Frankiespeakin – “Will the governing body tighten control over rank and file members even if it opens them up to more lawsuits?”
Absolutely; they’re already doing it.
The rhetoric coming from Brooklyn (particularly last October’s "we will determine who is or is not a sexual predator" memo) is indicating that GB2.0 is indicative enough; and why should we be surprised? They’re an authoritarian high control group, and that’s really the only response an organization like that can and will ever take…
…and yes, I do think this will result in more lawsuits.
There’s another possibility, too, though…
Remember the fruits of Barb Anderson’s internal efforts back in the 90s to affect internal reform? Sure, it seemed like a breath of fresh air for victims, but the WTS was caught completely off guard by the number of victims coming forward, thinking they’d finally see justice. In fact, I suspect the alleged "secret WT pedophile database" we’ve all heard about is probably the result of that era (although - assuming it does exist - I figure it probably started out simply as records of JC meetings, but due the sheer volume of sex-offense-related entries, it essentially evolved into its present form).
They peeled back the lid before, and I highly doubt they'd ever want to experience that again…
…so maybe the real question that should be asked is this:
Which course of action will cause more lawsuits to be filed against the WTS?
A) cracking down on the R&F (and hopefully intimidating enough of them into submission), or
B) easing up on restrictions and opening “Pandora’s Box” again?
If I had to guess, I’d say that the Legal Dept. crunched the numbers and concluded that the latter would probably cost the WTS more.
After all, it’s nothing other corporations haven’t done before; we’ve all heard stories about automotive companies that gauge the costs of potential lawsuits over a given vehicle’s design flaw versus the costs of recalling the vehicle or having the flaw corrected, and deciding that allowing the flaw to remain unresolved is less expensive in the long run.
Why would the WTS conduct business any differently?
