S09.E02: Jinger Has a Baby

[libgirl2]

9 hours ago, Temperance said:

okay I've seen the movie many times and I've never noticed the chemistry either. 

More like Gothard said all electronic media was evil or something like that. It helps that the movie was before JB's and Michelle's time. 

I don't know, I think a phone book would have chemistry with Christopher Plummer. He was hot in that movie. 

[lookeyloo]

12 hours ago, Barb23 said:

To all my Dirty Dancing cohorts out there, Lifetime is showing the movie tonite starting at 11 pm EST in case you need to watch it for the zillionth time like me.

(Even the zillionth watching of DD is more exciting than the Duggars.)

I keep it on the DVR for whenever I get a hankering for it. I too must have watched it a zillion times 

[Twopper]

11 hours ago, Barb23 said:

To all my Dirty Dancing cohorts out there, Lifetime is showing the movie tonite starting at 11 pm EST in case you need to watch it for the zillionth time like me.

I recorded it when it was on a couple of years ago; it is still on the dvr so I can watch anytime.  🙂

28 minutes ago, Squirrely said:

Si and Lauren are definitely dull. He has to be having regrets. She just sucks all the fun out of him. I'm as sad for him as I am most of the daughters, for what this cult has done to him. He had such a spark as a kid, and now he's sentenced to a life of dullness and working at a family car lot.* So much potential wasted.  

I missed last season so I missed their "courting" episodes.   They seemed to be having a good time in Austria, honeymooning away from the ever present Duggar clan.   I don't remember him having a spark as a kid; maybe that's because I remember his little speech at the opening of each episode making it sound as though the Duggars did everything differently.

[FizzyPuff]

The honeymoon was boring however the young guy in the German family was gorgeous, wish they showed him more.  

[Natalie68]

5 hours ago, sigmaforce86 said:

You got me thinking - I wonder if this is really another example of how the boy/girl Duggar kids don't talk to each other beyond the superficial.  And I think a lot of the reason the boys and girls can't get too close is because of JB and Michelle's rules that were put in post Josh molestation.  I don't mean they don't talk at all obviously they do but do they sit down and have true conversations, know each others deep likes and dislikes?   The girls do that with each other and the boys probably talk to but I don't think girl/boy bonding happens and it's probably discouraged.    I would not be at all surprised if the Duggar boys who hate coffee really truly don't know about an Espresso or Americano or what is in a Latte because despite what some of their sisters drink they only have this basic surface information like "Jinger loves coffee" and it never goes beyond that.   There's no way that any of the boys sat at the breakfast table one day and actually spent time talking to Jinger while eating, asked her what type of coffee she was drinking, how is it made, what other coffees there are.

I'm not ready to fully write off Josiah and Lauren as an unhappy too quick to marry thing especially (as we've speculated) from Josiah but.........I thought the honeymoon was awkward to watch.  Maybe Lauren isn't comfortable being the sole focus yet.  Before with the chaperones and family around they had a bigger group except for the TL's.  But instead of having fun they came across like they were ticking off sightseeing boxes on some list and like they were doing it separately, it seemed like half the time Josiah was doing his thing and he just occasionally glanced over to see if Lauren was still there.  I'm not sure I"m saying this how I mean but it was a weird dynamic where I feel like Josiah could have been on that trip alone and he wouldn't have acted much differently then what we saw when most couples even those who lived together for years before marriage would be, on their honeymoon special trip, just a little more joined at the hip (or at least holding hands more).

Spurgeon and Henry continue to be the cutest of the grandkids, I hope that never changes. 

Watched this last night and my husband now knows that I went back to it.  After a minute of him shaming me he heard the name Spurgeon.  His reaction was priceless.  I haven't laughed that hard in a long time!

The tour that L and J took looked like it would be fun for a huge fan.  That said, they looked a little like two trained seals in their performance.  It didn't have a natural feel to it.  For Lauren anyway.  I could TOTALLY see Josiah working at Disney as a character.

