Sweet Fellowship: Duggars and Friends (aka the Bates Family and Other Featured Families Thread)

[Sew Sumi]

And now for something completely different. It looks like Boobchelle are officially back in IBLP heirarchy. This pic with the Wallers and Bateses (and I think Levuduskys) on stage at Big Sandy. 

Damn, IBLP didn't format the pic in an acceptable format for this site. But you can scroll through these pics. 

https://m.facebook.com/pg/familyconfs/photos/?tab=album&album_id=762531087253500

[Temperance]

Wait Sierra was married three months after Josh and Anna! IIRC they were married in Sept 2008. If I'm right and Sierra was Dec 2008 (according to above), then let that sink in.  (Then again friends irl married a year after and had the fourth kid a month before M4 was born.) 

Edited May 18, 2017 by Temperance

[drafan]

5 hours ago, Sew Sumi said:

And now for something completely different. It looks like Boobchelle are officially back in IBLP heirarchy. This pic with the Wallers and Bateses (and I think Levuduskys) on stage at Big Sandy. 

Damn, IBLP didn't format the pic in an acceptable format for this site. But you can scroll through these pics. 

https://m.facebook.com/pg/familyconfs/photos/?tab=album&album_id=762531087253500

Aaaannnd the boys get to do the outdoor activities..... while the girls get to cook, pray, and sit in swings while waiting for the boys to be finished so they can serve them dinner.

Edited May 18, 2017 by drafan

[Churchhoney]

34 minutes ago, drafan said:

Aaaannnd the boys get to do the outdoor activities..... while the girls get to cook, pray, and sit in swings while waiting for the boys to be finished so they can serve them dinner.

Yeah, can't let those girls get the idea that they're actually capable of doing something. Cuz then who knows what they might try?   s-h-u-d-d-e-r-

That crowd must include some of the most insecure men on the planet.

[Marigold]

I don't know a darn thing about Sierra's husband, other than what I read here and I scanned her blog.

I'm not impressed with him at all.  

[MargeGunderson]

1 hour ago, Marigold said:

I don't know a darn thing about Sierra's husband, other than what I read here and I scanned her blog.

I'm not impressed with him at all.  

Frankly, I can't think of even one husband that I'm impressed with in this bunch. 

[Aja]

1 hour ago, MargeGunderson said:

Frankly, I can't think of even one husband that I'm impressed with in this bunch. 

I know right? They're not even impressive as famewhores. 

[kokapetl]

I saw a bit of the Bates show today. Do they always slouch on the interview couch?

[Mollie]

14 hours ago, Sew Sumi said:

I get that language matters, and a firing goes far beyond being let go due to money constraints. That's more in the ballpark of being laid off. 

All this said, we will probably never know what happened unless someone can get Sierra to spill. 

It wasn't due to money constraints.  Sierra said that she and her husband were hired by the church (though Sierra never said what she did there as an employee).  Her husband Mark studied Theology/Pastoral Ministry at Southwest Baptist University.  (Sierra: "I wanted to be an actress, no, a motivational speaker, no, an actress.") 

Sierra had a falling out with the wife of at least one church deacon over things she was writing on her blog.   For example, she wrote about how she met her husband, Mark. 

She had just dropped out of her first semester in college − never to return − and was working at a video rental store. 

The second time Mark came in to the store, Sierra asked him if he wanted to see her tattoo.  He said, "No."  She then pulled up her shirt to expose the tattoo on her hip.  It was the Eye of Ra, for the Egyptian goddess Wadjet.  These and other postings were not what the church expected from the wife of their Youth Pastor.  Sierra deleted her blog and didn't start a new one for about a year.

"Getting back on a literal horse, after being bucked off, is the best comparison I have to the past year of my life [2014]. I quit blogging, due to the recommendation of deacon’s wife. My previous blog offended some people in the church that we were working at. So, I took it down. It hurt a lot . . . It’s hard to describe the last year of my life, so I’ll do the best I can. Mark and I accepted a position at a church, and dove head first, into the ministry life. I can, without a doubt say that I learned more in this past year about my personal relationship with God, than I have my entire life. I grew closer with my husband than I ever have, and I also gained life-long friendships from unlikely circumstances. I’m incredibly grateful for all that we went through. I feel as though Mark and I learned 12 years worth of ministry experience, in one year . . . We are open to getting back in the ministry, and open to Mark working full time."

