timetochange:
I most certainly meant to belittle Harry Peloyan, because for the most part he deserves it. While he certainly did some very good things with respect to child abuse issues, he also did some very bad things by presiding over the publication of books and magazines that have misled millions of people for decades. Sure, Peloyan was imperfect, and I'm in no sense demanding perfection of him, or saying that he should have opposed all of the Watchtower's sins. But a man in his position -- editor-in-chief of Awake! for decades, author or compiler of several Watchtower books such as the 1985 Creation book -- has far more responsibility than others to make sure that whatever he is responsible for holds to the truth. In this, Peloyan failed miserably. One has only to read certain Awake! articles to see this. One has only to carefully analyze the Creation book to see this. Peloyan was grossly intellectually dishonest, and negligent of the supposed Christian responsibility that he took upon himself. His loyalty was not to God, but to the JW Governing Body.
Sincerity is not an issue here. Peloyan received many letters criticising his published work and he simply blew them off. We know exactly why he blew off all the criticisms: he was a Bethel political animal, and like many other career Bethelites, he would never do anything to upset his career applecart. Honestly answering criticisms of published Watchtower literature was a no-win deal for him in two ways: you don't criticize "Jehovah's organization", and you don't admit to personal error that leads to criticism of the Society. Dishonesty of this order is a repudiation of basic Christianity, so Peloyan -- like virtually all other WTS officials -- was a gross hypocrite.
Here's an example of Peloyan's intellectual dishonesty: Back in 1992, I attempted to get certain "difficult" questions answered. My parents couldn't answer them (I knew this perfectly well, but wanted to push as far as I could to demonstrate that no JWs could deal with them), but after consulting with their good friend Barbara Anderson (who as I'm sure you know was working closely with Peloyan at that time) offered to help get my questions answered. Eventually they said they had arranged for me to submit a short list of questions, which someone in Bethel would definitely answer. Six months later I asked my stepdad if there had been a response. Oh, sez he, the answer had come back some time ago, but it was that the Society's man refused to answer any questions because some of them were "the same questions that apostates ask". No surprise to me. Years passed, Barbara quit the JWs and eventually connected with me, and told me what had actually happened. Seems that she had given my list to Peloyan, and so it was he who was too cowardly to deal with my questions. Some of these were of the type I mentioned above, where it was a no-win situation for Peloyan to answer them. Once again, the same serious problem of dishonesty, hypocrisy and repudiation of Christian principles is evident.
How does Peloyan stack up with respect to other Watchtower officials? Probably better in some respects, probably worse in others. But all of them display the same intellectual dishonesty, hypocrisy and general cowardice by seeing how bad much in the Watchtower organization really is, but rationalizing why they stay. And of course, much of that rationalization comes from self-interest. How does a man of 50 or up start over if he quits Bethel? Overall, I don't think Peloyan was any different from the rest.
You raise the question of how I acted in these respects as a JW. I certainly didn't just shut up and pretend that problems didn't exist. Indeed, it was the repeated displays of stupidity and dishonesty in Watchtower publications and at Kingdom Halls that led me, by about age 29, effectively to quit the JWs emotionally. Of course, due to the usual problems of unwinding from a lifetime of JW social entanglements, it took a few more years to quit in actual fact. And when I did quit, I did not remain quiet.
But there is no comparison between me and Peloyan. I, as a young JW man, was not in a position comparable to Peloyan's. When I saw enough crap in the Watchtower, I quit. Peloyan contributed to the crap, and deceived millions. Your comparison is simply off the mark.
Nor is there any comparison between Ray Franz and Harry Peloyan. While at Bethel, Ray worked in support of Christian principles much of the time, and when he finally realized that the men of the Governing Body were, by and large, lousy Christians, he realized that he ought to leave. Of course, those same men created an atmosphere designed to encourage him to leave. And eventually he wrote a devastating book. On the other hand, Peloyan stupidly stuck with "Jehovah's organization". Wouldn't you say there's a huge difference?
You mention the dynamics of the Watchtower hierarchy. These dynamics are a good deal of the problem with these men. They are precisely the forces that turn intelligent men into aging little children. After talking with many people who knew these men intimately, and listening to stories of ridiculous pettiness and truly infantile behavior -- by men in the 70s, 80s, and 90s -- I've seen that they really are like spoiled children. But the more sinister aspect is that these men are not innocent like children, because they've put themselves into this position by choice. Indeed, they've set up and maintained an organization specifically designed to allow them to indulge in infantile fantasies. Fantasies like their claim that they speak for God, that God directs them, that God will forgive them no matter what they do in his name, that it's of no consequence when they lie and destroy hundreds of thousands of lives. They love these fantasies so much that they, in a thoroughly Orwellian fashion, convince themselves that bad is good and vice versa. So I have no sympathy when things go bad for them, and I will not shrink back from criticizing them. They deserve everything they get, and then some.
AlanF