Michelle's voice makes me stabby.

[doodlebug]

14 hours ago, sATL said:

are the oldest Gosslin  twins  now in college ?

has anybody considered one of the reasons the sisters had a big babies/c-sections was the level of prenatal care ? I mean it was hours before the birth before they realized Gideon was breech ... Jill's labors went on and on at home...Jessa's blleeeedding and ultimate blood transfusion - not sure how or why that happened..

Not to take away from Austria - I think Josiah and Lauren could have just stayed in Chicago. Its getting old on every honeymoon has to be overseas.

I think the oldest Gosselins are 18 and finishing high school soon.  I think the poster was referring to the fact that Jon currently has full custody of two of the 'tups, Colin and Hannah.  Hannah went to live with him a couple of years ago, refused to go back to Kate and the judge ultimately granted custody to Jon.  As for Colin, he was institutionalized in a facility for kids with serious behavioral problems a couple years ago.  There are varying theories as to why this occurred, he was known to have been expelled from school for bad behavior and there was intimation that he was violent.  In any event, once he was placed in the school, Kate apparently lobbied for him to remain there indefinitely and not return to her home.  Jon stepped in and took him for some weekends and then got full custody when he was released from the facility a few months ago.  Rumor has it that Hannah doesn't see Kate or the other kids and I suspect it is the same with Colin.  Jon has said that a couple of the girls refuse visitation with him and he hasn't seen them in years, either.  The whole family is a massive clusterf***.

[PradaKitty]

My parents lived in both Vienna and Salzburg when they were first married ((courtesy of the US Army).  Every time The Sound of Music appeared on tv (for YEARS), my mom would say to me,  “Remember that place? Remember that fountain?”  I didn’t, because although I was conceived in Vienna, my folks moved back to the US shortly before I was born and there was no window in my mother’s uterus! 

[jcbrown]

I wonder what the Duggars think of the "look at how stupid these people are" segments the producers put in almost every episode. Do they think they are showing us how special and neat they are when they don't know what espresso is, for example? 

[kokapetl]

Frau Lauren clearly hated the go kart tour of Vienna (thin tires on cobblestone doesn’t sound fun). Was Josiah wearing a “do-rag”? Frau Lauren also admitted to hating coffee. I bet she hates a lot of other things, she seems really high maintenance.   

Edited February 19, 2019 by kokapetl

[Maya]

I thought it seemed like Lauren hated Josiah a little less this episode, so there’s that. 

[BitterApple]

1 hour ago, kokapetl said:

Frau Lauren clearly hated the go kart tour of Vienna (thin tires on cobblestone doesn’t sound fun). Was Josiah wearing a “do-rag”? Frau Lauren also admitted to hating coffee. I bet she hates a lot of other things, she seems really high maintenance.   

She definitely doesn't seem like a bundle of laughs, but I was with her on that go-kart tour. Riding around in a flimsy cart in a foreign city with large vehicles zipping by and legs too short to reach the brakes sounds like a nightmare. 

[PikaScrewChu]

5 hours ago, doodlebug said:

I think the oldest Gosselins are 18 and finishing high school soon.  I think the poster was referring to the fact that Jon currently has full custody of two of the 'tups, Colin and Hannah.  Hannah went to live with him a couple of years ago, refused to go back to Kate and the judge ultimately granted custody to Jon.  As for Colin, he was institutionalized in a facility for kids with serious behavioral problems a couple years ago.  There are varying theories as to why this occurred, he was known to have been expelled from school for bad behavior and there was intimation that he was violent.  In any event, once he was placed in the school, Kate apparently lobbied for him to remain there indefinitely and not return to her home.  Jon stepped in and took him for some weekends and then got full custody when he was released from the facility a few months ago.  Rumor has it that Hannah doesn't see Kate or the other kids and I suspect it is the same with Colin.  Jon has said that a couple of the girls refuse visitation with him and he hasn't seen them in years, either.  The whole family is a massive clusterf***.

