Joshley Madison Pt 3: Storming Satan's Hidden Fortress

[fraurosena]

Very obvious by the fact he mentioned sex eleventy times during the honeymoon episode. I nearly died when he did the HM house tour and said 'and that's where the magic happens'. Seemed like an immature little boy gloating about touching boobs for the first time.

Except that it wasn't the first time for Josh now, was it? :(

[Pretzel]

Except that it wasn't the first time for Josh now, was it? :(

I guess people are mixing stuff up. I'm pretty sure Anna was his first. His Ashley Madison accounts ranged from 2013 to 2015 or somewhere. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[tcach]

MakeItSo said

I think it was a case of escalation of behavior. He thought he was getting away with viewing porn without repercussions and he probably wanted more intense arousal. First a little FB flirtation then a plan to meet up with one of the women but not following through, all the steps to a full on affair(s).

[Duggarlicious]

I guess people are mixing stuff up. I'm pretty sure Anna was his first. His Ashley Madison accounts ranged from 2013 to 2015 or somewhere. Correct me if I'm wrong.

I am pretty sure they meant his sisters.

[FunFunFundie]

But Anna wasn't the first time he had touched breasts, as he spent over a year fondling his sleeping sisters.

[vienna]

I am sorry if I overlooked the discussion on this (if it already happened) but:

What could be the reason for the editing in Joshes Statement?

Why edit the blame on porn and satans work out? This is what he builds his futute on (Speaking Engagements on how porn ruined his life and how then god saved his weak sinner soul...).

Why edit this out? Any ideas?

[MichellesCrunchyHair]

I am sorry if I overlooked the discussion on this (if it already happened) but:

What could be the reason for the editing in Joshes Statement?

Why edit the blame on porn and satans work out? This is what he builds his futute on (Speaking Engagements on how porn ruined his life and how then god saved his weak sinner soul...).

Why edit this out? Any ideas?

Perhaps he first wrote it, put it up, and then thought "Wait, this sounds like I'm blaming Satan. Maybe this won't go over well." Then he blamed porn instead (as porn -> cheating logic might be something accepted in fundie circles), and then realized that 1) that it still didn't sound like taking responsibility for his actions, and 2) that whoops, he just admitted to viewing porn as well and dug his hole even deeper.

Whatever his thought process was, he clearly did not thoroughly think this through before posting.

[makauflin]

"... the fruit on his tree is rotten." (from 5 kids 6 months FB page) Let me just say, Dammmnnn!

Next post count title, maybe?!

[makauflin]

I think his first statement was his most honest and included what really happened and just who he blamed for it (the porn and the devil).

It was then edited by his parents and/or PR folks (still the one Mike Huckabee "lent" them after the molestation broke, maybe?) to make it look like he was more sorry about it than he really was.

Just my two cents...

[vienna]

Perhaps he first wrote it, put it up, and then thought "Wait, this sounds like I'm blaming Satan. Maybe this won't go over well." Then he blamed porn instead (as porn -> cheating logic might be something accepted in fundie circles), and then realized that 1) that it still didn't sound like taking responsibility for his actions, and 2) that whoops, he just admitted to viewing porn as well and dug his hole even deeper.Whatever his thought process was, he clearly did not thoroughly think this through before posting

.

Thanks a lot for your thoughts; all sound reasonable. But to NOT use porn and satan is just soo unusual for the Duggars. Maybe it´s not Josh who was behind the editing but e.g. Jana? We will never know. But maybe someone at the Duggars got the idea of Josh really beeing responsible. Not satan, not the porn industriy, not an agenda against christians, not Anna faling as a wive- just Josh. This would be an actuall big step for this Person.

[FundieFarmer]

I am not sure if I missed something but I thought the way Smuggar worded his statement it wasn't clear if he had actually physically cheated or just morally/in thought/in his heart. I somehow just assumed this was an online thing...not him actually having met up with someone...or someones. :shrug: Not that it matters in the end...but I have noticed that a lot of people seem to assume that he physically got together with someone and I did not read that in that way and now am wondering if I am alone in that. :think:

I am in the same boat. While the worst wouldn't surprise me, we don't know yet, and I'm not one to speculate on it.

I do think it's worth noting that in these cultures, it isn't uncommon for there not to be a word for emotional abuse. It just simply is ignored, in my experience, and flat out denied when someone suggests it. Anna may not have the tools to express such a thing at all.

