The Duggars: In the Media and TLC

[Jeeves]

11 minutes ago, drafan said:

Jinge has newly-exposed knees!! And cute box-heel booties! And a nice suede moto-jacket!  And no infinity scarf! Must be prime thrifting in the Laredo area. Go Jinge!!!

Heh. I wonder if Babe and/or Babe's Mom have gone clothes shopping with Jinge, and not at thrift stores. Babe's Mom is well-groomed and wears appropriate, attractive clothing. Unlike crazed MEchelle who appears to have fished her clothes out of a ragbag after hosting a nest of rodents in her hair overnight. 

Jinge has def up moved several notches in life by marrying Babe.

Edited February 11, 2017 by Jeeves

[Sew Sumi]

Style-wise, yes. Belief-wise, I doubt it. She just looks like Alyssa Bates Webster now.

[toodles]

4 hours ago, Jeeves said:

 

You bet your ass B&J are working it. 

B&J.  Snickering into my hand.  Yes, I'm really a 14 year old boy.

[Arwen Evenstar]

3 hours ago, Jeeves said:

Heh. I wonder if Babe and/or Babe's Mom have gone clothes shopping with Jinge, and not at thrift stores. Babe's Mom is well-groomed and wears appropriate, attractive clothing. Unlike crazed MEchelle who appears to have fished her clothes out of a ragbag after hosting a nest of rodents in her hair overnight. 

Jinge has def up moved several notches in life by marrying Babe.

Edited 3 hours ago by Jeeves.

Great description of Michelle! Wish I was allowed to like it more than once.

[ginger90]

That is a very strange picture.

[Arwen Evenstar]

7 hours ago, Jeeves said:

Cut in with clips of crying/puking by The Miserables, in Arkansas and in Danger America. But those two sad sacks are no threat to Princess Prickly Pear when it comes to teevee time. They just bring the drah-mah, or at least the "poor pitiful me" element. 

I think from this day forward the Dillydumdums should be known as "Les Miserables"!

Ben and Jessa doing Jazz Hands for Jesus is so OTT, and Jill in her usual barnacle pose....Austin looks like he's got serious constipation...it's not great portraiture.

[Oldernowiser]

2 hours ago, ginger90 said:

That is a very strange picture.

But, but...WE'RE THOSE FUN, ZANY DUGGARS!!! WE'RE NOT STRANGE AND REPRESSED AT ALL, SEE!!!!

WE'RE HAPPY, GODDAMNIT! OKAY???!!!

[DangerousMinds]

5 hours ago, Sew Sumi said:

Style-wise, yes. Belief-wise, I doubt it. She just looks like Alyssa Bates Webster now.

If only she would cut that ratty hair.

[JoanArc]

Joe looks so incredibly fat in that shirt - how did that get past TLC's photshop people. It's puffed up by (mostly) air, but I'd be emarassed to have that be mmy 'publicity' pic.

I wonder of Jessa still wants her own spinoff (yes!). I'd love to see it do a Bristol Palin: Life's a Trip nosedive.

[Sew Sumi]

I don't think she's as well-known (or despised) as good ole Barstool. 

[RazzleberryPie]

I thought Counting On was her spinoff?

[JoanArc]

1 hour ago, Sew Sumi said:

I don't think she's as well-known (or despised) as good ole Barstool. 

Exactly; but she doesn't know that.

[Arwen Evenstar]

1 hour ago, Sew Sumi said:

I don't think she's as well-known (or despised) as good ole Barstool. 

I'll take sourpuss Princess Prickly Pear at her worst ANY day than that one at her best. That's all I've got to say 'bout that.  

Edited February 12, 2017 by Arwen Evenstar

[ChiCricket]

I'm having a mental hiccup and can't think of his name, but the guy on the far right really needs to get his teeth whitened. I don't like overly brightened teeth, but yellow teeth like his just skeeve me out.

PS I can't believe I just googled "a nicer way to say brain fart" :-)

[Arwen Evenstar]

9 minutes ago, ChiCricket said:

I'm having a mental hiccup and can't think of his name, but the guy on the far right really needs to get his teeth whitened. I don't like overly brightened teeth, but yellow teeth like his just skeeve me out.

PS I can't believe I just googled "a nicer way to say brain fart" :-)

It's more politely referred to as "cerebral flatulence".  