Initially Hannah was excluded once she went to live with Jon but she does see her other brothers and sisters now. Haven't heard anything about Colin seeing anyone other than Hannah.

I've been waiting to see if any of the other 'tups defect. Mady and Cara never will.

You know, after seeing how things turned out for the Gosselins and Duggars I'd be avoiding reality TeeVee like the plague. Even Will and Zoey on The Little Couple are going to be forever known as those bratty kids from TLC.

[Albanyguy]

10 hours ago, sigmaforce86 said:

 I would not be at all surprised if the Duggar boys who hate coffee really truly don't know about an Espresso or Americano or what is in a Latte because despite what some of their sisters drink they only have this basic surface information like "Jinger loves coffee" and it never goes beyond that. 

Considering their weird attitudes about gender, the boys may think that "fancy" coffees are for girls and that real men drink plain old Folgers or Maxwell House and don't know nothin' about those sissy lattes and espresso drinks.

[Oldernowiser]

6 hours ago, jcbrown said:

I wonder what the Duggars think

 

They don’t. As long as the money keeps rolling in, thinking is unnecessary.

[Malvina]

22 hours ago, sATL said:

Jessa : "  JB said - We don't want to stifle your creativity. Let's go outside and build a fort or something"... 

says the one who draws her inspiration from “Fixer Upper” and Pinterest. 🙄

[Oldernowiser]

23 hours ago, sATL said:

Jessa : "  JB said - We don't want to stifle your creativity. Let's go outside and build a fort or something"... 

Back the truck up...Jessa actually said that with a straight face?

A) JimBob never used the phrase “stifle creativity” in his entire heehaw hyuckyuck life. I would bet my house on that.

B) He and wifey were more than happy to stifle their children’s educations, social skills, independence, reasoning, diet, hygiene, vocabulary, earning potential, imaginations, etcetera etcetera etcetera, but “creativity” was supposedly the top of his concerns?

Jessa, you are one shameless liar.

[DangerousMinds]

1 hour ago, Oldernowiser said:

Back the truck up...Jessa actually said that with a straight face?

A) JimBob never used the phrase “stifle creativity” in his entire heehaw hyuckyuck life. I would bet my house on that.

B) He and wifey were more than happy to stifle their children’s educations, social skills, independence, reasoning, diet, hygiene, vocabulary, earning potential, imaginations, etcetera etcetera etcetera, but “creativity” was supposedly the top of his concerns?

Jessa, you are one shameless liar.

She is absolutely a liar.

[graefin]

4 hours ago, Oldernowiser said:

Back the truck up...Jessa actually said that with a straight face?

A) JimBob never used the phrase “stifle creativity” in his entire heehaw hyuckyuck life. I would bet my house on that.

B) He and wifey were more than happy to stifle their children’s educations, social skills, independence, reasoning, diet, hygiene, vocabulary, earning potential, imaginations, etcetera etcetera etcetera, but “creativity” was supposedly the top of his concerns?

Jessa, you are one shameless liar.

Of all the kids, Jessa will most consistently whitewash their childhoods. The other, potentially positive, side of it is that it shows a level of consciousness that the others seem to lack--she recognizes how abnormal the way she was raised was (because why lie otherwise?). Of course, the only reason she is lying is likely to make their lives more palatable to viewers, but at least that spark of awareness is there. It means that she will be more able to move away from this life in the future if she wants to.

Edited February 20, 2019 by graefin

[Churchhoney]

7 hours ago, DangerousMinds said:

She is absolutely a liar.

This is what their parents taught them. 

Lying, grifting, parading one's ignorance and lording it over others. The "Duggar Academy" core curriculum. 

[Panopticon]

20 hours ago, PikaScrewChu said:

Initially Hannah was excluded once she went to live with Jon but she does see her other brothers and sisters now. Haven't heard anything about Colin seeing anyone other than Hannah.

