Spoiler, Speculation and Social Media

[Art Of Noiz]

24 minutes ago, Cetacean said:

None of it makes sense. These are the nebulous ramblings of a Lost Boy who insinuates situations but does not give specifics just to turn attention to himself.   His sisters are out making money off of SM so what better way to be noticed than to suddenly come forward with stories designed to stir up a big pot of controversy.

I think he's going to be really sorry he did this shortly.  It was impulsive and poorly thought through and I get he's getting it from all sides right now.  Accusations of abuse are very serious and if he's hinting at things that are simply a child responding to discipline, that's very immature and irresponsible.

He himself was accused of bullying and aggression.  He needs to think very carefully about his statements - stories on social media never go away.

I thought about that today..I bet he's getting ALL kinds of s**t umm, feedback from all corners of his family.

[Cetacean]

19 hours ago, GeeGolly said:

I never allowed any of my kids to get away with anything because of their gender. To me roughhousing is physical play with no intent of hurting each other - no punishment needed. Name calling and hitting out of anger, IMO are behaviors that need correction whether the child is male or female.

And ignoring physical abuse or bullying by boys and excusing it as "boys will be boys" is allowing boys to grow into abusive men because that behavior is OK because a male is doing it.

[mythoughtis]

I think Paedon is more like Kody than the rest of the kids ( with the possible exception of MyKelti).  Kody is prone to exaggeration… as in Waaasssttted, knives to kidneys, and SACRIFICES.  As in  I never loved my wives, etc.   I think Paedon exaggerates too. 

Meri probably was a strict disciplinarian to a bunch of kids that were not hers.  She had one child, a girl.  Here were a bunch of children, including several rowdy boys.  I do not think she was physically abusive.  She got in the boys faces in the episode where they were hitting each other, but she didn’t slap anyone.  I think Kody  was involved that day and he was pretty mad too. 

Paedon has previously said  Robyn coming in kept the kids from from becoming polygamists - the show exposed them to people in monogamous relationships  in Vegas 

 

[SunnyBeBe]

22 minutes ago, Art Of Noiz said:

I thought about that today..I bet he's getting ALL kinds of s**t umm, feedback from all corners of his family.

I wonder if he’ll get a Cease and Desist letter from Meri’s attorney.  Truth is a defense to defamation, but if it’s not true it could be actionable.  I’d take offense if someone accused me of child abuse and it wasn’t true.  I don’t think that I could let it go.   

[Ms.Lulu]

Just now, SunnyBeBe said:

I wonder if he’ll get a Cease and Desist letter from Meri’s attorney.  Truth is a defense to defamation, but if it’s not true it could be actionable.  I’d take offense if someone accused me of child abuse and it wasn’t true.  I don’t think that I could let it go.   

If he doesn't, it could lend some support to his claim. I suggest that Meri was a strict disciplinarian who crossed the line to abusive on rare occasion. 

Kids and animals will remember the frightening event. I believe he was scared of Meri and that fear grew to animosity once he grew up and up.

[General Days]

I don't think Paedon said anything specific enough for a Cease and Desist letter -- I don't think.

He never used the word "abuse." He said things like, "Abrasive is not enough of a word to explain what Meri was to a few of us children specifically," and "Oh, it moves so far past verbal. Verbal basically stopped existing," and "we didn't feel safe."

Edited January 14, 2023 by General Days

[Tuxcat]

7 minutes ago, SunnyBeBe said:

I wonder if he’ll get a Cease and Desist letter from Meri’s attorney.  Truth is a defense to defamation, but if it’s not true it could be actionable.  I’d take offense if someone accused me of child abuse and it wasn’t true.  I don’t think that I could let it go.   

I thought about that too and don't know much about the law. She does have fractured relationships in that family. She was iced out long ago. If the alleged allegations are false, I don't think she could even actually prove it?

[GeeGolly]

In my non-legal opinion Paedon is definitely defaming Meri's character. But how that works in the legal world, I have no idea.

[Ms.Lulu]

Also intriguing was Paedon's claim that Kody, through TLC, wanted the children to sign gag orders so they could not speak negatively about Kody on their social platforms. It is all about reputation for the KaDouche.

