If you've ever studied authoritarian regimes, you may understand that since access to honest truth is carefully rationed,
all sorts of "reasons" for doing things may appear, that take the place of hard fact. Even worse, the leadership may
come to believe their own nonsense, as with defeated Nazis who claimed that they "never wanted war, it was all the
Jews fault" ( !!). You could also point to mainland China, which enlisted the help of the American CIA to give them
honest figures on their own economy, soon after Nixon's famous visit!
The Watchtower is no exception to this. You can actually get into nasty debates with "higher-ups" in the Society
who persist in believing that the Society did away with food service to help the brothers , who were
overworked at assemblies! They will tell you "what a blessing" simplifcation was, letting these poor souls
sit down and listen to the program, instead of working in steamy kitchens ( which many of them probably preferred).
The fact is, food service at assemblies ended because it was a financial disaster, after the "voluntary
donation" arrangement took hold. How do I know? Because I was an account servant for many years and
witnessed the huge plunge in donations after this change took place. I knew Witnesses who ran food stands
and how people grabbed everything they could because it "was free"! I knew brothers in charge who expressed
dismay over the lack of contributions for food. Do I need to go on?
The Society dumped a 100+ year tradition of mailed subscriptions after their internal audits told them
that this would "balance the books".
The Society started printing paperback books - which Brother Knorr hated - because they knew down to
the penny how much money it would save them , per volume.
The Society dumped most hard bound printing because it costs more.
After they started the new arrangement, they got stingy with sending out free literature, even to people
stuck in institutions ( like prisons) to conserve cash flow. If you visited prisons with the "truth", this could
get embarassing.
The Society sent out "dunning" letters to congregations that didn't contribute enough. Circuit Overseers did private
studies of how much congregations should be sending in - or what might be inhibiting the friends from doing so.
( I knew one that did this).
They dumped half the Awake issues to save money. Don't believe any spin about it. If the Awake interfered with
"emphasis on the Bible", why didn't they dump it decades ago?
There's more I could go on about, but I wouldn't be surprized if they set up a separate entity to produce and ship
literature and magazines - similar to other religions like Adventists. That way, the "spiritual" aspect of
running things is separate from the financial. Sorry, sister, but you need to fork over 40 bucks if you want that
"Insight" book.
As to other matters, I think they see the internet as a minor irritation ( a foolish notion). They may also be adapting
to a future of low/no growth in which changes will be needed, cash flow wise. Unless some 9-11 event intervenes,
you're going to observe lots of spin ( and spin getting lamer and lamer) in the Watchtower's future.
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