Just a fun discussion thread here.

When I first was involved in the WT - probably early 90's...

All the C.O.'s were really charismatic men.

I know part of it was that the WT gave the men a LOT of leway on their talks. Pretty much they can use their speaking talents.

I mean, some of the C.O.'s I had were really what I call natural leaders.

Seriously, some of them could have had careers as stand up comics.

I know in the early 2000's... I know that the WT was tighting up the rope. I know that the C.O.'s had to stick more to the outline, etc.

But I also found that as time went on... that the C.O.'s were a lot more dry. They were more like Retail Store District Managers than the "spiritual superstars" of the early 90's.

Have you noticed that trend?

That's how I've been seeing it.

There was a time where we would pass around "bootleg" casette recordings of C.O. talks.

Some of them were incredibly fantastic.

Not so much anymore.

I would have to agree.  Some of the guys from the 70's and 80's were fantastic.  90's and 2000's it really started to slide.

But of course, back then I was in a euphoric fog.  I was going to live forever, and death was ABSOLUTELY OUT OF THE QUESTION!  I was too young to die before the generation ran out!  Man, I was on top of the f*#*^ng world!  Damn right the CO's were better back then!  LOL!

The Oracle

CO bootleg cassettes ....that brings back such good memories. I haven't heard of any since about 1996.

They do little more these days than hound the hounders.  If the numbers look bad, they will start hounding those in charge.  Low hours?  Start hounding people to get out there more and stay longer.  Irregulars?  Start faking their time slips or hounding them to go out.  People missing the boasting sessions?  They need to be hounded to make every single boasting session, even if they have a bad cold or a splitting headache.

As for the canned talks, these are little more than programmed responses to the congregations.  They need to push for ever higher times and meeting attendance.  They need to press and hound for people to start more studies.  They need to hound people to keep those studies going and not let the apostates get them.  Get your 6 year old children baptized promptly.  And so on.  For sure, nothing I would ever want to hear again.

Actually that has changed in the last few years, at least in the US.

Per a BOE letter, it no longer requires a congregation resolution to pay the COs expenses - it is just done. He's still supposed to give his receipts to the BOE, but the R&F members of the congregation no longer have a say in spending the money.

Of course, as you noted, it was always passed unanimously anyway, but at least the congregation felt somewhat connected. No more.

I could not agree more ! As somebody said I am sure that Bethel prefers "Company clones" who no doubt accept whatever bullshit they are asked to deliver and just go on and do it. I cannot imagine the following old time C/O's in the UK swallowing everything they were told  to do.

Ernie Beaver, ,John Blaney, David Carter, Richard Cullen etc etc ..

They may have talked what we now know to be rubbish, but at least they knew how to talk and be individual.

The same is true in the congregations. My theory is that so many these days are brought up in the Borg and learn by rote, they know nothing else. The ones that I once knew had "come in", had a life before (some quite colourful) fought in the  War and knew a little about life. 

BTW . My dub family say exactly the same about modern elders and c/o's. Have you heard an expression that grates on them? -  "My Theocratic career" ..

I remember some good ones from the 70's and 80's using every day examples.  They were actually very entertaining while getting the message across.  After a while, in the 90's, it seems like they just read the "script".  I started falling asleep just as I did as a kid.  Joel Osteen on TV is the type of speaker I remember doing the Sunday talks.