I've been waiting to see if any of the other 'tups defect. Mady and Cara never will.

You know, after seeing how things turned out for the Gosselins and Duggars I'd be avoiding reality TeeVee like the plague. Even Will and Zoey on The Little Couple are going to be forever known as those bratty kids from TLC.

I’m still fascinated that Hannah was the first and most adamant defector. Kate never made a secret of the fact that Hannah was her absolute favorite, but Hannah hit her teens, walked out the door, and made it stick. 

Makes me think that if a Duggar ever defects, it won’t be one that this board ever speculated about.

[Zella]

14 minutes ago, Panopticon said:

Makes me think that if a Duggar ever defects, it won’t be one that this board ever speculated about.

Who do you think it will be?

[ChiMama]

On 2/18/2019 at 9:13 PM, Mrs. P. said:

Lauren and Josiah are SO boring.

And Lauren is just the most joyless, dull, RBF-having Duggar wife yet. PLEASE give me more of sweet Kendra and her omnipresent giggle -- at least she is a positive life force. The only word I can think of for Lauren is 'sour.'

On the other hand, John David & Abbie just make me smile . . . their relationship seems genuine and mature.

[SunnyBeBe]

21 hours ago, Albanyguy said:

Considering their weird attitudes about gender, the boys may think that "fancy" coffees are for girls and that real men drink plain old Folgers or Maxwell House and don't know nothin' about those sissy lattes and espresso drinks.

It's difficult for me to fathom not LOVING coffee, but, I wasn't such a huge fan in my teens and 20's either. I do suspect that for some who are not exposed to the finer coffees, they envision it coming from a rusty, metal pot after brewing over a campfire, like from the days of Gun Smoke! lol  There is an entire world of coffees.  Man, would I have loved to visit that place and sample those coffees.  

[PikaScrewChu]

22 minutes ago, Zella said:

Who do you think it will be?

I'm very surprised Jilly Muffin has really distanced herself from the family since the departure from TLC. I thought she would be the most clingy. They are able to edit out the Smuggars from the show. They should be able to easily edit out Jill.

[Squirrely]

Jessa has to lie to keep the show going! Her husband is basically Jim Bob's bitch. That's still his "job," right? They have no other income so she'll do whatever she has to do to keep this dog and pony show rolling! 

[Pingaponga]

I think this is at least the second time we've caught Jessa in a white-washing-the-family-life lie.  While she may claim they were pushed out the door to play instead of sitting around in front of a screen, some of the boys were able to give the names of favourite movies. 

And in the last season (or Jinger birth special?) the girls were asked about changing diapers and Jinger said she had changed hundreds (as she did last night), while Jessa made some remark about that was her parents' responsibility.

The problem with having so many siblings is that it's easy to find someone who didn't get Jessa's memo about how-to-whitewash-your-past-in-5-easy-steps.

[madpsych78]

1 hour ago, PikaScrewChu said:

1 hour ago, Zella said:

Who do you think it will be?

I'm very surprised Jilly Muffin has really distanced herself from the family since the departure from TLC. I thought she would be the most clingy. They are able to edit out the Smuggars from the show. They should be able to easily edit out Jill.

Yep. I think it's Jilly as well. 

[Albanyguy]

2 hours ago, PikaScrewChu said:

I'm very surprised Jilly Muffin has really distanced herself from the family since the departure from TLC. I thought she would be the most clingy. They are able to edit out the Smuggars from the show. They should be able to easily edit out Jill.

I think Derick has a lot to do with that. I don't think he feels welcome at the TTH after getting himself, Jill and their kids bounced off TLC and if he's not comfortable going there, then he doesn't want her going there either.

[MaryAnneSpier]

I think Jill is one of the LEAST likely to break off or do a tell-all. She's the favorite of her father, I think, and is very clingy and insecure. I think it'd be a male since they're given a bit more independence than the females. 

