Has the Arndt family avoided the scrutiny of the www?

[0 kids n not countin]

I think this has been mentioned before, perhaps even by me, but if you go to bloggingheads.tv there is an interview with Daddy Arndt on Jan. 18, 2008. It provides a bit of insight into the Arndt world view.

[AngelGirl8811]

Lately Dad has been waiting, hunting and praying for the exactly right moment in which to shoot some scenes. The sun has to be in perfect position on the horizon, the light must be filtered through the trees in a very particular way, and the leaves on the trees must have just the right color. And it sounds like they'll be heading to NY state again this winter.

In other words, despite assurances early this year, he is never going to finish Vine Valley.

How can he? It's his sole purpose in life and the thing he uses to keep the un- and underemployed offspring occupied all day.

I am sad that they've gone into hiding though. No more amusing manboy bantering, no day-before-your birthday photos and videos, no more stories about stuffed penguins or being served birthday cake on mom and dad's bed. :cry:

I know. It's so sad now that they've gone quiet. I keep hoping that it's for the short term and not the long term but I highly doubt it. We had too much fun with the penguins and birthday cakes on Mommy and Daddy's bed! :cry:

[MarblesMom]

I know. It's so sad now that they've gone quiet. I keep hoping that it's for the short term and not the long term but I highly doubt it. We had too much fun with the penguins and birthday cakes on Mommy and Daddy's bed! :cry:

1. Do any FJ'ers live near them and could give us an update?

2. I am jonesing for some penguins.

[JenniferJuniper]

I know. It's so sad now that they've gone quiet. I keep hoping that it's for the short term and not the long term but I highly doubt it. We had too much fun with the penguins and birthday cakes on Mommy and Daddy's bed! :cry:

We have sadly snarked them into hiding. :group-hug:

If only this would work with the not-nice fundies.

[Mary C Doates]

You know, after the initial WTF-ness, they are just really, really boring. There's only do many ways to pose your penguins.

[church_of_dog]

You know, after the initial WTF-ness, they are just really, really boring. There's only do many ways to pose your penguins.

Do we have any penguin post count titles? I suggest "Posing Penguins With The Arndts" :wink-penguin: :wink-penguin:

[salex]

I did find this... it is very odd, it appears to be Daddy Ardnt playing his Vine Valley character. The first part of the video is stuck on one frame, as is the end but once you get to about 2:44, you get to see Dad acting... can't wait for the whole movie after this!! :lol:

youtube.com/watch?v=vO1ey0ISemA

You might also like "finding and returning the basket"

youtube.com/watch?v=eRpPJeH0sWE and

Meeting Eliza returning the basket...

youtube.com/watch?v=8_x5dwIwvtc

I added the youtube links because it is blocked from playing other than directly on youtube.

[bBvideo 560,340:2uqk0u9v]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vO1ey0ISemA[/bBvideo]

[Coldwinterskies]

They are fairly good-looking boys. I honestly think the answer is as simple as they don't know how to have normal relationships with women. Having so many brothers and only their mom in the house meant no friendships with girls growing up. And now as grown men, I think they just don't know how to have a relationship. Imagine a 25 year old woman being attracted to one of the 28 year old Arndts and realizing that being with him is like being with a 13 year old boy.

I think your theory makes sense. They probably do meet women sometimes through their work, but most women would probably find their family's way of doing things rather strange the way we do. Can the Arndt guys have a normal conversation about adult topics of conversation the way a normal 30 year old man could? I question that, since it seems like their life with their parents has kept them sheltered from most aspects of normal adult life.

The other theory I thought of : It is POSSIBLE that some of the Arndt guys are actually living a double life and just have managed to hide the adult aspects of their personality from their parents because their parents (for whatever weird reason) can't accept that their offspring are growing up. If Josh Duggar could live a double life, then these guys certainly could too.

[AngelGirl8811]

I think your theory makes sense. They probably do meet women sometimes through their work, but most women would probably find their family's way of doing things rather strange the way we do. Can the Arndt guys have a normal conversation about adult topics of conversation the way a normal 30 year old man could? I question that, since it seems like their life with their parents has kept them sheltered from most aspects of normal adult life.

