19 Things I Hate About You: How the Duggars Infuriate

[Aja]

I'm sorry, but i don't think the two are related unless the Duggars try to actively oppose education for other children not in their family.

 

They kind of do. Or, at least, in my mind they are strongly associated with the totally bizarre movement in this country to try to force schools to stop teaching evolution, as evidenced by that creationist museum they were so crazy about.  That's pretty standard rhetoric for people with their overly inflated sense of self-righteousness. "I'm not infringing on anybody's rights by wanting public schools to base their educational approach on a single theology because, duh, the theology I'm talking about is the correct one." Super dangerous, IMO.

[Betweenyouandme]

They kind of do. Or, at least, in my mind they are strongly associated with the totally bizarre movement in this country to try to force schools to stop teaching evolution, as evidenced by that creationist museum they were so crazy about. That's pretty standard rhetoric for people with their overly inflated sense of self-righteousness. "I'm not infringing on anybody's rights by wanting public schools to base their educational approach on a single theology because, duh, the theology I'm talking about is the correct one." Super dangerous, IMO.

Well, I just think that one issue doesn't mean they oppose public education being provided.

I'm just the type of person where I think all people should be allowed to speak their viewpoint and beliefs unless they are physically harming people or harassing someone verbally while expressing themselves. The Duggars don't get on my nerves for expressing their beliefs. I may not agree, but it does not annoy me.

Disclaimer- That doesn't mean that other people shouldn't respond to that expression of belief, particularly if something is presented as fact when there is no evidence. It also doesn't mean that anyone has to listen.

Edited December 11, 2014 by Betweenyouandme

[Jellybeans]

Is this properly formatted? Seems like I can't do anything right on this site!!!!!

Yes it is properly formatted.

[maraleia]

A lot of people's posts have been deleted or moved across the 19 kids threads because they were either way off topic or in the wrong threads. Just remember which thread you are in and you should be fine.

[maraleia]

LOL Brian I think all of us have reasons to go into the prayer closet, none of which are the reasons why J'Chelle and Boob would send their kids to the prayer closet to reflect on.

 

I feel so bad for the kids in this family and the kids who are raised in the various cults that have sprung up across this country. They are being brainwashed IMO. I'm not just talking about the Quiverfull/IBLP people, it's the Scientologists and their ilk as well.

[NausetGirl]

Beautifully said.

 

All I'd do here is change the phrases "the Duggars CAN'T..." to "the Duggars DON'T..." and this would be perfect.  Because we all know they CAN do these things - they simply DON'T.

 

Oops... quoted the wrong quote here.  Please disregard this post - see below for something that makes more sense.  And I'll get myself another cup of coffee. LOL.

Edited December 11, 2014 by NausetGirl

[NausetGirl]

Education takes many forms. I'm a sahm, with a high school diploma. I've taken some courses at the local community college, but with 5 kids, there's always so many other things to do. BUT, I learn something new every day. I've lost hours falling down the Wikipedia time suck. Lol

I see or hear something interesting, Google it, and click on links until I've gone from the Battle at Gettysburg to Natalie Wood. (Seriously, that can happen.)

The bummer about the Duggar family is that they, literally, don't have that opportunity. They can't hear beautiful music and wonder about the composer. They can't read a trashy romance novel and Google "garderobe." They can't watch the news and have a discussion about the First Amendment or even wonder what a polar vortex is. It's the saddest thing I can think of. Like, how can you go through your whole life and not shaking your booty to a Prince song and not be able to learn that's he's a musical savant? I can get down with religious conservatives, even if I don't agree. I can get down with the modesty issues, even if they disgust me. I can even be okay with exponential breeding, if that's what you faith calls for. But I will never be okay with willful ignorance.

 

All I'd do here is change the phrases "the Duggars CAN'T..." to "the Duggars DON'T..." and this would be perfect.  Because we all know they CAN do these things - they simply DON'T, due to their beliefs.

[flyingdi]

Well the parent don't, the children really can't until they are old enough to make their own decisions. Which never seems to happen in this family.

[GEML]

I think they also got themselves into a bind by allowing their children to dream and even plan to be something that required an education, (Josh an attorney, Jill a nurse or midwife) but never for one minute ever planned on allowing them to do these things. But the kids had talked about it on the early specials and then the television show took off, and they basically had to pretend that it was a real option. When it never was.

[ghoulina]

I love their kitchen.....only because mine is so small and cramped. Does that count? Even if it leads into more stuff that I hate about them? Like how we never see them cooking healthy meals in said kitchen (and I am not the queen of perfect, organic meals or anything)??? Or their overuse of paper/plastic/foam products?? Or their awesome dishwashers (I am the dishwasher round here!) sitting there gathering dust???