[MaryAnneSpier]

46 minutes ago, Pingaponga said:

I think this is at least the second time we've caught Jessa in a white-washing-the-family-life lie.  While she may claim they were pushed out the door to play instead of sitting around in front of a screen, some of the boys were able to give the names of favourite movies. 

And in the last season (or Jinger birth special?) the girls were asked about changing diapers and Jinger said she had changed hundreds (as she did last night), while Jessa made some remark about that was her parents' responsibility.

The problem with having so many siblings is that it's easy to find someone who didn't get Jessa's memo about how-to-whitewash-your-past-in-5-easy-steps.

How much of this is Jessa fully knowing that she's telling lies to whitewash the family for PR reasons, and how much of it is Jessa subconsciously rewriting memories so she can function? It could be a coping mechanism for her- she had a rough childhood what with the cramped tiny house before moving to the TLC-provided house, raising her siblings, her childhood being filmed and aired on national tv, and of course the molestations. Maybe to help herself cope with all of this, she's remembering the past differently than it really was because having to acknowledge that her parents are shitty at parenting and the damage they inflicted on her and her siblings may be too much to bear. Add in the layer of Gothardism and discouragement of original thought and genuine feelings, and I think this is a real possibility. 

Or Jessa is a big fat liar who knows fully well what she's doing. It'd be par for the course from the example her parents have set. 

[Absolom]

Ratings:  971 K viewers and a .24 rating.  26th cable show of the day.

[sATL]

20 hours ago, Oldernowiser said:

Back the truck up...Jessa actually said that with a straight face?

A) JimBob never used the phrase “stifle creativity” in his entire heehaw hyuckyuck life. I would bet my house on that.

B) He and wifey were more than happy to stifle their children’s educations, social skills, independence, reasoning, diet, hygiene, vocabulary, earning potential, imaginations, etcetera etcetera etcetera, but “creativity” was supposedly the top of his concerns?

Jessa, you are one shameless liar.

Maybe the last show JB watched before conversion was "All in the Family" with late Carroll O'Conner playing Archie Bunker.  I think that was the last time I heard someone using the word "stifle"..... 😁

Edited February 21, 2019 by sATL

[PikaScrewChu]

53 minutes ago, MaryAnneSpier said:

I think Jill is one of the LEAST likely to break off or do a tell-all. She's the favorite of her father, I think, and is very clingy and insecure. I think it'd be a male since they're given a bit more independence than the females. 

I suspect Jilly fell out of JB's good graces a while ago.

[queenanne]

On 2/19/2019 at 10:49 AM, libgirl2 said:

I don't know, I think a phone book would have chemistry with Christopher Plummer. He was hot in that movie. 

Fun OT and probably apocryphal story... but I like it anyway:  Once upon a time in his younger years, there was a guy who wanted to be CP's agent. So every night they would go out together drinking and chasing women. CP's capacity for both was such that the would-be agent found himself close to physical collapse. Finally he got comfortable enough to suggest that he represent CP. But the actor turned him down flat. Later he heard the reason from one of CP's friends. CP had said that while the guy was terrific company there was no way he would hire him as an agent. All he ever did was drink and f***.

[Panopticon]

3 hours ago, Zella said:

Who do you think it will be?

Let’s see... the one I’d least expect would be one of the Howlers, because I don’t know their names and can’t suspect them of anything. 

[OpieTaylor]

On 2/18/2019 at 8:08 PM, sATL said:

Jessa : "  JB said - We don't want to stifle your creativity. Let's go outside and build a fort or something"... 

watching a movie - a musical no less - that still lives on since it was made in 1965 - stifles one creativity.... SMH...

really sounds like JB was too cheap to find a VHS (both the tape and the machine-box)...heaven forbid cable...

Will someone explain more about this quote - what JB was talking about? I can't watch the show - don't have cable/satellite, and this quote has been referenced in here several times. But I can't tell what Jessa and JB were talking about. 