"Getting bucked off", "It hurt a lot", and wanting to get "back in the ministry" is the language of someone who was forced to resign.  Sierra and Mark quit attending church services there and Mark has not been hired as a minister since.  It sounds like a lot more was involved than just Sierra's blogging.

An insider wrote on Pickles and Hairspray, "Sierra's husband was asked to resign.  Believe it or not, Sierra caused trouble.  She told lies and started drama.  It only took 11 months for the church to 'suggest' he resign."  It's kind of like Josh 'resigning' from  his job at the Family Research Council.  It was either resign or get fired.  However, if you resign to save face, you don't get unemployment benefits.  After Sierra and Mark left the church, friends took turns preparing meals and delivering them to their house via an online sign-up site.

 

Edited May 18, 2017 by Mollie

[Sew Sumi]

That quote from Sierra can't be fake. Comma placement is wrong, and the errors are consistent with her current writing. 

Sounds like the church forced them out, as good as fired. They already knew the Duggars through Anna, it appears; she'd already been on the show. I imagine they started attending Duggar warehouse church after Mark's ouster.

[Natalie68]

13 minutes ago, Mollie said:

It wasn't due to money constraints.  Sierra said that she and her husband were hired by the church (though Sierra never said what she did there as an employee).  Her husband Mark studied Theology/Pastoral Ministry at Southwest Baptist University.  (Sierra: "I wanted to be an actress, no, a motivational speaker, no, an actress.") 

Sierra had a falling out with the wife of at least one church deacon over things she was writing on her blog.   For example, she wrote about how she met her husband, Mark. 

She had just dropped out of her first semester in college − never to return − and was working at a video rental store. 

The second time Mark came in to the store, Sierra asked him if he wanted to see her tattoo.  He said, "No."  She then pulled up her shirt to expose the tattoo on her hip.  It was the Eye of Ra, for the Egyptian goddess Wadjet.  These and other postings were not what the church expected from the wife of their Youth Pastor.  Sierra deleted her blog and didn't start a new one for about a year.

"Getting back on a literal horse, after being bucked off, is the best comparison I have to the past year of my life [2014]. I quit blogging, due to the recommendation of deacon’s wife. My previous blog offended some people in the church that we were working at. So, I took it down. It hurt a lot . . . It’s hard to describe the last year of my life, so I’ll do the best I can. Mark and I accepted a position at a church, and dove head first, into the ministry life. I can, without a doubt say that I learned more in this past year about my personal relationship with God, than I have my entire life. I grew closer with my husband than I ever have, and I also gained life-long friendships from unlikely circumstances. I’m incredibly grateful for all that we went through. I feel as though Mark and I learned 12 years worth of ministry experience, in one year . . . We are open to getting back in the ministry, and open to Mark working full time."

"Getting bucked off", "It hurt a lot", and wanting to get "back in the ministry" is the language of someone who was forced to resign.  Sierra and Mark quit attending church services there and Mark has not been hired as a minister since.  It sounds like a lot more was involved than just Sierra's blogging.

An insider wrote on Pickles and Hairspray, "Sierra's husband was asked to resign.  Believe it or not, Sierra caused trouble.  She told lies and started drama.  It only took 11 months for the church to 'suggest' he resign."  It's kind of like Josh 'resigning' from  his job at the Family Research Council.  It was either resign or get fired.  However, if you resign to save face, you don't get unemployment benefits.  After Sierra and Mark left the church, friends took turns preparing meals and delivering them to their house via an online sign-up site.

 

Interesting.  Perhaps her being the Duggar party planner was her paying penance for whatever she did to get the heave ho from the other church.   Personally I think her life probably sucks.  Sure she loves her kids and husband but they are setting themselves up for a life of poverty if they keep having babies every 18 months or so.  The Duggars/Bates are the exception as being able to provide for such a large family and I wish there was less celebration and adulation for these mega families.  Why they think the world needs THAT MANY of their progeny is pretty astounding.  I mean what have ANY of them contributed to society?  Besides endless snark?  Great big nada.

[Mollie]

4 hours ago, Marigold said:

I don't know a darn thing about Sierra's husband, other than what I read here and I scanned her blog.

I'm not impressed with him at all.  

Mark's mother and brother live in Mexico. She never posts anything about Mark's family, so maybe she's not the best daughter-in-law in the world.

