None of those things identified me or my wife. I suspect that there's been a bit of cherry-picking in the data gathered. Perhaps a broad brush might find these things in some, though certainly not all. The real reasons for aligning with JW's for some (myself included) was the business of actually being interested in anything having to do with a search for meaning.
If the internet had been available then, I doubt if I'd have gotten involved, or if there had been enough information available at the book stores it might also have been different. As it was, there were not even many people that I'd worked with who had even heard of JW's. The only books I found were in so-called Christian book stores and as I was examining all this from an atheistic perspective, the books I found there weren't particularly convincing because they seemed wrapped up in shrill Jesus-olatry.
I went down to the local library and found a three books on the concentration camp experiences, one being Christine King's, "The Nazi State and the New Religions", another "Mother's in the Fatherland" another by a communist woman in charge of a women's unit at Ravensbruck and another by Kogon "Theory and Practice of Hell".
Too, the fact was that locally the JW's were generally well educated, many were either going to college, or had graduated. The PO had a degree in mechanical engineering, the service overseer had a degree in electrical engineering and another had a degree in architecture. There were quite a number who were well off financially and I didn't feel pressured to study or not study as it were. I eventually asked for one after watching them for about nine months.
Clearly the place I came in was unusual. Things began to change after about ten years. Not for the better. Then I realized I'd been living in an isolated little camelot and after some ex-bethelites and the lot moved into the area everything started to go to hell.
I really thought it was quite alright to disagree openly with the borg.
I was wrong.
