Are you part of a progressive Hall?

AlyMC

fwiw, I've moved around a lot (I'm almost 29, and I've in 22 different houses among Michigan, New York, NW Arkansas, and Texas) and the only "liberal" congregation I encountered was Austin. The rest seemed about average. Austin was a more liberal city though all around.
Cicatrix

I was part of a centrist hall and a hall that was very fundamentalist. But in both halls, it really depended on your relationship to the higher-ups in how the rules were applied to you personally.
I've observed the same type of thing in non-JW settings, though. I think part of it with them is indoctrination, and part of it is just plain old being human.