I "get" why 2014 might seem like a big deal, to some ex dubs, 100 years after 1914 and all. But people who are still in don't view it the same way we do.
For instance, after 1975 failed to bring an end to the system, some dubs left, others slowed down. But lots of dubs figured "we" had miscalculated and immediately begans speculating about the generation of 70 or 80 years since 1914. They added those numbers to the date and came to the conclusion - never published, as far as I know, but widely speculated about and hinted at - that the end must be scheduled to come between the years 1984 and 1994. When the Berlin wall came down in the late 1980s, there was a lot of winking and nudging among dubs, most of whom felt that this was why Jehovah "delayed" the end until after 1975. Remember all those stories about hundreds or thousands of eastern Europeans "coming into the truth" as a result of the fall of Communism in Europe?
When it got close to '94, expectations first peaked, then waned as dubs began to wonder what would happen if 1994 ended the way 1975 did - with no end in sight!
A CO told me in the fall of '94 that in terms of the "service year" calendar used by JWs, 1994 didn't technically end until around September of 1995. So, of course, that postponed the expectation for another year. Then in a November WT magazine in '95 (printed and distributed a few months earlier, or prior to the end of the service year), came the "new light" about the generation doctrine.
There is way less speculation among dubs about 2014 than there ever was about 1975 (we may not ever see that again). There isn't even as much speculation about it as there was for 1984-94. In the Society's view, they've still got 5 or 6 years to deal with 2014, assuming it even becomes a topic of speculation among the rank and file. If they need to, they can always produce more "new light" which could include a whole new start date for the end times - much like they shitcanned the length of a generation back in '95 (and FUBAR'd it further in recent weeks).
You can count on them to throw in another wild card by then, if necessary. Dubs will just eat this stuff up because it comes from the "slave." And these guys have a direct line to God, you know?