I believe this. It fits in with Kody's god complex, narcissistic tendencies and his desire to avoid poverty.

 

 

 

Edited January 14, 2023 by Ms.Lulu

[SunnyBeBe]

Idk……it seems rather clear what he’s saying, imo.  He says their lives were saved…..Is that where they got that term “unsafe” they tend to throw around so much?  
 

https://people.com/parents/sister-wives-paedon-brown-siblings-felt-never-safe-meri-brown/

Edited January 14, 2023 by SunnyBeBe

[Absolom]

1 hour ago, General Days said:

"we didn't feel safe."

There's the overuse and indeterminate use of safe again.  The way the Brown family throws the word around, it no longer has meaning when they use it.  

Any kid who takes after Kody requires a lot of caution at taking what they say at full face value.  

I know Meri can be quite pushy, forceful, and even short, mean speaking.  She's also selfish and all kinds of other negative things.  If she has the personality to actually abuse kids to the point of endangering their lives, she's hidden it very well on the show though.  She's surely done things to make some of the kids dislike her though.

Edited January 14, 2023 by Absolom

[Irate Panda]

I don’t know whether Paedon is exaggerating or not, none of these people are reliable narrators, but didn’t he say at when he started on tik tok months ago that one of Christine’s “rules”  so to speak was that he didn’t talk about Meri or did I misremember?  

With all the “divorces”, interviews, and mlm schemes, I’m actually surprised it took the family this long to publicly implode.
 

 

[Tuxcat]

1 hour ago, Irate Panda said:

I don’t know whether Paedon is exaggerating or not, none of these people are reliable narrators, but didn’t he say at when he started on tik tok months ago that one of Christine’s “rules”  so to speak was that he didn’t talk about Meri or did I misremember?  

With all the “divorces”, interviews, and mlm schemes, I’m actually surprised it took the family this long to publicly implode.
 

 

When Christine was interviewed by a podcaster a while back the podcaster said that she was not allowed to ask about Meri or Robyn.

In another interview that Paedon did a while back he said he wasn't allowed to talk about Meri. 

Now, we get this giant inflammatory three hour expose (the day after Meri's public divorce) followed by the creation of an anonymous TikTok team. That team uses voices distorters and they all say "more will be released soon." The angle is that Meri was "baaaaaaad" and Janelle and Christine were "queens."

I am wondering.... do you think some of this might be a response to Meri's veiled comments lately? She seemed to imply that she was writing a book. I wonder if that thought  made the family take offense. 

Edited January 14, 2023 by Tuxcat

[Soup333]

If I were Meri, I would definitely write a book. Christine should have done it a year ago. She’d be raking in money by now. 

[Irate Panda]

1 hour ago, Tuxcat said:

When Christine was interviewed by a podcaster a while back the podcaster said that she was not allowed to ask about Meri or Robyn.

In another interview that Paedon did a while back he said he wasn't allowed to talk about Meri. 

Now, we get this giant inflammatory three hour expose (the day after Meri's public divorce) followed by the creation of an anonymous TikTok team. That team uses voices distorters and they all say "more will be released soon." The angle is that Meri was "baaaaaaad" and Janelle and Christine were "queens."

I am wondering.... do you think some of this might be a response to Meri's veiled comments lately? She seemed to imply that she was writing a book. I wonder if that thought  made the family take offense. 

I am not familiar with any anonymous Tik Tok team (I don’t know why but I get quite the chuckle out of the image of someone putting together an anonymous team of people using voice disorders to make Meri look bad.  She already does that tremendously all by herself 😂) but I don’t think any of them would write a real tell all until the show ends…despite them all being best-selling authors especially Robyn 🤭

I don’t even try and figure out Meri’s comments anymore because they make no sense to me.  FWIW I think all of the parents are scrubs just to varying degrees. Janelle and Christine look good because Kody and Robyn are almost cartoon villain like ridiculous.  Meri is practically a non-factor in that the adults seem to fall somewhere between tolerating her to outright ignoring her except to film, so in a way I wish she would just blab everything since they’re all “mad” at her anyway.