[sATL]

24 minutes ago, OpieTaylor said:

Will someone explain more about this quote - what JB was talking about? I can't watch the show - don't have cable/satellite, and this quote has been referenced in here several times. But I can't tell what Jessa and JB were talking about. 

during a segment in the episode where Josiah and Lauren  were visiting a location where the "sound of music" was filmed in Austria. Then TLC cuts away and asks random Duggars what is their favorite movie. when the cameras get to Jessa, she makes this statement.

my dvr has Jessa speaking at 33 minutes into the episode.

BTW : the other responses of favorite movies were : "Sargent york" (Joe), "beautiful mind" (jeremy), "war room" (kendra) ,  "woodlawn" (ben)

also see:   ( link )

Edited February 21, 2019 by sATL

[jcbrown]

46 minutes ago, sATL said:

BTW : the other responses of favorite movies were : "Sargent york" (Joe), "beautiful mind" (jeremy), "war room" (kendra) ,  "woodlawn" (ben)

also see:   ( link )

I appreciated that Ben wasn't spouting off about one of their religious claptrap movies, which I notice Kendra and Ben were (I had never heard of those movies, mind you, I looked them up).

[madpsych78]

48 minutes ago, sATL said:

during a segment in the episode where Josiah and Lauren  were visiting a location where the "sound of music" was filmed in Austria. Then TLC cuts away and asks random Duggars what is their favorite movie. when the cameras get to Jessa, she makes this statement.

my dvr has Jessa speaking at 33 minutes into the episode.

BTW : the other responses of favorite movies were : "Sargent york" (Joe), "beautiful mind" (jeremy), "war room" (kendra) ,  "woodlawn" (ben)

also see:   ( link )

War Room - Christian movie, along the lines of Fireproof and Courageous. Interestingly though, it's a predominantly African-American cast.

Woodlawn - also a Christian drama, but explores racism from a Christian perspective and there are sports involved. I can totally see why that would be Ben's favorite movie.

Sergeant York - not a "Christian" movie, but the main character is a Christian soldier, non-denominational. It was a box office smash and won some Oscars in the early 1940s.

And then there's A Beautiful Mind, probably the most secular out of the four movies mentioned by far. A brilliant mathematician diagnosed with schizophrenia, based on the true story of John Nash.

[Panopticon]

Wait, Jeremy likes a movie I also like? An Academy Award winning movie? There’s not some other movie also called A Beautiful Mind that’s about how masturbation is bad and meek women are good? 

[cmr2014]

6 hours ago, Panopticon said:

I’m still fascinated that Hannah was the first and most adamant defector. Kate never made a secret of the fact that Hannah was her absolute favorite, but Hannah hit her teens, walked out the door, and made it stick. 

Makes me think that if a Duggar ever defects, it won’t be one that this board ever speculated about.

This would actually fit Josh, and I think he's a likely candidate. He's obviously a favorite and he has no use for his parents, or their lifestyle. I think he would walk out the door (and leave Anna and the kids) in a heartbeat if an opportunity arose.

[Churchhoney]

3 minutes ago, cmr2014 said:

This would actually fit Josh, and I think he's a likely candidate. He's obviously a favorite and he has no use for his parents, or their lifestyle. I think he would walk out the door (and leave Anna and the kids) in a heartbeat if an opportunity arose.

Of course it'd have to be an opportunity for a paycheck made out to a Duggar male for, presumably, work of some kind -- and maybe the laziest and most arrogant of the Duggar males, too.

So....not gonna happen, I guess...

[Lunera]

22 hours ago, graefin said:

Of all the kids, Jessa will most consistently whitewash their childhoods. The other, potentially positive, side of it is that it shows a level of consciousness that the others seem to lack--she recognizes how abnormal the way she was raised was (because why lie otherwise?). Of course, the only reason she is lying is likely to make their lives more palatable to viewers, but at least that spark of awareness is there. It means that she will be more able to move away from this life in the future if she wants to.