Yellow teefs would be John David. Poor lad needs all the enhancements he can get. 

[Quilt Fairy]

Assuming that is an actual group picture where they were all there at the same time, I keep wondering what the photographer would have said to get such a variety of weird poses.  Half of them look like they've just finished a tap-dancing routine and are doing a big TA-DAH!, but then Duggars don't dance so..... I got nothing.

[GeeGolly]

Dear Duggar 19,

Every once in a while I get pangs of guilt for my contribution to the snark here. So I would like to take a minute and offer an explanation. First, most of us who contribute here do not hate any of you (well a good number dislike Josh). However I do dislike a number of things you all promote; hate/judgement/disapproval of others and their lifestyles/beliefs/rights, suppression/oppression of women, and your hypocrisy & stretching of the truth. When the show began I cut your parents a break because they seemed to practice what they preached and didn't appear to be encroaching on anyone's rights except for you kids. Then the robocall.

I continued to cut you kids a break because you were kids. More than half of you are adults now and what I think I'm looking for is explanations and honesty. Are you still followers of Gothard? Why is showing knees now acceptable? Why are frontal hugs now acceptable? Why is cleave and leave no longer the rule? Why is buying used and saving the difference no longer the rule? Why is it okay to watch shows/movies on a computer? Why do you exaggerate your accomplishments? Why do you mislead/stage your lives on your show? Do any of you have jobs? Do you recognize any disadvantages of the way you were raised? Do you still share the beliefs your were raised with? Will you raise your kids the same way you were raised? What is the purpose of your show?

You're parents gave their explanations for most of these practices when you were children. You're adults now. Why not have a talking head segment and answer these questions honestly?

[Barb23]

22 hours ago, Jeeves said:

Heh. I wonder if Babe and/or Babe's Mom have gone clothes shopping with Jinge, and not at thrift stores. Babe's Mom is well-groomed and wears appropriate, attractive clothing. Unlike crazed MEchelle who appears to have fished her clothes out of a ragbag after hosting a nest of rodents in her hair overnight. 

Jinge has def up moved several notches in life by marrying Babe.

But Babe has that possesive "death grip" thing going on with Jinge, like JB does with MEchelle.(holding onto her arms) 

ETA:  I don't think Mr Barb has ever posed with me like that in over 32 years of marriage.

[Churchhoney]

3 hours ago, GeeGolly said:

Dear Duggar 19,

Every once in a while I get pangs of guilt for my contribution to the snark here. So I would like to take a minute and offer an explanation. First, most of us who contribute here do not hate any of you (well a good number dislike Josh). However I do dislike a number of things you all promote; hate/judgement/disapproval of others and their lifestyles/beliefs/rights, suppression/oppression of women, and your hypocrisy & stretching of the truth. When the show began I cut your parents a break because they seemed to practice what they preached and didn't appear to be encroaching on anyone's rights except for you kids. Then the robocall.

I continued to cut you kids a break because you were kids. More than half of you are adults now and what I think I'm looking for is explanations and honesty. Are you still followers of Gothard? Why is showing knees now acceptable? Why are frontal hugs now acceptable? Why is cleave and leave no longer the rule? Why is buying used and saving the difference no longer the rule? Why is it okay to watch shows/movies on a computer? Why do you exaggerate your accomplishments? Why do you mislead/stage your lives on your show? Do any of you have jobs? Do you recognize any disadvantages of the way you were raised? Do you still share the beliefs your were raised with? Will you raise your kids the same way you were raised? What is the purpose of your show?

You're parents gave their explanations for most of these practices when you were children. You're adults now. Why not have a talking head segment and answer these questions honestly?

I'm thinking you don't realize how completely cowed by control-freak brainwashing parents adult children still are? And following the family code is now so well installed that they don't even realize that they're completely reining themselves in out of fear and "training." The parents have simply rewired your brain so that you do what they would want you to do -- and also think what they would want you to think -- automatically. It doesn't even reach the level of decision-making. You just act on the automatic pilot they've installed by painstaking day-after-day brainwashing that began at your birth and never lets up, even now.

The automatic pilot may not always operate when you're facing a very big action, like marriage or something, for which you know that, yes, indeed, decisions play a role. But for stuff that they accept as very ordinary behavior -- such as what you say in a talking head on the TV show your parents put you in? -- it wouldn't even cross their minds to say anything but what's the done thing at the Duggar house because that's ordinary behavior that doesn't rise to the level of decision-making.  