Mark went to high school in Carthage, MO, (about 1 1/2 hours from Springdale, AR) at the same school Sierra attended.  He was about eight years older, so they weren't there at the same time.  Then Mark went on to study Theology/Pastoral Ministry at Southwest Baptist University.  I don't know if he graduated.

When they first met, Sierra worked as a clerk in a video rental store and Mark worked at a hotel. They married in 2008.  Then his work history is unknown until he takes the Youth Pastor job in 2014.  Got fired/asked to resign in September, 2014, just days after their 4th child was born.  In July,2015, he started working at Sam's Furniture and is still there.

Here's his Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/mark.dominguez.3766?pnref=about.overview.rel

Edited May 18, 2017 by Mollie

[Churchhoney]

2 hours ago, MargeGunderson said:

Frankly, I can't think of even one husband that I'm impressed with in this bunch. 

Well, come to think of it, I doubt that Jim Bob would knowingly approve of any marriage partners who might possibly be able to one up him in any way. His ginormous bone china ego couldn't stand it. So if by some strange chance any such being came a-calling (unlikely, of course), I expect he'd quickly show him the door. ....

So .... there's a low bar for these guys. .... It may be surprising that they're as near to normal as they are, I suppose. I mean, all three of them have been enrolled in actual accredited post-secondary education. That in itself is kind of incredible in Duggar Town.

Much as they all annoy the hell out of me, I still think that, as the years go on and the Duggardom status quo just keeps looking worse and worse and worse, one or more of them might wake up a bit and try to change at least a little something for the sake of their kids or just for their own self-preservation...... At least all three have a better chance of striking out in a different direction at some point than the pitiful actual Duggarlings do, I think. 

Edited May 18, 2017 by Churchhoney

[queenanne]

18 minutes ago, Sew Sumi said:

That quote from Sierra can't be fake. Comma placement is wrong, and the errors are consistent with her current writing. 

Sounds like the church forced them out, as good as fired. They already knew the Duggars through Anna, it appears; she'd already been on the show. I imagine they started attending Duggar warehouse church after Mark's ouster.

That's a pretty lame reason if it's real. Churches need to get with the program. My youth group was very impressed with the ministers wife who admitted to us that she'd smoked pot. We then knew she'd have some sort of worldly life to veer away from, which was much more real to us than the Pecan Thief 'saved at age 3 because my parents dragooned my simple mind into it' rhetoric.

[Mollie]

20 minutes ago, Sew Sumi said:

That quote from Sierra can't be fake. Comma placement is wrong, and the errors are consistent with her current writing. 

Yeah, she wrote it alright.  It's on her blog: http://dojosdesigns.blogspot.co.il/2015/01/here-we-go-again.html

[SMama]

The Duggars/Bates can NOW afford their oversized families thanks to TLC and UP. The older kids went through serious financial hardship. The Duggar kids were fed by the food left at their doorstep. Lawson, for all his flaws, was buying groceries for the family. He was his parents' freaking ATM starting at age fifteen.  I don't recall where I saw it, but Gil made a CD. IIRC the title was How to Support a Large Family Without an Incone. Who the fuck does that? The prospect of providing for our only child at home is always on our minds. How can these so called Christians pop them out like Pez, then cruelly neglect them is beyond me. 

Edited May 18, 2017 by SMama
Because when ranting spelling and punctuation are forgotten.

[kokapetl]

I like Sierra's writing. It's a thousand times more evocative than anything written by a Duggar. 

[MamaMax]

1 hour ago, Natalie68 said:

Interesting.  Perhaps her being the Duggar party planner was her paying penance for whatever she did to get the heave ho from the other church.   Personally I think her life probably sucks.  Sure she loves her kids and husband but they are setting themselves up for a life of poverty if they keep having babies every 18 months or so.  The Duggars/Bates are the exception as being able to provide for such a large family and I wish there was less celebration and adulation for these mega families.  Why they think the world needs THAT MANY of their progeny is pretty astounding.  I mean what have ANY of them contributed to society?  Besides endless snark?  Great big nada.

What they are meant for is Votes. For conservative candidates. For real. 

[Sew Sumi]

14 minutes ago, Kokapetl said:

I like Sierra's writing. It's a thousand times more evocative than anything written by a Duggar. 

True. The Duggars are bots, forever stuck in Fundy-ese. However, I still want to bash her over the head everytime I see a misused comma. They're not even always comma splices; it's like she just throws them in to look more intellectual or something. No one has bothered to correct the error of her ways in the two years since she wrote the blog that Mollie linked. 

