Maybe I wasn't the average JW and maybe that's why I'm here. I believed it to be the true religion, and I maybe bought into a little of the self-importance, but not all of it.
Like the convention proclamations being fulfillments of scripture, angels blowing horns and bowls of wrath. Even as a JW I thought that was a bit weak because I knew I could ask 1000 non-JW people off the street about them and be very lucky if any of them had even the foggiest notion of these proclamations, much less world religion and the governments. Hell, I hardly knew about them. Other than knowing they were supposed to have happened, I couldn't quote a single one. (Hey, maybe that's a point for my next JW encounter - if these are fulfillment of Bible prophecy, show me exactly what was said - which will probably amount to a bunch of statements that are now "old light").
They've also got the notion of being persecuted. I've been in circles who knew I was a JW and those that weren't. I saw no evidence of any scheme against them, except for the typical jokes. And when they did know I was a JW, I never felt any persecution for it. People just thought it was a wierd religion, but mostly respected it as just another religion.
I learned real quick that the outside world had no idea what our common vocabulary meant. I remember thinking everbody must know what a Kingdom Hall is. I eventually just started calling it Church when I talked to wordly people, though my parents didn't like it. If they don't know what a Kingdom Hall or going out in Service is, I figured out they knew nothing of us.
While JW rhetoric promotes this idea that they are so important and in the crosshairs of the outside world, I wonder if the majority of the rank-and-file JWs believe that.
As for being an ex-JW, they're still on my radar because some of my family is still involved. I like to keep in-the-know so that if the chance ever arrives, I can help them out of the religion.