[fraurosena]

I guess people are mixing stuff up. I'm pretty sure Anna was his first. His Ashley Madison accounts ranged from 2013 to 2015 or somewhere. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Uhm, I was referring to the touching of boobs... as per Joshgate part 1.

[HCB]

Forgive me, I looked in Families and Individuals but didn't see anything, is 5 Kids 6 Months a popular fundie family? I saw the Pickles page mention them and now I am seeing their name here. Upon looking them up on FB, their location is my hometown and I know many people who "like" them. Now I am trying to figure out if I ever knew these people through church or friends.

[formergothardite]

What happened to the bunch of kids he fathered once he left and began college life?

He still sees them. From my FB stalking he seems to be an involved father. The wife still is very fundie. His parents have basically disowned him because he is no longer fundie. He works full time and is going to college at night. There are a lot of stories like this in the fundie culture. I do feel sorry for his wife, but she wasn't willing to limit children or accept his changing beliefs and I don't think anyone should feel obligated to stay in a miserable marriage.

[tcach]

I'm having a difficult time believing that Josh (or anyone else on the compound for that matter) edited the devil made me do it statement. They all seem to enjoy placing blame outside of themselves. My money is on the publicist taking a look and sending it back for revisions. When attempt #2 was submitted without approval PR person just shook their head and wrote it themselves.

[clueliss]

The whole Josh statement bit was weird. It was as if Josh threw something together, someone published it right off the bat without PR or JB approval then a rewrite was done - and published- again without a go ahead and the final version finally met the PR/Lawyer/JB approval level. Meaning - someone should have waited instead of throwing it out there so fast. Now the internet has screen capped every version.

[Fascinated]

The whole Josh statement bit was weird. It was as if Josh threw something together, someone published it right off the bat without PR or JB approval then a rewrite was done - and published- again without a go ahead and the final version finally met the PR/Lawyer/JB approval level. Meaning - someone should have waited instead of throwing it out there so fast. Now the internet has screen capped every version.

Yeah, over the last few months you'd think they would have learned a teensy bit about how the internet works. :roll:

[Gimme a Free RV]

Josh, you always wanted the spotlight and to be well-known. Your dream came true...and then some.

Be careful what you wish for.

[twinmama]

Josh, you always wanted the spotlight and to be well-known. Your dream came true...and then some.

Be careful what you wish for.

This is why every time some group of multiples I follow on Facebook says "Oh we're getting a TLC show!" I shake my head and unfollow. WHY do people think they can do it without it becoming a total shit show!? I suppose if you have 5 babies at a time, maybe you NEED the TLC show to support them...

[usmcmom]

As sad as I find the whole situation this made me laugh so hard I woke up my almostwife.

I hold Josh responsible of course but I still feel sorry for him. But I tend to feel sorry for a lot of "bad" people... I don't think Anna will leave him. What mainly surprises me is the behaviour of the Kellers - my parents would be here so fast if something like this happened to me.

But we can only guess what is happening or what conversations are going on between the parties involved.

Mainly I just hope that Anna knows that it's okay to be sad and angry and that she doesn't think that she have to "keep sweet".

Re: the bolded. I've noticed that in all the statements I've read about this - like the Alexanders, the Duggars themselves - nobody mentions being angry. It's all "we're heartbroken." "We are grieving." "We are saddened." Why is nobody ANGRY?? Anger is an appropriate emotion. Jesus became angry at hypocrites. These people should be blood-boiling angry at what Josh has done to taint their faith and the reputation of their cause for Christ, which I thought they believed was the most important thing in their world.

To me, it shows that their love and loyalty to Christ and his teachings are not all that important to them if they cannot muster up some good decent anger at someone who has so poisoned it for the world. I guess we all know the Duggars are more concerned about their own name than the name of Christ and their leg humpers are more concerned with losing their favorite show than losing the chance to show Christianity in a more positive light.

[nokidsmom]

Re: the bolded. I've noticed that in all the statements I've read about this - like the Alexanders, the Duggars themselves - nobody mentions being angry. It's all "we're heartbroken." "We are grieving." "We are saddened." Why is nobody ANGRY?? Anger is an appropriate emotion. Jesus became angry at hypocrites. These people should be blood-boiling angry at what Josh has done to taint their faith and the reputation of their cause for Christ, which I thought they believed was the most important thing in their world.

