Who are the worst that the Duggar's associate with?

[calimojo]

Just curious, but who would be on the list of the worst of the worst, in the Duggar's social circle?

 

For example, RC Sproul Jr was referenced on the Christian Domestic Discipline thread earlier today, so it made me wonder, is he one of the Duggar's friends? Was he one of the 1000 invited to Jill's wedding?

 

The Pearls? The Andersons? Who are the rubbing elbows with and what makes them a candidate for worst of the worst?

[grandmadugger]

IMO Gothard. He has a long history of sexual abuse and misconduct with young women and the Duggars don't say anything.

[eh02]

I can't even think of who might be the worst. I'm not sure people who enthusiastically embrace Gothard or the Pearls are any worse than Gothard or the Pearls themselves, honestly.

Even the fundies who have relatively healthy, "normal" families seem unwilling to advocate for victims. That is very telling about how dangerous it is IMO. Not only are they willing to let an abuser stay in their community, but they will do it in utter disregard to the victim's experience.

So I think the "harmless" ones are possibly worst of all. I guess that makes the Duggars top of the list. I think of it along the same lines as the concept of rape culture - fundies live in an abuse culture, period. Whether or not they are abusive themselves, they freely continue to create an environment that is not safe and supportive for survivors and that does nothing to prevent or punish abuse, and they have the nerve to do it in the name of religion. The God they worship would be ashamed that they choose to protect people - including people who claim to be giving spiritual advice - who abuse women or children.

[calimojo]

Very good points, in both posts.

Maybe my question should be who is the the most obviously worst, by normal standards? I agree, that not standing up for victims makes the Duggars and others complicit in the abuse, but are they literally rubbing shoulders with Gothard as a friend? Are they inviting that Sproul guy over for dinner or to the wedding?

[Coco]

Michelle accepted a mother of the year award from Doug Phillips, who groomed and then abused a young girl for many years from his congregation, who also worked for him. They haven't publicly come out against him either, and he's spent a year trying to act innocent after his victim filed a lawsuit against him.

[Sundaymorning]

Basically, too many to chose from.

Let's not forget all the nutcase politicians they campaign and work (in Joshs case) for. The ones who would like to turn every country over into a Christian-fundie style theocracy, not only their own, but also "help" fundies in other countries to make laws after their liking (like Ugandas anti-gay bill).

[jerkit]

Hitting babies with pipes is the worst thing I can think of, so I'm going to have to go with the Pearls.

[ILoveJellybeans]

Gothard. He is a child molester who has molested dozens of teenage girls. The Duggars dress their daughters exactly the way he wants, pretty but modest clothing, long wavy hair and flip flops for easy access to their feet...and they let their daughters go to ATI HQ and Journey to the Heart without their parents, where they will have unsupervised contact with them. They are pretty much pimping out their daughters to Gothard. And they have never spoken out about this and have probably never asked their daughters if anything has happened to them.

[Nishi621]

Gothard. He is a child molester who has molested dozens of teenage girls. The Duggars dress their daughters exactly the way he wants, pretty but modest clothing, long wavy hair and flip flops for easy access to their feet...and they let their daughters go to ATI HQ and Journey to the Heart without their parents, where they will have unsupervised contact with them. They are pretty much pimping out their daughters to Gothard. And they have never spoken out about this and have probably never asked their daughters if anything has happened to them.

I'm new around here and don't know much about Gothard. But, easy access to their feet????

[formergothardite]

IMO Gothard. He has a long history of sexual abuse and misconduct with young women and the Duggars don't say anything.

He is one of the worst and I know that former ATI students contacted the Duggars long before all the information broke on RG and the Duggars chose to ignore it and continue sending their daughters to spend time with Gothard.

Pretty much everyone the Duggars associate themselves with are not nice people. From the Pearls to Gothard to numerous politicians to the Duck Dynasty clan. If the Duggars like them they probably believe horrible things.

[ariel9]

I'm new around here and don't know much about Gothard. But, easy access to their feet????

He has a foot fetish.

[ILoveJellybeans]

I'm new around here and don't know much about Gothard. But, easy access to their feet????

He has a foot fetish. A lot of the stories of molestation by him involve him taking off her shoes and touching them with his feet. He touched other places too, but he had a thing about barefoot teenage girls.

[fabkiwi06]

I cosign on Gothard being among the worst possible people to associate with. I do wonder what private conversations they Duggars and Bateses have had in regards to the allegations against him. I'm not surprised that they've never said anything publicly because of TLC (and TLC would rather pretend Gothard doesn't exisit than have their be a statement even remotely connecting them with him)

[Nishi621]

He has a foot fetish. A lot of the stories of molestation by him involve him taking off her shoes and touching them with his feet. He touched other places too, but he had a thing about barefoot teenage girls.

ooooooooooooooo, ok, thanks.

[doggie]

ooooooooooooooo, ok, thanks.

best not to ask sometimes.

[toejamflipflop]

It has to be Gothard.