[3girlsforus]

I love their kitchen.....only because mine is so small and cramped. Does that count? Even if it leads into more stuff that I hate about them? Like how we never see them cooking healthy meals in said kitchen (and I am not the queen of perfect, organic meals or anything)??? Or their overuse of paper/plastic/foam products?? Or their awesome dishwashers (I am the dishwasher round here!) sitting there gathering dust???

I love their kitchen too. Actually I love their whole downstairs. If the house actually had bedrooms I'd really like it. Of course the dorm rooms are pretty big so I guess you could add walls to make a few more bedrooms. Although I wouldn't want to have to try to keep toilet paper in 9 bathrooms. 

[merylinkid]

That's kinda why it gets on my nerves, they have all this SPACE and lovely things that I would love to have (industrial size dishwasher anyone?   lot of countertops to prep food).   And they do nothing with the gifts they have been given.   Use normal plates and then put them in the dishwasher?   Why?  Paper plates so much easier.   Use the big living room for anything but containing the kids all day?   Ooo that would take planning and effort.    All that land, why build more houses on it to house the growing God's Army not plant it so others can eat.

[zenme]

I like that ginormous pantry. I like the size of that industrial kitchen as well, but the downside would be the cleaning time on that! I don't have SAHDs to help out, so I'd be screwed!

Edited December 12, 2014 by zenme

[3girlsforus]

See I'd put the communal closet on my 'hate' list because to me it represents that nothing belongs to these kids. They are just a horde of offspring. 

[Betweenyouandme]

I love all the light in their house, but I dislike the bland, beige decorating. I'm not even always into tons of color, but the exact shades of beige, brown, burgundy, and dark green just look bad to me in that space.

[GEML]

I love that they do think of creative, physical space for the children. Such as the tree slide in the playroom and the basketball court where they also roller skate and skateboard. I had cousins in the country and finding creative physical space was always a challenge.

Of course, this comes with the caveat that there is never any creative interior space allowed, as this would require privacy and the ability to dream of worlds outside of the parents' control. Sigh.

[WTFFF]

I love the idea of the slide going from the bedroom to the play area, but it seems so...fitting that it's in the boys' room.  Of course they wake up and get to go down a slide from their bedroom to the downstairs.  All they have to do all day is run around and have fun.  Meanwhile, tedium and drudgery ahoy for the girls.  The boys also get the cool "hideaway" in the ceiling.  The girls' room is just a room.  Doesn't seem fair.  They could totally have put something fun in for the girls if they'd felt so inclined.

[PinkSprinkles]

I'll give them a pass on the slide because when they were building the house they had more little boys than they did girls. The girls' dorm was built with only Jana, Jill, Jessa, Jinger, and Joy in mind. They were all (with the exception of Joy) too old for a slide at that point. Johannah was the first baby born after the house was built and who knew that they'd have three more girls after her. 

[flyingdi]

I thought there was a loft in the girl's bedroom as well. Am I wrong about this?

[Absolom]

In that clip of the house tour Michelle said that there was a loft in each one of those rooms.  I'm not sure any of the girls have ever said anything about doing something with it.  Did Johannah used to like to jump out of it?

[Barb23]

In that clip of the house tour Michelle said that there was a loft in each one of those rooms.  I'm not sure any of the girls have ever said anything about doing something with it.  Did Johannah used to like to jump out of it?

Maybe the J'slaves store the cleaning supplies there.

[Almost 3000]

Is the girl's loft the sewing room?

[Darknight]

Do these people pay taxes?? Or do they try to get over

[WTFFF]

In that clip of the house tour Michelle said that there was a loft in each one of those rooms.  I'm not sure any of the girls have ever said anything about doing something with it.  Did Johannah used to like to jump out of it?

 

Hannie used to do that in the boy's room, or that's what was shown on camera.  I wonder where the one in the girls' room is - I can't recall seeing a ladder in it.

[Absolom]

The sewing room was in one of the closets in the girls' room.  At least early on after they moved it was there.

[Almost 3000]

The sewing room was in one of the closets in the girls' room.  At least early on after they moved it was there.

Speaking of early on, Josh had that recording studio that I assumed was really for tbtb that now seems to be in an out building. Did that space become Michelle's office?

[Absolom]

I don't know what the boys are doing with that space now.  Michelle and Jim Bob both had offices for themselves when the house was built.  They are on the original plans.

[Almost 3000]

thx! Absolom. The spaces are sometimes confusing. It seems like extra little rooms pop in like babies...

[leighroda]

Are we still making that list of annoying things? Because I'd like to add the intro... Everyone time I hear Michelle say "and I delivered every one of them" I want to jam whatever object I am holding into my ear.

