2% increase in 2009 U.S. Memorial Attendance!
by Gayle 25 Replies latest forum announcements
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truthseeker
I went to the Memorial. That was my last meeting. Therefore, some of that increase, albeit a tiny fraction of a percent is no real increase at all. How many inactive, df'd, da'd people attended the Memorial? Probably a large number.
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willyloman
These numbers are fairly meaningless because the counting method varies from congo to congo. I spent three decades in a series of congos and know that some attendants counted every breathing soul in the KH, while others do not count babies up to varying ages. I don't know what the statistical consequences of this truly are, but in a crowd of 100 it would be easy to count/not count a couple of babies, leading to some flaw in the cumulative total.
Having worked large conventions, I know that counting those in attendance is a guessing game. At one site, each attendant was given the number of seats each assigned section and told to count the empty seats and subtract. Other attendants were assigned to count people in the rest rooms and roaming the halls. There is a lot of room for miscounting under these circumstances and at best the totals are estimates. They sound very official, because columns of numbers are supplied and added up and the announcements are all very specific: Attendance at today's convention was 10,179 (as opposed to "about ten thousand"). The real number might be 9,986 or 10,341 or some other number.
I have come to think the WTS deals in such specific numerology primarily to give the impression that they are fastidious in keeping records and thus all their pronouncements are factual and, therefore, trustworthy.
However, the numbers that we as individuals know best - those on the monthly FS reports - are subject to guess work, spin, or outright deception. So why would any of their other numbers be completely accurate?
In any event: Given that almost all the baptizees nowadays are offspring of adult dubs, any increase posted by JWs - whether publishers or memorial attendees - is a result of birth rates and not evidence of any interest on the part of the rest of the population.
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Sour Grapes
The Witchtower Babel and Trick Society can use any number that they want.
Who would know the difference?
Sour Grapes
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Farkel
It is probably a useless excercise to attach any significance to the 2% "increase."
More people are leaving the WTS each year than ever before. Furthermore, the ranks of inactive dubs still living is gigantic compared to the past. We all know that the majority of the attendees at Memorials that aren't people who are active are those who are inactive. Yeah, there are some "interested persons" (or whatever they are called these day), but not many in comparison to inactive dubs who ONLY attend memorials.
More inactive dubs this year = more inactive dubs attending Memorial = % increase in Memorial attendance.
Anyway, that is ONE plausable reason to explain it. It would be a stretch to explain it by stating more people are interested in Watchtower bullshit this year than before.
Besides that, what if there WERE a large increase in Memorial attendance by "prospects?" Do you think there is anything motivating enough in a Memorial to get those propects exicted about joining the JWs? Hell NO! Everyone who attends the Memorial looks like their best friend just died. I've seen lots more mirth at massacres than I've ever seen at Memorials, not to mention funerals, or even CO visits. No one does any "celebrating" at the celebration of the Lord's Evening Meal and no one partakes of anything at them, either. They just look all grim, pass around a few platters, shake hands, go home, and get drunk.
What is there about that which would make a new JW prospect say, "Hey! That Memorial was GREAT! I'm motivated! Where do I sign up to join?"
Farkel
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tenyearsafter
LOL Farkel...that is an outstanding summation of the Memorial experience...my non-JW wife commented after attending her first Memorial, "I felt like I was attending a tax seminar!" Isn't that joyous and motivating?...