Should I Watch This Show?
So, I'm doing my usual reading of hundreds of articles this morning and I briefly catch a glimpse that TLC is going to be airing a birth on their network. To me this isn't really big news because I thought they did that everyday with that Baby Story show. Is that still on? But, because I leave no stone unturned in my efforts to bring you the most trivial aspects of the world I saw that the episode in question was part of a show they already have on the air called 17 Kids And Counting. Apparently there is some guy named Jim Bob Duggar who has convinced his wife to have 17 kids and now an 18th. I don't know what he does for a living, but I'm guessing he could probably sell anything to anyone if he convinced his wife to have 18 kids.
From what I understand, they are not even stopping at 18, but are going to keep going I guess until Michelle Duggar just cannot physically have anymore kids. 18 kids? I notice in the photo above that all the kids are wearing buttons. Are they name tags? Can you imagine if each one of their kids had 18 kids? That would be one hell of a family reunion each year. You would have to rent out an arena. So, what do they do each show? There is no way they have time to focus on each of the 18 kids in each episode so I'm wondering what the focus is? Do the two oldest kids I see in the photo have no life because they are helping to raise the other kids? Any of the kids closet drinkers? Smokers? Is it worth watching?
I've seen the show. To me, it's like a horrible train wreck. You can't believe what you're seeing and so you can't take your eyes off of it because you keeping thinking, this has got to be some sort of sick joke. But that's just me, I don't want kids and don't particularly like them. To me the thought of just one kid blows my mind, but 18??????? Makes me want to rip my uterus out myself.
ReplyDeleteI don't know why but these two sicken me. And I like kids.
ReplyDeletelol@VDG
ReplyDeleteI is sick--it seems as if they are trying to prove apoint.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how they could possibly afford everyone--I know how much my family of 4 cost.
I am the youngest of 6 kids. I know big families. Not "Dugger family" big, but bigger than the average.
ReplyDeleteI have to say that this family freaks me out. I keep seeing them on the Today show, and they never seem tired or stressed. They just keep going, and going.
And the worst part? All the children's names start with 'J'. Jessica, Johanna, Joshua, etc, etc
Truly freaky.
These people fascinate me in the same kind of way that Amy Winehouse fascinates me. Don't they know that what they're doing is sick and wrong? Don't they understand that people are going to get hurt from their selfishness?
ReplyDeleteSpeaking as a parent of two children, there is no way that 18 children will get the amount of attention they need to thrive. There is no way to help each kid with geometry, social studies, algebra, the ABCs, etc, and also drive kids to soccer practice, football, music lessons, their class play, etc. So the extracurricular stuff would go--who needs those?--and so would parental attention for more than the basics.
The other weird thing about this family is that all the kids have names that start with the letter J. Oh, Dad's first name starts with J. Hmmm. Wonder if there's some connection. A sip of Narcissist/controlling tea anyone?
I haven't seen the show, but that's my guess....
aahahaaaaagggggg!!! argllfaffala!
ReplyDeleteHell no do not watch this crap!! I am all for loving Christian Homes but this is past normal round 10 kids ago!
Emma could you imagine her on our services!!! We could give her to TK...then she would freak out over this mom's issues!!
Enty, it is like a train wreck. They are just so different form most of us. These people have conservative christian values. The girls are never in anything but skirts. When the oldest boy was "courting" his new wife, they had to be chaperoned on all dates and they could only hold hands. They saved their first kiss for their wedding day. I don;t make a point to watch it, but I will if I'm flipping through and its on. Check it out if you can.
ReplyDeleteit is sick--not I :(
ReplyDeleteThey are seem very wholesome and loving toward one another, but it bothers me that the older kids are pretty much raising the younger ones and have to do everything around the house, since the mom is eternally pregnant. Also, they all get homeschooled by the mom. The oldest son just got married to a girl that looks enough like one of his sisters to make me uncomfortable.
ReplyDeleteJesus her uterus is going to fall on the floor. GROSS!!!
