What Brought You to Free Jinger?

[Just Not Good]

I found FJ via GOMI and was SO EXCITED that my obsession with whack-a-doodle fundies wasn't just me, on my couch, hollering at the computer. (And... I work in child welfare in a rural community, so, I take a professional interest.)

[littlemommy]

I started reading the 19 Kids etc board on TwoP without having ever watching the show because I was curious how it could always be at the top of the 'commented on' list in the Candid Reality Show forum. From there I discovered the joy of Lydia of Purple and eventually waded my way here, where I have lurked happily.

[freethemall]

I'd watched the show a few times and used to be obsessed with reading Oh No They Didn't! on LJ where they used to do this great Duggar FAQ after any Duggar post with a "What's a Jinger?" section complete with some eyeroll gifs. I think the freejinger yuku site was linked on there, and so I became a lurker for a while until the Rapture forced me to register.

Also, like a lot of people here I'm very interested in FLDS and religious crazies in general. So many similarities between those two mega-patriarchies, save for the extra wives.

[metalmama1]

a long time ago, someone told me about this site on a coupon forum, of all things, when i posted something critical about kids raised in gothard homes. (cuz that's obviously a completely logical comment for someone to make on a forum dedicated to 'whats on sale & do i have a coupon for it?' :roll: but they tolerate me :D )

i live an hour from a steaming pile of gothard crap & bullsh** sanitized screwed up family activity & it is absolutely heartwrenching how twisted the kids are that they churn out.

i used to have lots of access & interaction with 'ex gothard' kids (some of which ended up feeling like they had to move back home after they escaped, cuz they have virtually no support system & their families suck with a measurable velocity) that always makes me feel SO bad, we helped out the ones we encountered absolutely i promise you the best as we could & did stuff for 'em no one else would, which pisses me off, cuz that's a pretty hateful family that tosses out a 17 year old & then turns their back on 'im.... but sometimes our help just wasn't enough, and that hurts & makes me feel awful :( i don;t know what we could have done different :( we try, we really do, but there is some stuff we can't do for 'em & that just blows :(

the twisted things i've heard them say still make me weep.

I wish my oldest son still lived around here (he lives a zillion miles away from me now.. kinda WAY too far to go diggin' up some gothard victims for his bored mama) so i no longer have the access to ex gothards like i used to when he was out there tearin' it up with 'em, showing 'em it was ok to smoke AND listen to thrash metal AND go to concerts AND get your ear pierced AND wear black nail polish EVEN IF you were a boy & the lord god wouldn't solemnly zap you from heaven and kill you dead right where you stood... (or whatever the f*** they teach their kids.... i am kinda sure they say some of that stuff is a "sin" lol)

anyway, i didn't check it out then cuz i thought it 'free jinger' was some kinda political movement i wasn't savvy enough to be hip to. anyway, the person that told me about it has a 'free jinger dugger' tshirt for an avatar, huh??

i vaguely knew there was some tv show about the duggars that i had any interest in watching, cuz i got a buncha annoying kids that get on my nerves, the last thing i'd ever want to do is watch a tv show about a ridiculously humongous PILE of 'em, ugh gimme a break!!!

so i didn't know they were gothard, don't really know who jinger is or how old etc.... then i thought this was an entire forum dedicated to duggar stuff & eh; don't care... last thing i wanna do is read a buncha stuff that'll piss me off so much i'll drive an hour away & just start [/sARCASM FONT] firebombing houses & stealing kids from people that i KNOW are abusing them... [\SARCASM FONT]

but i have become interested in the gothard topic again & your forum again popped up in lists of anti gothard things i've been googling huh. checking you out now.... .

i kinda don't get this site, and why jinger, there is a pile of kids in that family, is she a little kid or always getting stuffed in the "prayer closet"? the cultural references to her & their peculiar teachings are lost on me. THANK YOU GOD!!!

i've read & wept my way thru the razing ruth blog & archives & the commandments of men blog over the past few days & she mentions you a bunch....

&... i kinda don't get this site. is there a 'what we do/ why we exist/ read this thread if you wanna know about that, read that thread if you are more into this' post somewhere?

i read the 'big famous players in the scene' thread, i have only heard of 2 or 3 of 'em... my stars, someone is gonna think i am a gothard shill here to spy on ya!! i have no idea what anything means or who anyone is!!! oh my stars i hope there's not a test, yikes!!! i'll fail....

& whew!! i am just WAY more sheltered from BS than i realized... THANK YOU GOD!!!

oh yeah; i'm a born again Christian, but i am trying not to f8ck my kids up so bad they are unrecognizable as humans when they are adults. i htink i am succeeding..... my 2 kids that have grown up & moved out only have 'normal parent caused neurosis'....

so yeah! there ya go!!! i am glad you exist even if i don't really understand it!!

[Curious]

&... i kinda don't get this site. is there a 'what we do/ why we exist/ read this thread if you wanna know about that, read that thread if you are more into this' post somewhere?

Welcome! We are still fleshing out all our resources, but you may find helpful information in the sticky threads in this forum and in the subforum here, Free Jinger Resources.

This particularly fourm (SOTDRT) is specifically for new folks to ask questions, so if you don't find the answers you are looking for in one of the above places, you can always just ask :)

[metalmama1]

i am sorry about the stuff i said while under the influence of sarcasm font; i read your TOS after i posted it & i feel bad for writing that i would firebomb their houses & steal heir kids cuz i know now i shouldn't ay that kinda stuff on here.... dunno where the edit bitton is OR how to make it funny without that lil thing, but you can go ahead & whack it if you want & it wont get my .... i cant remember that funny thing razing ruth calls her underwear...in a bunch!!!

