mynameislame - "I find myself wondering if they don't realize that their end is in sight and all this craziness is an effort to wake up as many people as possible without causing mass suicides. It seems like a fairly humane way to do things... Make it so crazy people start waking up and any young person would want to get out as fast as possible. Take ownership of all the property so there won't be any fighting over it at the local level. Consolidate and sell off properties to raise cash for the lawsuits and try to keep enough money around to keep things running until all the hardcore, never leaving JWs die off... Or maybe they know it is BS and are just trying to live the rest of their lives in relative comfort while watching the whole thing fall apart."
You're partly right.
They'd never admit out loud that "the end is in sight" for the WTS (it's "God's Earthly Organization", after all), but I guarantee you that on a subconscious, reptile-brain level, they absolutely feel threatened and cornered.
Don't kid yourself, though... I also guarantee you that acting "humane" is not on their agenda. They are concerned with the Org's survival (which manages to be both disingenuous and ironic, IMO).
Sure, they're consolidating property assets to pay legal expenses, but selling off the family silver to stay in the black is not a long-term sustainable business plan.
As to the rest, a number of us have come to the admittedly weird (but, IMO inescapable) conclusion that they both know it's wrong, but believe it's true... at the same time. Make of that what you will.
And lastly, every authoritarian regime in history has opted to crash-and-burn rather than reform or admit defeat... and make no mistake, the WTS is very much an authoritarian regime.