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Josh & Anna Smuggar: A Series of Unfortunate Events

maraleia

By maraleia
in Counting On

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libgirl2

libgirl2

9 minutes ago, emmawoodhouse said:

That sounds plausible. Josiah was definitely broken after his 9 months at ALERT. 

I was thinking the same thing. They took the joy from his eyes. I only see it when he looks at Bella. Jill didn't have that joy in her eyes, I'm seeing it now. What those people do to there kids is awful. 

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hoosier80
hoosier80

New show title: 10 to 20 Years and Counting 

MargeGunderson
MargeGunderson

Someone on Reddit just described Josh’s face as a glistening glazed ham. I am considering divorcing my husband and marrying that poster. 

doodlebug
doodlebug

Well, for many of us, it's the difference between 'imperfect' and 'non-PC' and being a criminal.  Josh is a child molester and his parents actively intervened in his situation to avoid him being punis

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Temperance

Temperance

On 10/20/2020 at 8:15 AM, Jeeves said:

^^You nailed it. Even before his downfall, we didn't see him bragging about all the kids he had and intended to have (like his father does). He was practically phoning it in when he was supposedly the "owner/manager" of the car lot that JB set him up in. By then of course, his parents had repeatedly bailed him out of trouble. I suppose it was more tolerable back in the day when he was the undisputed Crown Prince and heir to the Head of the Whole Family title, when his wife obediently lugged the suitcases on their honeymoon and his sisters brought him soft drinks at the snap of his fingers, his mother probably defended him against anything negative with tooth and claw, and he got to swan around doing smug THs on the family TV show.

IMO, despite his unhappiness, he's not strong, energetic, or disciplined enough to step away and create any kind of career or life other than what he's been (and still is) spoon fed by his parents. Especially after he blew up his one bid for any kind of independent life. He got that FRC talking head job in DC, but it wasn't log before he blew it up (remember, he was brought down in 2015 not just by the revelation of the old molestation of small girls, but by his misconduct while in DC with porn and strippers and Ashley Madison or whatever the sad sleazy deets were). He's proven he's unable to control his behavior or perhaps his teenaged years of being bailed out and covered up for by his parents, set an expectation that he was immunized from the consequences of stupid choices like Mister Family Values Spokesman Figurehead joining Ashley Fucking Madison etc. (ETA: IIRC he paid for the Ashley Madison membership with a traceable credit card. Idiot.)

He's trapped. Can't get a vasectomy, can't use birth control, and his wife is probably tracking her fertility carefully. Although given his apparent lack of enthusiasm about more babeez, Anna may be keeping the deets on her phone or on a calendar buried in a drawer, vs. posting it on the wall in the kitchen like Michelle did with hers. No need for him to know for sure when she's most likely to conceive, on which nights he could conveniently manage to avoid intercourse. 

I don't particularly like his younger brother JD, but it's an interesting contrast in personality types and life choices. JD apparently wasn't the pampered Crown Princeling; he quietly went out and started buying and working on houses, pursued his interest in flying and got a pilot's license, may have escaped life in the boys' dorm at the TTH (while his parents obfuscated that little fact for the TV audience), and didn't rush into a marriage despite JB and Meech probably pressuring him to give the TV viewers a courtship/wedding and pregnancies/babies to help ratings. He's apparently still on the same page as his parents about religion and related life issues and values, and financially enmeshed in his father's business. But I have an idea that if Duggar Enterprises crashed tomorrow, JD and Abbie would survive better than most of his adult sibs. Josh, OTOH, would probably be panhandling for his next supersized burger/fries combo.

Actually the Family Research Council (FRC) fired Josh immediately after the molestations came to light. There was about two months between the Joshgate I (the old molestations) and Joshgate II (new cheating, porn, Ashley Madison, etc.). The FRC didn't wait two months. They fired him within days of the first scandal coming out. TLC waited until the second scandal broke to cancel 19KAC and fire Josh. 

Most of Jim Bob's kids are relying on their father for money. Many of them are newlyweds. When they've been married longer, there may be more burn out among them. 

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satrunrose

satrunrose

When the molestation scandal broke, I remember reading a really interesting article about sibling molestations written by a CPS organization. It's been a while and I've long since lost the link, but the upshot was that when things like this do get reported, they immediately investigate the family because it's so often associated with some really messed up dynamics in general. I think they specifically mentioned kids with too much responsibility and not enough oversight living in a really restrictive environment. I remember thinking, yup, that's the Duggars. 

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MsJamieDornan

MsJamieDornan

On 10/21/2020 at 9:39 AM, ouinason said:

the fact that Josh confessed, knew something was wrong, and nothing much was really done to help any of them pisses me right the hell off.  JB and M served all of their children badly, including Josh.

I've always said that I hold JB and The Hairball just if not more responsible than Josh.

They are horrible people and all their kids deserved so much more. They disgust me.

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Churchhoney

Churchhoney

(edited)
On 10/21/2020 at 12:34 AM, madpsych78 said:

I also agree that this is a post that was able to articulate my thoughts about the Josh thing as well. There are a lot of things wrong with their religion, but there are also non-Gothardites who rape and assault others due to entitlement, and as was noted none of the other Duggars (to our knowledge) have engaged in any of that type of behavior. Furthermore, I don't get the same vibe from any of the other Duggar sons that I've gotten with Josh. So, I don't believe Josh's choices are solely due to growing up IBLP. I do think IBLP probably influenced how it was handled, though.

 

 

I agree with a lot of what you say here. But you definitely wouldn't get the same vibe from younger boys in a family under the Gothard system. The first-born son is the "leader of our home," right up there near the parents when it comes to privilege and even authority. He is the one and only kid in this quite exalted position.

The other boys in the family are of more value than the girls, of course. But the other boys are still essentially underlings while the first-born son is the prince. And in a Gothard home he's likely to be spoken of and treated that way by the parents and in the cult group, too. I can see JB and M really really buying into this when Josh was little and the apple of their eye (not like Jana, the evil womb kicker, for example, or JD--just another underling). Josh, meanwhile, was the heir apparent, precious to both JB and M because he's JB's designated-by-God mini-me.  

This kind of stuff will affect every first-born boy differently, of course. Some kids likely feel it as a burden.

But if you produce a first-born male with the right combination of arrogance-fostering traits and lack-of-empathy traits, I'm pretty sure the Gothard way in full operation (as it seems to have been with the Duggs) is gonna have a much greater ability to turn him into a really massive jerk--even while he's little--than even some other forms of patriarchal upbringing do. 

Edited by Churchhoney
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farmgal4

farmgal4

On 10/27/2020 at 3:36 AM, FizzyPuff said:

All I can think when I see this photo is why didn’t she stop at four kids? That’s when she found out the truth about him, if she wanted to stay with him fine it’s her marriage but to keep having kids with him, I have no words. 🤮

I agree, and that’s why I have little to no respect for her.

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QuinnInND

QuinnInND

On 10/27/2020 at 2:36 AM, FizzyPuff said:

All I can think when I see this photo is why didn’t she stop at four kids? That’s when she found out the truth about him, if she wanted to stay with him fine it’s her marriage but to keep having kids with him, I have no words. 🤮

Because that's what she was raised to do. That's her sole purpose in life. 

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