Counting on- Part 7: Counting on Cancellation

[amendgitan]

On April 22, 2016 at 3:11 AM, jas said:

On the subject of not asking about a man's job, I interpreted what Jessa said a bit differently. I didn't think she meant that you would literally not find out where he worked. (I know their courtships are short, but really how could you avoid knowing this?) I took it to mean that if you fell in love with someone, you would not then rule them out because their occupation didn't fit in with a preconceived idea you had about the perfect husband.  

I have watched it back and what Jana said was "I would prefer a hard-working guy versus a office job guy." (I can't decide if she is just expressing herself badly here or if she really thinks it is not possible to work hard in an office!)

Jessa says "The thing is, when you're in love, you don't ask the guy 'do you have a desk job?' Whenever you meet Mr Right it don't matter what kind of work he does."

I have to say I find this thing the Duggars do where they lay out long lists of criteria for future spouses ridiculous. I think any stipulations beyond being a generally good person with a world view compatible with yours are just going to get in the way and lead to disappointment if the person does not tick every one of the many boxes. Deciding on what job is preferable for a person you have not even met yet is restricting an already very small pool of future spouses. 

Who knows though, maybe Jana is doing this on purpose because she is in no rush to be married off and start having children.

I agree with all of this except I think she is in a massive rush to be married. Frankly, I'm surprised how many people think any of these people has secret thoughts or plans or dreams of leaving the culture. I'm of the opinion that they don't. Whatever miseries they experience due to the constraints of their sect they simply attribute to not being Godly enough. 

I'd venture to guess that in their culture, marriage for a woman is the equivalent to the larger culture of entering a four-year bachelors degree program. Having more than three kids is similar to graduating. Having more than 8 or 10 is like getting a masters. The likes of Michelle Duggar basically have a doctorate. 

Marriage and baby making equals status in their culture. Regardless of how exhausted they are, whether they even like kids or how different their choices would be if the weren't born into the sect. 

Jana has no real status and as a rapidly "aging" single female in her culture she is swiftly attaining a horrible status as a confirmedSAHD who is watching her fertility, and thus, eligibility, go down the drain. 

Not only do I think jana is in a rush to get married, I think she's downright desperate- depressed and panicked. 

She knows the horrible fate of those SAHDs who keep aging waiting for daddy to approve a non-existent prince. 

In her culture, there is not only no other real way to achieve status than marriage and kids, there is also no real way out from under ther parents' thumbs and like many people she'd probably prefer working hard to build her own business (family), than working hard making her bosses (parents) "rich".  

[Buzzard]

4 minutes ago, BeccaGrim said:

I may just not be well versed in this but when they were reshowing the wedding stuff (AGAIN) last night she kept saying she was so unworthy. She's said that before. Jinger says "I'm unworthy."  Of what?  And how could a girl who has done NOTHING in her life outside of her parental control be unworthy?

Unworthy of happiness, of love, of friendship.  I remember a video that Bin posted a while ago of Jinger talking about how she was "saved."  She has done SO MANY bad deeds, she's a sinner.  She was "broken" before god... a sinner at the age of 6... she sees people on the street and knows that they are hurting.

Bin is such a dumbass, BTW. 

 

[Funwithfundies]

13 hours ago, ChickenettiLuvr said:

Agreed!!  @cptbailey -- who in the hell feels the need to take AND PLAY a ukulele on an early-morning flight.  Gah.

 

I yelled at the TV when I saw that - typical Duggar entitlement.

[2manyKidzzz]

3 minutes ago, Buzzard said:

Unworthy of happiness, of love, of friendship.  I remember a video that Bin posted a while ago of Jinger talking about how she was "saved."  She has done SO MANY bad deeds, she's a sinner.  She was "broken" before god... a sinner at the age of 6... she sees people on the street and knows that they are hurting.

Bin is such a dumbass, BTW. 

 

Okay, this is what I remember. What could she have done? Taken more of her fair share of tater tot casserole? That is horrible and the cult does this of course. This in particular made me very angry as Jinger is lovely and sweet and has not robbed any convenience stores I am quite sure. The End.

[Four is Enough]

Let me just say that I am SO grateful that God laid it on my heart to catch up with my "Ink Master" viewing last night!!

[Audrey2]

Is there anyone else who looks at Derrick and thinks of this Edward Lear poem?

 

     

There was an Old Man with a Beard

By Edward Lear

There was an Old Man with a beard, 

Who said, "It is just as I feared!— 

Two Owls and a Hen, four Larks and a Wren, 

Have all built their nests in my beard. 

[Ungodly Grandma]

24 minutes ago, Analytica49 said:

After watching last night's drivel, I'm thinking Jessa and Bin must have a HUGE sense of self-importance. After all, if a tv show films you doing things like counting diapers (Bin), discussing diaper changes (Bin and Jessa), taking your baby to get a passport photo (the three of them), and talking about the absence of a public wedding kiss, then clearly your lives are significant and meaningful and blessed beyond everyone else's.