[melk]

I don't even remember. I was probably looking up something about the Duggars on Google.

[AVENues]

Blogs, comments under articles... no idea. There were several, several factors.

[Papagena]

I used to really like the Duggars. Okay, I don't know if "like" is the correct word, but I didn't see anything wrong with how they raised their kids or lived their lives. Suffice it to say my opinion has changed quite a bit in the past few years. I used to read FJ when it was an open forum, but life has gotten busy around here and I kind of dropped off the face of the earth for awhile.

I returned and actually registered because I heard there was a pretty good mckmama discussion going on after her ever-so-convenient house fire, and frankly, the former reporter in me is completely intrigued with how that woman has managed to stay out of prison this long.

I planned to register, read a couple of threads and move on, and now I'm sucked in. I was raised in a very conservative Christian church - I wouldn't call them actual Fundamentalists but in a lot of ways the pastor who ran that church was close - and while I still identify as a Christian I dropped the "conservative" a long time ago. I'm pretty interested in how the women who were raised their entire lives in such a church are doing now that they are moving out of their fathers' homes, so I've enjoyed reading here quite a bit.

[AVENues]

I'm kind of on the same page with Papagena (love the name!). I was like, meh, they probably love them, look after them, clothe them, shelter them, then the whole thing started getting weirder and weirder, until one day that little voice in my head (the common sense...) yelled: the king is naked! (Le Roi nu/The Emperor's new clothes varies by country) And by that I mean, there was a point when I gasped and realized how full of * they were. And of course, there were the other crazy fundies too, the bloggers and writers, and they really did not help the Duggars keep their masks on.

[AVENues]

I first read about the Duggars on Perez Hilton's website. I don't think many people discover them that way :D :lol: Now I don't know which of them I like less. I stopped following both ph.com, and 19KAC but here at least I can feast on the atrocious news related to the Duggars :)

[SpinachandChickpeas]

Googled "Dede Haislip", found another forum talking about her and they mentioned this forum.

[lilith]

Googled "Dede Haislip", found another forum talking about her and they mentioned this forum.

Welcome! I suspect DD and XGG will send plenty of new members our way.

[formergothardite]

Googled "Dede Haislip", found another forum talking about her and they mentioned this forum.

Welcome! Dede and VeryGayGreg are like the gift that keeps on giving.

[Kiskiki]

Duggar forums on twop. I lurked years ago on Emily and dna's blog and seeing all the posts on here about them is like a trip down memory lane.

[belly_button]

I found this site last summer when I googled Venessa Giron. I was pregnant at the time and having a hard time sleeping so I'd spend hours here at night reading everything. I didn't register until the drama happened earlier this year and I could no longer read anything. I checked nearly every day to see if registration was open or the forums were public again. Every day. My husband thought I was crazy, I'm sure.

It took me a while to start to post because I am kind of shy and some of you long time posters are rather intimidating. :D

[Buzzard]

I found this site last summer when I googled Venessa Giron. I was pregnant at the time and having a hard time sleeping so I'd spend hours here at night reading everything. I didn't register until the drama happened earlier this year and I could no longer read anything. I checked nearly every day to see if registration was open or the forums were public again. Every day. My husband thought I was crazy, I'm sure.

It took me a while to start to post because I am kind of shy and some of you long time posters are rather intimidating. :D

Most of us dont bite :shifty-kitty:

[Curious]

Most of us dont bite :shifty-kitty:

Don't worry, we keep her vaccinated now so no one has to go through the rabies series. We learned that one...the hard way :mouse-shock:

[idonthaveajname]

I think it was either Emily and Dna or McKMama. I googled something and here I am.

[twin2]

Welcome! Dede and VeryGayGreg are like the gift that keeps on giving.

I think they are the new Emily and Dna.

[Verin Sedai]

I started watching trashy reality TV on my kindle to pass the time while waiting for my son to nurse to sleep, and one of the shows was Sister Wives. I think I googled something about one of the wives and wound up here. Then I got sucked into the first monster Sparkling Adventures thread (and subsequently Hellena the Creatrix) and thought I could quit any time I wanted to when suddenly the crap hit the fan and the site locked down and I had withdrawal symptoms.

[elleighjae]

I lurked forever ago, but decided to finally join recently when I got a bit fed-up with DWOP.

I want to know what the hell happened to Jana, personally. She looks dead in the eyes.

[Madden]

I recently moved from San Francisco to the American Bible Belt.

I just attended my first local homeschool conference here, and met my first real-life Fundie homeschooler.

Now I'm nursing a morbid, curious fascination with these folks!

I googled this forum on the suggestion of an internet buddy. There was a discussion about the Pearls, and I didn't know who they were. She said everything I needed to know, I'd learn here.

Let the lessons begin :wink-kitty:

[daisyfern]

I used to watch the Duggars a lot on television. After Josie's birth I wanted to learn more about them. I think I first heard of FJ from TWOP. I now realize the Duggar family is not the role models I originally assumed they were. I am appalled by many of their beliefs.

[Shoes Grace]

I've been lurking since about 2008. I'd heard about the Duggars on a Fark.com thread when Jackson was born, and they popped up again when Johanna and Jennifer were born, the phrase Free Jinger was one of the frequent posts in the Duggar threads. Trying to find a Fark Duggar thread just before Jordyn was born by typing in Free Jinger, I found you guys. Intended only to lurk, and then when the board closed to lurkers a few months ago I thought, "well, that's that," but because of all the new fundies I learned about that I like better (namely the Maxwells, whose blog is always funnier with FJ commentary) I can't stay away and joined. So, why not post if I can?