 

eta: I don’t have Tik Tok but on a side note voice distorters creep me out…I’d love to know who is wasting all their energy making anonymous videos.  That’s an even bigger question to me than “What does the nanny do?” 

Edited January 14, 2023 by Irate Panda

[TurtlePower]

14 hours ago, Sandy W said:

Could he have meant that if parents ignored any abuse that may have taken place the affected kids may have gone off the rails and resorted to a defiant, dangerous lifestyle?

This.

11 hours ago, GeeGolly said:

If Paedon's goal is to increase the hate Meri receives - mission accomplished. But what he is also doing is increasing the hate of all his parents. Even in the eyes of the law a parent who allows another to abuse their child is culpable.

So now his mom, who said she left Kody for the kids, waited a dozen years after a decade of abuse? That doesn't make much sense to me.

Happens ALL THE TIME. People stay quiet for years due to fear of not being believed or retaliation/intimidation by the abuser (as we’ve seen with the “me too” issues). Sometimes they think by “behaving” they can get back into the good graces of the abuser. They may be afraid of their financial situation and have nowhere to go. 

All it takes is one person to come forward after a long time and then more victims of abuse often feel safer coming out with their experiences. 

Edited January 14, 2023 by TurtlePower

[GeeGolly]

2 hours ago, TurtlePower said:

This.

Happens ALL THE TIME. People stay quiet for years due to fear of not being believed or retaliation/intimidation by the abuser (as we’ve seen with the “me too” issues). Sometimes they think by “behaving” they can get back into the good graces of the abuser. They may be afraid of their financial situation and have nowhere to go. 

All it takes is one person to come forward after a long time and then more victims of abuse often feel safer coming out with their experiences. 

I'm talking about Kody, Janelle and Christine. Why would Christine, more specifically, allow her child(ren) to be abused? And why would Janelle and Kody tolerate it? The three of them were all afraid of Meri to the point they would allow her to beat up on a child? And somehow Robyn comes in and magically makes the abuse stop?

[Sandy W]

9 minutes ago, GeeGolly said:

I'm talking about Kody, Janelle and Christine. Why would Christine, more specifically, allow her child(ren) to be abused? And why would Janelle and Kody tolerate it? The three of them were all afraid of Meri to the point they would allow her to beat up on a child? And somehow Robyn comes in and magically makes the abuse stop?

Paedon said that it went beyond verbal abuse but did not specify physical abuse.  Could have been something more subtle like emotional abuse...planning an exciting outing with the kids that curried her favor and making a point of excluding those that didn't.  I fully believe Meri is capable of that 

[GeeGolly]

5 minutes ago, Sandy W said:

Paedon said that it went beyond verbal abuse but did not specify physical abuse.  Could have been something more subtle like emotional abuse...planning an exciting outing with the kids that curried her favor and making a point of excluding those that didn't.  I fully believe Meri is capable of that 

And Paedon didn't tell his mom or dad? Or nobody noticed Paedon was always excluded? Also, I'm certain that doesn't fit with nearly dying, or needing his life saved.

IMO, its more likely Paedon, being like his father, has never forgotten Meri punishing him on TV (in addition to strict and enforced expectations while growing up) and this is his revenge.

Its funny, the one mother he says saved his life was the one cheering Meri on when she was telling them to knock it off.

And its odd that Paedon sings the praises of Robyn for "saving his life" yet bullied her children. One would think if he was so indebted to her he would have went out of his way to welcome his savior's kids.

[nosedive]

26 minutes ago, Sandy W said:

Paedon said that it went beyond verbal abuse but did not specify physical abuse.  Could have been something more subtle like emotional abuse...planning an exciting outing with the kids that curried her favor and making a point of excluding those that didn't.  I fully believe Meri is capable of that 

Those were my thoughts, too.  Emotional abuse, such as an adult imposing a group ostracism or icing out of one child or shaming or other such humiliations. 

Paedon comes across to me as a show pony, desperate for validation and attention, and lapping up every ounce he's getting on social media.  While I don't doubt the kids were disciplined in ways many of us might consider inappropriate, even abusive, he is clearly (IMO) relishing the tease he's giving his audience, and less motivated by a desire to set things right than to meet what he perceives to be his own needs.  Sadly, meaningful healing from his childhood won't come from airing his family's dirty laundry on social media, and glibly, at that.  