You carry those people and their insane prohibitions around in the wiring of your brain all the time. In my case, for example, whenever something fun comes along that I would really really like to do, my brain immediately starts yelling that I don't want to do it and I won't do it, and there's a bunch of agonizing anger and distress roiling around in my head until I'm exhausted, and finally it settles, with me usually -- though not always, thank goodness -- not doing the thing. And I saw through my family from early childhood, felt massively rebellious the whole way, went to public school and held jobs outside the house from the time I was 13, left for another state decades ago, lived on my own and by my own rules (as much as I could) since that time, and had counseling. And yet there's this, and plenty more insanity that I still do at the behest of people who are now dead. Re-enacting their behavior toward me -- at my expense -- right inside my own brain. Lots of stuff. And none of it good. 

The Duggar kids still live with these people. And are financially dependent on them. And never had prolonged contact of any kind with information or people that were not completely under the control of their parents, even now, as (apparently) full-fledged adults. And, aside from Josh and maybe occasionally one or two others, don't appear ever to have had a serious rebellious or questioning thought. Or many thoughts at all, for that matter. 

Just because you're an adult, your brain cells don't get swapped out for new ones that are different from the ones you've been developing all along. JB and M essentially built these kids, according to the specs they wanted. And they got the robots they programmed. And robots that don't just act on their orders but think according to their orders as well. I wonder whether anyone will ever hear honest talk from a Duggar kid, ever. I hope some of them feel the freedom to speak with some cleansing honesty someday. But I'm pretty sure that, if it happens, it'll be one of the younger ones, who've lived with more neglect and chaos than brainwashing, I think, not this older generation of kidults. 

I guess it makes me happy that so few people seem to really understand what control-freak families do to you. Means there can't be all that many of those families around. But it also assures me that most of the world thinks I'm crazy when I say that this kind of brainwashing is a big big deal. And can't just be turned off because you reach the age of 25 or 30 (or 90) or whatever. Nobody who hasn't experienced it seems to be able to get their minds around that, so nobody accepts it as a fact. I firmly believe that it is, however. 

Edited February 12, 2017 by Churchhoney

[GeeGolly]

15 minutes ago, Churchhoney said:

I'm thinking you don't realize how completely cowed by control-freak brainwashing parents adult children still are? And following the family code is now so well installed that they don't even realize that they're completely reining themselves in out of fear and "training." The parents have simply rewired your brain so that you do what they would want you to do -- and also think what they would want you to think -- automatically. It doesn't even reach the level of decision-making. You just act on the automatic pilot they've installed by painstaking day-after-day brainwashing that began at your birth and never lets up, even now.

The automatic pilot may not always operate when you're facing a very big action, like marriage or something, for which you know that, yes, indeed, decisions play a role. But for stuff that they accept as very ordinary behavior -- such as what you say in a talking head on the TV show your parents put you in? -- it wouldn't even cross their minds to say anything but what's the done thing at the Duggar house because that's ordinary behavior that doesn't rise to the level of decision-making.  

You carry those people and their insane prohibitions around in the wiring of your brain all the time. In my case, for example, whenever something fun comes along that I would really really like to do, my brain immediately starts yelling that I don't want to do it and I won't do it, and there's a bunch of agonizing anger and distress roiling around in my head until I'm exhausted, and finally it settles, with me usually -- though not always, thank goodness -- not doing the thing. And I saw through my family from early childhood, felt massively rebellious the whole way, went to public school and held jobs outside the house from the time I was 13, left for another state decades ago, lived on my own and by my own rules (as much as I could) since that time, and had counseling. And yet there's this, and plenty more insanity that I still do at the behest of people who are now dead. Re-enacting their behavior toward me -- at my expense -- right inside my own brain. Lots of stuff. And none of it good. 

The Duggar kids still live with these people. And are financially dependent on them. And never had prolonged contact of any kind with information or people that were not completely under the control of their parents, even now, as (apparently) full-fledged adults. And, aside from Josh and maybe occasionally one or two others, don't appear ever to have had a serious rebellious or questioning thought. Or many thoughts at all, for that matter. 

