Wow. It has been a while since I have posted here.
Read your observation MrTheocratic and I must say that you have hit the nail on the head.
So it has been almost three years since my wife and I went cold turkey. If you read my posts you can see some of the things we went through with ex friends and family. Well since then all of my family talks to me again, my aunt ( who was crying and depressed when we made our decision to leave) is associating with disfellowshipped friends, my mother in law has decided to stop going too, my father ( who said he doesn't even want to know our future children) and step mother expressed their doubts to us and acknowledged that we had very sound points as to why we left while promising to never put anything before our relationship and more and more Jdubs have ignored the counsel from elders to avoid us.
We have seen how so many young ones here are attending Universities. Many witnesses have used the term 'social club' when referring to how the younger generation views the religion.
Now, does this mean that the Watchtowers days of control are numbered? Of course not!
I will liken this to people in Cuba.
I was speaking to a woman from Cuba and she was telling me that the people here in the states care more about the situation in Cuba than the actual people living there ever do. She said that the people living there are happy. They don't really discuss anything political because they simple don't have a need to. They have other things to worry about. They feel like the government takes care of the things they need it to take care of and whatever changes the government may make they simple adjust and go with the flow. It is not that they live in fear, she said, they just "live". They are happy with whatever they got. They have a lot of freedom we here think they don't because it is advertised they don't. She said religion, for example, is a very big part of their lives over there and it has been for years. The only difference from here, she said, it that it is not advertised and it is kept completely out of politics. She even mentioned that they have many JWs out there and she said that they it seems like they want to get "beat" because they insist on "advertising" their religion but they are "nice people".
The government there has chosen over the years to ignore much of the 'law' breaking and the people have learned to ignore many 'liberties' they are denied. Give and take relationship. This is how the Communist Cuban government has survived for so long. Once in a while someone is thrown in prison for opening their mouth to much or for publicly going against the establishment. These "trouble makers" are made examples of and people take notice and move along. She mentioned how the government comes out on TV sometimes "all high and mighty" once in a while just to remind the people the "power" they hold. But all in all the people are content because this is all they know. I asked her if she is happier here than over there and she said "Yes. But, in the end, I traded one set of problems for another. Other than the nicer material things, the only other difference is here I can say "F Obama" and over there I'd be put in jail for it".
The org and its members (along with ex members) share the same relationship. The org knows it cannot survive if they don't ease up while at the same time advertising their control ( JW TV). They know that they must adjust to changing times or there will be revolt. The people in the KH have learned to drop the worrying about the end and all the theocratic BS and just live. As long as they don't bring too much attention and look for trouble and they can pretty much do whatever they want.
We (ex members) are more concerned over the issues than they will ever be.
In the end happiness can mean a billion different things to each individual. After all, isn't this the point of 'Life', to be happy?