It's funny Jessa said that when asked about her favorite movie. In her book she wrote about being left out and couldn't relate to other girls her age because she hadn't seen the latest popular teen movie. 

Quote from Growing up Duggar:

"Soon the party was under way, and I enjoyed all the games, but after we’d sung “Happy Birthday” and settled around the living room for cake and ice cream, the topic of movies came up. I hadn’t seen the popular movie the other girls were talking about, and I felt out of place. The critical thoughts came bubbling back up: Jessa, you don’t fit in. It’s obvious you’re not as cool as the other girls."

Jessa knows how fucked up and sheltered her childhood was. She has definitely felt left out throughout her life and and resorts to making up elaborate stories about her great childhood.

I disagree with you, I think Jessa likes her safe little bubble and will never leave. Aways the big fish in the small pond. 

[JoanArc]

5 hours ago, Lunera said:

"Soon the party was under way, and I enjoyed all the games, but after we’d sung “Happy Birthday” and settled around the living room for cake and ice cream, the topic of movies came up. I hadn’t seen the popular movie the other girls were talking about, and I felt out of place. The critical thoughts came bubbling back up: Jessa, you don’t fit in. It’s obvious you’re not as cool as the other girls."

"So I acted bitchy and standoffish until they feared me. Problem Solved!"

[Churchhoney]

11 hours ago, Lunera said:

It's funny Jessa said that when asked about her favorite movie. In her book she wrote about being left out and couldn't relate to other girls her age because she hadn't seen the latest popular teen movie. 

Quote from Growing up Duggar:

"Soon the party was under way, and I enjoyed all the games, but after we’d sung “Happy Birthday” and settled around the living room for cake and ice cream, the topic of movies came up. I hadn’t seen the popular movie the other girls were talking about, and I felt out of place. The critical thoughts came bubbling back up: Jessa, you don’t fit in. It’s obvious you’re not as cool as the other girls."

Jessa knows how fucked up and sheltered her childhood was. She has definitely felt left out throughout her life and and resorts to making up elaborate stories about her great childhood.

I disagree with you, I think Jessa likes her safe little bubble and will never leave. Aways the big fish in the small pond. 

I agree that she's aware, but I'm not convinced she actually feels that it was over-sheltered and fucked up at this point. I think she probably feels a bit confused as she's become aware of the world's many messages about it.

But I think she's likely still at the stage where she hopes it was truly superior -- as her parents tell her -- and is pissed off and resentful that other people have the crust to suggest that it wasn't superior. At some point, I think she might get to the point where she does allow herself to wonder if it really was sheltered and fucked up. But I'd bet she's still in major denial about that feeling. 

I totally agree that she's afraid to be anything else but a big fish in her small bubble/pond. 

When it comes to the birthday-party story, I'm not convinced that Jessa actually said this or ever had such an experience.

First off, I'm about 100 percent sure that the book wasn't written mainly based on stories the girls told about their lives. If it had been, it could have had just one "additional writing by" credit, which would have been Charlie Richards, the actual ghost writer that Simon and Schuster hired. Richards is a long-time, very experienced and accomplished writer who could have easily made a book out of talking to the girls. (This Charlie Richards, by the way.    https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlie-richards-3b53b517/      Not the Charlie Richards who writes erotica. ;  )     )

Instead, the book lists two "additional" "writers." And the other is David Waller. Now we know that he is not a writer. And definitely not a writer at the Simon-and-Schuster-hires-him-as-a-ghost-writer level. No way.

So to me, that plainly says that the book was 100-percent intended to use the girls' images to draw in young people and parents and attract them to the Gothard cult.  And that "teaching" the Gothard "lessons' was the entire point of the book -- not anything to do with anything that actually happened to the Duggar girls. People from the Gothard headquarters have said that the main source of new members in the 2000s has been people's attraction to the Duggar show, so it's clear that they would have wanted this book to keep that going since the girls are kinda pretty celebs and that's golden in America.)