[Georgiana]

Gothard. He is a child molester who has molested dozens of teenage girls. The Duggars dress their daughters exactly the way he wants, pretty but modest clothing, long wavy hair and flip flops for easy access to their feet...and they let their daughters go to ATI HQ and Journey to the Heart without their parents, where they will have unsupervised contact with them. They are pretty much pimping out their daughters to Gothard. And they have never spoken out about this and have probably never asked their daughters if anything has happened to them.

I'm not so sure on the bolded. We simply cannot know if they handled things privately or not. While I agree that they should have spoken out publicly, I also think they may have handled things quietly and in private to protect the girls or because it was their preference.

We had an athletic trainer at my college who was fired for sexual misconduct with several female athletes. I was not one of them, but I was a female collegiate athlete who used the training services from time to time. Even though I was not involved, to this day I don't like talking about it. It just makes me feel so uncomfortable to think that someone I trusted did this to my peers...and that it could have been me, that I was in danger and didn't even know it.

The Duggar girls may not have been targeted, but even if Gothard never touched them, they almost certainly knew some of his victims. It was probably very hard for them to realize what was going on and what happened to the girls who were there with them. I don't blame them at all if they needed to process the situation in private and never wanted to address whether or not something happened to them in a public forum.

[grandmadugger]

I'm not so sure on the bolded. We simply cannot know if they handled things privately or not. While I agree that they should have spoken out publicly, I also think they may have handled things quietly and in private to protect the girls or because it was their preference.

We had an athletic trainer at my college who was fired for sexual misconduct with several female athletes. I was not one of them, but I was a female collegiate athlete who used the training services from time to time. Even though I was not involved, to this day I don't like talking about it. It just makes me feel so uncomfortable to think that someone I trusted did this to my peers...and that it could have been me, that I was in danger and didn't even know it.

The Duggar girls may not have been targeted, but even if Gothard never touched them, they almost certainly knew some of his victims. It was probably very hard for them to realize what was going on and what happened to the girls who were there with them. I don't blame them at all if they needed to process the situation in private and never wanted to address whether or not something happened to them in a public forum.

I would agree with you but IBLP teaches that it's the woman's fault. She did something to invite the abuse. It's never the man's fault.

[BlackSheep]

Gothard.

There are lots of baddies in the Duggar contact list, but Gothard is a leader of many. He sets policies. He dictates a belief system. He has a hold over his followers.

And that hold is strong. The Duggars are all about shielding their children, but they won't speak out against and turn their backs on a child molester? :roll:

[fabkiwi06]

Jim Bob and Michelle have many glaring faults as parents... but I do believe that if one of their children was molested by Gothard, they would raise hell and try to get that child some form of help.

I keep thinking back to how JimBob reacted to Michelle's early labor with Josie and how he teared up during Jill's wedding. He is a clueless egomaniac with a dangerous ideology, but I think he does love his children and would protect them if physical harm befell them.

Unfortunately, that ideology seems to lend itself so well to people who want to manipulate others. Gothard is the worse I can think of, but I'm sure there are MANY just like him.

[HarleyQuinn]

Gothard is the worst, but I honestly don't see JB or Meechelle doing anything for their daughters if they were victims. They would just pretend it didn't happen so it wouldn't ruin their brand and they'd probably blame the daughter.

[formergothardite]

I wonder if the daughters would even say anything if Gothard did anything to them. If you read the stories many of the young girls he is accused of harassing were uncomfortable with what he was doing but convinced that it was their problem and that he would never do anything wrong. It took years to process what had happened to them.

If the M and JB were told by their daughters that Gothard behaved in an inappropriate way I suspect that they would quietly deal with the situation but want to make sure the public never, ever knew.

[FloraKitty35]

He is one of the worst and I know that former ATI students contacted the Duggars long before all the information broke on RG and the Duggars chose to ignore it and continue sending their daughters to spend time with Gothard.

Pretty much everyone the Duggars associate themselves with are not nice people. From the Pearls to Gothard to numerous politicians to the Duck Dynasty clan. If the Duggars like them they probably believe horrible things.

This is a tough one, it's an unpleasant version of choosing which cheesecake do I try from the Cheesecake Factory.

[CorruptionInc.]

This is a tough one, it's an unpleasant version of choosing which cheesecake do I try from the Cheesecake Factory.

Exactly! If the people they hang out with spew the same hate as them (which they do); we are not talking about good people here. This cult religion is not even an excuse for Christianity.

[Toothfairy]

Jim Bob and Michelle have many glaring faults as parents... but I do believe that if one of their children was molested by Gothard, they would raise hell and try to get that child some form of help.

I keep thinking back to how JimBob reacted to Michelle's early labor with Josie and how he teared up during Jill's wedding. He is a clueless egomaniac with a dangerous ideology, but I think he does love his children and would protect them if physical harm befell them.

Unfortunately, that ideology seems to lend itself so well to people who want to manipulate others. Gothard is the worse I can think of, but I'm sure there are MANY just like him.

They're not protecting them now. They knew rumors were going around about gothard but continued and still continues to follow him and send their kids to alert and JTTH. JimChelle would keep it under wraps. Prayer for the girls to ask for forgiveness for their sins