[floridamom]

I would like to know if the Duggar childrens' bedroom and bathroom doors have locks on them? We certainly know that Jim Bob and Michelle's love grotto has that EXTRA lock up high on their door! Awful mental picture......to the prayer closet I go.

[anstar]

Does the TTH have a storm shelter or a safe room in case of inclement weather?

Not sure about a "safe room" but if there is a storm shelter, it's not under the house.  The house is on a concrete slab. We saw them pouring it in one of the specials. They put piping in it to run hot water through, making heated floors and helping with heating costs in those cavernous rooms.  Are they in Tornado Alley? I'm not sure how far east it extends. I know I'm a little too far south where I'm at in Texas to be considered part of it. Anyway, sometimes those storm shelters are near the house. In a pinch though, any interior room without windows (and a bathroom or closet is best) and throw a mattress or quilts/coats over the top of you. Then hunker down and hang on. :(

[Barb23]

They are close enough to tornado alley, in fact they're close to Joplin, I believe they went to Joplin to help after the tornado.

Think Boob was asked this question about having a storm shelter. He said they would just go to an inner room, possibly the family closet, & hunker down there. Remember, they have God watching over their safety.

Brian - we may need to have another Christmas party in the Prayer Closet. Possibly an Open House? Come & go as you please?

[NikSac]

Are we still making that list of annoying things? Because I'd like to add the intro... Everyone time I hear Michelle say "and I delivered every one of them" I want to jam whatever object I am holding into my ear.

 

It always annoyed me, but I find it extra annoying now that they're including Anna, Josh and Anna's kids, etc.  No, Michelle, you didn't deliver Anna or her babies. Just for future reference, you also didn't deliver Derick or Ben.

[Higgins]

Higgins- The reason why you aren't seeing the extreme stuff on the TV show is because it's carefully edited per the Duggars contract with the network. That's why we never see that Josh works for FRC which the Southern Poverty Law Center has named as a hate group, the anti-LGBT and anti-choice political stuff they do and the way they discipline their kids.

Just because the Southern Poverty Law Center designates The Family Research Council a hate group doesn't make it so. I'm all for marriage equality and in fact my FIL was one of the lead attorneys arguing the overturn of Prop * in California but just because someone is against it doesn't make them a hate group. Do they use violence to force their opinion? Their views are extreme but, they have the right to them and to express them. I have read allegations of incest and pedophilia against them here. There is a lot of hate against their beliefs here. How is that any better than them and their view against homosexuality?

[Ljohnson1987]

The fact that they don't trust their adult children enough not to have sex without a chaperone watching their every move. How are they supposed to get to know to someone with someone else in the room? The Duggars are so strange. J'chelle and Boob dated. (God scold them!) and they've been married for 30 years. Yet, their kids have to have chaperones, even when they're engaged. Hypocrites! 

[Darknight]

The fact that they don't trust their adult children enough not to have sex without a chaperone watching their every move. How are they supposed to get to know to someone with someone else in the room? The Duggars are so strange. J'chelle and Boob dated. (God scold them!) and they've been married for 30 years. Yet, their kids have to have chaperones, even when they're engaged. Hypocrites!

Do as I say not as i do

[galax-arena]

The Duggars are so strange. J'chelle and Boob dated. (God scold them!) and they've been married for 30 years.

Didn't they say that they didn't want their kids to make the same mistakes? That's another thing that bugs me about the Duggars. We learn from our mistakes! How are people supposed to grow up if you keep them so sheltered that they can't make mistakes of their own?

 

There is a lot of hate against their beliefs here. How is that any better than them and their view against homosexuality?

Because my hatred of the FRC is based on their bigoted beliefs. I don't buy into the idea that we have to be tolerant of intolerance or else I'm just as bad. That's a canard. Plus, I'm not on some campaign to outlaw Christianity, whereas the FRC has advocated outlawing gay behavior. Not to mention, one side is already marginalized and persecuted, and the other one isn't. The two sides are not on a level playing field to begin with, so I refuse to treat them as if they are.

 

Another thing that bugs me about the Duggars. Say something critical about their beliefs especially in objection to turning the US into a theocracy and they start going on about religious intolerance. 

 

Dear Duggars,

 

Y'all can believe whatever you want - although, once again, other people are equally entitled to believe what they want, which might be that your beliefs are full of shit, and saying so does not impede your First Amendment rights, for the love of God - but what people have a problem with is that you're trying to impose your beliefs upon the rest of us. Your right to extend your fist ends where my nose begins.

