Counting On - Part 5: Ben Raps, We Cringe

[Mothership]

1 minute ago, bingbangboom said:

We live in the same state on the other side, Go Royals!, and while KC is pretty dangerous, had a guy get shot in front of our old house on a weekday morning... Known of lots of drugs, hookers, crime and violence. KC is dirty, (in a lot of spots) but, I think STL is worse...

although someone from STL would likely say that about KC.

Go Royals!  KC is definitely better than St. Louis (have lived in both)

 

[bingbangboom]

Ben is going to get shot or robbed as soon as the cameras stop.

he is an easy target. I've noticed that if you are "uptight,scared and white" you are often a pretty good target. I'm pretty nice to everyone that I meet, and no problems. We have lived in the projects here. The expression don't shit where you eat comes to mind, if you seem like you "belong" you're less likely to be messed with. 

Should be noted that I am a person with white skin and red hair. We are the only family without people of color on our block which is fairly poor. We have had zero issues any place we have lived in the "inner city". 

BJ wouldn't be able to comprehend how some of these people and families have to survive. I forcast lots of learning curves and at least one mugging. 

However I would love to see Ben and Jessa moseying into a corner store. So many opportunities to share the Gospel!!!!1!1!1!1!1

This post isn't meant to be any kind of "it's". Race, poverty and inequality can be tricky things to discuss.

[Shadoewolf]

We live just 5 miles off the border of a major Midwest city with a LOT of issues. Its weird here, because one side of the road is like, mansions and gated communities and celebs live there, the other side is a place I would barely walk in broad daylight, let alone at night.  Ben and his stupid hat would be shot in about 2 seconds flat if he got all preachy.   He has no idea, period, and its really sad that he 'thinks' he does.  Our cable hasn't updated on demand and hubby was watching Forged in Fire so I'll have to wait to watch the debacle.

[Sundaymorning]

5 minutes ago, Shadoewolf said:

We live just 5 miles off the border of a major Midwest city with a LOT of issues. Its weird here, because one side of the road is like, mansions and gated communities and celebs live there, the other side is a place I would barely walk in broad daylight, let alone at night.  Ben and his stupid hat would be shot in about 2 seconds flat if he got all preachy.   He has no idea, period, and its really sad that he 'thinks' he does.  Our cable hasn't updated on demand and hubby was watching Forged in Fire so I'll have to wait to watch the debacle.

I've noticed that too when I was visiting US cities. The area can be all well and nice and then, you take a wrong turn and you land in a street where you suddenly feel quite unsafe. That happend to me a few times. And not to forget the one time when we somehow gave the cab driver the wrong direction and we landed somewhere in Brooklyn NYC where we certainly didn't intend to end up. But I was never bothered by anyone, but then again, I mind my own business and I don't walk around trying to lure people into my fundie cult.

[allthegoodnamesrgone]

3 hours ago, snarkysuki1724 said:

also, why such a long day of travel from Arkansas to St.Louis, how long can that flight be??

I was thinking it probably takes just as long to fly as it does to drive, when you figure in the getting in 2 hours early thing. 

[MarblesMom]

Google says 5.5 hours drive time. 

Sure beats getting to the airport at 130 and arriving in STL at 10pm, renting a car (another 45 mins) and then, getting to the hotel an hour after.  And possibly having your luggage lost or, wait yet another 30 minutes for the luggage if you did not carry on.

Sheesh! 

Drive.  Leave home after breakfast and have lunch in STL.  Easy breezy beautiful. Road trip FTW.

 

[Chicken bones]

I think Ben's talk about ministering in the inner city is like all the Duggar talk about adoption. I'll believe it when I actually see it, and I'm not holding my breath. 

 

(He's so fucking clueless. He has no life experience to relate to anyone he might minister to!)

 

[bella8050]

5 minutes ago, MarblesMom said:

Google says 5.5 hours drive time. 

Sure beats getting to the airport at 130 and arriving in STL at 10pm, renting a car (another 45 mins) and then, getting to the hotel an hour after.  And possibly having your luggage lost or, wait yet another 30 minutes for the luggage if you did not carry on.

Sheesh! 

Drive.  Leave home after breakfast and have lunch in STL.  Easy breezy beautiful. Road trip FTW.

