Josh and Anna's New Father's Day video

[FundieFarmer]

Josh is back to social media as usual. How long until he starts daily tweeting again? He can say Happy Birthday to her in person, right? It seems like they are fishing for negative comments now.

I'd agree, except I haven't seen a ton of negative comments on any of their posts. Whenever I've run across them, there's a lot of encouragement and positivity. Maybe I have missed some gems, but that surprised me.

[Four is Enough]

Those videos were sad and clearly scripted.

[halcionne]

Thoughts -

Jackson - did he say "ecspecially?"

James - "thank you daddy for not being the one to push us aside?" DA FUCK?

Hannie - "thank you for spending so much time with us kids at home" - Do these kids not know what a father actually is? Being a father IS spending time with your children and loving them... she's pretty much saying "thank you for meeting the minimum requirement of being a dad."

Jason - touting the "mistake" line again! Can someone explain the difference between "mistake" and "crime?" Josh wasnt the only one who made a "mistake"... just sayin...

Jed - Yeah, so... "thanks for pimping out my childhood so I can forage in the freezer!"

Jessa - "best dad in the world?" Um... about that "mistake" thing... right... I wonder who took that video considering they appear to be out in public. And Benjermin - TAKE OFF THE HAT YOU ARE NOT A RAPPER AND YOU LOOK LIKE A DOUCHE!

Jill - Way to make that video a priority! The gate at an airport is totally the place to make a heartfelt video to your father. I bet they bought some candy at the giftshop to bring him too.

I'm pretty sure Jessa made her video at the airport with Jill. She's wearing the same clothes we saw in the pap video from their arrival in Akron. http://www.tmz.com/2015/06/20/jill-jess ... -counting/

[Cassielfsw]

Also, he looks plump, but not drugged anymore, he must be detoxing off the anti-psychotics.

He's on anti-psychotics now? Lolwut? Do we actually have any reason to believe Josh is on psych meds other than looking spaced out? 'Cause, some of you seem to be operating based on decades-old stereotypes (see upthread). To my mind, looking spaced/stressed/zombie-like/etc is a symptom of (possibly) NEEDING mental health care, not of getting it.

[mebeforee]

I think it seems very unlikely that Josh would take antipsychotics or antidepressants. Gothardism teaches that mental disorders are a result of not being right with God, and that prayer and repentance is sufficient to correct any emotional distress that might be occurring in a person's life, regardless of cause. I also think that if Josh were seeing a psychiatrist we would have known about it by now. Obviously the therapist would not be the one to break that news, but if precious boy Josh were in any kind of counseling currently, I believe Jim Bob would have shared that information, either in a 'look at these steps he's taking to deal with our situation' or 'look what you've done to our tender hearted child, you've driven him to see one of them godless headshrinkers!'

I also really don't believe that this family sees anything that happens to them as punishment from God. They're living right, remember? Training their children up 'the right way'. Anything good that happens to them is God (even things like Josie surviving, it's not doctors and medical science that did it, it's Jesus swooping in to prevent them from making the dozens of horrible, life-ending mistakes that happen to unbelievers in hospitals). He blesses them. If anything bad happens, it's because of Satan and religious persecution and the godless liberal government relentlessly trying to oppress them. Nothing that ever happens that might alter the way they live or view themselves is from God. That's why they kept trying to have babies after Josie, and why they are probably still trying after Jubilee. If they thought those scary moments were actually signs from God that they were doing wrong, they would have started using birth control. And that stuff was uncontrollable externally, nobody to blame for it. This situation has dozens of people they can blame for it and accuse of not being Christians, so there's no need to bring God into the conversation at all, except as a weapon against their enemies.

[lascuba]

I really don't see the "spaced out/dead eyes" look you guys are talking about, though to be honest that gets said a lot about the family and I never see it. It always looks to me like, "Oh, great another picture/video. Let me put my pleasant/happy face on."

I've said it before, but these people would greatly benefit from acting classes.