[Libby]

This thing about Meri being abusive is exploding.

People, ET and other celebrity magazines have picked it up.

Paedon isn't an anonymous source. He's an immediate family member who has accused one of his parents of abuse. This isn't a stupid little fluff piece.

We'll have to wait and see what happens next. There's still no word from any of the parents or TLC. Most especially, no word from Meri.

 

[Elodia]

29 minutes ago, Libby said:

Most especially, no word from Meri.

Meri can't be bothered right now. She even cancelled her "Friday with friends" because she is celebrating her birthday this weekend.

But yeah, I'm also wondering why no one has something to say. I mean, abusing someone or accusing someone of abuse is no joke. So why do they all keep their mouths shut?

[xwordfanatik]

1 hour ago, Sandy W said:

Paedon said that it went beyond verbal abuse but did not specify physical abuse.  Could have been something more subtle like emotional abuse...planning an exciting outing with the kids that curried her favor and making a point of excluding those that didn't.  I fully believe Meri is capable of that 

We know she buddied up to Solomon, and seemed to ignore Truely, who was just a year or so older.  Emotional abuse is very likely, IMO.

[General Days]

 

1 hour ago, Sandy W said:

Paedon said that it went beyond verbal abuse but did not specify physical abuse.  Could have been something more subtle like emotional abuse...planning an exciting outing with the kids that curried her favor and making a point of excluding those that didn't.  I fully believe Meri is capable of that 

 

No he did not specify physical abuse. He never even used the word "abuse," (except maybe when he discussed Maddie's subtweet incident), but Paedon sure made it sound like he was implying physical abuse, and he's bright enough to understand that's what he was implying, and that's how the hosts were taking it.

I definitely believe Meri is capable of favoring some kids instead of others. I believe she's capable of yelling at kids. I definitely feel like she's capable of treatment that could be termed emotional abuse by reasonable people. And? If the Brown family spanked, I can see her spanking a kid.

Paedon said Robyn probably saved several of their lives, and that's where I think he's being intentionally untruthful.

Just now, xwordfanatik said:

We know she buddied up to Solomon, and seemed to ignore Truely, who was just a year or so older.  Emotional abuse is very likely, IMO.

I just watched an episode from a more recent season, in which Meri seemed to have a good relationship with Truely. I think it was the one in which Christine got Gwen a puppy, to make up for the move to Flagstaff. Truely had wanted a cat, and was a little afraid of dogs.

Meri stopped by, and Truely was serving her little appetizers she'd put together, and they had a cute rapport. I was surprised, because most of the time, it does seem like Robyn's kids are the younger kids with whom Meri has a true relationship. And that makes sense, since Meri has more of a friendship with Robyn, than with Christine and Janelle.

[Sandy W]

Just now, xwordfanatik said:

We know she buddied up to Solomon, and seemed to ignore Truely, who was just a year or so older.  Emotional abuse is very likely, IMO.

It broke my heart to envision Sol running back and forth across the cul(t)-de-sac with his craft projects while Truley watched wistfully out the window. I hope Christine planned a fun time for Truley on those days.

[Tuxcat]

26 minutes ago, Elodia said:

But yeah, I'm also wondering why no one has something to say. I mean, abusing someone or accusing someone of abuse is no joke. So why do they all keep their mouths shut?

If the allegations are true the adults kept their mouths shut for decades. Instead of acting to protect their children they harbored an abuser who was allegedly life threatening. They decided to go on a tv show and portray their functional happy polygamist life instead.

Perhaps they don't say anything because they realize they are all complicit. You can't have "Saint Christine and Logical Janelle," if they allowed "Monster Meri" to abuse their children. It exposes them as negligent but also complete liars for 17 seasons.

My guess is they are trying to figure out what to say next.

Edited January 14, 2023 by Tuxcat

[GeeGolly]

1 minute ago, Tuxcat said:

If the allegations are true the adults kept their mouths shut for decades. Instead of acting to protect their children they harbored an abuser who was allegedly life threatening. They decided to go on a tv show and portray their functional happy polygamist life instead.

