Wha happened -- I think you're spot on about the anger. Whether intentional or not, AAWA comes across as angry. Their name is so off-putting for this reason. It is a negative name. It is a name which would frighten any JW or even a JW with doubts or questions.
Steve Hassan recommends gentleness, kindness, sublety... When you're dealing with MIND CONTROL and cognitive dissonance, you can't throw bricks and gauntlets down, it only drives the person further into that which you want them to get away from.
I do not know Cedars, but I've appreciated many of his posts on his jwsurvey website.
The AAWA video brought me to tears when I first watched it. After seeing it, I couldn't stop crying for awhile -- there was so much emotion in the video! and you could feel and understand the people's pain.
But now.... now it's all gone to shit.
There was a great post (in another thread?) where a person (shoot, can't remember name) said that most people do not want to fight an organization, their fight is for their families. It is a personal fight. Once the family member is rescued or recovered, they're out. They're done. They want to walk away from the WTBTS and JW-world and get on with their lives. Which is why people do not flock to join organizations like "Anti-Scientology" or "Anti-Mormom", etc. This makes sense to me and reflects what most people want and how they want to help and to what extent.
- Muddy