Something fishy on Reddit

[Kitchen Princess]

Hey folks, checking in for a minute. I'm looking for your opinion on this post on reddit. Someone asked about Quiverfull, and this was one of the responses.

This person is claiming she still lives with her fundie mother, and I'm getting a vibe that tells me she can't be as sheltered as she thinks she is and still be able to tell this story. Something's fishy:

http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comme ... ry/clzpmbn

Let me know what you think. (Didn't break the link--reddit.)

[Kitchen Princess]

I just read another comment that leads me to believe this person may read here.

So, if you're here, I still don't believe you.

[NotALoserLikeYou]

It's a little all over the place. Small IFB church school AND a charismatic church exorcising demons at the same time?

Our schoolwork was primarily books published by Abeka, BJUPress and ACE. Our textbooks claimed that no transitional fossils had ever been found the Loch Ness Monster had been proven to be real and was a plesiosaur the Great Depression never happened but was just a myth made up by the socialists slavery was a win-win solution for all involved dinosaurs breathed fire the KKK were great dudes who got a bad rap the trail of tears was actually super great outer space wasn't real because if you blew on a pile of baby powder, a new planet wouldn't form (this was demonstrated) the Liberals don't believe in personal responsibility the world is about to be attacked by the floating Space Jerusalem

We never covered much actual math, science, etc. Learning the truth about the government's plan to kill Holocaust the Christians was seen as much more important.

It's mostly the existence of other planets they doubt. They figure Space Jerusalem is on an asteroid hovering above the Earth, and it has begun its slow descent. After the Rapture takes place the human armies of the world will all gather in Earth Jerusalem to do battle with Space Jerusalem, which they will perceive as Martian invaders.

My teacher poured a pile of baby powder into her hand and had us (about 25 or 30 kids, pre-Kindergarten through fifth grade all in one classroom) watch closely. She blew on it, and of course the dust scattered. "Did a new planet just form?" she asked. Of course, someone answered that one did not. "Then how could evolution be true? It couldn't! Powder doesn't just make planets. Only God does."

I've never heard of this space Jerusalem. Or of kids being taught about there being no depression, etc in a Christian school.

[thoughtful]

I dunno -- are sloths anything like possums? :whistle:

I'm generally pretty bad at sniffing out fakes, but you could be right. Somebody jumped right in and started posting about sending her money (I've never used reddit -- are socks common?). She hasn't said yes to that . . . yet.

[Kitchen Princess]

She said somewhere she was receiving PMs so I'm sure she's considering accepting gifts.

You don't even need an email address to join reddit. Socks are not only common, they're almost de rigueur.

[snarkykitty]

It reads like a bad term paper based on an encyclopedia entry. There's no depth, just "facts". I call fake.

[CallmeChaCha]

Let's see... some thoughts (I really should be doing homework but this is far more interesting)

1) What thoughtful said about possums.

2) "I've been waiting for this thread my entire life." Um, okay. Her only means of escape is through reddit?

3) I think she got bingo (made bingo? won bingo?): quiverfull, patriarchy, helpmeet, courting, long skirts, IFB, Abeka, Homeschoolers Anonymous, NLQ, ungodly eta: immodest, defrauding, Michael Pearl

4) "I still have no real education..." If you read her other posts, this doesn't ring true. She has decent writing skillz.

5) She knows what "Grand Magi, Exalted Cyclops and Imperial Wizard" are :?

I don't know. Just don't send her money. :shrug:

eta: So, I kept reading her posts and came across this, posted one month ago under "ELI5: the "Quiverfull" movement among some Christian families"

I grew up with a Quiverfull family for most of my childhood, so I have lots of first-hand experience here.

[lemonhead]

Hmm. I also grew up in a church that was a weird mix of fundie and charismatic (equal parts shepherding movement/Gothard/neo-Calvinist) so that statement would not necessarily ping my radar. (Note: It's not me LOL I lurk on reddit but I don't post!)

Who knows...could be anything going on here, but I agree, don't send her money...

It's interesting, though, I have also lurked on the SDMB (Straight Dope Message Board) for over a decade, and just a few weeks ago there was sort of an Ask Me Anything thread by someone who claimed to grow up fundie/Quiverfull, and mentioned a dad who died of cancer and working in a library, and I thought of RR. Then a couple of people posted asking her if she's heard of Ruth...she denied, but it was a weird coincidence/synchronicity.

Short version: don't believe everything you read on the interwebz :D

[ViolaSebastian]

"I still have no real education..." If you read her other posts, this doesn't ring true. She has decent writing skillz.

This was my first thought. There's not a spelling error in her entire message, and very few grammatical ones. There's no way she's been primarily home schooled by a mother so depressed that she can't get out of bed.

[3DMommy]

It's a little all over the place. Small IFB church school AND a charismatic church exorcising demons at the same time?

I've never heard of this space Jerusalem. Or of kids being taught about there being no depression, etc in a Christian school.

I never though about it until now, but neither of the Christian schools I attended ever mentioned the depression. Including US history, in high school. I could be wrong, but I truly don't remember ever covering it.

[lawfulevil]

Someone who found FundRazing Ruth's scam $ total inspirational, perhaps?

