Here's a long-time elder's take on this:
1. Some elders like to "teach from their seat" by using the comment portion of WT study to educate the flock, straighten out some problem in the congregation or someone's "wrong" understanding of a doctrine, or put the official party line into mass circulation. In the "world," this process is called "disinformation." The WT has this process down cold and elders learn from example.
2. It can be shocking how little information gets through to the congregation from the outside world. Many witnesses live inside a shell and will to venture out, no matter what. For all the drumbeating about how well educated JWs are by their reading and study program, and the emphasis placed on being up on current events and using these as talking points in the field, the average dub is ignorant of the news of the day. Remarkably, this includes many elders. Older ones, especially, retreat into a dark corner where light cannot reach. It protects them from having to confront the reality that their dreams aren't going to come true in their lifetime.
3. Finally, many elders and dubs in general, have fine tuned their cognitive dissonance. They hear but they don't understand, see but they don't get it (to paraphrase Jesus and Isaiah). In an elder's meeting once, the CO asked the boys why they thought meeting attendance was down dramatically. Most knew the meetings were boring, that the friends were too buy making a living and keeping up with day to day problems of life and were finding the meetings irrelevant and that there were too many demands being made on people. But at this meeting, the responses all fell into platitude territory: lack of appreciation, not studying/going out in service/associating enough, and all that crap. In other words, the elders gave the CO what they felt were "safe" responses. Those who knew the answer also knew better than to be forthright. This describes perfectly how this organization is run and explains why nothing will ever change. There is no freedom of expression, no room for dissent. And the suggestion box is closed.