 

I always prefer to be in charge of as much of my traveling as I can be. I have been persuaded in the past to take Amtrak in to NYC from where I live and not only did it take longer but left me more aggravated than driving in traffic does. That was just by train, I would avoid the hassle of plane travel at all costs. I guess a special episode with Ben and Jessa driving that far was not appealing to the producers.

[SportsgalAnnie]

3 hours ago, nst said:

bluegrass ? 

Bluegrass music is a form of American rootsmusic, and a related genre of country music. Influenced by the music of Appalachia,Bluegrass has mixed roots in Irish, Scottish, Welsh, and English traditional music, and was also later influenced by the music of African-Americans through incorporation of jazz elements

I don't think so 

Not quite, It began by people playing their instruments on the front porches in the foothills of Appalachia and was influenced by Gospel and Folk music. An early influence was the African American hymns they would sing in the fields.  We're taught this early on in school in East TN.  As backwards as it might be on some things, we do learn our heritage. 

[Stoned Fundie]

Sounds like STL is comparable to Detroit. Detroit made me want to cry my way home and hug a corn stalk once I got back in Ohio...

[SportsgalAnnie]

Ben You are not in "Hamilton" Please do not attempt to rap

***** Is there a place to start a discussion for Hamilton/ Other Broadway shows?******

[Shadoewolf]

1 hour ago, MarblesMom said:

Google says 5.5 hours drive time. 

Sure beats getting to the airport at 130 and arriving in STL at 10pm, renting a car (another 45 mins) and then, getting to the hotel an hour after.  And possibly having your luggage lost or, wait yet another 30 minutes for the luggage if you did not carry on.

Sheesh! 

Drive.  Leave home after breakfast and have lunch in STL.  Easy breezy beautiful. Road trip FTW.

 

That's not an easy drive by any stretch either.  We lived about 2 hours east of Duggarville, and we made the trip a total of 3 times. Up to go visit family further northeast, back home after said visit and again with a huge truck when we moved.  And this was right when there was all that flooding. LOTS of very steep mountains/hills, turns that would drop off the other side to a cliff, etc.  Areas where you better stop for gas and top off because there's nothing for at least an hour or more. It was miserable on my kids' ears. A non-stop flight is like 45 minutes. But most times you lay over in Dallas-Fort Worth (backwards first?! Its madness!) or in Atlanta so it can be several hours.  Our entertainment was taking state road PP to Licking, MO

As for the rap, which I still haven't heard, lets just have Bin meet Eminem!  There's someone who lived through some shit and used it for his "ministry"  (Not Afraid, for example).  Take Bin on a tour down through Detroit.  Wait, Marshall would take one look at Bin's wannabe self and it would just be over, then and there.

[sophie10130]

 

5 hours ago, Sundaymorning said:

Ok, and why? I have some internet friends who go to Webster university, and they've never mentioned that the town was a bad place to live.

Webster University is in a Missouri suburb of St. Louis called Webster Groves. It is EXTREMELY affluent. Very much old suburbia. It's super nice and super pretty.

Michael Brown, as someone mentioned upthread, was shot in Ferguson which is very close to another suburb called Florissant, which is not very well off either. I recently heard a new suburb is cropping up outside the city and someone explained it to my mom (in a whisper) "It's like Florissant, but without the, you know, *black people*" 

St. Louis usually makes its way on the top 10 worst cities because of the violent crime per capita rate. We always considered it WAY less dangerous than Chicago or Detroit. I didn't know until later that the statistics didn't always match that. But I never really heard much about gang related violence.

Now, East St. Louis is on the Illinois side as another poster mentioned as well. East St. Louis is extremely poor. It also had (or has?) the largest population of wild dogs in America. East St. Louis is usually not considered big enough to make those 10 worst cities in America, but it has a much much MUCH higher violent crime per capita rate. I guess a new statistic came out in 2016 saying it has the highest murder rate in the country, or so says Wikipedia. I knew of a preacher who decided to do missionary work for his church and his church sent him to East St. Louis. No joke.

St. Louis has a very good system of private catholic all boys and all girls schools. If you have any money at all you send your kids there. So the public school system is mostly made up of extremely impoverished students, ELL students, and students of color. The public school system is mostly to be avoided and makes it very hard to get ahead in life. The city is very complicated and has been hemorrhaging population to the suburbs since the 50's. 