[nelliebelle1197]

I never though about it until now, but neither of the Christian schools I attended ever mentioned the depression. Including US history, in high school. I could be wrong, but I truly don't remember ever covering it.

Mine used Abeka and BJU; all the teachers were Maranatha Bible College and BJU grads. We had the Depression and everything else.

[uber frau]

I've heard similar claims about the Loch Ness monster and other cryptozoological creatures being taught (or at least, not being written off)by ex-ACE students. (Aside: there's an ex-ACE board that I'd really like to discuss one of these days)

Yep,the whole thing smells of possum or some other related creature. I'm not great at picking writing styles but I do think the tone is similar. There's a bossy know-it-all-ness that she shares with some(all?) of the possum's personas.

[DGayle]

I've never heard of this space Jerusalem. Or of kids being taught about there being no depression, etc in a Christian school.

There are people preaching that the Holocaust never happened. I can believe that kids could be taught that the depression never happened. If you're enough against social services, you can spin it so that the depression is a liberal lie to get people to support social services for lazy, ungodly people who aren't satisfied making poverty wages while thinking there should be access to birth control.

[DGayle]

4) "I still have no real education..." If you read her other posts, this doesn't ring true. She has decent writing skillz.

I have a friend who grew up in the bible belt. She didn't grow up quiverfull, per se. Jean pants are allowed. Not going to a bible-thumping church isn't. Homeschooled, given a crappy education. But that girl can write. She got internet access about 6 years ago, and I met her not long after. Her writing skills improved tons by reading and writing online, thanks to her parents who believed they had properly set up parental controls on their adult-daughter's computer. Earlier this year she converted to atheist. She knows her education is shitty, especially science, and it struggling a lot to separate the bullshit she was taught from what might be true, but still that girl can write. It's the skill she takes pride in.

So I wouldn't discount a redditer just because she says her education isn't much, but she can still write.

Hopefully someone can verify she's for real before money starts pouring in. I hope she's real so that those nice, restoring-my-faith-in-humanity people won't have their kind-heartedness taken advantage of.

[Firiel]

This reeks of Ruth, IMO.

[Curious]

This reeks of Ruth, IMO.

I kind of got an almost AD feel from it. Didn't Harold Camping die? Maybe she's had to change up her game a little since we outed it here and tied it back to her antics other places and with Camping being dead, it's kind of hard to still have parents that are following him and worrying about the end of the world.

People are keeping such a close eye on "Ruth" now I'd be surprised if she can sneeze without someone knowing about it. Has anyone checked the new TAR site (I can't think of the name)?

[uber frau]

The TAR/scammer in a mini van site hasn't been updated since July. I think the woman who took it over is just as busy as the woman who started it and that she's just hosting it,not actually adding any new content.

I thought of AD too but, IIRC, her style was different. More woe is me and less bossy. I could be very wrong though.

[jerkit]

Woah I stopped following TAR a few months ago. Why the transfer? Is the explanation somewhere on the new site?

[uber frau]

I didn't really follow it in depth after the first week or so (I got bored). I went back to read the TAR site a few (6?) months and the owner had closed the site citing family and health reasons. I think her mother was quite ill and that she just had our reassess things and sort out some priorities. I checked back a few weeks ago when I was avoiding studying and FJ was down and saw that there was a new host.

That's all I know.

[nelliebelle1197]

I didn't really follow it in depth after the first week or so (I got bored). I went back to read the TAR site a few (6?) months and the owner had closed the site citing family and health reasons. I think her mother was quite ill and that she just had our reassess things and sort out some priorities. I checked back a few weeks ago when I was avoiding studying and FJ was down and saw that there was a new host.

That's all I know.

The woman who started it actually ticked me off so I have not gone back for ages. I figured she was still going - and it was boring after the first few posts.

Why is everyone buying into this quickly? My biggest alarm bell is the poster's use of "Quiverfull". They don't use that. Also, is there a significant Quiverfull movement in Canada? The whole story seems shady. Too many stereotypes are hit at once. Also, sloth's defender and sloth both recently joined reddit and neither seem to have a large presence outside this post.

[jerkit]

I agree that the use of the word "quiverfull" is a red flag. QF fundies usually shy away from that word a la the duggars saying "we aren't part of any movement"

[2Cents]

I wouldn't say hat there is a large QF movement in Canada, but they are around. I went to a private Christian Academy when I was a young child. It was Pentecostal, they believed in casting out demons, speaking in tongues and corporal punishment all the things that made going to school a joy. I remember using those ACE PACES for my "classes" and I don't remember the Holocaust even being mentioned neither was the KKK for that matter. History was a pretty white washed topic so there wasn't even a simple mention about the Trail of Tears.

IMO it seems like a Ruth clone.

[SnazzyNazzy]

It seems like a scam to me, but then again, I'm a cynical bish.

[polecat]

It's a little all over the place. Small IFB church school AND a charismatic church exorcising demons at the same time?

I've never heard of this space Jerusalem. Or of kids being taught about there being no depression, etc in a Christian school.

I went to A Beka schools from middle school until I graduated. We were taught creationism, and there was a definite downplaying of the atrocities committed by westerners (during the colonization of other countries, primarily), but these claims sound like BS to me.