he talks about meeting attendance, the ministry, (how its increased during Covid)
Not hard to believe at all.
In my earlier post I talked about how judging others based on what they appear to be doing is the very essence, the very soul of being a JW.
Meeting attendance is another easy marker for judgment. If "Person X" attends 98% of the meetings while "Person Y" attends only 75%, "Person X is automatically, fully, undoubtedly, without hesitation, more "spiritual" than "Person Y". Full stop. The end. Reasons for attending / not attending are less than irrelevant. Attending meetings = "being spiritual".
It has never been easier - literally - never, in 140+ years - to appear "spiritual" by attending Zoom meetings. Sign on, wave hello to everyone, turn your camera off, go watch TV & drink beer for 2 hours, while the little black screen with your name on it remains on the Zoom meeting, and it looks like, as far as everyone else can tell, you are sitting on the edge of your seat, eagerly hanging on every word dribbling from Elder Blowhard's mouth.
Easily, week after week, meeting after meeting, 60, 70, 80% of the attendees have their screens off the entire meeting. For the past 18 months.
In circumstances like that - it looks like you are attending the meeting, but no one can tell if you're watching "The Walking Dead", or scrolling thru Twitter, or snorting a line of coke - of course "meeting attendance" is going to skyrocket.
You get free "spirituality points" just for the 2 minutes effort it takes to sign onto the meeting, then leave.
I would be shocked if "meeting attendance" were less than 150% of pre-pandemic levels, given the situation I just described.