The other theory I thought of : It is POSSIBLE that some of the Arndt guys are actually living a double life and just have managed to hide the adult aspects of their personality from their parents because their parents (for whatever weird reason) can't accept that their offspring are growing up. If Josh Duggar could live a double life, then these guys certainly could too.

Oh they definitely could. They have traveled across the country and to various other states. What would stop them from getting a little wild while they're there? If they really wanted to!

[circularlogic]

Regarding the original point of this thread, it is quite surprising that you can't find much at all regarding them on the Internet. (at least anything recent) Back when Rick started publishing his diary, they really embraced the www and were very "encouraged" about how they could reach the world with their message being just a family in the central US. (150 hits per day on their website 15 years ago sent Rick practically into an endless orgasm) They were going full steam ahead on the website, adding features, etc. Then something must have happened. Either they started to get bombarded by detractors, of one or more of the manboys discovered porn, then the entire effort was scaled back. I would assume that these days, the majority of the web traffic going in and out of the Arndt compound is highly monitored.

It's also baffling that the manboys haven't branched out on their own a bit more since the take-off of the successful photography business. Seeing hundreds of happy couples getting married must be very conflicting to whatever hogwash they have been or are being fed at home that keeps them there. I have a feeling that it's plain old guilt frosted with some twisted scripture. It seems like they have not been able to think independently at all. I can imagine that if one of them meets a female that they are interested in, it must be prayed over and discussed ad nauseum as a group. I'm still trying to figure out the dogma behind the "Safe At Home" concept and what it all truly means. I know Rick has a huge disdain for all things "worldly" but there has to be a much deeper force behind it.

I have been thinking about the whole "Safe At Home" thing and find it disturbing. What are they keeping them safe from? I will look into the interview Poppa Arndt did in 2008 to see what I can learn about their personal belief system. I am absolutely baffled as to how they keep the natural sexual urges of 12 boys and men (into their 30's) seemingly non-existent. I have one son and two step-sons,all in their 20's and I just can't imagine it. I have been having the condom conversation with someone for many, many years and I would be very concerned if one of them were stifling what should be a natural urge/need/desire to the degree that the Arndts seem to do. I haven't ever heard even a hint to one of those young men being even attracted to a woman.

I can see how they may be awkard around 'girls', like someone mentioned. But, they all are. The other fundie boys seem to figure it out. As protected and isolated as some of the fundie families can be, this family takes insular to a whole new level. My first thoughts are that Poppa is behind it all. Somewhere, somehow something happened and he feels the need to keep them all 'safe at home'. Getting mom to buy in to the whole thing adds another dimension to it and makes me just think that they are a little loony but otherwise harmless. Like another poster said, boring.

That being said, I worked with someone about 10 years ago. He was a nice man, in his 40's. However, he never, ever mentioned women. He played video games and watched movies that a young child or tween would watch. He bought and built lego sets. He did like to cook and, of course, he had to work to support himself (and his lego habit) but those were the only two clues in his behavior that he was over the age of 10/11. He wasn't very religious either and he was timid. Non-aggressive/assertive in his approach to people and things. With him, I got the feeling that some traumatic thing happened to him or in his life that stunted his emotional maturity.

[circularlogic]

I went to bloggingheads.tv and watched the interview from 2008. Here are a few things that came to mind:

- Rick kept bringing everything back to himself and how HE was doing this, came up with that, has this, does that, etc.

- He seemed to be avoided some pertinent questions by rambling on about their businesses

- I came away with the feeling that Rick sees the 'guys' as extensions of himself or something like that. He kept interchanging his reference to them from third party to first party. And, it was rarely third party.

- Rick thinks very, very highly of himself.

Here is the link if you want to take a look. Hope it is okay to keep it unbroken. Mods?

http://bloggingheads.tv/videos/1424

[bionicmlle]

I did find this... it is very odd, it appears to be Daddy Ardnt playing his Vine Valley character. The first part of the video is stuck on one frame, as is the end but once you get to about 2:44, you get to see Dad acting... can't wait for the whole movie after this!! :lol:

youtube.com/watch?v=vO1ey0ISemA

You might also like "finding and returning the basket"

youtube.com/watch?v=eRpPJeH0sWE and

Meeting Eliza returning the basket...

youtube.com/watch?v=8_x5dwIwvtc

I added the youtube links because it is blocked from playing other than directly on youtube.