Perhaps they don't say anything because they realize they are all complicit. You can't have "Saint Christine and Logical Janelle," if they allowed "Monster Meri" to abuse their children. It exposes them as negligent but also complete liars for 17 seasons.

Even more so when Christine sent one of her young children to live with Meri.

[Libby]

Meri's silence is telling to me. She has basically been accused of child abuse by Paedon. The allegation is everywhere and spreading by the minute. So far, Paedon hasn't walked it back.

Wouldn't she immediately deny the allegation if it wasn't true?

Is it true and she's afraid that if she denies it, other family members will come forward and back Paedon's story?

We'll just have to wait and see what happens.

 

Edited January 14, 2023 by Libby

[GeeGolly]

At this point I think this needs more than a Meri statement - this needs a family statement and possibly a TLC statement.

I don't wish anyone in this family harm and part of me hopes Paedon isn't lying because a lie like this is huge and the fallout likely will be huge. I wish the best for Paedon either way at this point, although he needs to be held accountable if he's lying.

[Tuxcat]

20 minutes ago, Libby said:

Meri's silence is telling to me. She has basically been accused of child abuse by Paedon. The allegation is everywhere and spreading by the minute. So far, Paedon hasn't walked it back.

Wouldn't she immediately deny the allegation if it wasn't true?

Is it true and she's afraid that if she denies it, other family members will come forward and back Paedon's story?

We'll just have to wait and see what happens.

 

If I were her (thank god I'm not), I would consult a legal team before I said anything. Don't say anything until you know exactly what to say.

Paedon's actual words were vague. They were meant to imply the conclusions that the internet  reached. But his actual words like "we didn't feel safe" and "more than verbal" are wishy washy. He never actually said the word "abuse" outright. So Meri needs to be careful with how she responds.

[Meow Mix]

At this point, this is a complete mess and there is no way out that isn't going to hurt someone.  I think Paedon did experience some hurtful behavior from Meri over the years and I think he is playing this out as his revenge.  He also gets a lot of attention which he absolutely craves.  Being somewhat impulsive, he hasn't thought through how this will impact the entire family. You can't drop hints like that then say you won't give details because it would get the show canceled.  TLC will take notice and start asking questions.  They have been burned by the Duggars (twice) and the Willises, I don't think they want to take more chances if there really is something serious that went on.

I don't fault Meri for her silence at this point.  I would be consulting an attorney before I said one word if I were in her shoes.  I think she can be mean and do hurtful things, but I don't believe kids lives were in danger from her.  But if she responds too quickly and impulsively, she will make things worse for herself.  As I said above, there is not a good way out of this for anyone.  

And to those saying Paedon is just like Kody, I totally agree.  He speaks just like him and rambles and makes weird faces just like Kody does.  Paedon may find that some of his siblings don't want to deal with him anymore and they certainly won't trust him with any confidences.  He's impulsive and will blab all over social media at the slightest provocation.

[altopower]

1 hour ago, Elodia said:

But yeah, I'm also wondering why no one has something to say. I mean, abusing someone or accusing someone of abuse is no joke. So why do they all keep their mouths shut?

Maybe they're talking to lawyers?  Nah, that would be too sensible.

[Art Of Noiz]

On 1/12/2023 at 3:53 PM, SunnyBeBe said:

And, if it’s true about the Brown kids never getting immunizations of any kind……I’m speechless.  That’s kind of a big deal to me.  I don’t put that entirely on Kody either.  That’s equally on the mothers.  And, if it’s true…..it really alters my opinion of all the mothers and not in a good way.  Man…..that’s some bizarre stuff.  They suddenly are on the ship list.  Ugh….☹️

This is my take. I think their culture was based on holistic healing. For example, Rulon Allred was considered a Dr. He was a chiropractor and herbalist. 

When Mykelti was thrown from the horse at Winn's ranch in WY? They moved her, made her walk to the truck,was assessed by nurse Sheryl (RN? LPN?), then took her to a flucking CHIROPRACTOR for an adjustment! Dear God. 