Just because you're an adult, your brain cells don't get swapped out for new ones that are different from the ones you've been developing all along. JB and M essentially built these kids, according to the specs they wanted. And they got the robots they programmed. And robots that don't just act on their orders but think according to their orders as well. I wonder whether anyone will ever hear honest talk from a Duggar kid, ever. I hope some of them feel the freedom to speak with some cleansing honesty someday. But I'm pretty sure that, if it happens, it'll be one of the younger ones, who've lived with more neglect and chaos than brainwashing, I think, not this older generation of kidults. 

I guess it makes me happy that so few people seem to really understand what control-freak families do to you. Means there can't be all that many of those families around. But it also assures me that most of the world thinks I'm crazy when I say that this kind of brainwashing is a big big deal. And can't just be turned off because you reach the age of 25 or 30 (or 90) or whatever. Nobody who hasn't experienced it seems to be able to get their minds around that, so nobody accepts it as a fact. I firmly believe that it is, however. 

I was addressing their hypocrisy. The things they now do differently. The things that have somehow escaped their programming.

[RazzleberryPie]

34 minutes ago, Churchhoney said:

I'm thinking you don't realize how completely cowed by control-freak brainwashing parents adult children still are? And following the family code is now so well installed that they don't even realize that they're completely reining themselves in out of fear and "training." The parents have simply rewired your brain so that you do what they would want you to do -- and also think what they would want you to think -- automatically. It doesn't even reach the level of decision-making. You just act on the automatic pilot they've installed by painstaking day-after-day brainwashing that began at your birth and never lets up, even now.

The automatic pilot may not always operate when you're facing a very big action, like marriage or something, for which you know that, yes, indeed, decisions play a role. But for stuff that they accept as very ordinary behavior -- such as what you say in a talking head on the TV show your parents put you in? -- it wouldn't even cross their minds to say anything but what's the done thing at the Duggar house because that's ordinary behavior that doesn't rise to the level of decision-making.  

You carry those people and their insane prohibitions around in the wiring of your brain all the time. In my case, for example, whenever something fun comes along that I would really really like to do, my brain immediately starts yelling that I don't want to do it and I won't do it, and there's a bunch of agonizing anger and distress roiling around in my head until I'm exhausted, and finally it settles, with me usually -- though not always, thank goodness -- not doing the thing. And I saw through my family from early childhood, felt massively rebellious the whole way, went to public school and held jobs outside the house from the time I was 13, left for another state decades ago, lived on my own and by my own rules (as much as I could) since that time, and had counseling. And yet there's this, and plenty more insanity that I still do at the behest of people who are now dead. Re-enacting their behavior toward me -- at my expense -- right inside my own brain. Lots of stuff. And none of it good. 

The Duggar kids still live with these people. And are financially dependent on them. And never had prolonged contact of any kind with information or people that were not completely under the control of their parents, even now, as (apparently) full-fledged adults. And, aside from Josh and maybe occasionally one or two others, don't appear ever to have had a serious rebellious or questioning thought. Or many thoughts at all, for that matter. 

Just because you're an adult, your brain cells don't get swapped out for new ones that are different from the ones you've been developing all along. JB and M essentially built these kids, according to the specs they wanted. And they got the robots they programmed. And robots that don't just act on their orders but think according to their orders as well. I wonder whether anyone will ever hear honest talk from a Duggar kid, ever. I hope some of them feel the freedom to speak with some cleansing honesty someday. But I'm pretty sure that, if it happens, it'll be one of the younger ones, who've lived with more neglect and chaos than brainwashing, I think, not this older generation of kidults. 

I guess it makes me happy that so few people seem to really understand what control-freak families do to you. Means there can't be all that many of those families around. But it also assures me that most of the world thinks I'm crazy when I say that this kind of brainwashing is a big big deal. And can't just be turned off because you reach the age of 25 or 30 (or 90) or whatever. Nobody who hasn't experienced it seems to be able to get their minds around that, so nobody accepts it as a fact. I firmly believe that it is, however. 

I get it. So glad somebody else does. You can't flip a switch and turn off how your brain has been programmed since birth, especially when you're immersed in the environment and the whole culture is reinforced 24/7, with the fear of isolation, shame, punishment, and eternal damnation. Even when you know things aren't right, and you see others who live differently and are ok, it's always on the back of your mind that certain rules and ways must are the only way.

[Gemma Violet]

I saw an article on Yahoo this morning that Joy & Jed are interning at the Arkansas House of Representatives.  

