I think the crystal ball reading by some of the posters as they confidently decry their motives is no different than the Organization's attributing the worst possible motive to most people's actions. I guess you are well trained.
It is necessary sometimes to speak in generalities -- sociologists do it all the time. But sometimes it isn't a good idea. I don't, for example, feel 100% comfortable saying, as Michael did,
And as long as one is a jw, then they are ALL STUPID LOVELESS BASTARDS!!!!
That seems too much -- and it's just not true. A minority, or even a majority of a group of people cannot be said to represent every single individual in that group.
What you can say, without lapsing into stereotype, is that, for the Witnesses who commit themselves to the doctrine of the organization, morality becomes meaningless -- what they consider good and bad, and their subsequent behavior, is derived entirely from the arbitrary doctrines of men with whom they are not even remotely acquainted.
I never said I thought Witnesses were therefore bad people. But they are morally vacuous people. Sure, most of them, particularly the devoted ones (with whom this thread, I think, is primarily concerned), may not fornicate, gamble, swear, what have you. But the reason for these decisions does not derive from any introspective moral rumination, but from some halfwit article collecting dust on a shelf until consulted.
Witnesses don't have a moral philosophy, an ethos -- just big mamma Brooklyn with her paddling stick glaring down at them. That's why, although they have the presence of mind not to screw around with other people's spouses, it appears perfectly normal for them to disown their own children, even while they are children.
That's not "goodness," not in any meaningful sense of the word.
Dedalus
P.S. Sorry for kind of repeating some of what HS said -- didn't realize I had until after I posted.