ReplyDeleteBlwhaaahaaa Vitazza TK would shoot herself!!!!
Yep, selfish freaks.
ReplyDeleteEvidently, they are part of a particular "Christian" movement, Quiverful (?), bent on further overpopulating the earth.
As to the question of time and attention, they home school the kids, of course. My question is, how would the Duggar kids fare on a "rumspringa" (the Amish kids thing where they spend a year in average American city life to decide whether they wish to remain in the sheltered Amish world or with the rest of America)?
Damn she pregnant again! I agree the show is a train wreck.Its also sad that it seems that the older girls raise the kids. The mom just hands the babies off to them. Also they are home schooled!But they all do seem happy and self-sufficient.
ReplyDeleteUterus - it's not a clown car .... (stolen from another website... but lol ... )
ReplyDeleteDo you think she remembers all those names all the time? And this is kind of sick, but what the hell kind of sex do they actually have after that many kids?? I can't see it being passionate or romantic. Yuch.
ReplyDeleteWe used to tell a friend that she was as fertile as the Napa Valley because she had three pregnancies in three years. What the hell do you call this woman?
Either insane or obsessed with proving a point, that's what you call her.
ReplyDeleteFrom the time I was 10 til now as an adult, I always took a special interest in the life and history of the Gilbreth family of the Industrial Revolution. They were a family of 12, but the mother and father were efficiency experts and ran the house in such a way to maintain order and harmony, and you could tell from the memoirs written by their children that they were well loved and taken care of and all blossomed into amazing people. I like remembering them. This Duggar family...makes me ill.
I look at it like, hey, the world can't sustain this kind of procreation.. someone get them a box of condoms?!
ReplyDeleteOkay, TLC needs to stop paying people so they can broadcast their irresponsible bullshit. (Aren't Jon and Kate also on TLC?). The only way they will do this is if people DO NOT watch.
ReplyDeleteThese children are not getting the attention they need, their primary female role model is a brood sow, and excuse me, but what is so Christian about hogging the planet's resources with your incessant loads of laundry,toilet flushing, showers, etc. not to mention the dirty diapers and other garbage that must be accumulating in landfills from this family? Imagine if every family decided to procreate like this.
Oh, and I am sure these kids are getting one hell of an education from their homeschooling.
DO. NOT. WATCH.
this disgusts me.
ReplyDeletemy dad came from a 12 sibling household and the oldest ones raised the youngest all the time. in fact when my dad was 18 he went away to work and sent every paycheck home to feed his brothers and sisters. he said yes they were happy,but they would have been happier with less mouths to feed. it was just always chaos and stress.
get a fucking hobby!
john and kate are a diff story...they were reproductive challenged...these people just do it for shits n giggles i think. literally.
ReplyDeleteThe only redeeming thing about them is that they are propagating the redhead gene. I read somewhere a few years ago that there was a chance redheads would become extinct in the near future. :)
ReplyDeleteEnty, forget this crap, or the Hamlin/Big Lips show, The Rachel Zoe Project is getting a second season. WOO HOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteThis crap is great. I DVR it whenever its on.
ReplyDeleteCannot even imagine.
ReplyDeleteBwahaha. These people live near my mom in NW Arkansas. She says they are insane; religious and the mom is IN on having all the kids! She sees them all over town wearing identical clothing because they've been made out of the same bolt of fabric. And of course they shop at Walmart. She says they are ALWAYS happy and smiling; all of them. Must be aliens. Only explanation.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately I know more about this kind of lifestyle than I care to share.
ReplyDeleteTo the outside world it looks like a beautiful loving family. The reality is that someone or some of them will harbor anger because they don't feel they got enough attention. The animosity between siblings over the lack of attention that a parent gave someone is never ending and the bitterness stays until death.
The parents of course imagine that they're giving each child equal amount of attention and everything that the child needs.
This show just brings back nightmares for me and is way to close to home.
The fact that they won't stop having children makes me believe that they are addicted to the attention of procreating. They may be going for a some kind of record.