[Churchhoney]

25 minutes ago, GeeGolly said:

I was addressing their hypocrisy. The things they now do differently. The things that have somehow escaped their programming.

Well, but that's part of their programming. Anything mama and daddy allow is okay. And mama and daddy have been allowing these things. So these things are okay. Mama and daddy have never been consistent. Inconsistency is the absolute hallmark of these people. It's what makes them so successful at control. You can't refer to a principle to know whether something's good or bad. It all goes back to mama and daddy and what they're allowing or encouraging today.

Hypocrisy has no meaning in this world because it's a world of tyrants, not a world of reason. Whatever they think is okay today is okay. That's also why thinking doesn't develop, I expect. There's absolutely no point in trying to think out whether something will or will not be allowable, because it's long been clear that what's encouraged and what's forbidden comes entirely from somebody's whim. Trying to reason it out just makes you crazy. The idea of hypocrisy is completely meaningless here. The only thing that isn't meaningless is -- Do what they want you to do and don't do what they don't want you to do, even if that's completely different from what was the case yesterday. When you're off balance all the time you don't have any choice but just to follow Dear Leader's rules of today. That's the whole key to successful brainwashing. 

And Gothardites, if they're clever enough, can feel that that derives directly from Christianity, too. Why do you what God says? Because he's saying it. But don't go trying to figure out what he'll say tomorrow, because it might be something completely different. You just always have to keep your ears open for what God is saying today. And the same goes for what mama and daddy are saying. There's no hypocrisy in a tyranny. Because one person's will is the law and will doesn't go by reason but by whim. (in this case it's the will of two people, of course.)..... 

5 minutes ago, Gemma Violet said:

I saw an article on Yahoo this morning that Joy & Jed are interning at the Arkansas House of Representatives.  

Somebody posted a picture of them the other day, I don't know on what forum, that showed them presumably doing this. .... I'm sure they're brilliant at it. lol. But it seems to me it really shows that JB and the family retain a lot of clout among some people in Arkansas, since I'm guessing this is a way to curry favor so they'll campaign for somebody. 

[babyhouseman]

http://people.com/celebrity/jill-derick-dillard-congratulate-jessa-ben-seewald-second-baby/?xid=socialflow_twitter_peoplemag

Jill and Derick Dillard couldn’t be more thrilled about their new nephew’s debut — and his arrival is getting them excited about the upcoming birth of their baby boy!

[RazzleberryPie]

Jill says she was in labor for 70 SEVENTY hours with The Giant White Baby. Does she really think she was in 70 hours of active labor? Probably does think that. Jill is a Dumb Ass.

[GeeGolly]

“There’s a level of ease that comes with your second pregnancy,” she told PEOPLE. “Derick and I have been down this road together, so we’re comfortable. I’m just going to see how it goes, try to be healthy and prepare as much as I can. But this time I know that labor is unpredictable.”

Said by a midwife who attended how many births?

[MunichNark]

Said by an untrained dumbass who doesn't have a clue, cough.

Somehow, both pregnancies have been so damn dull and uninteresting - I'm sure I'm not imaging it that interest in simply not there anymore, is it? Except perhaps for a few leghumpers.

Jill and Derick are a hot mess, something is definitely not right there. Derick needs a professional Doctor and psychological assessment. Jill, well....she is as dumb as anything and totally incapable of living a normal life.

Great job, Meeeeeeechelle and Dim Bulb!

[Jeeves]

Some clickbait site has noticed that Counting On's ratings sort of suck especially compared to the heyday of 19K&C: https://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2017/02/jinger-duggar-is-she-causing-a-counting-on-ratings-plunge/

Edited to update: The ratings numbers for Monday night's big two-hour repeatapalooza wedding show are 1.389 million viewers and a .33 share. That's up from last week, so maybe Jinger's not the kiss of death after all.

Edited February 23, 2017 by Jeeves

[SMama]

Did anyone watch The Cult Next Door?

 

 

ETA: I was informed it is best to go best to go to The Cult Next Door Facebook page.

Edited March 1, 2017 by SMama
Link not working for everyone.

[Arwen Evenstar]

2 hours ago, SMama said:

Did anyone watch The Cult Next Door?

 

https://vimeo.com/youngmanfilms/thecultnextdoor

 

ETA: Mods please remove if not OK to link. 

