While the majority of post Dateline comments were positive there have been a few comments by some who seemed a little let down. I guess perhaps they understandably expected enough earth shattering information to be exposed on Dateline to cause Kingdom Hall burnings.
I don't know if there will ever be anything that emerges publicly that will cause JW cult followers to leave en masse. But since the WTS is built upon converting one person or one family at a time, I'm satisfied for it to be weakened one person or family at a time.
In the early 1980's my father, who was a huge defender of the Witnesses, a true believer, began to have some subtle things that bothered him about the way elders were dealing with congregation members and some of the double lifestyles that many JW's were leading.
He took the attitude initially that Jehovah would clear all things up and well, if this wasn't the truth, where were we to turn? He became aware of married Witness "sisters" who were performing oral sex on one of his non-JW business partners in the office. He also began to question the way the typical JW seemed to want to get as much as possible for free and not pay other Witnesses for goods and services provided. In other words, take advantage of them because they were Witnesses.
But whenever we would discuss these things, he would always come back to the same old saw that "Jehovah will correct things in his own time." To shorten this story up with a point, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, he began to see ads on cable television that Ray Franz, former JW governing body member was going to be on a show called the John Ankerberg show. One night he was up late and while channel surfing came across the interview that Ankerberg had with Ray Franz. (By the way, he knew Ray personally and had heard from other prominent JW's that Ray had been disfellowshiped for apostacy, etc., etc. So as a result of seeing that Ray wasn't a mean spirited, vindictive, evil slave nutball, he began to open his mind to possibilities of thought that he had never before entertained. Like someone testing the stability of an icy pond, he would discuss little snippets with me and express his concerns. He asked me if, he would order Crisis of Conscience and have it sent to me, would I read it and let him know if there was anything to it? Since I was then living with my fiance, a non-Witness, what did I have to lose? I think you can guess my reaction when I had read it.
The point of this is, those cable episodes of John Ankerberg exposed a handful of JW's to Ray Franz and Crisis of Conscience. It may not have immediately pushed them through the door, but over time it had a dramatic impact on many former WT slaves. So will this Dateline expose on child molestation. It has planted small seeds of doubt in the minds of people who don't even overtly acknowlege it right now. But the seed is planted and other things will start to bother them until finally they realize that it is all just one big lie. I know, because I saw it with my father, my sister and quite a few others in the early 80's.