"Oh, and "Teary Oberon" above?
He's probably an ACTIVE Witness - perhaps a know-it-all Ministerial Servant - who's coming on here as an "apologist". You'll notice that he's flagrantly breaking the rules of the very organization that he claims is, "if you want to be happy, not your religion. Learn to appreciate and make the most of what you have and who you have. ..."
You assume an awful lot don't you? Teary started out on the outside as a non-denominalist/Baptist. Then he became a fervant Witness opposer (much like all of you are now) because he had a friend that was a Witness and was worried about him/her. Next, he woke up to the misinformation being put out about the Witnesses and started studying himself, eventually getting baptized. After a few years, Teary faded and became inactive/DF'd, for quite a long time. Now, Teary is back at the meetings and enjoying himself and the association quite a lot.
As was said, a lot of these young kids who were raised their whole lives as Witnesses don't have much perspective, But Teary certainly does. He has seen the Witnesses from just about every side you can think of.
"For you, however, it is apparent that the Watchtower Corporation - Jehovah's Witnesses - are exerting an unnatural level of control over your life. In fact, they are endangering your future with their edicts against higher education, seeking better employment, saving and investing wisely, taking on overtime when possible, and so on."
Just lies and distortion there. Teary controls his own life and his own decisions, including whether or not to associate with the Witnesses. Higher education? They already give that through the Bible. But if you are talking about job training then they don't have anything wrong with that. Most of the young Witnesses Teary knew went to a Vocational School to learn skills and trades (such as cosmetology, design drafting, construction management, ect.). Teary himself has taken classes at a Tech College designed for working adults (flexible schedules and nice prices).
Saving and investing wisely? The Society has never said anything against that. In face, the Bible itself encourages wise saving with Jesus' parable of the traveling man who commanded his servants to invest his money for him while away.
Seeking promotions and overtime? Even for a non-Witness, it is wise to keep a cautious and balanced approach with those things. Teary has seen many men who have foolishly ended up putting their job and their money in front of everything else, including their own families in addition to their service to God. Very sad indeed. As the Bible says, be content with a roof over your head and food to eat, and seek the Kingdom of God first and foremost.
"Oddly enough, if you look around on this website, you'll find that most of the people here are WELL out of their "youth". Many have 'served' the Watchtower Corporation for 20 - 30 - 40 years, before finding the strength to leave - or finally being awakened by an overwhelming amount of evidence that the Watchtower Corporation isn't as "loving" or "kind" as they claim to be..."
You forgot: "for 20-30-40 years, before simply being tricked into severing their trust in their brothers because of anti-cult propaganda. But eventually, even some of those ones wake back up again when they realize that the "evidence" wasn't quite what it seemed, and that the anti-cult movement wasn't nearly as loving and kind as it purported to be."
Whether you like it or not, it does indeed work both ways (and only a person with perspective can understand that). You claim that the Watchtower is bad, and that they control their members through propaganda and false facts and social pressures and psychological tricks; but in reality, the anti-cult movement does every single one of those things themselves. It is often a case of the pot calling the kettle black, or jumping from the frying pan into the oven. The difference is though, that the Witness-to-antiWitness type (apostate in sociological terms) often get trapped in cycles of extreme anger and bitterness, while the antiWitness-to-Witness type often relieve themselves of the hatred and find more peace.
That is just how the world works :/