The Truth About Ruth - Part 2 - Merge

[Eternalbluepearl]

I'm just learning about Ruth right now while reading this thread. There is talk she got engaged, did she marry?

[Lainey]

I'm just learning about Ruth right now while reading this thread. There is talk she got engaged, did she marry?

Nope, she broke it off because his mom was being pushy or something.

[Queen Of Hearts]

Okay, I am getting more and more sucked into this mystery. But I found the following comment from [redacted] interesting (in response to someone who mentioned Gothard passing up one of his daughters because she doesn't have 'the look'):

Hi, Fly :-) I talk to them all of the time. Based on the information you indicated I would expect you were someone who served with daughter #1 during the several conferences she was invited to serve at. Not being able to serve full-time was a grief to her . . . but . . . both she and we felt the Lord in it. The cons of serving at HQ are well documented.

Daughter #2 is indeed "the type" and has gotten positive attention on several occasions. In fact, Mr. Gothard indicated that he would be contacting us about having her serve, but the request never happened. For the record, she was looking forward to serving there, with my son. And . . . she is currently completing her first year teaching English in Taiwan, with the Institute, set to return next year.

Daughter #2 is [redacted]. he confirms that with mentioning Taiwan. BUT... Mary is actually the 3rd child, according to his website. "Thanks for visiting! [redacted] We are in fellowship with the believers who gather in the New Lenox Gospel Hall (commonly known as Plymouth Brethren), which is a great privilege. We home school through the Advanced Training Institute of America (ATI), a program which we deeply appreciate. Jesus Christ is Lord of all . . . and of our home!"

So [redacted] is actually daughter #3, after [redacted]. I wonder if it is [redacted] he is forgetting about? This guy sounds wackadoodle to me. he is defending Gothard's actions with young girls, basically saying it is okay because peg A never went into slot b. Regardless of their connection to RR, I think I have found a new fundie family I need to follow.

[Rachel333]

Weirdly, one of the older [redacted] girls has an April 1st birthday and she's also really into writing. I still think it's all a coincidence, though.

[Mustang Sally]

I think he wasn't referring to [redacted] as literally their 2nd daughter, but was rather paraphrasing what the commenter had said - that he had two daughters who had some contact with Gothard, one of which had "the look."

[Just_Jane]

:popcorn2:

This is more drama than a daytime soap. Like sands through the hourglass so are the blogs of our lives. or something like that.

[Queen Of Hearts]

Weirdly, one of the older [redacted] girls has an April 1st birthday. (That's an easy one to remember.) I still think it's all a coincidence, though.

Which one?

I am leaning toward the family being involved in some way - either as an actual participant or as a base for a elaborate 'story.' There are just too many similarities here. #of kids, names, locations, ATI, Duggar connections, brothers working for Gothard, etc. Yeah, I know there can be coincidences, but to have this many seems a bit suspect. I'd put money on either RR being one of the [redacted], or at the very least knowing them well enough to "lift" aspects of their life to use for their own elaborate hoax.

[stonefruit]

:popcorn2:

This is more drama than a daytime soap. Like sands through the hourglass so are the blogs of our lives. or something like that.

Seriously. I keep refreshing, and each time someone has sleuthed out some new discrepancy/detail. It's really remarkable!

[Lainey]

What if her dad's death was another detail she changed? What if it was her mom that died?

Just throwing that out there, as I'm not sure if anyone else thought of it yet. I still think it's all made up, so...

[Rachel333]

Which one?

[redacted], and as I edited my post to say, she is also very into creative writing. Did NaNoWriMo and all that. She's currently living in Chicago but doesn't work at a library (though I could see her wanting to). She's very internet-savvy, too.

Agh, I'm feeling really guilty now. I actually like these people. I know how it looks, but I really don't think it's her. She does seem pretty on-board with the fundie lifestyle still, for one thing.

[singsingsing]

I don't think this family is involved. At most, RR may have gleaned some inspiration from them, but I don't think she IS one of them. The coincidences seem like just that - coincidences.

[Rachel333]

I don't think this family is involved. At most, RR may have gleaned some inspiration from them, but I don't think she IS one of them. The coincidences seem like just that - coincidences.

That's what I feel, too. I don't really even think RR was inspired by them, I think it's all just coincidences.

[tinylegs1]

I read sporadically when I found the blog a few years ago. I found most the story believable but there were flags for me in that it seemed she went from ridiculous crisis to ridiculous crisis. Then I felt like a heel for doubting. :/ It was one of the first eye-openers about Gothard and led me to do a lot of (disturbing) research.

I'm no internet sleuth, so I do hope someone will post a really good recap when the dust settles and save me from hours of reading comments and trying to figure out clues.

[Palimpsest]

Seriously. I keep refreshing, and each time someone has sleuthed out some new discrepancy/detail. It's really remarkable!

Can I join the two of you on the couch? I think I've said all I want to about RR, and just want to observe the drama from now on. I brought :soda: :popcorn: and :popcorn: to share.

[flyawaystray]

I don't think there are coincidences. I am not saying that RR is part of the family mentioned, just that she may have taken from the family for "inspiration".

There's just TOO many similarities, imo.

I do think Ruth/Mary is/was from an ATI family, but that's about all that seems legit to me. I feel dumb for having been suckered into the story, although I never did donate money.

I've had my fair share of things going wrong in a short period of time. My rabbit died last August after having him for three months. In September, I was sick with costochondritis. At the end of October, the hurricane hit and was able to go back home before Christmas (had no power/electric for that period of time). My cat needed surgery two months ago and that was $900. Then a month ago, I was in a car accident, broke my knee, and am starting physical therapy next week.