[bBvideo 560,340:2zvz7gdh]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vO1ey0ISemA[/bBvideo]

Even the hired actors sound a little weirded out by the "script" of this movie.

I've never watched a video of daddy Ardnt. He looks to have a facial dystonia.

[DaffyDill]

We have sadly snarked them into hiding. :group-hug:

If only this would work with the not-nice fundies.

We haven't really snarked them into hiding. They may not chat on their website anymore, but a bunch are active on Facebook; Luke, Paul, Jude (off the top of my head). They also have a wedding photography/video page on Facebook and are active on that. Old Christopher Maxwell could take some lessons from them, that's for sure.

Judging by there Facebook pages, they travel a lot for their photography, and take some great shots, scenic ones as well as wedding related ones. Seem to have a lot of FB friends, too. They seem to be very chatty on FB.

[SolomonFundy]

^^^

Agreed. I don't think it's a reaction to FJ. Only 3-4 of the older "boys" ever contributed to the website in the first place. They are the ones who are now floating the majority of the photography and court-writing work, and all seem to travel constantly. In the past, you'd periodically see a post from one pop up that said they's promised dad to "contribute more often" or something similar. Papa Arndt seems to really want to keep the blog aspect of their website alive, but the guys just aren't interested and have to be reminded to chime in. Cathy is in full-on house painting mode this year, and I guess the younger brothers and Wizzy aren't trusted to post the kind of thought-provoking content that Rick constantly hotlinks from fundie news sites.

On a side note, the photo that Rick posted last week of Cathy and Phillip during a film session was hilarious. Cathy is about as far away as she can get, and she's absorbed with her cellphone. Phillip is standing between Cathy and Rick, possibly "listening" to whatever bullshit Rick is lisping about, and he too is totally focused on his cellphone. :mrgreen:

[MatthewDuggar]

I found this random "gem" from Dad's Dairy circa 2/17/2001:

As old-fashioned as it may sound in today’s

culture, we are (with God’s grace), attempting to raise our sons to respect

women, to regard them with a sense of awe and wonder, and to treat them (in the

words of the New Testament) as weaker vessels — not weak in a demeaning way,

but in the sense that they should be honored and protected, defended, held high.

None of our boys have yet courted a girl for

real; I trust and pray (as does Cathy) that when they do, they will be exactly

the kinds of suitors (and eventual husbands) that God would call them to be. We

also pray consistently for all of their future spouses, wherever they may be,

asking that God prepare each of them for the covenant of marriage and a life of

honoring God in the vocation of wife and mother. We often wonder who these

mystery girls will be, 12 unknown potential wives, and also are curious as to

which fortunate (or unfortunate, depending upon the circumstances) young man

will one day run the gauntlet of a protective father and 12 burly brothers in an

attempt to try to win the hand of Mary-Elizabeth!

[JenniferJuniper]

^^^

Agreed. I don't think it's a reaction to FJ. Only 3-4 of the older "boys" ever contributed to the website in the first place. They are the ones who are now floating the majority of the photography and court-writing work, and all seem to travel constantly. In the past, you'd periodically see a post from one pop up that said they's promised dad to "contribute more often" or something similar. Papa Arndt seems to really want to keep the blog aspect of their website alive, but the guys just aren't interested and have to be reminded to chime in. Cathy is in full-on house painting mode this year, and I guess the younger brothers and Wizzy aren't trusted to post the kind of thought-provoking content that Rick constantly hotlinks from fundie news sites.

Most of their website of a year or so ago is gone.

Granted, a large chunk of it required a monetary love offering that probably no one was forking over, but parts that gave the most insight into them are no longer there. Luke's diary for instance, which gave a great deal of insight into manboy upbringing and went back to his mid-teens.

While the older sons did banter, it was usually Rick who posted those birthday photos in bedroom and Seth, who doesn't seem to do much of anything, was forever posting things. Everything about legos and penguins and ducks and those photos of Cathy with her hand on each birthday boy's stomach stopped about the time the site changed. Now you have to have a password to access Dad's diary, which is just non-stop ramblings about Vine Valley filming. They haven't done an episode of whatever their 30 minute show was called in a long time.