To me, it shows that their love and loyalty to Christ and his teachings are not all that important to them if they cannot muster up some good decent anger at someone who has so poisoned it for the world. I guess we all know the Duggars are more concerned about their own name than the name of Christ and their leg humpers are more concerned with losing their favorite show than losing the chance to show Christianity in a more positive light.

I think JB and J'chelle have to be furious over this but yeah, I hear what you are saying, It's interesting to note in their circles that even when people are truly hurt and wronged it's still not acceptable to state one is angry. Anger is acceptable and frankly I think people need to state it so that the person who wronged them knows in no uncertain terms that they are well, pissed off and that serious damage has been done.

[nokidsmom]

Yeah, over the last few months you'd think they would have learned a teensy bit about how the internet works. :roll:

And after the disastrous Megyn Kelly interviews, you would think they would have learned a thing or two about how to present things to the media and would have have been more careful. Meaning check and double check and triple check first.

[HighlandCow]

I think JB and J'chelle have to be furious over this but yeah, I hear what you are saying, It's interesting to note in their circles that even when people are truly hurt and wronged it's still not acceptable to state one is angry. Anger is acceptable and frankly I think people need to state it so that the person who wronged them knows in no uncertain terms that they are well, pissed off and that serious damage has been done.

In their book the Duggar girls mentioned how their dad had an anger problem, that he had worked hard to overcome. Who knows what that actually means. He might have just learned to beat his kids with a smile on his face.

I do think there is way more pressure on women to keep sweet.

[GodsKnickers]

No one in this picture was given roots nor wings. Not Jim-Bob, not Michelle....

I'm a bit confused by this. Maybe im misunderstanding what you're saying.

JB's sister is pretty 'normal' in the grand scheme of things. I can't recall with total clarity, but while I think they were raised religious, it wasn't this sort of fundie. And, wasn't there tension between JB & his father? That his father didn't at all agree with their form of fundieism & the eleventy hundred children? I don't think JB's family clamped down on him like the way JB does his kids/wife. I think JB and his sister (Deana??) were given roots and wings. Deana flew. JB furled his wings and buried his roots deep into fundieism.

Michelle wasn't raised this fundie either. I have a friend, whose friend went to school with Michelle - she's been talking to her lately. Michelle, by many accounts, was a wild child. Much more wild than the little bits of 'rebel' that she let's on occasionally, from the tightly controlled brand/image they grip onto with an iron fist, and perpetuate with a fierceness. fierceness. There are pictures of her in cheer uniforms with awfully short skirts. She allegedly partied pretty hard, and she knew a lot of boys, or so the claim goes from the friend. She too furled those wings pretty hard. She & JB started out pretty fundie-lite, don't forget. Birth control, etc. They only went uber-fundie after the miscarriage between Josh & the twins, if I'm recalling the timeline correctly.

I don't think Michelle's family suffered from a lack of wings either, and I don't think they get her whole life choices deal with this religion & JB & eleventy kids, etc. Isn't one of Michelle's sisters a lesbian? You rarely see or hear from the siblings, primarily I think, because it doesn't fit the new and tightly controlled/managed brand. It shows that JB & Michelle did have choices, were given both roots and wings, and went a completely different direction than their siblings and upbringing.

They had choices. They just went with this Quiverfull/uberfundie path and used it to clip the wings of their children.

I don't know much about the Kellers so I'm not sure how things went there - I do seem to recall Pa Keller had a regular job once upon a time, until the prison ministry revelations occurred. Tbh, the Kellers remind me of Mennonite-lite - they look like a lot of my husband's side of the family that aren't deep/old colony Mennonite but aren't also "worldly."

[JenniferJuniper]

The whole Josh statement bit was weird. It was as if Josh threw something together, someone published it right off the bat without PR or JB approval then a rewrite was done - and published- again without a go ahead and the final version finally met the PR/Lawyer/JB approval level. Meaning - someone should have waited instead of throwing it out there so fast. Now the internet has screen capped every version.

It's bizarre how they still don't get that the internets are forever and that the altering of statements is going to cause more intrigue.

Michelle did it with her "Dear Jubilee" letter, after she forgot to include her prior miscarriage in her tally of children.