Also, their children were home schooled or in private AUB school in Lehi. Vaxes may not have been mandatory.

Idk much about Mormons, but my aunt joined mainstream  LDS right after I was born. She doomsday prepped. She did a mission in Mexico for a year. She chose a chiropractor over an M.D. every time. She did genealogy so she could do the sealing of her family members.. (she paid).

She was secretive about some of the teachings.

[Libby]

30 minutes ago, Meow Mix said:

At this point, this is a complete mess and there is no way out that isn't going to hurt someone.  I think Paedon did experience some hurtful behavior from Meri over the years and I think he is playing this out as his revenge.  He also gets a lot of attention which he absolutely craves.  Being somewhat impulsive, he hasn't thought through how this will impact the entire family. You can't drop hints like that then say you won't give details because it would get the show canceled.  TLC will take notice and start asking questions.  They have been burned by the Duggars (twice) and the Willises, I don't think they want to take more chances if there really is something serious that went on.

I don't fault Meri for her silence at this point.  I would be consulting an attorney before I said one word if I were in her shoes.  I think she can be mean and do hurtful things, but I don't believe kids lives were in danger from her.  But if she responds too quickly and impulsively, she will make things worse for herself.  As I said above, there is not a good way out of this for anyone.  

And to those saying Paedon is just like Kody, I totally agree.  He speaks just like him and rambles and makes weird faces just like Kody does.  Paedon may find that some of his siblings don't want to deal with him anymore and they certainly won't trust him with any confidences.  He's impulsive and will blab all over social media at the slightest provocation.

If he was abused, which none of us know if he was or wasn't, he shouldn't be expected to stay quiet in order to avoid a mess for the family.

If Meri did consult a professional about how to handle this situation, you can be sure that the first question that they asked her was if she ever hit Paedon in front of anyone else. If the answer was yes, she can't outright deny Paedon's statements. It's just a matter of opinion if she crossed a line. Different people will see it differently.

Edited January 14, 2023 by Libby

[GeeGolly]

These quotes from Paedon, IMO go beyond controversial punishment and insinuate real abuse:

• "Abrasive and kind of mean are not strong enough words, they are not aggressive enough words,"
• "Oh, it moves so far past verbal. Verbal basically stopped existing."
• "No, we were never safe around her."
• "Robyn probably saved several of our lives. Not definitely, but very maybe."

Then is gets confusing because right around the time Robyn "possibly saved his life", Kody became "unsafe". Robyn came into the picture in 2010 when Paedon was 12. They moved to Vegas when he was 13. I think they were in the cul-de-sac by the time he was 15.

• "When asked if Kody was ever abusive, Paedon insisted that was not the case, but did say that "sometime between [when I was] 12 and 15, he stopped being safe."

[Libby]

The Brown's use the word unsafe to describe every uncomfortable situation that could possibly come up.

I don't think that Paedon's use of unsafe regarding Meri and his use of it regarding Kody were in the same context.

Edited January 14, 2023 by Libby

[GeeGolly]

This picture leaves me with all kinds of thoughts.

[Tuxcat]

45 minutes ago, Libby said:

If he was abused, which none of us know if he was or wasn't, he shouldn't be expected to stay quiet in order to avoid a mess for the family.

I don't know that anyone expects him to do that. But HE stated that he didn't want to provide details to protect the show and his family's income.

I don't think he could have predicted the snowball effect. His parents forced the children to play happy nice nice with their abuser for over a decade while they were on TV? And now they want to silence him to keep the show?

That's the issue that makes this all confusing. He keeps unknowingly implicating his family but I don't think he means to.

[Libby]

1 minute ago, Tuxcat said:

I don't know that anyone expects him to do that. But HE stated that he didn't want to provide details to protect the show and his family's income.

I don't think he could have predicted the snowball effect. His parents forced the children to play happy nice nice with their abuser for over a decade while they were on TV? And now they want to silence him to keep the show?

That's the issue that makes this all confusing. He keeps unknowingly implicating his family but I don't think he means to.

Yes, but so far, he hasn't walked his accusations back.

The silence from all of them and TLC is deafening.

Sooner or later someone will say something. I think...