So I don't think it's just that the four oldest don't have the time. Rick controls everything and it appears a very conscious effort was made to change what they share with the world.

I don't have much doubt that they read out here. Someone would post something about an Arndt quip or comment and within minutes there would be a response. Someone commented about wanting to see how big their dining room table was - and viola - a photo of the table appeared. An old picture of Wizzie was posted one night and posters here thought she must be being starved because she looked like a small child and, bam, withing minutes a manboy jumped online explained that it was a three year old picture. Whether the snark affected Rick's decisions I cannot say, but they knew about it.

[AngelGirl8811]

Most of their website of a year or so ago is gone.

Granted, a large chunk of it required a monetary love offering that probably no one was forking over, but parts that gave the most insight into them are no longer there. Luke's diary for instance, which gave a great deal of insight into manboy upbringing and went back to his mid-teens.

While the older sons did banter, it was usually Rick who posted those birthday photos in bedroom and Seth, who doesn't seem to do much of anything, was forever posting things. Everything about legos and penguins and ducks and those photos of Cathy with her hand on each birthday boy's stomach stopped about the time the site changed. Now you have to have a password to access Dad's diary, which is just non-stop ramblings about Vine Valley filming. They haven't done an episode of whatever their 30 minute show was called in a long time.

So I don't think it's just that the four oldest don't have the time. Rick controls everything and it appears a very conscious effort was made to change what they share with the world.

I don't have much doubt that they read out here. Someone would post something about an Arndt quip or comment and within minutes there would be a response. Someone commented about wanting to see how big their dining room table was - and viola - a photo of the table appeared. An old picture of Wizzie was posted one night and posters here thought she must be being starved because she looked like a small child and, bam, withing minutes a manboy jumped online explained that it was a three year old picture. Whether the snark affected Rick's decisions I cannot say, but they knew about it.

Yes I agree! The manboys themselves were not that active. A lot of it was Seth sucking up to Daddy and saying about how right the articles about abortion were. The other guys would post on occasion and it would be a bit of manboy banter to lighten the day. There was usually a picture per day of something that was going on in the house. And as it was said, anything that came up here that was questioned ended up being answered in short order. Maybe Rick realized that he was giving us too much and he cut it out because he wanted them to be "safe at home." I'm not sure what goes on in his head, I'm sure it's about as clear as the rantings on his diary.

[sockiemom]

What the heck did I just watch? Those youtube videos embarrassed my soul...

[ViolaSebastian]

What the heck did I just watch? Those youtube videos embarrassed my soul...

Check out the FamTeam TV ones...I'm gonna say it, Papa Arndt gives me the creeps.

[MatthewDuggar]

In no way am I trying to "diagnose" him, but there is definitely something a bit off with Rick, always has been.

[ViolaSebastian]

I can't stop watching these...and Kathy's lipstick colors are just tragic. They're weirdly...I don't want to say fascinating...hypnotic, maybe?

[anjulibai]

They may not exactly know either--

there is more to read (link below) but this seemed pertinent

(Sadly, the link seems to no longer be active.... )

famteam.tv/wordpress/vine-valley-project

I would suggest that finishing the manuscript or finishing a script would help move the filming forward. As it stands it seems they are creating tons of stock footage and eventually will just mesh them all together into -- something.

I did find this... it is very odd, it appears to be Daddy Ardnt playing his Vine Valley character. The first part of the video is stuck on one frame, but once you get to about 2:44, you get to see Dad acting... can't wait for the whole movie after this!! :lol:

Wait.....it's a series now? I thought it was a movie? When did that change?

[MatthewDuggar]

I can't stop watching these...and Kathy's lipstick colors are just tragic. They're weirdly...I don't want to say fascinating...hypnotic, maybe?

I agree, as much as her frosted lip shades are so out of date - they are her!

[MarblesMom]

OMG ... I had an Arndt wanna be come into the courthouse today.... a female... sounded just like the older Arndt boy-men (B2M?). I seriously stopped what I was doing and had to take a look. She might have been Wizzie, for all I know. THAT ACCENT.

[0 kids n not countin]

Nathan and Philip are helping me film and unusual scene.

The suspense is killing me!