I think there has always been your average garden variety pioneer couples and Mr and Mrs COBE and back in the day these tended to be a little bit dorky the wife -homely, the husband -fatherly, they shopped at thrift stores and lived in someone elses garage. But as competition for a slice of the power pie has ramped up over the years what we have now seems to be a whole new ball game.
Does ultimate power lie with the men, the "family heads"? What about the so called "neck that turns the head" the women behind the men what part do they play? This question has always intrigued me and my personal journey has led me to my own conclusions on this but what brought this to my attention was a case in my own cong that I found disturbing to say the least.
There was a young sis disfellowshipped in her teens for immorality with a worldly boy. They get married, she gets reinstated and "brings him in to the truth". Within a couple of short years he gets appointed,first ms then elder then service overseer. They are the darlings of the congregation. The ultimate power couple. Local heroes, at the top of the totem pole both socially and theocratically. A truly meteoric rise to "success" WT style.
Before long though it becomes clear a monster has been created. A hungry beast that is always demanding its food, a steady diet of obeisance, praise and attention but this beast is never full. You are either for the beast or against it there is no neutral ground. So quickly it finds plenty of minions, sycophants and henchmen. Anyone not willing to supply the beast with praise is considered an enemy. The beast has a strangle hold on the cong and my heart breaks before, during and after every meeting.
I realised though this is only possible because there is a much larger beast. The one which created the petrie dish needed to spawn this one. The beast we all refer to as Mother the GB.