Feeling Sorry For the Famous Fundies?

[lilwriter85]

Yeah, I have no pity for Kirk Cameron. Maybe in real life he's actually a nice person, but based on statements he's made to the media concerning religion he comes off as a huge asshole.

I think Kirk is probably nice to his fundie followers but I agree his statements on religion make him look like an ass. The recent comments he made about Stephen Hawking showed that. I have also read and heard several stories about how his attitude changed once he became Christian. Several crew members from Growing Pains said before he turned Christian that he was cocky but was nice to the cast and crew after he became Christian crew members and even cast members said that Kirk ignored most of the crew on the set. Also he alienated a lot of people after he requested that Julie McCullough be fire from GP. After Julie was fired, some crew members and a were upset with how the incident went down. I have heard that Kirk doesn't really keep in touch with his former co-stars.

[marmalade]

I have to take issue with what you said about Anna's family. The sister married an ATI guy. He left the movement after their marriage and because in the mind of Daddy Keller, his daughter is now under her husband's authority, he has to accept the choice the husband ostensibly made for her. In this case, the BIL just put up a new post about ATI Royalty on his blog and they discussed how ATI/IBLP is definitely tiered toward legalism via works in the institution ie. how many seminars, Journeys, working at the centers, missions, etc. like the other still-indoctrinated sister. It reflects well on the entire Keller family, in spite of the son and daughter who left and are now SHUNNED by their own father. The inter-sibling relationships, for the most part, seem to be rather intact, although Anna did not invite her brother for Thanksgiving last year.

By the time Smuggar proposed to Anna, I'm sure he knew TLC would be taping (those deals are often in place a year in advance. If he was being totally honest during their courtship, he would have told her and she could have talked to her father about this and backed out of the relationship. She didn't. I have absolutely no sympathy for her, especially after some of the crap she's spewed on the show. Smuggar will be paying rent to Boob for the unforseeable future, so while he may not be getting any more handouts from Daddy, he WILL actually have to sell cars one day. That will be the test for the Smugs; we'll see what kind of woman Anna is if things aren't as cush (I think they're still playing House) as they are now.

FWIW, I think TLC was PRAYING that Anna would go on labor during that bus tour. That would have been a ratings bonanza! I also don't buy their party line (said on the show) that Anna CHOSE to on a 10 day trip 2 weeks from her due date. She and Smuggar are under a separate contract with TLC, but if TLC says jump, Smuggar will reply, "How high?"

for that check.

No sympathy for any of them, unless they break free of a lifestyle that they're being forced to front. Some may still be doing so, but unless they speak out, we'll never know (and they'll just be labeled as "bitter," etc.).

[lilwriter85]

I have to take issue with what you said about Anna's family. The sister married an ATI guy. He left the movement after their marriage and because in the mind of Daddy Keller, his daughter is now under her husband's authority, he has to accept the choice the husband ostensibly made for her. In this case, the BIL just put up a new post about ATI Royalty on his blog and they discussed how ATI/IBLP is definitely tiered toward legalism via works in the institution ie. how many seminars, Journeys, working at the centers, missions, etc. like the other still-indoctrinated sister. It reflects well on the entire Keller family, in spite of the son and daughter who left and are now SHUNNED by their own father. The inter-sibling relationships, for the most part, seem to be rather intact, although Anna did not invite her brother for Thanksgiving last year.

By the time Smuggar proposed to Anna, I'm sure he knew TLC would be taping (those deals are often in place a year in advance. If he was being totally honest during their courtship, he would have told her and she could have talked to her father about this and backed out of the relationship. She didn't. I have absolutely no sympathy for her, especially after some of the crap she's spewed on the show. Smuggar will be paying rent to Boob for the unforseeable future, so while he may not be getting any more handouts from Daddy, he WILL actually have to sell cars one day. That will be the test for the Smugs; we'll see what kind of woman Anna is if things aren't as cush (I think they're still playing House) as they are now.

FWIW, I think TLC was PRAYING that Anna would go on labor during that bus tour. That would have been a ratings bonanza! I also don't buy their party line (said on the show) that Anna CHOSE to on a 10 day trip 2 weeks from her due date. She and Smuggar are under a separate contract with TLC, but if TLC says jump, Smuggar will reply, "How high?"

for that check.

No sympathy for any of them, unless they break free of a lifestyle that they're being forced to front. Some may still be doing so, but unless they speak out, we'll never know (and they'll just be labeled as "bitter," etc.).

I think the same thing too. TLC is aware that interest in the show has declined and they know the chances of Michelle getting pregnant again are slim. I think the network has probably been thinking of ways to Smuggar and Anna to keep interest in the show. Smuggar will try to ride the TLC train as he long as he can. Without TLC, Smuggar wouldn't be able to have certain things.

[Helvetica]

In response to Anna's home birth. I tried to post this earlier but was unsuccessful and haven't figured out how to quote yet. They probably planned on a home birth all along but Arkansas is anti-midwifery. In such state a midwife could be prosecuted for felony practicing medicine without a license, CPS could charge the parents with neglect if they failed to obtain prenatal care with a licensed OB or family practitioner, the mother could be subject to random drug testing for up to a year after the birth etc... It sounds insane, but unfortunately it happens in America. From the set-up of their Douala, I'm confident she was a well trained midwife and probably the OB they worked with was an under the radar back-up for her. BUT Anna was nuts to wander around the country on a bus so close to the birth of their second kiddo.

Interesting. Thanks for the info!

[darareaksmey]

I too have sympathy for the children that are raised in this mess. But I imagine as they get older, start their own families and subject THEIR children to this mess, all of my sympathy will switch to the new generation. At some point, you have to take responsibility for your own choices and that point, to me, is when you decide to subject your own children to this disaster of a lifestyle.

This, in spades. I feel sorry for the "littles" because they're being raised with blinders on. However, those same littles will soon be grown-ups. Will they have learned from their own childhoods that 12+ kids and only rudimentary education is perhaps not the best way to conduct family life? I know I learned a lot from my own childhood about how NOT to raise my kids. I hope some or most of these children develop insight and break away.