Hi Friends,
My first post!
My wife and I are ex-JWs (inactive), now living in Brooklyn, NY only blocks from Bethel.
As for Bethel's "Refinements", and plans for DUMBO, here's my take: 1) It does appear that they are aiming to downsize Brooklyn and move jobs to the country, so I was surprised to hear of their plans to develop the parking lot in DUMBO. 2) DUMBO is a trendy little neighborhood between the 2 bridges where wealthy hipsters and yuppies are moving in droves. The empty property alone must be in the $10M range, and property values are still rising. So... 3) If they go ahead and develop the lot using FREE LABOR (basically for the cost of materials, permits and NYC bribes) they can later "change their minds" about occupying it long-term, and sell it off for WAY more than they paid.
I was at Bethel from 1990-1993. During my time there, I had the dubious honor of sitting at "Breakfast Table #1" (from which Morning Worship is broadcast each day). This afforded me the opportunity of meeting all of the GB members, and many visiting and resident "Tall Trees" of the organization during that time. Now, years later, this has proven to be of help to me in re-evaluating (for myself) what the Society is and what they are about.
In my experience, the individual GB members themselves are not evil. They are mostly married, low-key, ultra-conservative guys. They are all very old, so they generally have a different worldview from youths?They are out of touch, not just doctrinally, but emotionally, politically with the world as it now is.
They don?t seem to be driven by profit. I have seen most of their rooms- they are somewhat larger than those given to new Bethelites, maybe twice as big, but that is not saying much?they have such incredible seniority, I?d say they deserve the extra room, like any old retiree would. The largest room I saw was maybe 20x30 feet.
They all drive funky late model cars- Buicks or Oldsmobiles?some no doubt leased, some owned, but nothing extravagant. They take 1-2 vacations each year, which are probably paid by Friends and whatnot, and we are not talking Club Med. Just simple Old people vacations. In short, I do not see monetary greed as a motivator for these guys.
Also, oddly, I do not see Power as too much of a motivator?not to most of them anyway. Maybe earlier in their careers, but not now. Sure, as ?Old Men? they want to be respected?kind of like tenured university academics?and they have much responsibility, but they just do not seem to be clamoring for more Power on a personal level.
The ones that ARE interested in power are immediately below them in the Bethel hierarchy. At Bethel, they have a joke term for them: ?Bethel Anorexics? (They are not ?Heavies?, but they think they are). Some of these up-and-coming 40-50 year olds are VERY calculating, cutthroat men. They are feared by the younger brothers below them, because if you cross them, they will take you down. They will humiliate you, and drive you out of Bethel if it is within their power. I know this to be true. I used to go out of my way to avoid them. My guess is that it is guys like these that are no doubt behind the DUMBO development--I would not put it past them to use their Brothers to finance a large real estate speculation, albeit "for the great good".
Once the Old GB dies off, it should be interesting to see what these guys do with thir newfound Power. Ugh. So glad I am out.
