Drew Sagan posted this fine thread http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/12/160876/1.ashx in which a few people remarked that hardly anyone under the age of 40 even knows about the 1975 failed prediction.
I was born in 1970 and I do remember the 1975 fiasco. For what it's worth, here are my memories and how it was explained to me.
Late in 1968 my parents decided to have me because, like many other JWs, they thought that I would never have to deal with the world or go to school. They carefully planned to have me during the year of 1970 because they didn't want to go through Armagedon with an infant, so they figured if I was 5 years old, I would be old enough to run, feed myself, and at least know enough to take shelter from the elements or hide. Many JWs in my parents' congregation all planned their babies around this time as well.
I do actually remember being around 4 and having my parents tell me that I was very fortunate because "the system of things" was just about ready to end and I would never become contaminated by the world. It used to be almost like a game. I have been told that at breakfast I would ask, "is Armagedon coming tomorrow?" We don't know for sure, they would answer. "Is Armagedon coming next week?" and so on. I'd always be asking this question and my parents would treat it like a guessing game. They were happy because they truly expected Armagedon to happen at any moment.
So 1975 comes and goes and Armagedon doesn't arrive. Suddenly my questions about when Armagedon was going to get here weren't fun anymore. My parents were a little rattled. For a year and a half or so, my folks didn't go out into field service but they never missed a meeting. There were several evenings when my parents would whisper to each other. I know now that their faith was shaken to the core and now they had to figure out how to deal with raising a child who was about to start Kindergarten, an event that they thought I would never experience. Things were very tense in my family post 1975.
Many JWs from our congregation and surrounding congregations began disappering. Some went quietly, but others left very vocally. As with the JW way, those who left were viciously labeled apostates and were blamed for over anticipating the society, being impatient with Jehovah, allowing Satan to get to them, and worse, assuming things not in evidence. The GB are experts in covering their asses. When a so called apostate would grouse about 1975, the organization would blame them for assuming that just because 1975 marked the end of 6,000 years, that Armagedon was going to be a done deal. They would wave the bible around quoting the verse about how no one, not even Jesus, knows the hour in which it will come. Basically, if you were a JW and believed 1975 was "it," it was your fault, not theirs.
Faced with two options, 1) leaving the cult, or 2) practicing Orwellian Doublethink to cope with the cognitive dissonance, my parents chose option 2. My parents began joking about my birth time.
Tee hee! We thought for sure that you'd never have to go to school or deal with the world. Well, it's our fault for being too eager and over anticipating Jehovah!
Every year when my birthday would come, they'd make the joke again.
Also, another interesting phenomena of the failed 1975 prediction was the fallout in the years afterward. Many JWs had gone deeply into debt just prior to 1975 because they figured they would never have to repay the money. Many bought new cars, houses, and luxuries that they couldn't feasibly afford. Even though the "materialism" was frowned upon, it was also kind of winked at, especially if they were pioneer JWs, or those who were considered spiritually strong.
In the years after 1975, many janitors, window washers, and part time secretaries found themselves saddled with large debts that would take them 50 years or more to pay off. Many became angry and resentful, and several more left especially when the society blamed them for buying into the 1975 hype.
Still stinging from 1975, in the early 1980's, COs and DOs would scold the congregations in talks about not being patient with Jehovah, grieving Jehovah's spirit, and mummering. They were warned nebulously about "apostacy" and the term "sifting" was used frequently. 1975 suddenly wasn't discussed at all anymore, especially now that the date "1975" and "apostacy" began being linked together.
The 1980's brought a personality change in many witnesses. Once zealous and cheerful, some JWs became sullen and resentful and began turning on others in the congreations. JWs who pioneered prior to 1975 and sacrified good employment opportunities (or school) in order to preach full time, because resentful and vindictive towards other JWs who didn't pioneer or who were considered not as spiritually strong as they because these "weak" JWs were holding steady because they had never given up their steady employment. I distinctly remember one elder turning on another elder and attempted to get him disfellowshiped simply because the man had a decent job with Sony and the other elder had only worked part time and bought luxuries he now couldn't afford.
If my memory serves me correctly, I think the last time I heard 1975, was sometime around the early 1980's, and that was only talked about in worried, hushed discussions.
So I think the only reason I remember 1975, is because since I was born in 1970, I was old enough to retain the memories of that time.
Thanks for listening to me ramble!