As far as the happy picture above, there's a lot of happy pictures of the Duggars, Willis family, and thousands of other families where horrific things went on. Smiling pictures mean nothing.

[Roslyn]

While I have not listened to Paedon's words for myself yet, I have been reading the quotes and opinions of everyone here and on Reddit since it came out.

I speak from personal experience that two children in the same household can and do have very different life experiences and personal views of their upbringing. It is very certain that family members can witness and say nothing to stop abuse that is happening right then and there, not to stop it in the moment or do anything in the aftermath to make it not happen again.

Abuse can and does happen in the open in front of strangers that is not seen as abuse because abuse is day in and day out training, behind closed doors and in open crowds. That training stays with a person for their entire lives, every minute of every day and skews their perception of every experience they have.

Paedon speaks in the same vagueness speak that all of the Browns have used since day one of the first episode. Sub text and implications that are left for interpretation the same as their religious texts are. It can be maddening and yet why there is so much discussion of this show from day one, including my own fascination with the show.

I interpret Paedon's "Robyn entering the family saved all of our lives" as a broad statement. Robyn entering the family means that they had a new stream of income coming into an impoverished household. They had a new public profile, with many people locally as well as nationally (and then globally) paying close attention to their story. With this new information, according to Paedon, Robyn was able to see behaviors and was able to change them.  Naturally we will most likely never know any exact instances of these behaviors etc, but something changed according to Paedon.

I believe the largest thing that stands out in my mind is that they moved out of their religious bubble.  Out from under the control that the church leaders hold over everyone in their clutches, and into a very different world in Vegas.  In my opinion it is more the change from the fundie mormon bubble that "saved" the family more than anything else. The Browns always kept their religious beliefs very low key and so it is easy to forget the religious dogma and control that exists in their real world and only pay attention to what is said on camera, yet the religious aspect is always there in the subtext and can be difficult to catch unless you really understand the history of the church and know the "language" of their dogma. Like trying to learn the language of $cientology, it can be as difficult as learning another culture/language.

1 minute ago, Libby said:

As far as the happy picture above, there's a lot of happy pictures of the Duggars, Willis family, and thousands of other families where horrific things went on. Smiling pictures mean nothing.

Exactly.  1000%

[BuddyMom2]

I wonder if the comment about “Robyn saving several lives” was less about her preventing a specific incident (like severe physical harm) and more about saving the kids from verbal/emotional harm. Many victims of this kind of abuse will talk about how its long term effects are even more damaging than a beating. And those long term effects could result in self harm or suicide.

FWIW, all the Brown adults are complicit in the damage caused to those kids.

[GeeGolly]

13 minutes ago, BuddyMom2 said:

I wonder if the comment about “Robyn saving several lives” was less about her preventing a specific incident (like severe physical harm) and more about saving the kids from verbal/emotional harm. Many victims of this kind of abuse will talk about how its long term effects are even more damaging than a beating. And those long term effects could result in self harm or suicide.

FWIW, all the Brown adults are complicit in the damage caused to those kids.

That certainly can be true but Paedon said it went beyond verbal.

Just a little PSA - not all children of abuse become abusers, actually very few do. Not all children of abuse are broken or suffer long term issues. With that said any form of abuse certainly can negatively impact folks' lives, long term.

[Art Of Noiz]

2 hours ago, GeeGolly said:

This picture leaves me with all kinds of thoughts.

Anything that's posted on SM, that we can share, is posed, or approved. In My Opinion. I smile in family pics, and seriously don't like all of them. Js.

[GeeGolly]

37 minutes ago, Art Of Noiz said:

Anything that's posted on SM, that we can share, is posed, or approved. In My Opinion. I smile in family pics, and seriously don't like all of them. Js.

My thoughts were more around the fact that this is a picture of the two 'bullies' and the 4 'targets' of the bullying.

[LilyD]

Lots of things have been said about Paedon and his bullying. Bullying is unacceptable in any circumstances, that goes without saying. The same goes for any form of (physical) abuse in any form. I do believe Paedon crossed those lines when growing up. But…. there are a few sides to these accusations that I feel need to be addressed too. Particularly when it comes to his victims: Dayton, Breanna, Aurora and Gwen.