 

With not much love,

Me

[Barb23]

Something else to add to the annoying list - Boob bringing up MEchelle's "baggage" from the past. Also Boob constantly telling us they've been married for 30 yrs & never believed they would have 19 children.

[Betweenyouandme]

I get very stressed out and upset thinking about the Duggars and all the real life issues tied in with them. That gets on my nerves! I wish they were really all loving and sweet, so everyone could then, if that were true, think they were good role models. But, instead they confuse me and i don't like that parts about their lives are hidden by TLC. But, I guess important things are worth getting upset about. I just feel...lonely and worried about living. I've never felt like this about a TV show except a couple of brief moments on two other shows. I'd like to see more genuine answers to questions from them. It gets on my nerves that when answering questions, they don't directly seem to always speak their hearts and minds. Lack of being genuine.

I sort of wish this were a scripted show because then I think the writers could make the characters "go there" and it would be a fictional case study.

[Darknight]

Something else to add to the annoying list - Boob bringing up MEchelle's "baggage" from the past. Also Boob constantly telling us they've been married for 30 yrs & never believed they would have 19 children.

But they kept having sex.And it's not impressive if your teens when u marry

[Turquoise]

My apologies if this has been mentioned before, but it drives me crazy that MEchelle and Jill both seem incapable of saying "thank you" or "I love you." All this aaawwwww crap!

[frenchtoast]

I've deleted a whole bunch of posts that were off topic friendly chatter which belongs in the Small Talk thread. If the response belongs in the Small Talk area a simple, "Taking to the Prayer Closet" is fine. You can link or quote the original post there.

 

Thanks!

[whydoiwatch]

I consider myself having started out as a "typical" Duggar viewer-fascinated with how everything worked in a household that size.

Now all I see is an egotistical, uneducated group who somehow have risen to a pseudo celebrity status. Everything about them is suspect to me now and very little would surprise me about this group. 

Enjoy the snark here on the forum, but no longer watch the show. Ratings need to drop drastically causing the show to be cancelled.

Nothing about this secluded clan is role model material for a healthy, well rounded person.

[KateUK]

Here are some of my pet peeves.

 

The family smugness.

Lack of education.

Jim Bob's obsession with his daughter's sex life.

Lack of respect for others

 

Oh the way they talk about sex on this show makes me laugh.....modest?!...don't think so! And doesn't Jill and Jessa feel embarrassed about it, what young girl wants to discuss sex with their parents..well young girls that have been brainwashed for years is the answer to that I guess.

 

The episode I watched recently, think it was to do with Jills wedding, showed the girls coming out of a shop one after the other, all had those flipping awful, denim skirts on, all had the long wavy hair, they were just clones of each other.

 

I can't believe that out of that number of girls not one of them would like to wear something different, not one of them would like their hair to be shorter, that not one of them has the desire to be an individual, to actually do something other than get married and churn out babies.

 

But listening to the young ones the 'indoctrination' has already taken hold, Mackenzie said something like when she was older she would get to know, know, know a boy and get married.......Jeez it all sounds very scary to me, brainwashed.

[Itsnotreality]

That they think their show is something families can watch together. The way-past the creepy line obsession with sex in most recent episodes make this show inappropriate for kids.

[Mrsjumbo]

Exactly! The stupid kissing challenge photos, the magazine covers about the girls' rules about their sex lives, etc.

My family is pretty conservative so all this constant sex talk is creepy.

[WTFFF]

That they think their show is something families can watch together. The way-past the creepy line obsession with sex in most recent episodes make this show inappropriate for kids.

I'm pretty laid-back about these things and I'm downright uncomfortable watching JimBob constantly dry-hump and grope his wife on television.  Especially since she seems to hate it, and he just keeps on laughing that braying jackass laugh. 

[Itsnotreality]

Could they replace a bit of the sex talk with discussion on how they get to know prospective mates on a non-physical level? And no, this does not mean your Dad interrogating on views on debt while inhaling as much comped yogurt as possible.

[GEML]

When the kids were younger, it was more family friendly. I wonder if the Duggars themselves even notice how much it has changed.

[Wellfleet]

Exactly! The stupid kissing challenge photos, the magazine covers about the girls' rules about their sex lives, etc.

My family is pretty conservative so all this constant sex talk is creepy.

 

The Duggars' nearly-constant sex talk reminds me of a comment my Dad made once, when I was in high school, after returning from a work-sponsored "send-off party" for a guy in his team who was about to be married. Think "bachelor party" without the strippers. It was the only time I can ever remember my Dad making any reference to sex whatsoever. He was telling my Mom about all the stereotypical "guy sex talk" that had been going on, saying how embarrassing it had been etc. And then he said "Seems to me that the more someone talks about it, the less they're probably doing it..."