Oof, I've read that the parents believe every egg is a life and should be sperminated. Stems from some brouhaha over her taking birth control early in the marriage and learning that birth control can "abort" a fertilized egg. Anyhoo, the show is actually kind of boring. And weird - the girls all have long, long hair because their dad likes it that way. Creepy!!
ReplyDeleteI watch this show all the time; of course they are deliberately procreating. I think the kids are happy because they don't know any other way.
ReplyDeleteI found it disturbing when the mom said she keeps the newborn for one year and then that baby becomes some older sister's "buddy" and so on and so on -- She just passes them off to the older kids as the next baby comes along.
The only good I can think in all of this is that the kids are pretty independent and do not live in the materialistic, consumerism world that most people live in.
As for love, I'm sure they are all loved in a big, generalized way, but as for individual attention from the parents -- of course not!
And it is disturbingly addictive to watch...
Reminds me of the opener for the movie "Idiocracy"...
ReplyDeleteWhy is this family considered wierd? Because they are different? I have watched the show several times and they seem amazingly well adjusted and a wonderful family. They are learning cooperation, helping out one another, sticking together, etc...What is so wrong with that? Each and every one of these children seem happy, healthy and very well read. And have you heard them play music? Simply beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThey put me to shame and I only have 2 kids. They are a truly remarkable family, in my opinion.
They have Jesus in their life and he is helping them to make it work. God Bless all of them!
(Oh-and by the way-Catholics do not believe in birth control either. Many may use it, but according to the Catholic Church, it is a sin.)
Oh...and for the posters complaining about growing up in a large family-when should Mom and Dad have stopped? Before you or after you?
ReplyDeleteOh go away Jesus fucker, that shit is old.
ReplyDelete@K if that's true, and she really read or believed that, then its sad to me that they got it all started after guilt that the birth control was killing a fertilized egg. That has no basis in truth.
Thank you Bad Fish for never feeling intimidated to post. You often say things I would like to, but don't.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, that woman's teeth and bones are going to crumble soon, because that many pregnancies deplete calcium and other nutrients from a woman's body. I don't care WHAT kind of prenatal vitamins she takes.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, I wonder what's going to happen when one of those kids turns out gay. Statistically, at LEAST one will be. I just have to laugh about that. It's not funny, especially for the poor kid that winds up being gay in that kind of homophobic environment. But it amuses me to think of the parents and sibs freaking out.
I agree with just about all the statements here, but I truly want to know how they live debt free. Jim Bob has said numerous times and from what they have shown investment wise on the show, I want to know how! The Quiverful movement and the beliefs in creationism scare me, but it's their life. I would be very interested in seeing how these kids are when they are adults and out in the "real" world. (Even though I don't think they ever will be.)
ReplyDeleteI watched a few episodes of this show initially thinking that, yeah these people are crazy, but at least they are having healthy children who are polite and seem happy. I think the mom is the kind of person who loves kids and isn't stressed out by having a lot of them, and if they're happy with their huge brood, and they can afford to support them (they own and rent commercial properties as their primary income), then party-on. It takes all kinds.
ReplyDeleteThen I saw the episode where they took their kids to a creation science museum and it bothered me so much I haven't watched since. I've never gotten worked up over loony creationists before, but somehow taking kids to a 'museum' with no real exhibits of any real artifacts, just plastic displays of propaganda, just highly bothered me. The fact that the kids are homeschooled, have no access to TV or the internet, and socialize only with other like-minded families means that these kids have NO IDEA how the outside world is. Any competing worldview is banned. That's just not healthy.
my god this shit is funny today.
ReplyDeletethank you BF for saying what we were all thinking.
I have only seen fifteen minutes of this show, but wonder if the children have any friends? I know they get together with other families of the same faith, and the children socialize that way, but it isn't quite the same as finding your own friend that wasn't pre-approved by your parents.
