Phizzy said- All I am aware of Adam is what I have observed over the years personally.
OK, but of course anyone who's familiar with stats knows the dangers of relying on one's personal experiences in order to reach conclusions: just as hearing a voice in one's head is not conclusive proof for the existence of God, the same goes for other anecdotal accounts and personal experiences, since the sample size is incredibly small with an 'n =1' (eg you may have been cut some slack as a younger person in your area, or were shielded from attacks by a family member's pull, etc. You outlived your forebearance, overturn of the power structure occurred, and now the local BOE are gunning for you... Who knows? That's the danger of relying on small samples).
Phizzy said- Every WT now is praising the leadership and making them in to 8 God's , and is demanding constantly that the JW's OBEY ! Are they now so very differnt from somewhere like North Korea ? blimey, even the Songs sound similar !
Really? You'd compare N. Korea, where people are put to death for minor crimes (as being caught with a cell phone that can operate outside N Korea), to the WTBTS? WOW!
Shirley said- you do have a wonderful dry sense of humor, Adam.
So, you want to take the challenge, then? Should be no problem for someone who just said this, above:
Shirley said- When a person/group makes extraordinary claims they had better be able to back it up.
Please provide ONE CONCRETE example of how the WTBTS is more-authoritarian than it was in the past century.
Off the top of my head, I can think of ONE obvious example of less-authoritarian behavior vs in the past: they're quietly back-pedding by softening their strict "no blood" policy, quietly implementing local HLCs with elders trying to convince R&F JWs they really should accept blood fractions to avoid dying from refusing life-saving blood (the old instincts die hard amongst the rank and file, and they'd rather die than learn about what is acceptable by the Borg, as if "better safe than sorry" applies to blood).
But again, the entire issue of "less- vs more-authoritarian GB" is a red-herring, since in the end, it's up to rank and file themselves to be held personally responsible for their OWN behavior, and not blame the "evul GB" (who are also scared of miscalculating, and being forced out after a failed power coup, like Ray Franz found out the hard way).
Instead, members need to vote with their feet to save themselves; they largely are harming themselves by deny their personal responsibility for the choices they make (whether it be the choice to shun their own family, or losing their lives by refusing blood).
Blaming only the GB is just more straw-manning, and wasted effort of creating some group to blame for all that ills an entire organization, and offers a simplistic answer to a complex problem that doesn't actually resolve the issue. ALL members, from the GB on down to the unbaptized publisher who fills a seat, share in the collective blame. That's the point the WT makes for other religions, and it's one trusim they get right.