Thanks, I'll have to watch it when my headship isn't around. Nothing on TV tonight.

[EAG46]

I just saw the film.  Very good explanation of Gothard's business and teachings and the damage it does to people.  

[Jeeves]

3 minutes ago, EAG46 said:

I just saw the film.  Very good explanation of Gothard's business and teachings and the damage it does to people.  

I also just watched it, and I agree with this ^^.

[Sew Sumi]

4 hours ago, SMama said:

Did anyone watch The Cult Next Door?

 

https://vimeo.com/youngmanfilms/thecultnextdoor

 

ETA: Mods please remove if not OK to link. 

The video isn't playing for me. I got as far as Gothard's face, but that was it. 

eta: I got it to work through the Cult Next Door's FB page. 

Edited March 1, 2017 by Sew Sumi

[SMama]

Let's get Leah Remini and Mike Rinder on this. JK

[Sew Sumi]

@SMama, You might want to re-post the link (also referring the FB page....I'm watching it from there) on the Religion thread. 

https://www.facebook.com/thecultnextdoor/

Edited March 1, 2017 by Sew Sumi

[SMama]

Sorry @Sew Sumi I suck at linking :( Thanks for posting correct link.

[jcbrown]

I just watched the film and it makes me want to punch Boob and JChelle even more, though I suppose I should have some compassion for them getting suckered into the cult. Still, to inflict it on 19 other people and their spouses and kids: unconscionable.

[GeeGolly]

I Googled it on my tablet and a site Let Me Be Foolish has it on there.

[Churchhoney]

4 hours ago, jcbrown said:

I just watched the film and it makes me want to punch Boob and JChelle even more, though I suppose I should have some compassion for them getting suckered into the cult. Still, to inflict it on 19 other people and their spouses and kids: unconscionable.

I wouldn't worry about wasting any compassion on Boob for going in. As somebody(ies) said in the film, the cult was transparently and openly all about giving men massive and total power over their women and all their kids. Ad infinitum. That's what brought Boob in. The chance to have all his dreams of power fulfilled. And he's gotten that from the beginning and to this day. So he didn't get suckered in. Gothard was promising Boob exactly what Boob wanted. And he delivered. 

It's the misfortune of everybody else involved, that exactly what Gothard delivered was terrible for them. But for the arrogant, entitled yet very insecure men such as Boob that the thing clearly attracted, it's been golden. 

That's the way it looks to me, anyway. And I think that was a pretty clear subtext in the little doco. And in fact the surface text in one place, too, as I recall.

[jcbrown]

18 hours ago, Churchhoney said:

I wouldn't worry about wasting any compassion on Boob for going in. As somebody(ies) said in the film, the cult was transparently and openly all about giving men massive and total power over their women and all their kids. Ad infinitum. That's what brought Boob in. The chance to have all his dreams of power fulfilled. And he's gotten that from the beginning and to this day. So he didn't get suckered in. Gothard was promising Boob exactly what Boob wanted. And he delivered. 

It's the misfortune of everybody else involved, that exactly what Gothard delivered was terrible for them. But for the arrogant, entitled yet very insecure men such as Boob that the thing clearly attracted, it's been golden. 

That's the way it looks to me, anyway. And I think that was a pretty clear subtext in the little doco. And in fact the surface text in one place, too, as I recall.

I'm sure you're right, and that's part of why I said I should have sympathy for them. I really don't, actually. I get why Boob the insecure arrogant one would think this was a great thing. I have a harder time imaging what sort of damage had to exist in J'chelle's psyche for her to willingly sign on for something like this. I suppose he's the abuser and she's the abused in some sense, though they've both abused their kids. She must have been very fearful for her to think this was the right path. We know Boob obviously is fearful and weak-willed, hence the appeal for him.

[GeeGolly]

21 hours ago, Churchhoney said:

I wouldn't worry about wasting any compassion on Boob for going in. As somebody(ies) said in the film, the cult was transparently and openly all about giving men massive and total power over their women and all their kids. Ad infinitum. That's what brought Boob in. The chance to have all his dreams of power fulfilled. And he's gotten that from the beginning and to this day. So he didn't get suckered in. Gothard was promising Boob exactly what Boob wanted. And he delivered. 