Now I am sick with bronchitis and it really sucks. I've been sick since June 17th. I'm on meds and my cough is still really horrible, and I sound like a frog.

Stuff happens. But I do know there's a difference between what I've been through, and everything that is going down with Ruth.

[ILoveJellybeans]

I think maybe Ruth does have connections to ATI because of how much she knows about their way of thinking, whether she is an ex member who decided to add more to her story to make it more interesting when she realised how much attention/money she could get from it, wishful thinking from a bored ATI housewife who secretly resents being forced into marrying someone and wishes she had ran away like Ruth did but it all got out of hand as she realised that it could bring a bit of extra money for her and she was finally getting the sympathy that she always wanted but wasnt getting, or someone who did have experience with ATI deciding for whatever reason to create a character based on their own experiences or the experiences of someone they know and blog as them.

Or she just did a lot of research for her story by reading a ton of blogs by spiritual abuse survivors, as well as reading fundie blogs. Its certainly possible, theres enough information out there-on here, No Longer Quivering, Recovering Grace, the many blogs by survivors and also the many fundie blogs out there to create a character if you were a good enough writer. Just find a fundie family, particularly an obscure one that people wont guess (like this family), change the names, maybe change a few of the ages/genders of the kids around a bit, or add an extra kid/leave one out, then add abusive bits from known sources (fundie parenting books, experiences of real people) then make up a reason to escape and go on the feelings given about adjusting to the world from reading real experiences...perfect fundie excape story.

It would certainly be possible.

This is really really interesting.

[sparkplug]

I had also believed all along that the [redacted] were making up the Ruth story, specifically [redacted]. She mentions on her blog that she dreams up characters, situations and things that come from one little real thing in life. She keeps notebooks of her characters and I believe she said her Dad helped her with the story. My bet is on her, but then the ofDuggar having a child comment couldn't ring true. Confusing!

[copper]

There are coincidences. But it really could be any one. Practically every ATI family with older children likely has a relationship with the Duggars, has had kids/family work at HQ, etc.

[laura oz]

;)

:wink-kitty: Thank you. That's better.

[Triplet3]

Ofduggar's writing style seems pretty different to Ruth's. I'm not convinced they're the same person - maybe ofduggar linked to Ruth's blog to try to discredit her?

[Lainey]

Ofduggar's writing style seems pretty different to Ruth's. I'm not convinced they're the same person - maybe ofduggar linked to Ruth's blog to try to discredit her?

And Ruth allowed that to go unchallenged because...why?

Also, did ofDuggar discredit Ruth? Or even try? I don't think that happened.

[nokidsmom]

I think maybe Ruth does have connections to ATI because of how much she knows about their way of thinking, whether she is an ex member who decided to add more to her story to make it more interesting when she realised how much attention/money she could get from it, wishful thinking from a bored ATI housewife who secretly resents being forced into marrying someone and wishes she had ran away like Ruth did but it all got out of hand as she realised that it could bring a bit of extra money for her and she was finally getting the sympathy that she always wanted but wasnt getting, or someone who did have experience with ATI deciding for whatever reason to create a character based on their own experiences or the experiences of someone they know and blog as them.

Or she just did a lot of research for her story by reading a ton of blogs by spiritual abuse survivors, as well as reading fundie blogs. Its certainly possible, theres enough information out there-on here, No Longer Quivering, Recovering Grace, the many blogs by survivors and also the many fundie blogs out there to create a character if you were a good enough writer. Just find a fundie family, particularly an obscure one that people wont guess (like this family), change the names, maybe change a few of the ages/genders of the kids around a bit, or add an extra kid/leave one out, then add abusive bits from known sources (fundie parenting books, experiences of real people) then make up a reason to escape and go on the feelings given about adjusting to the world from reading real experiences...perfect fundie excape story.

It would certainly be possible.

This is really really interesting.

That would be interesting if this was coming from a bored ATI housewife. Hadn't thought of that.

[ILoveJellybeans]

Ofduggar's writing style seems pretty different to Ruth's. I'm not convinced they're the same person - maybe ofduggar linked to Ruth's blog to try to discredit her?

It cant be, cause in the screenshot here http://www.flickr.com/photos/deadandali ... 7/sizes/l/ Ofduggar says that she gets a lot of question PM's and people asking her about her life, and promises to answer them on her blog. This confirms it is Ruth, as on her blog, on that day, Ruth then answers these questions on her blog.

That wouldnt happen if Ofduggar is someone trying to discredit her.

[VaSportsMom]

If this is a scam killing off her father seems like a rather stupid move. Every time he "appeared" on her blog it riled up her fangirls and made them more determined to donate money to help her succeed. She killed the golden goose unless she planned to introduce an even crazier protagonist (mean coworkers that mocked her over her PB&J?).

[laura oz]

I feel sad and happy at the same time. Sad because FJists were scammed, but happy because it shows their kind nature and friendliness.

If you're willing and ready to help others you will get caught by scams now and again, but you should still be proud of yourself for being ready to aid people in trouble.

I've always felt very welcomed here even as a newbie - hell, JFC you were the one who kindly told me I could say fuck, which I now do way too much, but I was reading over at GOMI and they think we're paranoid and cliquish, and think we think we're speshul (my paraphrasing on the speshul remark), and it seems we have an elevated sense of importance. They're meanies. Dang, shouldn't have said that. They could be going all NSA on this thread :shifty-kitty: