The Watchtower is a centralized, authoritarian organization stuck in a litigious and democratic age.
As such, they face a dilemma.
If elders are appointed by a Central Command - and subject to internal discipline by a chain of authority ( the Circuit Overseers)
leading directly to that Command ---- and if those elders are empowered to expel ( disfellowship) any member, revoking their
status in EVERY CONGREGATION OF JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES, then.......
they may have a permanent liability problem --- since the activity of any ignorant, window-washing, 'cheese cracker' man
appointed as as elder in Podunk, Alabama may get them in trouble - BECAUSE YOU CAN HOLD THEM ALL LIABLE.
Are elders untrained volunteers? You appointed them TO DO WHAT???!!! Boy, are you in trouble! Are elders clergy?
So, YOU ADMIT they are the equivalent of your 'employees', under your command! This looks like a no win situation.
Don't think for an instant that this weakness hasn't been felt. The Legal dept. sensed it when they ordered elders in Kingdom
Ministry School to handwrite ' 6 things never to write on a disfellowshipping form' - such as reference to anyone in the Service
or Legal Dept. or the name of any Society representative. If you think this centralization isn't a threat in today's world,
ask yourself why a billion dollar corporation like McDonalds had to pay $70,000 because somebody spilled hot coffee on
themselves ( and that was only a FRANCHISE!).
They also sensed this danger when they divided up the Society's assets in 9 or so groups, a while back. They also
- nominally at least- removed some administrative authority from the Governing Body - to try and get them off the hook.
They frequently try to portray congregations as somehow autonomous - or elders as acting on their own - while following
organizational dictates. In the internet age, this deception isn't likely to go very far - especially with legal authorities.
This centralization of control is producing a reactive effect the Watchtower leadership never imagined - yet, something
that would be easily foreseen by an asute observer of authoritarian regimes. It is sometimes called "the Tragedy of the
Commons" - expressed differently it is:
IF YOU CONTROL EVERYTHING, THEN I'M NOT RESPONSIBLE!
Example? If there is no charge for food at assemblies, then it's free and I don't have to donate! ( WHOOSH! Hoagies
vanish instantly!)
If there is no charge for literature, it's free and I can dump it at laundromats or just give it away! ( WHOOSH!
hardbound books vanish, subscriptions vanish, a thousand Bethelites vanish)
If I don't have to think ( it's bad) then all I have to do is follow orders ( Whoosh! dead meetings and field service
appear! Complex hardware and software at Bethel go idle or underutilized - Adult Witnesses reason like children
and fall victim to scams)
Suppose I fall and break an ankle in a rented assembly hall? Should I sue? Why not? I'm not responsible.
( Society's insurance goes up)
Why should I discipline my kids at a Society-recommended hotel? It's none of your business (i.e. I'm not
responsible, it's the Society's problem - Let them Pull the Fire Alarm, so what)
The problem with cultivating child-like cultists - is that you have the burden of supporting them as children.
Now, the Watchtower could go on indefinitely fighting expensive courtcases, covering up scandals, and cleaning up
every mess created by a child-like organization --- but I wonder if radical change could suddenly emerge here - as some
in the leadership realize that they might be better off by dumping their pathological, arrogant control of child-like Witnesses
and just rationalize the 'business' - with pay as you go literature, fewer Circuit Overseers (or none) and a 'hands off' distancing
of local autonomous congregations. Record keeping on df'd people would be local too. Even the Stalinist Soviets let go
of Eastern Europe when they figured that it cost too much.
I don't see how they can do much else. Time and democratic culture are not their friends - and their cultivation of
childish irresponsiblity is accelerating their collective load of trouble.
metatron ( no more idiotic childish 'Questions From Readers, either)