If you are "Born in" to the organization you have a lot at stake. All of your friends are Witnesses, most times all of your family are Witnesses. You might work for or with a Witness. You are told that your value as a person is defined as coming from your activities for the organization. This is all you know. If you leave the organization you might lose your family, your friends, your reputation, business relationships, and other things. You will have personal freedom but will lose the things that make life worth living.
Someone on this board expressed it the best way I had heard in comparing it to being held at gunpoint. The hostage is absolutely free to walk away at anytime but his knowing that he will get shot in the head prevents him from doing so. So it goes with many of us who are trapped in the Organization.
The end result is there are many of us who are going through the motions, knowing that what we had once believed is false, yet having to pretend that it is true. We are required by the structure of our organization to act in a duplicitous manner. It is like the hostage acting as if he supports the motives and intentions of the man with gun, while at the same time hoping the gunman just pulls the trigger.
Each time I go into the Kingdom Hall for the meeting I look around at the publishers and wonder how many of them are like me, sitting there with the knowledge that the things we have been taught and continue to teach, are the fabrications of men. How many people are just like me afraid to speak out because of the inevitable consequences?
I would estimate that there must be at least 25% of the active witnesses that realize that something is wrong with the truth. There are the young ones who are comfortable with the internet and inevitably read something that creates a crack in their belief system. This is shown by the number that leave. There are the old timers who have faithfully served but are now approaching the end of their life in this same old system that was supposed to have been long gone. They must realize that something is wrong.
The social shift in Egypt and Tunisia shows what can start when one person stands up for what is right. People were looking for leadership and an example of how they can change an oppressive regime. The things that made this recent movement successful were the fact that people massed in numbers using facebook and text messages. They had a noble reason to overthrow the oppressive government. The media became aware of the protests and supported it with news coverage that made it tough for the government to harshly retaliate.
What will it take for those of us trapped in the organization to do the same thing? I feel that we are approaching a critical mass, with a large number of people who feel trapped, the ability to communicate widely and quickly using social networks, and the recent attention of the media to issues such as shunning, molestation, and blood.
I am not one of those people who wants to overthrow the organization. I think that they will always be around in some form or another. However I do feel that people should not be forced to pretend to believe a lie, to protect their families, their jobs, or their reputation.
Sorry for the rambling but just had to get it out.
SIAM