Waller was on board to tell Charlie Richards what the Gothard "truths" were and how Richards should write up the girls' stories to ensure that the books' important sales message came across. As we know, lying is completely immaterial to the Duggars, so a book that took off from a few actual Duggar experiences and embroidered the rest based on the "truths" of Bill Gothard would be fine with them....Especially since they were getting money from it!

Plus, I doubt that Jessa ever went to a teen birthday party unless it were some all-Gothard event. Is there any evidence at all that she's known any girls her own age who weren't in the cult or something very similar to it? I don't see any. And, in fact, it looks like she barely sees even those supposed "friends" even today, when she lives in her own house and is free to. ......... And if she went to a Gothard-y teen birthday party, either nobody else there would have seen the movie either -- or, if they had, they'd be concealing that fact pretty carefully from the rest of the crowd. They wouldn't all be chatting about it.

To me it seems clear that, in a book of propaganda, that story would have been told because non-Gothardites could identify with the birthday-party scenario and with the feeling of being left out of something. Stories like that can be powerful persuaders, making a young girl -- or any woman, like a mom, remembering teenage years -- feel that she has something deeply in common with the Duggar girls and thus making her receptive to the tons of bullshit the book slips in about the wonders of the Gothard-y beliefs. .... And that was precisely the purpose of the book. To use the girls as bait to draw people in. ... 

Edited February 21, 2019 by Churchhoney

[sATL]

my guess would be if ( and I do mean if)  Jessa was allowed/attended at a birthday party as a teen,  where there was others outside of her religious group, would be a party at/for cousin Amy.

I don't think think they would have traveled to the Bates for a birthday party - but I do think the present day Bates would see more , but still selective, main stream/classical/musical movies

Edited February 21, 2019 by sATL

[Marshmallow Mollie]

100 % agree the teen movie story is made up. It reads weird with no warmth of details that would make it ring true. Plus, did Jessa go to this party without any of her sisters? Also, it seems too...self-aware?...for a sheltered teen.

[libgirl2]

19 hours ago, ChiMama said:

And Lauren is just the most joyless, dull, RBF-having Duggar wife yet. PLEASE give me more of sweet Kendra and her omnipresent giggle -- at least she is a positive life force. The only word I can think of for Lauren is 'sour.'

On the other hand, John David & Abbie just make me smile . . . their relationship seems genuine and mature.

The giggle might be annoying but she seems so happy, really happy with life, not putting on an act. 

[cmr2014]

18 hours ago, Lunera said:

Quote from Growing up Duggar:

"Soon the party was under way, and I enjoyed all the games, but after we’d sung “Happy Birthday” and settled around the living room for cake and ice cream, the topic of movies came up. I hadn’t seen the popular movie the other girls were talking about, and I felt out of place. The critical thoughts came bubbling back up: Jessa, you don’t fit in. It’s obvious you’re not as cool as the other girls."

I don't believe that this EVER HAPPENED. This is some sort of Gothard bs (didn't David Waller ghostwrite this book?). It's probably pulled straight from some wisdom booklet and ends with the heroine discovering that none of that matters because Jesus loves her best.

Where would Jessa have met these girls: school? church? sports? girl scouts? Of course not. She did none of these things and the only people she ever came within shouting distance of were members of her own cult -- and none of them saw popular movies, either.

Why make up a birthday party for the sole purpose of complaining about being left out? I think you'd have to BE a Duggar, or at least a Gothardite, to know.

ETA: I just jumped in and wrote this post after I saw the quote without taking time to read the multiple replies saying essentially the same thing. I guess I could just shorten mine to "I agree!"

Edited February 22, 2019 by cmr2014
Oops

[SunnyBeBe]

Can someone remind me the names of the Duggars favorite movies they gave to the camera?  I recall someone said A Beautiful Mind.  Wasn't that Jeremy?  Of course, Lauren was The Sound of Music.  Didn't someone say the name of a recent suspense movie too?