[Absolom]

3 hours ago, Natalie68 said:

The Duggars/Bates are the exception as being able to provide for such a large family and I wish there was less celebration and adulation for these mega families.  Why they think the world needs THAT MANY of their progeny is pretty astounding.  I mean what have ANY of them contributed to society?  Besides endless snark?  Great big nada.

No family can handle more than perhaps 8 to 10 children without the older kids being parentified.  I've seen people where 6 was getting beyond them.  I lost friends when they passed 8 and could no longer care for their brood but they were also adopting European special needs orphans.  They wanted family and friends to buy beds and clothes for the kids and I was like someone please tell them that they don't need to add more to a number they already can't handle.  The Duggars and Beateses can only provide out of TV bounty and it seems like they almost need a banner on the shows saying that.

[Mollie]

1 hour ago, Kokapetl said:

I like Sierra's writing. It's a thousand times more evocative than anything written by a Duggar. 

She's more of a drama queen.  (Remember, she wanted to be an actress.)

[lianau]

5 hours ago, Mollie said:

 

 

1 hour ago, Mollie said:

She's more of a drama queen.  (Remember, she wanted to be an actress.)

Is there a workshop at one of these fundie retreats named "Bug eyes for proverbs 31 women" 

[SMama]

Well said @Absolom, scrap these through rose colored glasses views of this horrible cult. TLC and UP, how about growing a spine, and doing a reality show? Not the canned shit you are selling to the masses. How about a TLC looking back series. While we were filming this blah and counting special, Josh was molesting his sisters. Or how about the logistics of the PARENTS feeding/clothing/supervising all those blessings on their own? How about not sugar coating Lawson's financial contribution to the family? No fifteen year old should be feeding his able bodied, college educated parents. He fed his siblings as well, and gave loans to Zachary and Erin. UGH

No man is an island, this applies to me as well. We have NO family support, but I do have an employed husband. I could not stay home without his income. But damn, enough with the fantasy. TLC does not have a problem exploiting families. Not a second thought when the families implode, they just move on to the next suckers. Evidently they are not above getting ratings for grotesque, voyeuristic displays of human frailty. Why are the Duggars so special?

[Churchhoney]

1 hour ago, SMama said:

Well said @Absolom, scrap these through rose colored glasses views of this horrible cult. TLC and UP, how about growing a spine, and doing a reality show? Not the canned shit you are selling to the masses. How about a TLC looking back series. While we were filming this blah and counting special, Josh was molesting his sisters. Or how about the logistics of the PARENTS feeding/clothing/supervising all those blessings on their own? How about not sugar coating Lawson's financial contribution to the family? No fifteen year old should be feeding his able bodied, college educated parents. He fed his siblings as well, and gave loans to Zachary and Erin. UGH

No man is an island, this applies to me as well. We have NO family support, but I do have an employed husband. I could not stay home without his income. But damn, enough with the fantasy. TLC does not have a problem exploiting families. Not a second thought when the families implode, they just move on to the next suckers. Evidently they are not above getting ratings for grotesque, voyeuristic displays of human frailty. Why are the Duggars so special?

Well, that's the entire nature of "reality tv," right?  Almost nobody is willing to be filmed for an actual documentary. But plenty of money-grubbing famewhores want to go on camera for cash. And when they can write fictionalization into the contracts. Unfortunately audiences are easily duped into buying sugarcoated fantasies. So it's lousy for society and, though they seldom realize it until it's way too late, not so great for the "reality tv stars" either. It's a travesty, but there you are. 

[MamaMax]

17 hours ago, Sew Sumi said:

True. The Duggars are bots, forever stuck in Fundy-ese. However, I still want to bash her over the head everytime I see a misused comma. They're not even always comma splices; it's like she just throws them in to look more intellectual or something. No one has bothered to correct the error of her ways in the two years since she wrote the blog that Mollie linked. 

Sing it, sista!  I remember trying to read a NY Times best seller years ago. There were so many mis-used commas in the first chapter, I had to stop. I had comma rage. I almost wrote an angry letter to the publishing house, LOL.  

So I just went and looked at it again, and its not really mis-used as OVER-used? @Sew Sumi go over to Amazon and read the first 2 pages of The Mermaid Chair and tell me what you think.

