As unreasonable as it is, the protesters message was discounted heavily by those in attendance
Exactly correct. My JW cousin has a friend in that Congregation (its in Northern, NJ BTW) and he was going on and on about how they all thought it was ridiculous and a waste of time. He said that after they all left the meeting continued on without missing a beat.
Still if even 1 person is caused to start thinking it totally was worth it.