ReplyDeleteI think these people are sick, selfish and greedy. I know from my fundie brother's ranting on the subject why Christians of this type are into doing this: they believe the US is being taken over by the non-whites and non-Christians, so they believe it's as their holy duty to produce as many white babies as they can.
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame these girls are being raised to believe their only value is as breeding stock.
Oh, and Ice Angel? Coming from a too-large family myself, I can tell you absolutely that my parents should've stopped BEFORE they had me. Matter of fact, my mom went temporarily blind from stress after having me and my twin. The doctor didn't tell her she was carrying twins because he feared my mom would kill herself if she knew.
Now that we're adults, half of us kids have had ourselves sterilized, because we never, never again want to experience the deprivation and poverty caused by uncontrolled breeding. (And the rest stopped at two.)
I wonder how many Duggar kids will collaborate on a tell-all book once they're adults?
One of my favorite scenes has Michelle homeschooling the brood. She goes to great pains to let the audience know that today's focus is a civics lesson. The camera pans down to one of the Dugg-let's workbook and the page is all about Jesus.
ReplyDeleteI never saw the show but I wanted to comment on the large # of kids. So many of you are saying how it's a disservice to the kids to have so many and that they will go without because of the large number.
ReplyDeleteOne of my best friends from college is 1 of 14...I know that's not 18 but it's pretty damned close. They range in age from 20 to 40 and there is 1 set of twins....the oldest. Every one of the kids went to college and many went to graduate school. They are all very happy and lead really productive lives. So, a really large family isn't necessarily a bad thing. I don't get it and it baffles me but not necessarily bad.
I hate to say this, but I'd have more admiration for these folks if they were adopting kids who really needed a home and family. Call me preachy, but aren't there enough kids in the world that this couple could raise without going for a world pregnancy record?
ReplyDeleteI'm with Blue Bonnett. My mom is one of 12 and my dad is one of 8. Aunts and uncles on both sides work, have healthy families, and are well-adjusted, contributing members of society. Family reunions are a blast and I feel like I have a bond with a large number of people that love me and have my well-being in mind.
ReplyDeleteSomething that really bugs me about the above comments is the quick way some people call out a "Jesus Freak" or "Jesus F*cker". I do believe in the Christian faith. Obviously not in the same way as the Duggars but really...is the name calling necessary? It's offensive and out of order. It really is.
These people are different. I don't agree with their lifestyle for myself but damn, this is still the US of America and they have a right to believe that the coloured folks are taking over and they must protect the Whiteness of the US of A.
This is just an opinion. Don't e-judge me now! LOL
At a certain point you have to wonder if the babies actually just fall out of her vajayjay or does she still give birth. Yuck
ReplyDeletegeebz- "the colored folks"???
ReplyDeletefor that comment alone you have lost any leeway the christian commentors may have had here. while i agree in to each his own i think in this day and age having anything larger than a 3 or 4 kid family is digusting. With What we now know about how we are harming our enviroment and how much damage just one person has onn the planet it is unbelievable to me that this gigantic family is popluar and on tv. My landlord just had ONE baby 3months ago and he goes through 7-10 diapers a day! I dont rememebr who mentioned it but adopting is SOOOOOOOO important and to just pop out these kids and not help others in need doesnt seem right or 'christian' at all, which is kinda their message, right?
catholic's are different because they arent coming from such a fucking racist bigoted view point of populating as many WHITE religiuos people as possible. thats my problem. The 'U.S. of A' was built on what geebz called colored folk, there are many beautiful cultures and faces here and for someone to have kids to try to wipe those people out makes me hate religon all the more.
then i already do, that is.
ReplyDeleteOkay, I'll just admit it now. I love the Duggars. They do have a habit of making me feel like one lazy ass momma. My mother in law is one of 16 and I am one of 7. I only had two and I don't do 1/3 of what either my mother or my grandmother-in-law did every day.
ReplyDeleteThe show is inspiring. They love to worship. So what? Everyone does. They just choose to pray to a Christian god.
What were those lyrics, it may be the devil or it may be the lord, but you're gonna have to serve somebody?