[socalrules]

If Jessa and Jill made their video at the airport, there must have been a last minute decision made to "celebrate" Jim Bob. I think it was thought the video would show how great the kids were and how it's obviously that they had an awesome dad, so let's keep the show on the air. I think the Duggars have gotten so used to fame that they have no idea what to do without the cameras watching them "live" their life. This is why Josh, Jill and Jessa are still posting on social media. They won't admit they crave the attention. They probably have no idea most people just post on Facebook so their family and friends can see what they are doing, not advertising to the whole world. The idea of living a quiet life must be scary. Plus the money and perks are gone. I think this will be hard for Jill because she wants a million kids, living the life she had with the show. Now, she has a husband who, even if he gets another accounting job, will not be able to afford 15 kids and a huge bus for travels to every conservative event. I think Jessa and her unemployed, teenage husband will be fine. I don't see them having a million kids to take care of so their burden will be less.

[JesSky03]

Pre-diabetic is not a medical term and "the accepted threshold" is the issue. It's been lowered before and it needs to (and I strongly suspect will) be lowered further as we now know that threshold is far too high relative to the damage that "acceptable levels" are known to cause.

The American Diabetes Association suggests an A1C of 7%. This is insanely high and probably as likely to cause serious complications as a level of 9%. Healthy people should be no higher than 5% and diabetics should strive to stay as far under 6% as possible. The ADA also recommends a diet of 60 grams of carbohydrates per meal. For most diabetics? Insane.

No disrespect to any GPs out there, but I wish every diabetic patient could see an endocrinologist as family doctors are not specialists and many tend to follow guidelines like this. Unfortunately this isn't possible, so "pre-diabetics" along with diabetics must take responsibility for their own health and get themselves educated.

I work as a medical coder and the pre-diabetes diagnosis comes up quite frequently. It's listed in ICD-9- has its own code- 790.29.

[nst]

He's on anti-psychotics now? Lolwut? Do we actually have any reason to believe Josh is on psych meds other than looking spaced out? 'Cause, some of you seem to be operating based on decades-old stereotypes (see upthread). To my mind, looking spaced/stressed/zombie-like/etc is a symptom of (possibly) NEEDING mental health care, not of getting it.

he is on popped up popcorn

[Handmaiden of Dog]

Jessa's video is baffling to me. Six seconds long and what little is there is is underwhelming, as though she didn't want to even try to make it believably heartfelt. This from a girl who has been acting in a reality show for 10 years. We know she can "recreate" scenes from her life and read a script so what happened here? Who was filming? What was she told?

[halcionne]

Jessa's video is baffling to me. Six seconds long and what little is there is is underwhelming, as though she didn't want to even try to make it believably heartfelt. This from a girl who has been acting in a reality show for 10 years. We know she can "recreate" scenes from her life and read a script so what happened here? Who was filming? What was she told?

I'm pretty sure the Dillards filmed it while they were at the airport together on Saturday, on their way to the ALIVE music festival. Jessa and several other J kids seem so unenthusiastic about public appearances, performing, whatever you want to call it that the Duggars do. Who wants to see that?! I actually love Jessa's video--I choose to believe she knows it's all ridiculous and participates "ironically," as a form of subversion. Or something. I don't know, watching Jessa jump through hoops it looks like she hates entertains me on some level. I still hope she'll get sick of this shit and write the tell all we're all waiting for when she realizes how much money she could make from it.

[ILoveJellybeans]

Is it really worth making a six second video? Absolutely zero fucks were given that day.

[NoneandDoneinCali]

The whole video thing was just really sloppy. Not all the kids made one. The spouses didn't make videos for their fathers. They've never done this before, so it's not like a tradition. Jessa's obvious sarcasm (she seems perpetually 13 to me, but can you blame her?). Some of the younger kids went off-script. Most of them were literally in the TTC when they made them (the same house that JB was in at that time), and the older two were at the airport together, but made separate videos. Just really shoddy all around. But I hope they keep doing it - this PR firm is apparently going to run them into the ground.