Edited May 19, 2017 by MamaMax

[BitterApple]

20 hours ago, SMama said:

The Duggars/Bates can NOW afford their oversized families thanks to TLC and UP. The older kids went through serious financial hardship. The Duggar kids were fed by the food left at their doorstep. Lawson, for all his flaws, was buying groceries for the family. He was his parents' freaking ATM starting at age fifteen.  I don't recall where I saw it, but Gil made a CD. IIRC the title was How to Support a Large Family Without an Incone. Who the fuck does that? The prospect of providing for our only child at home is always on our minds. How can these so called Christians pop them out like Pez, then cruelly neglect them is beyond me. 

Exactly and don't forget the Bateses using the ER as a free clinic because they didn't have health insurance for most of the kids. Their pre-TLC home was a shack and to this day, family and friends are chipping in to pay for the kids' braces. Gil is just as slimy and grifty as Boob.

[zoomama]

family and friends are chipping in to pay for the kids' braces.....

 

how did you learn this info?  i admit that i have wondered at how both families paid for braces for so many kids. i am about to embark on the 3rd generation of paying for braces and its staggering. 

[BitterApple]

9 minutes ago, zoomama said:

family and friends are chipping in to pay for the kids' braces.....

 

how did you learn this info?  i admit that i have wondered at how both families paid for braces for so many kids. i am about to embark on the 3rd generation of paying for braces and its staggering. 

Hi, zoomama, Gil admitted it on an episode of Bringing Up Bates. He said family and friends offered to help pay for several of the kids braces and Gil claimed he does tree work for the orthodontist in exchange, but still. I doubt the value of trimming a few trees comes anywhere close to the thousands of dollars it costs to put a kid in braces. I'm sure like the Duggars, the Bateses have been subsidized by their community for years.

[ginger90]

Tree service, trimming, removal, stump grinding, etc. can be a very lucrative business.

[BitterApple]

4 minutes ago, ginger90 said:

Tree service, trimming, removal, stump grinding, etc. can be a very lucrative business.

I agree, but if Gil was making bank he wouldn't still be sponging off friends and family.

Edited May 19, 2017 by BitterApple

[ginger90]

1 hour ago, BitterApple said:

I agree, but if Gil was making bank he wouldn't still be sponging off friends and family.

I will agree to disagree on this!!

[Sew Sumi]

Who taught GIl? He was working at Nabisco. You don't learn those skills overnight. Gil has never revealed this (likely grifted) ability to run a tree business all of a sudden. Let's be real: you can't work a 9-5 at a desk and learn the tree business. By the time he's off at his white-collar job, the tree guys are at the bar having a cold one. 

Gil must have had significant time "unemployed" (unless he was fired and got severance, but how far does that go with 10-ish kids?) to learn this so he could be gold-star Gothard approved. Severance pay can only get a family like that along for a matter of days, not weeks. 

Of course, he grifted most of his new house, and thanks God for stuff like his front door, so I don't think I'm off the mark to call him delusional and an egomaniac living off a 15 year old before he could get his shit together. 

[Marigold]

Of course, we don't know Sierra personally but I could see her being very difficulty to get along with. I find her irritating to watch on TV.   I think she is impulsive and that can lead to conflict with people. I also think she enjoys attention, which can also lead to conflict. 

I'm sure she has grown up in the past few years but I bet she was a handful as a youth minister's wife.  

[sometimesy]

Sierra adds energy to the show. Watching the slow-thinking Duggs sitting on a sofa contemplating what type of tree J kid would be, if J kid could be a tree, is riveting, but it's nice to throw a little faux tension in the show. At least they are slightly improving the character quality, even if the plot is still stagnant. 

[RazzleberryPie]

Sierra isn't original or unique. I've seen a dozen Sierrras at least, usuallt at non denominational or more charismatic churches. Sierra types live for attention and drama. Think of the girls in high school who were always causing some sort of drama, stirring trouble, then crying and whining when it all becomes to much or they get caught and have to account for their actions. 

It suits them more to grift and cause drama than to actually do something useful, and they flit from one MLM, business, church, or fleeting idea, usually spending someone else's money, and don't ever thjnk about he consequences or repercussions for their actions. No suprise of Sierra wouldn't tow the line and got her husband fired from his church ministry.

Shes just another one who was maybe whorey and partied for a solid minute, until she trapped some guy who just needed his ego fed to basically let her off the hook for ever having to have a job or contribute to the family. Did Mr Pastor seek a meek, godly Duggar type? No, he went for the hoe. She and her husband deserve each other. 

