Are you ready for this....
Seeing apostates was a facet of convincing myself that I really did have the truth. After all- only the faithful and discreet slave would be persecuted by an evil slave. Catholics who don't believe just don't show up- they dont show up with signs screaming and yelling. Plus, it allowed me to see "them" as a single, monolithic group- "The Apostates". (This is something WT does a good job at- demonizing "Apostates" as a class and convincing everyone that they are a single, uniform, united group)
So.... you could say that the apostates at assemblies had the opposite of the intended effect- for me. (Thank goodness Al Gore invented the internet.)