[VelociRapture]

The whole video thing was just really sloppy. Not all the kids made one. The spouses didn't make videos for their fathers. They've never done this before, so it's not like a tradition. Jessa's obvious sarcasm (she seems perpetually 13 to me, but can you blame her?). Some of the younger kids went off-script. Most of them were literally in the TTC when they made them (the same house that JB was in at that time), and the older two were at the airport together, but made separate videos. Just really shoddy all around. But I hope they keep doing it - this PR firm is apparently going to run them into the ground.

:pink-shock: :lol: :clap:

Freudian Slip perhaps?!

[Dandruff]

I think the sole purpose of the public Father's Day videos was to help make JB seem more palatable. If, by some chance, TLC decides to continue the show they can do it without Josh but not without JB.

[CorruptionInc.]

Thoughts -

Jackson - did he say "ecspecially?"

James - "thank you daddy for not being the one to push us aside?" DA FUCK?

Hannie - "thank you for spending so much time with us kids at home" - Do these kids not know what a father actually is? Being a father IS spending time with your children and loving them... she's pretty much saying "thank you for meeting the minimum requirement of being a dad."

Jason - touting the "mistake" line again! Can someone explain the difference between "mistake" and "crime?" Josh wasnt the only one who made a "mistake"... just sayin...

Jed - Yeah, so... "thanks for pimping out my childhood so I can forage in the freezer!"

Jessa - "best dad in the world?" Um... about that "mistake" thing... right... I wonder who took that video considering they appear to be out in public. And Benjermin - TAKE OFF THE HAT YOU ARE NOT A RAPPER AND YOU LOOK LIKE A DOUCHE!

Jill - Way to make that video a priority! The gate at an airport is totally the place to make a heartfelt video to your father. I bet they bought some candy at the giftshop to bring him too.

Well Mullet probably does push them aside because in a way it seems all of her children excluding Josh, Jill and Josie annoy her.

In terms of spending time at home, yeah he's home but IS he spending time with his children? Or time with his wife upstairs in a locked bedroom?

[Alexa]

Those videos were sad and clearly scripted.

I saw the videos as them begging TLC not to cancel their show. The videos made me sad.

[Nic]

The next set of videos that they publish for the world to see should repeat what Jessa said: they aren't a TV family. Maybe that will get them back on TV. I mean back to their "ministry."

[mebeforee]

As a side note, I think all the kids in the family say 'ecspecially' (most of them do, anyway). They have a lot of little verbal tics that I know are regional (like using 'whenever' instead of 'when' if they aren't certain when exactly something happened) but this I figure is just an issue of them never reading the word anywhere growing up and thus having an inaccurate/approximate pronunciation and being unable to shake the habit as they get older. It really irritates me, I notice it every time they do it. I first noticed it with Josh in the early specials, and as far as I know he still says it that way. A lot of the younger kids are going to have trouble sounding educated even if they do pursue academics because they learned to speak from other children and adults rarely (if ever) correct them.

[mebeforee]

Also, in watching those videos, I think there's an odd sense that you can tell which kids have more affection for JB. The ones who call him 'pops' seem less scripted somehow and Jason is the only one who really had anything to say about JB's personal influence on their lives. and then you have Jed (how old is he now, seventeen??) calling him 'Daddy' (which is weird to me all on its own) and going on about how he appreciates not being homeless and starving. Oh, and even the time they spend together. Thanks Daddy!

As for the 'not being someone who'll push us aside', I wonder if in their circles with those giant families, they've seen other fathers who get too tired or grouchy or just overwhelmed with their massive broods and won't pay attention to their children even when the child is directly addressing them. There aren't enough hours in the day for the Duggar parents to give each child individualized attention like they need, but I don't think I've ever seen JB outright ignore a kid trying to get his attention. When they're crying because of a scraped knee or something, he'll tend to them. So... props for at least having basic empathy for his own kids? :shrug:

[Wingnut]

I think the sole purpose of the public Father's Day videos was to help make JB seem more palatable. If, by some chance, TLC decides to continue the show they can do it without Josh but not without JB.