Bin's revolting idea that not kissing in public would focus people's attention on their wedding ceremony is not only self-important but self-deluded. As we all know, what it actually caused was a huge amount of speculation about what they REALLY did after they ran out of the church. I know I didn't give two seconds' thought to their silly ceremony.

 

These two get WAY too much attention, even here we are talking about them. 

I think I'll go do something productive.

[CoveredInBees]

13 hours ago, Buzzard said:

We're teased that next week the kids meet.  They go to an orphanage... and there is a "life changing" announcement.

Gee....... I sure wish we could crack that code  

(Of course it'll turn out to be nothing to do with adoption, but that's the misdirection for you)

I'll bet $5 it's not in the least bit 'life changing'

[IReallyAmHopewell]

15 hours ago, Elegant Mess said:

Yes, we must.  It's the closest we'll ever get to the birth of baby Jesus himself!  

Actually any Kate Middleton (Duchess of Cambridge) Meme can be redone for Jessa

14 hours ago, BabyBottlePop said:

Are they trying to hide scars or something? Has FJ come up with theories? Did I miss that thread? 

He's channeling...who was it who was it...John the Baptist? Wrested with a demon or something? That's what i think when I see him

[OyToTheVey]

On 4/21/2016 at 0:37 PM, HereticHick said:

I believe that one of the many problems of the Duggarlings is all their critical thinking skills have been blanket trained right out of them, and they have been simultaneously been trained to believe that everything new/unknown is at best, inferior, and at worst, evil.

The result? I think their knee-jerk immediate reaction to anything new or not wholly familiar is "I don't know what this is, & I am incapable of figuring it out."  

That mental reaction kicks in, instantly, BEFORE they spend even once second ATTEMPTING to comprehend what the thing is.

So--hand them a menu with a few unfamiliar words, and their brain immediately says "I Don't know" before it makes any attempt to make some sort of contextual guess.

Unfortunately, I seem to run into a lot of my fellow Americans with the same mental blinders when I travel abroad--their brain tells them that if they see a non-English word, it must be incomprehensible, and there is no point to attempt comprehension.

One of my favorites-- the whiny middle-aged American couple seated next to me on an Air France flight. Upon being handed a foil-topped beverage at breakfast, the woman promptly said "I don't know what this is; I can't read French."  They foil topped beverage's label had A. a picture of an orange  and B. the words "jus d'orange"

Yes omg! This whole ugly American thing is so annoying. I've been to quite a few places, it's really not that hard to learn 2 phrases, how much and where's the bathroom but people insist on saying I don't know or getting offended when people in other countries don't speak English. Wasn't American but on my trip to Japan there was one guy that constantly complained how every meal was fish. I'm like dude you paid a fortune for a once in a lifetime trip to Japan and you can't even bother to google for 5 minutes to realize that fish is 90% of their diet. It drives me up the wall. 

The Duggars have the same mental binders about everything. I think it was 2 weeks ago with the Bates. Same thing. Was it Erin that said that they don't eat ramen at home just normal American food? Umm if you googled the pasta you eat at home was invented by the Chinese. And since when is Italian pasta "American normal food". Just sayin.

[Carol]

I am beginning to think Ben has more spine than I've given him credit for.  I wonder if some of it is in reaction to JB's humiliation of him during Ben and Jessa's courtship.  We saw him likely force the name Spurgeon on Jessa, he's going to hip hop concerts, befriending a hip hop singer.  This is totally out of Duggar territory, almost the Catholic version of mortal sin.  I don't think he is the pushover I thought he was.

My guess is that Jessa was thinking she could boss him in the marriage but it's been the opposite because Jessa has to defer to him as the head of their household.  I see her make passive aggressive digs on camera, maybe this is how she gets him back.

I don't see this marriage being very happy in the long run.  I truly hope I am wrong.

[IReallyAmHopewell]

3 hours ago, nst said:

Does it really surprise anyone that now Jessa is backtracking re the name whether it's first or the middle name.  This  is what she does!!  The fact that she actually admitted how she finally felt about the whole Josh scandal though was refreshing because I still hate that bathroom silence shot. So she threw Josh under the bus and drove over it.

I am in the camp now thinking they wanted to grope one another during the kiss because they kept pointing out how long they were together.   

But overall Ben and Jessa do have issues, and again Ben is interchangeable if she bosses  him like that around on camera (as she did her siblings which they like to remind us) just imagine when the cameras aren't rolling the two of them. Does she tell him to wipe his bum.  Clearly these two have issues and they are starting to seep out. But now the adoption talk is also starting  to back track and fail on her because she keeps repeating the same thing over and over again that the Lord will decide.  What they decide to do about BC is their business but then don't do a show about how they want to have one yet adopt.  It's all crossing each other out. So many things about Jessa can contributing it's fascinating. You could do a study.

