believes that anyone who didn't return from the Island is dead... otherwise it's just going to encourage more and more people to start looking for them and the Island.

I agree that the central axis of conflict here is between the Others/Natives/Island protectors and the DHARMA Initiative/Abaddon/Island exploiters. Others, like Penny Widmore, have been drawn into it because of their loved ones ending up on the Island. The problem for those on the Island is that it's hard to tell whether the person you think is "rescuing" you is someone who really wants to rescue you, someone who wants to kill you, or someone who just doesn't care about you because all they're interested in is the Island itself.

Of course, we still don't know what's so gosh-darn special about the Island that people are willing to kill, lie, and commit any other number of atrocities in order to find it or protect it. There's some weird stuff, to be sure, but we haven't yet seen the big prize.