Why did they start reporting it? To prove Thee End is approaching. We
used to get so excited to see the numbers go down every year!
Why keep reporting, when the numbers show we are moving further away from Thee End instead of coming closer?
It used to be that the number of FDS still alive was important, signalling the nearness of the end. Personally, I'm not sure that I have much confidence in the numbers they reported during some of those years where they reported the decreases and I wonder if the current number of partakers is higher than they report.
If anything, I think they report it because they don't know what else to do. To stop reporting it would need some more nulite explanation. Trying to justify the increase would require some nulite. So they seem to report the number, but ignore it. They publish articles trying to discourage partakers, but the number has continued to increase.
In conversation with my parents, it becomes difficult because they try to reason, "Lots of these are not genuinely anointed." But how do you gauge that? "The anointed would only be old and experienced." But the current GB is all younger than my parents, with Sanderson little older than I am (although he looks much, much older than I do.) How do you draw a line between who is or isn't really anointed? The whole thing about being anointed (and qualifying for the GB) is the ability to nibble and sip once per year with a sincere-looking expression on their faces.