It's the misfortune of everybody else involved, that exactly what Gothard delivered was terrible for them. But for the arrogant, entitled yet very insecure men such as Boob that the thing clearly attracted, it's been golden. 

That's the way it looks to me, anyway. And I think that was a pretty clear subtext in the little doco. And in fact the surface text in one place, too, as I recall.

2 hours ago, jcbrown said:

I'm sure you're right, and that's part of why I said I should have sympathy for them. I really don't, actually. I get why Boob the insecure arrogant one would think this was a great thing. I have a harder time imaging what sort of damage had to exist in J'chelle's psyche for her to willingly sign on for something like this. I suppose he's the abuser and she's the abused in some sense, though they've both abused their kids. She must have been very fearful for her to think this was the right path. We know Boob obviously is fearful and weak-willed, hence the appeal for him.

I think both M & JB went in with eyes wide open, however with a gullible mindset. JB got to be the big-man-on-campus that he never was, M got a husband that became the big-man-on-campus that he never was, and both thought they would raise children into healthy, strong and productive adults.

To me Gothard's spiel about children rebelling against authority is akin to the many folks blaming drug addiction, more specifically heroin addiction, on MDs who prescribe opioids. Neither theory takes into account children that rebelled against authority who became wonderful adults or those who didn't rebel in ran into trouble or the many folks who have used opioids and have not had addiction problems and the many folks that didn't take opiods that do have addiction problems. 

[Churchhoney]

5 hours ago, jcbrown said:

I'm sure you're right, and that's part of why I said I should have sympathy for them. I really don't, actually. I get why Boob the insecure arrogant one would think this was a great thing. I have a harder time imaging what sort of damage had to exist in J'chelle's psyche for her to willingly sign on for something like this. I suppose he's the abuser and she's the abused in some sense, though they've both abused their kids. She must have been very fearful for her to think this was the right path. We know Boob obviously is fearful and weak-willed, hence the appeal for him.

Totally agree. She's the big puzzle for me. 

[awaken]

You all are so on point with your analysis. I learn so much from reading here!  

[Arwen Evenstar]

Yeah Boob wanted his breakfast cooked before going to the hospital  while Michelle was in labor. Probably safe to assume Michelle has been mistreated not just by the religion, but by Boob.

[Churchhoney]

10 hours ago, awaken said:

You all are so on point with your analysis. I learn so much from reading here!  

We all do, I think. It's like the blind men and the elephant. ..... They do eventually describe the elephant pretty accurately, I imagine! 

[GeeGolly]

8 hours ago, Churchhoney said:

We all do, I think. It's like the blind men and the elephant. ..... They do eventually describe the elephant pretty accurately, I imagine! 

Ya but sometimes we get stuck on describing an ear over and over again.

[Churchhoney]

15 minutes ago, GeeGolly said:

Ya but sometimes we get stuck on describing an ear over and over again.

and over and over and over and over and over ..... I can do that all by myself, actually.   ;  )

[Arwen Evenstar]

1 hour ago, GeeGolly said:

Ya but sometimes we get stuck on describing an ear over and over again.

And of course, it's easy to figure out what part of the elephant that Boob is...where the smelly stuff comes out.

[Churchhoney]

I don't know. I go to the zoo a lot. It's fun to do my walking around the elephant habitat and so on. And they really have such cute little saggy wrinkly behinds. There's something so endearing and sad but also old and wise, even about their backsides. And their poop is kind of grassy and almost clean. 

I don't really know if there's any place on an elephant that I'd link to Boob, really. To me, he's sort of like a smiley Voldemort. 

[flyingdi]

On 3/2/2017 at 4:26 PM, jcbrown said:

I'm sure you're right, and that's part of why I said I should have sympathy for them. I really don't, actually. I get why Boob the insecure arrogant one would think this was a great thing. I have a harder time imaging what sort of damage had to exist in J'chelle's psyche for her to willingly sign on for something like this. I suppose he's the abuser and she's the abused in some sense, though they've both abused their kids. She must have been very fearful for her to think this was the right path. We know Boob obviously is fearful and weak-willed, hence the appeal for him.

I think some people fall into things like this cause they have an absolute paralyzing fear of making decisions.  This sort of cult or religion seems bent on making all the decisions for you.  I think this may actually apply to Michelle, not so much Jim Bob.  I think she wants it that way so whatever goes wrong she can say, "Hey it wasn't me.  Blame your father."