Well, Tweetie, this is one of those untold stories about the
inner workings of the organization.
Back in the 70's, the War in Vietnam was in full force. Many
brothers had to sweat and pray that they would get a 4D deferment
from the draftboard - or risk going to prison because of refusing
military service. King Knorr the First (and last, thank God)
endlessly ranted about various sexual obsessions (masturbation,
fornication, porn, oh my!). You'd have to listen to this nonsense
five mornings a week, most of the time. In addition, you were
ceaselessly reminded that you had promised to stay four full years
and work hard at the the Society's disposal. Often this meant
long hours in an un- airconditioned factory doing monotonous
labor in a highly monitored environment. Needless to say, they
developed severe morale problems - many brothers left before
their four year stint was up - risking prison due to the draft.
Younger brothers used to annoy the overseers (and Knorr) by
referring to their "Bethel career" in terms that suggested a
prison sentence (example: "how long you been here? - "two years,
three months, and eight days"). Things got worse and worse -
with theft, apostasy and the development of deeply cynical, hostile
attitudes especially in the bindery. Three former circuit overseers
at Bethel were appointed to investigate why so few young brothers
wanted to come to Bethel - they put together a pile of testimony
so negative that they were quietly branded as rebels (thanks,
Fred Franz).They also ran into trouble with newly baptized brothers
who came in with a heavy history of drug use.
Finally, they had to relent on the four year requirement and
ease up on the brothers. Even with this, if you read the KM
on Bethel Service and compare it with the past, you can see
how they compomised out of naked necessity - you don't have
to pioneer and only need to be baptized 6 months! I doubt they're
getting what they want for slave labor these days.
In summary, the experience was highly instructive because it
taught me, first hand, just how fanatical the Society can be
in supporting a policy whose painful results and flaws were
obvious to everyone - except for a few ivory tower leaders
and the sycophants who orbited around them.
And since many years have past, who do you think the leaders
are at present? The very same toadies who supported the mess!
And that's the way things work, in theocracy-land
metatron