I feel horrible for all of the kids and IMO cannot think of anything that will ever make JB palatable again.

[Nic]

Also, in watching those videos, I think there's an odd sense that you can tell which kids have more affection for JB. The ones who call him 'pops' seem less scripted somehow and Jason is the only one who really had anything to say about JB's personal influence on their lives. and then you have Jed (how old is he now, seventeen??) calling him 'Daddy' (which is weird to me all on its own) and going on about how he appreciates not being homeless and starving. Oh, and even the time they spend together. Thanks Daddy!

As for the 'not being someone who'll push us aside', I wonder if in their circles with those giant families, they've seen other fathers who get too tired or grouchy or just overwhelmed with their massive broods and won't pay attention to their children even when the child is directly addressing them. There aren't enough hours in the day for the Duggar parents to give each child individualized attention like they need, but I don't think I've ever seen JB outright ignore a kid trying to get his attention. When they're crying because of a scraped knee or something, he'll tend to them. So... props for at least having basic empathy for his own kids? :shrug:

JB and Meechelle have always made it a point to say that they will have special time for individual kids like it's a big deal and something the kid should be thankful for, but given the size of the family, I suppose you would be thankful for anytime you could get attention or feel special. Like they always seem to applaud themselves for celebrating a kid's birthday as if that is fantastic, and not something most other families do.

I always got the feeling that parent time was a reward for these kids. And that these kids are constantly reminded how great JB and Meechelle treat them. But unlike parents who have to go out and work, they are always around except when they are on their date nights... or at a conference... or hidden up in their bedroom going for #20.

[DeFrauder]

As a side note, I think all the kids in the family say 'ecspecially' (most of them do, anyway). They have a lot of little verbal tics that I know are regional (like using 'whenever' instead of 'when' if they aren't certain when exactly something happened) but this I figure is just an issue of them never reading the word anywhere growing up and thus having an inaccurate/approximate pronunciation and being unable to shake the habit as they get older. It really irritates me, I notice it every time they do it. I first noticed it with Josh in the early specials, and as far as I know he still says it that way. A lot of the younger kids are going to have trouble sounding educated even if they do pursue academics because they learned to speak from other children and adults rarely (if ever) correct them.

This is actually a thing. Many people who have only read "big words" but never hear them spoken often pronounce the "big words" wrong. People who come from families that pursue higher education (advanced university degrees) are exposed to their family members and family friends who use big words all the time and therefore pick up the correct pronunciation. People that come from families who do not have higher education do not generally use complex or specialized words and there is less opportunity to hear the words pronounced. When these people go to university, it can sometimes be like learning a new language.

Although, I am not sure if 'ecspecially' is an especially difficult word, but we are talking about kids who have been homeschooled by someone with just a high school education. I am assuming that Michelle graduated high school.

One thing is certain. DC is known for its intellectuals, graduate schools, and highly educated bureaucrats and politicians. Josh and Anna were out of their league. He never had any hope of an actual political career at the Federal level. They are competing with people that have graduate degrees from Ivy League schools. Even Sarah Palin has more education than them. :-(

[DuggarsTheEndIsNear]

I saw the videos as them begging TLC not to cancel their show. The videos made me sad.

I feel like, if that were the case, Jill and Jessa would have tried harder. They're not only at risk of losing the family show, but also their spinoff. If this was a ploy to keep the show going, and they were made aware, I feel like they'd be working their asses off to make it more sincere and make him seem better than he is. They did more acting in the MK interview than they did in those videos.

[jendall]

Yes, I wondered how Josh lasted so long in DC, being so uneducated. How could he interact with govt officials, lobbyists, regular Washingtonians?

He must be akin to talking to the wall -to these worldly & intelligent people.