What I don't like about Sierra, is all the drama and attention, just to stir drama and attention. sierras use people and then cry victim when their actions catch up with them. Also - you've got five kids. Who is actually raising your kids while you're traipsing all over with the Duggars and off at shows selling whatever you're trying to hustle for the moment? 

[Mollie]

3 hours ago, RazzleberryPie said:

Also - you've got five kids. Who is actually raising your kids while you're traipsing all over with the Duggars and off at shows selling whatever you're trying to hustle for the moment? 

They spend a lot of time with grandparents.

Edited May 21, 2017 by Mollie

[Churchhoney]

4 hours ago, Mollie said:

They spend a lot of time with grandparents.

I must credit the Duggars and their hangers-on for teaching me something quite significant and surprising, though. Without their precious ministry, I never would have realized that it's actually ungodly to raise and educate your own kids. So, you know, I feel blessed. 

Edited May 21, 2017 by Churchhoney

[Nysha]

3 hours ago, Churchhoney said:

I must credit the Duggars and their hangers-on for teaching me something quite significant and surprising, though. Without their precious ministry, I never would have realized that it's actually ungodly to raise and educate your own kids. So, you know, I feel blessed. 

I'd feel even more blessed if Derrick & Jill would send Israel to his grandmother more often. That little guy needs someone who thinks he is the most awesome blessing that was ever blessed, unlike his parents who think he is just the first of many arrows for Jebus.

[Fostersmom]

On 05/19/2017 at 3:39 PM, BitterApple said:

I agree, but if Gil was making bank he wouldn't still be sponging off friends and family.

He's making bank off a TV show and has no problem grifitng for braces. A tree trimming isn't going to stop him in the slightest.

[cereality]

Not saying Gil isn't a grifter bc he is -- but I do seem to recall that he was laid off (or about to be) from Nabisco and that's when he got into tree trimming. I feel like Zach talked about it in one of the early shows (maybe before UPTv). I think the question was about college or the like and he said something about preferring having a skill like tree trimming or being an EMT/cop bc you'll always have work, whereas what happened to his dad was he went to college and to a big company and then got laid off and realized he had no skills and had to learn tree trimming in his middle age. I specifically recalled it bc I remember thinking even then -- so they think a white collar professionals in finance or accounting or whatever have no skills?!

[Churchhoney]

19 minutes ago, cereality said:

Not saying Gil isn't a grifter bc he is -- but I do seem to recall that he was laid off (or about to be) from Nabisco and that's when he got into tree trimming. I feel like Zach talked about it in one of the early shows (maybe before UPTv). I think the question was about college or the like and he said something about preferring having a skill like tree trimming or being an EMT/cop bc you'll always have work, whereas what happened to his dad was he went to college and to a big company and then got laid off and realized he had no skills and had to learn tree trimming in his middle age. I specifically recalled it bc I remember thinking even then -- so they think a white collar professionals in finance or accounting or whatever have no skills?!

All hail the words of Our Godly Gothard -- During my time in ATI, I was just one of thousands of young people who were told that we didn't need college credits, that college would corrupt our minds with "vain philosophies" and threaten our faith, that there are some things "God doesn't want us to know", and that employers would come looking for us because of our diligence, obedience, and virtue. So, many of us dutifully eschewed degrees in favor of home-based study.

http://heresyintheheartland.blogspot.com/2013/09/bill-gothard-on-education.html

[cereality]

Wasn't it one of the Bates -- one of the older ones -- who said something about not wanting to go to college bc they'd have to sit next to someone with green hair? I feel like I always attribute it to the Duggars, but it was a Bates girl? If that's right, they certainly have come a long way -- encouraging their kids to at least take 1 semester of college classes and then decide whether to continue to a degree or find something else. And while no one went to an ivy league -- Erin appears to have finished a college degree as well as Brandon; and it seems like Tori (I think - whoever is dating Bobby) is wanting to finish as well. More than we can say for the Duggars where I think Joseph was the only Duggar to even do 1 semester of college (in person - not sure if anyone is doing anything online).

[BitterApple]

Erin was the one who made the "green hair' comment.

[lascuba]

Yes, that was Erin who made the green hair comment....she said it to justify her choice of turning down a scholarship to a real, accredited college in favor of Clown.

[Churchhoney]

Well, the Bates parents went to college. So letting the kids go doesn't threaten them with being seen as inferior as I expect it does for Jim Bob.

