Dilbert's Principle Behind Selecting Elders

by blondie 14 Replies latest jw friends

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  willyloman

  All these things combine to produce the deadness of spirit and stagnation so evident in Watchtower doings. Nothing will change unless some major outside event forces it, or "King Saul" dies.

  Right you are, Alan. Case(s) in point:

  Last year at a "special supplementary" session to the annual meeting, Jarascz opened with, "There's been a lot of speculation about this meeting, brothers." This was followed by a collective noise that was someplace between a gasp and a loud sigh, with some laughter thrown in. There was a palpable air of expectation, which went completely unfilled when he followed with: "It's not wise to second guess Mother." That let the air out of everyone's tires and the next several hours were devoted to a sales pitch for Society tours to Italy and Russia. And then it was over, everyone repaired to the bar across the street, many beers were consumed by the hundreds of elders and their obviously dispirited wives (who had been under the mistaken impression that morning that they were in for something really special).

  During roughly the same time period, Jarascz presided over one of those two day elders "schools," the one in which the Society showed that it had heard the cries of the people for relief and announced the implementation of the Book Study OVERSEER arrangement, designed obviously to do two things: give the elders more work to do, and hold the publisher's beautifully shod feet closer to the fire. At the end of the session, in rambling concluding remarks, Jarascz said something that absolutely astonished some of us. Disparaging what he saw as a weakness among elders for "constant entertainment" on weekends, he strongly suggested we didn't need to go out or have social gatherings "every" weekend, and suggested we use that time more wisely. His recommendation? "Go back and read all the society's publications, back to 1919, get to know your organization's history." That, he said, is what he did to while away the hours.

  I'm thinking, if many of these elders took that advice, the ones with thinking ability would be sorely perplexed and knocked right out of the truth. But perhaps the old fart realizes nobody will take his suggestion seriously. Nevertheless, he is totally out of touch, or he's devious, or both.
• 

  AlanF

  Let's just say that not all Bethelites are braindead, and that sometimes they don't mind talking to outsiders.

  AlanF
• 

  proplog2

  Alan:

  The worst kind of "Boss" is the kind that works his way up a bureaucracy.

  I would rather have a drunken Rutheford then a steely eyed committee head.
• 

  Room 215

  Proplong, very perceptive; well done. I for one am convinced that the WTBTS has regressed ever since the 1972 coup; Knorr, while something of a despot, and not particularly inclined toward spirutality, was a clear-thinking pragmatist; and since his position was unassailable, he could speak with the absolute self-assurance of an autocrat. Though some--may many-- of his decisions were impulsive, aribrary and often cruel, there's little doubt in my mind that he was consierably more tolerant of dissent or unorthodox viewpoints, particularly if the person articulating such views did so among trusted senior JWs with records of many years of loyal service.

  Ray recounts in COC about Knorr's often saying such things as ``1914-- I don't know.... we may be right and I hope we are," when in social ciricumstances with cronies like George Couch, Grant Suiter, and others. Although independent thinking clearly had its limits, when I was at Bethel in the mid-sixties, the unspoken rule was ``we accept the premise that you're a loyal JW and committed to the concept, otherwise you wouldn't be here donating the best years of your live to the work; so if you have `inpendent notions,' gripes or believe that much of what's printed is for public consumption, fine. Discuss it among yourselves, or in confidence with a higher-up, but don't cause problems in the local congregations or ortherwise lobby long and loud for change."

  I can remember innumerable Sunday evening beer or ice-cream making sessions with buddies in Bethel rooms, and with even one or two middle-level senior Bethelites present, griping and discussing controversial issues-- unthinkable today in the post 1980 paranoia.
• 

  willyloman

  Room: If someone is writing the unauthorized history of JWs, they should copy this and include it:

  Ray recounts in COC about Knorr's often saying such things as ``1914-- I don't know.... we may be right and I hope we are," when in social ciricumstances with cronies like George Couch, Grant Suiter, and others. Although independent thinking clearly had its limits, when I was at Bethel in the mid-sixties, the unspoken rule was ``we accept the premise that you're a loyal JW and committed to the concept, otherwise you wouldn't be here donating the best years of your live to the work; so if you have `inpendent notions,' gripes or believe that much of what's printed is for public consumption, fine. Discuss it among yourselves, or in confidence with a higher-up, but don't cause problems in the local congregations or ortherwise lobby long and loud for change."

  Your posts are really appreciated; they have that just-got-back-from-the-front-lines authenticity.