All that means to say is that Ben and Jessa would probably decide to live somewhere like Webster Groves or somewhere nice on the Illinois side but say they live in St. Louis/East St. Louis and talk about how daaaangeroussss it is just like Jill and Derrick, and make no difference whatsoever because they don't understand the very complex history of the city and what it, like may other cities, have done to their black and impoverished citizens. 

Also, St. Louis is predominantly Catholic. As in, extremely Catholic. My mom is from a large family and knew Catholic families with up to 13 (or maybe 15?) kids. They'd be laughed out of there in a heartbeat.

[nastyhobbitses]

So now we'll potentially have two Duggar daughters Risking Their Very Lives Amidst The Scary Brown/Black People as a storyline on this trainwreck of a show. Lovely. Though a part of me wants to experience the schadenfreude of watching Ben try to "relate" to inner-city young men.

6 hours ago, lascuba said:

I respect people doing what they can to sell their product/art, but damn, what was Flame thinking? I know he probably saw this whole thing as free advertising but does he really think this will be effective?

And it seems like he's a halfway decent rapper (from what I heard of that song Ben was promoting...though dude, let up on the T-Pain AutoTune), which makes it all the more bizarre and disappointing.

[EyeQueue]

2 hours ago, SportsgalAnnie said:

Ben You are not in "Hamilton" Please do not attempt to rap

***** Is there a place to start a discussion for Hamilton/ Other Broadway shows?******

Quiverfull Of Worldly Distractions.

[lascuba]

4 hours ago, SportsgalAnnie said:

Ben You are not in "Hamilton" Please do not attempt to rap

***** Is there a place to start a discussion for Hamilton/ Other Broadway shows?******

I WANT TO SEE HAMILTON SO BAD! I enter the lottery everyday.

[Ungodly Grandma]

7 hours ago, Buzzard said:

More like Bin will walk up to a group mid drug deal and offer them Ray Comfort's billion dollar bills.  He will be dressed in his coolest "preppy" sweater and backwards hat.

And perhaps his hat and sweater will still be in shape for the funeral!

[Ungodly Grandma]

7 hours ago, lascuba said:

Flame's deleting negative comments? Well, that'll teach me to give people the benefit of the doubt.

If Flame is going to hang with the Duggars, he better get used to negative comments.

[Marissap]

6 hours ago, Chicken bones said:

I think Ben's talk about ministering in the inner city is like all the Duggar talk about adoption. I'll believe it when I actually see it, and I'm not holding my breath. 

 

(He's so fucking clueless. He has no life experience to relate to anyone he might minister to!)

 

Or they will actually do it so they can set up their very own donation site just like sis and hairy. 

[Ungodly Grandma]

1 hour ago, Marissap said:

Or they will actually do it so they can set up their very own donation site just like sis and hairy. 

And also get their fair share of attention for being in "danger."

[Denim Jumper]

10 hours ago, Coy Koi said:

I find it impossible to believe that Christian rap is a real thing, despite all evidence to the contrary. My brain just refuses to accept it.

Just change the all of the "Shorties" (and other such terms of endearment) to "Jesus". Easy Peasy. 

[Drala]

11 hours ago, Chickenbutt said:

I can't wait to see Ben approach an elderly black female that has been going to church all her life, and his attempt to "minister" to her. She will chew him up and spit him out. She has most likely lived the life of a good Christian for more years than she cares to remember and under circumstances that would curl Ben's toes. He will have nothing to say to her that she doesn't already know, probably much better than he does. With all his "privilege", he has no business in the inner city.

Preach it, girlfriend.  Ben's hubis is astounding.

[Snickles]

On 4/11/2016 at 2:13 PM, Georgiana said:

He could start a group and they could be The Lawn Boyz

The Yawn Boyz

[Wenny]

Ben can't be a "inner city" minster. He is to greedy. Hubs aged out of foster care and clawed his way to where he is. We did it will evil food stamps and medicaid.  I can't tell you how many times hubs has  given away jackets, hats, shoes, bicycles, our food. 

[Ungodly Grandma]

13 hours ago, lascuba said:

Oh look, the Duggars are asked their opinion on something they're disdainful of and now they have to sit there looking pleasantly blank. 

They have the blank part down anyway.