Everyone brought up some good points. AllTimeJeff laid out a good foundation for discussion.
First: AllTimeJeff “What corporation has been brought down, why, and how?”
That is an expansive topic that would require allot of research, I hope someone does it . But for the sake of argument let’s assume we did that research and assumed that corporate failures fall within two categories:
1. Market forces, competition, mismanagement and corruption.
2. Government, regulations and negative public opinion.
Let’s also assume #1 does not apply. We can assume there are no major missteps with finances, and that everything is on the up and up (WTWizard).
Let’s also assume there will not be a major deathblow. That there is not going to be any major scandal within the Org. (dutchstef) i.e. “Never get caught in bed with a dead women or a live boy”. Or any “crippling” lawsuits concerning child abuse or pedophiles.
That would leave #2 Government, regulations and negative public opinion.
Second: AllTimeJeff - "There is always going to be fringe groups around. JW's are the ones that we know best. Say you were to succeed, what next? Scientology? Mormons?"
For this let’s say “Not my problem!”. A long time ago I found myself in a foreign country. I, my bookbag and my custom cover NWT with my initials on it. I decided to have lunch at the local “mall”. While enjoying the local delicacies in walked 30 Mormon missionaries. I was not a Gilead graduate; therefore I was not trained in hand-to-hand combat. Let’s just say I lost. I may be bad but if x-JW’s chooses a different cult that’s their problem, not mine. We can only hope that one of those boy’s who returned to Salt Lake City, UT (or Clearwater, FL) is going to take care of their piece of the world and hand a steaming pile of kick ass to their respective cults.
So why focus on JW’s? Maybe we have blood our hands. Maybe the cosmic scales of justice need to be balanced. Maybe we have some bad karma. Maybe we contributed to the problem. Allot of people have been victims of the WTS, but can we really say we were victims? Can you? Can an SS Officer say he was a “victim”? If a JW Nuremberg trial was held we would all be hanged. I propose that any JW who received an envelope of money, while eating breakfast, can’t really say they were a victim.
Third: AllTimeJeff - "Only individuals leave JW's. Liberated, borgbot JW's who need cult like structure would simply seek out another group. As Randy "Dogpatch" Watters brought out in one of his essays, there are people who group, gravitate to, and even need, a cult. Sad, but true."
JeffT - "If the organization disappeared tomorrow the followers would go follow some ne else, or become suicidally depressed."
LouBelle - "As long as people believe in what they have to offer - they will keep going."
I think this is an area that needs clarification:
1. Does “Bringing down the Watchtower” mean converting or changing the minds of millions of people?
2. Or does it mean opposing the Watchtower Corporation? (Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc., Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, Inc., Religious Order of Jehovah's Witnesses, Inc., New York, Kingdom Support Services, Inc., New York, International Bible Students Association, Inc., Wachtturm-Gesellschaft, Selters/Taunus, Germany, Jehovas vittnen - Bibelsällskapet Vakttornet, Sweden, Watchtower Bible & Tract Society Of Australia, Inc., Australia, Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society of Britain, Inc., England, Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Canada, Inc., Ontario)
The first is impossible. The second is not so invincible. So let’s go with bringing down the corporation. Difficult yes, but not impossible. How would you bring down the Watchtower Corporation?
But first allow me one cheesy quote from BSG:
“Which side are we on? We're on the side of the demons…. We're evil men in the gardens of paradise, sent by the forces of death to spread devastation and destruction wherever we go. So take your piety and your moralizing and your high-minded principles and stick 'em some place safe…. I've got a war to fight.” – Saul Tigh
Now this is just for the sake of argument. But let’s say you didn’t care. Let’s say you weren’t worried about support groups, or helping people. If you weren’t concerned about helping x-JW’s make a smooth transition. If the idea of x-GB members standing in line at the DMV or trying to figure out how to apply for Medicare for the first time didn’t bother your conscience. If former CO’s working part time at Kroger’s bagging groceries didn’t bother you in the least. If you wouldn’t think twice about former Bethelites with no job skills struggling to make ends meet with their wives in a janitorial business.
If the idea of stripping the Paradise hope from every grandma, single mother and child would not keep you up at night.
If you were willing to be called by the FDS an Apostate. If being called an Opposer, Judas and Antichrist would bring joy to your heart. If you were willing to smash the feet of clay and become a Star named Wormwood. If you could bring the whole of Pleiades down on Brooklyn, Wallkill, and Patterson without a second thought.
How would you bring down the Watchtower Corporation?
For arguments sake of course…