First, we all know how Robyn’s kids can do no harm and are victimised by Kody and Robyn. They’re excluded, never given a fair chance etc. The others are always wrong, they’re too perfect. Now I’m not saying Paedon didn’t do anything, but I do wonder about what he actually did and whether he was the only Brown kid. And was it really bullying, or was it another of Robyn’s perceptions on how the family treated them? A stare in their direction could be enough to set them all off!
We all know how Robyn’s truths are different from the others and Aurora and Breanna are mini-Robyns and heavily influenced by her thinking.

Second, Gwen: I’ve watched all seasons and on numerous times, people have commented on Gwen’s habit to rub people the wrong way. Or her tendency to get on people’s nerves and be (unintentionally) hurtful. A recent examination revealed ASD which would explain a lot. It doesn’t mean Paedon’s bullying is ok in such circumstances, but….was it bullying or ‘just’ angry responses to a sister who could be nasty and hurtful in her own right too?  From my own experience I can tell living with someone with ASD can trigger a seriously angry response at times. They can be really hurtful and insensitive. And for a young man like Paedon, who had his own demons to fight, it could have been too much to handle. I have no doubt Gwen made him see red and punch her, but is that bullying or sibling rivalry,or sibling fights  at its worst? (And yes, punching is crossing a huge line!)

I probably sound like I am defending Paedon here and that is not really my intention. It just felt a bit unfair to put all the blame on him without taking into account some other factors too. Yes, he was wrong and I am sure unpleasant and scary too, but my gut tells me that there was more to this story than just pointing at one of the less popular Browns and call him a bully and abuser.

[Tuxcat]

3 minutes ago, LilyD said:

And was it really bullying, or was it another of Robyn’s perceptions on how the family treated them?

Paedon has admitted to bullying these people and he used the word "bully." And we know that Paedon and Gwen were not allowed to be left alone together. He did defend slapping her and said that was just "normal" sibling stuff. He called the people questioning the slap, "man haters." But yes, we don't know the extent to which any of this all played out.

[Libby]

I feel sorry for the Brown kids. I think that all and all, they try to be nice, good, people.

Young people need to learn that they don't need to post every thought that they ever had, every mistake that they ever made, how they choose to raise their kids, their politics, basically everything about their lives since the day they were born. They need to learn that privacy is important and all of this sharing will bring them trouble. All people will never agree with every belief that they have and every choice that they ever made.

The thing with most young people is that they are nobodies and very few people will pay attention to their every move.

The Brown kids are in the spotlight and have to guard their privacy more than their peers do. They get a lot of attention.

Even the oldest Brown children are very young. They'll probably change greatly as they mature. I'm not going to judge a 24 year old man as he learns to navigate his way through life, and certainly not for things he did as a child. As Judge Judy says, a young man in his twenties is six.

I don't agree with Paedon's world views now, but I am not willing to say they're locked in and he's a bad guy. I'll wait and see what Paedon thinks and does as he matures.

[Meowwww]

To me, the TikTok videos are creepy.  They are very dark.  I’m certain they are Jackie.  She shut down “Sam’s” blog and is craving attention.  A lot of what they say are old news anyway. And they use a different fake voice in each video.  
Dollars to donuts it’s not a “team”.   It’s one sick person named Jackie. 

[Art Of Noiz]

1 hour ago, Meowwww said:

To me, the TikTok videos are creepy.  They are very dark.  I’m certain they are Jackie.  She shut down “Sam’s” blog and is craving attention.  A lot of what they say are old news anyway. And they use a different fake voice in each video.  
Dollars to donuts it’s not a “team”.   It’s one sick person named Jackie. 

I hear Mykelti and Tony. 

[Libby]

I haven't seen any of the TikTok videos. I'm not on that platform.

The general consensus on reddit seems to be, Jackie who is Meri's catfisher, or various members of Christine's branch of the family.

Why would Christine or her kids anonymously do creepy videos with disguised voices?

People on reddit say that the videos don't reveal much new information.

Just on what I've read, it sounds like it's Meri's catfisher to me.

Edited January 15, 2023 by Libby