Jim Bob is an ex-Congressman. I have no idea what he does now besides pimp his family on TLC.
ReplyDeleteThe Duggars are part of the "QuiverFull" movement among evangelical Christians and they subscribe to some pretty heinous parenting practices that you don't see on the show, like "blanket training" (creepy shit, Google it). Mom admitted to it at one point in an interview, at the time seeing nothing wrong with it.
People are put off by them without understanding why...the why is that their family is more like an orphanage than the families the rest of us are familiar with, and it's all very "Stepford" because they are raising these kids to follow their beliefs and not giving them the opportunity to make other choices for themselves. Some of the parenting techniques advocated by the people who advocate blanket training are little more than brain washing. One of these days, if one of those kids can overcome the mindfuck, they're going to write a tell-all book, and it's gonna be a doozy.
To Kim...not everyone does. Love to worship, that is. Some of us don't worship at all. And serving and worshiping are not the same thing. I find nothing inspiring about the Duggars, either. I think they're creepy as hell.
One of the ways they managed to get "Debt-Free" was from tax free status. They do all their worshipping in their house, with dad leading the service, and often other families (with like 8, 12, 14 children themselves) come too. So there are enough people there that he can claim that it's a church, and then get the deductions and tax free status for it. That is one of the reasons why he's not a representative anymore, people didn't appreciate that very much.
ReplyDeleteWow--Jasmine. I think you better check your facts on the Catholic Church--you are way off base.
ReplyDeleteI was raised Catholic and never got the "we hate other races--go make white babies" speach--must have missed church that week.
Anyhow--The Duggars are a train wreck and the girls are indentured servants to their mother--Epic mess
Wow. Being a Christian, albeit a liberal minded one, I've gotta say that the name-calling is pretty hurtful and low. Not all Christians or Jesus Fuckers, how it was so eloquently stated, subscribe to the same ideological views as the Duggars. I myself am married to a very conservative DARK SKINNED Christian, and lo and behold, we peacefully coexist AND hope to raise a big happy family together! He's already got three from a previous marraige and so what, if we have three or four together is that going to be "too many" for some of you?
ReplyDeleteNow, I don't agree with much of anything the Duggars are doing, from the 18 kids, the closemindedness the are teaching, and the exploitation of their family on TV, but those children ARE being raised to be rresponsible, respectful, productive members of society, and for that, those CHILDREN should be applauded.
hey lurker girl- i was defending catholics. i was trying to say something else about how religous people dont all want to populate away the different types of people like the duggers and people like them want to do. sorry if this seemed confusing. i am an atheist but have no problem with other religions as long as they dont do the crazy shit this family does.
ReplyDeleteSome of the bloggers on this board have totally lost their mind. To the ones making the racists comments and the negative comments towards Catholics I don't have the time or patience at the moment to respond to that type of idiocy.
ReplyDeleteTo the person who challenged comments about big families, if you live in one and it worked good for you. If you haven't experienced there is no way you can tell someone how they should feel about it.
In regards to when a parent should stop having children I can't answer that. As I said before the parents may think they're giving each child enough attention but that doesn't mean the children agree with the parent. And what do they do later, they take it out on the sibling that THEY believe got "something" that belonged to them. It is a nightmare that immature adults take to their graves.
It isn't easy being a parent but 18 children is a nightmare and yes end the end the mother is going to suffer physically from all the wear and tear on her body.
@badfish:
ReplyDeleteweren't the gibreth's the basis of the ORIGINAL "cheaper by the dozen" movie?
when you mentioned that, it registered with me... i always loved that movie.
i don't remember who had the information on the "quiverfull" group, but i did see one of the early shows on this family, i don't recall it having anything to do with "white people".
aren't they a sect somewhat similar to some of the early mormon sects (sorry if my history is mixed up) that believes the more children you have, the more you secure your place in heaven or some such hogwash?
if that's the case, i'll settle for the warmer climate, thank you very much!