Plus, the Bateses haven't gotten so much encouragement to imagine that they'll always having money coming in from stuff other than, you know, actual employment. What with the tv show and donation buttons and now, they hope, an eight-figure legal payout, the Duggars can imagine that you can live high off the hog forever without ever looking for work. 

[EAG46]

Are all hyper-fundamentalists this willfully ignorant?   I know it happens in the hyper-fundie Jewish communities--only religious subjects get real attention among the men and if they leave they don't know enough to function in the real world.  (Women actually learn more because they function in the outside world more while the men stay home and study Talmud.)   But this is alarming.  To WILLFULLY be kept ignorant and incapable of ANYTHING....

[Churchhoney]

11 hours ago, EAG46 said:

Are all hyper-fundamentalists this willfully ignorant?   I know it happens in the hyper-fundie Jewish communities--only religious subjects get real attention among the men and if they leave they don't know enough to function in the real world.  (Women actually learn more because they function in the outside world more while the men stay home and study Talmud.)   But this is alarming.  To WILLFULLY be kept ignorant and incapable of ANYTHING....

Well, you know, stuff you learn tends to raise questions about whether everything in your fundamental founding document is literally totally true. So that's always a problem. 

But that doesn't always lead to people completely blowing off education (and even technical training, the way idiot Jim Bob does). Sometimes I forget that the Duggs aren't just fundamentalists, but part of the evil Goth-y cult, and personally insecure, lame-ass control freaks. So they have not just the one but three big motivations to treat all education as a massive threat to them. Gothard preaches it because he's a sicko who wants to keep everybody totally under his control and Jim Bob and Michelle are also sicko insecure control freaks so even without the Gothard influence I expect they would have tried to make sure that the kids stayed firmly under their rock and got no outside influences that might lead to veering a millimeter from the ways of mama and daddy. 

[Nysha]

4 hours ago, Churchhoney said:

...Jim Bob and Michelle are also sicko insecure control freaks so even without the Gothard influence I expect they would have tried to make sure that the kids stayed firmly under their rock and got no outside influences that might lead to veering a millimeter from the ways of mama and daddy.

1

My kids went to school with a Catholic family of 12 kids whose parents were insecure control freaks, who didn't value educations. They were dirt poor, and although their kids went to public school, they weren't allowed to go to college. All of the kids left home as soon as they graduated. The 4 girls got married right out of high school, 3 of the boys went into the military, and the other 5 boys went to Job Corps and never came back. Only 2 of the girls and one of the boys have anything to do with the parents as adults. I think this is what would have happened, especially with the boys, if Jim Bob hadn't brainwashed those kids with Gothard's evil religion.

[yogi2014L]

47 minutes ago, Nysha said:

My kids went to school with a Catholic family of 12 kids whose parents were insecure control freaks, who didn't value educations. They were dirt poor, and although their kids went to public school, they weren't allowed to go to college. All of the kids left home as soon as they graduated. The 4 girls got married right out of high school, 3 of the boys went into the military, and the other 5 boys went to Job Corps and never came back. Only 2 of the girls and one of the boys have anything to do with the parents as adults. I think this is what would have happened, especially with the boys, if Jim Bob hadn't brainwashed those kids with Gothard's evil religion.

I think the TLC $$$ has equal amount to do with it vs the brainwashing

No chance in Hell Josh would be around still ( IMO) if his parents couldn't pay for his 5 kids and wife.

Same with Jessa and Bin. If they didn't have the mold house, I think Bin would have fled with Jessa back to his neck of the woods at the very least.

Edited May 22, 2017 by yogi2014L

[Churchhoney]

1 hour ago, Nysha said:

My kids went to school with a Catholic family of 12 kids whose parents were insecure control freaks, who didn't value educations. They were dirt poor, and although their kids went to public school, they weren't allowed to go to college. All of the kids left home as soon as they graduated. The 4 girls got married right out of high school, 3 of the boys went into the military, and the other 5 boys went to Job Corps and never came back. Only 2 of the girls and one of the boys have anything to do with the parents as adults. I think this is what would have happened, especially with the boys, if Jim Bob hadn't brainwashed those kids with Gothard's evil religion.

Yeah, seems so to me, too. Brainwashing with an evil religion -- plus being able to hand out the monetary benefits that flow from reality tv. Winning combination to maintain control, unfortunately. Both a carrot and a stick. He's got them coming and going.