The Lord will decide that this is not the Season of Life for Adoption--i.e. no adoption. Big surprise.

When Tweens get married it will always be a disaster. Plus he's an idiot and she's a witch...

 

[BeccaGrim]

23 minutes ago, CoveredInBees said:

Gee....... I sure wish we could crack that code  

(Of course it'll turn out to be nothing to do with adoption, but that's the misdirection for you)

I'll bet $5 it's not in the least bit 'life changing'

Any guesses on what it actually is? We know its not adoption because they have to actually get through the paperwork to do that.  Maybe they hear Josh is coming home which is not life changing for us at this point since we all know its happened.  

[ItsAllOver]

48 minutes ago, 2manyKidzzz said:

Okay, this is what I remember. What could she have done? Taken more of her fair share of tater tot casserole? That is horrible and the cult does this of course. This in particular made me very angry as Jinger is lovely and sweet and has not robbed any convenience stores I am quite sure. The End.

Just for the sake of clarity, phrases like "broken before the Lord," "I realized I was a sinner," and other general expressions of repentance are fairly standard Christianese. It's not unusual to hear preachers say something like, "Abby realized that she was a sinner during invitation last week and was so broken over her sin that she turned to the Lord," while baptizing a small child. Protestant Christians believe everyone is a sinner from a very young age and needs to realize and repent of their sins. Lying, jealousy, and disrespect to one's parents are all sins a small child could be guilty of and require the same level of guilt as robbing a convenience store. So while it may sound strange and horrible, it's a bit less like that Jinger is really feeling such an extreme self-loathing and thinks she's a truly bad person and more likely she is just using the familiar lingo because all people are dirty, rotten sinners from their birth.

[IReallyAmHopewell]

3 minutes ago, BeccaGrim said:

Any guesses on what it actually is? We know its not adoption because they have to actually get through the paperwork to do that.  Maybe they hear Josh is coming home which is not life changing for us at this point since we all know its happened.  

Not sure what country, but some LA countries take forever for adoption. I could see JB giving money for a new building or something. The idea that they are hard-up for money is ridiculous. Jubillee Duggar Home for Poor Little Brown Ex-Fetuses

15 hours ago, ChickenettiLuvr said:

Speaking of Grandma Mary ...

Grandma Mary has been MIA for quite awhile.  Methinks she hangs out at Deanna's house so she doesn't have to be an indentured laundry servant.

Methinks she might have been shut-out on the Joshie touching thing, too.

[CoveredInBees]

20 minutes ago, BeccaGrim said:

Any guesses on what it actually is? We know its not adoption because they have to actually get through the paperwork to do that.  Maybe they hear Josh is coming home which is not life changing for us at this point since we all know its happened.  

Covering Joshie coming home veers scarily close to actual reality, so erm no it won't be that

Life changing........... Mmmm....... Jessa and Bin are actually going to move to the inner city for their hip hop ministry? Joy declares she will only wear pants from now on? JB and Meechelle declare they've actually been closet atheists for the last 10 years? They switch to proper plates? who knows............

[Elegant Mess]

2 minutes ago, CoveredInBees said:

Covering Joshie coming home veers scarily close to actual reality, so erm no it won't be that

Life changing........... Mmmm....... Jessa and Bin are actually going to move to the inner city for their hip hop ministry? Joy declares she will only wear pants from now on? JB and Meechelle declare they've actually been closet atheists for the last 10 years? They switch to proper plates? who knows............

They'll actually buy used and save the difference!  

[IReallyAmHopewell]

14 hours ago, punkiepie said:

If ever a person didn't understand body language and vocal cues, all they would need to do is watch this episode of Ben; with the old videos and THs he gave before they got married and the comparison to the current footage and new THs- and they would quickly come to understand it.  Jessa  still looks all googly-eyed and enamoured with Ben while he always looks indifferent and annoyed with Jessa.  It's not the words coming out of Ben's mouth- the words are okay- it's how he says them, the tone he uses, his closed off demeanor and how he looks at Jessa when she's speaking.  If he's ever secretly listened to Cher, I'd bet he'd be sung "if I could turn back time..."

He's been taught a wife should be sweet and submissive. His is not. He's probably getting crap from "prayer partners" / mentors in the cult that bitch needs to be taken down several pegs. He's figured out already that ignoring her is easiest. Slapping he could get him arrested and while, by now, that must be tempting........  Guy needs a real job. 40 hours apart a week is a GOOD thing when you are married to HER.

14 hours ago, CreationMuseumSeasonPass said:

It's really hard to do a new edition of "Deep Thoughts with the Duggars" when everything is a stupid rerun. But, I'll trudge through. Also, I'm at my parents house, and this is the first time they've watched the Duggars in a year.

When my dad first saw Jana on screen, he screamed, "Free Jana!" He continued to mutter this under his breath for the rest of the show.

Dad: "Let's get Josh on the show. Let's get to the down and dirty of it."

When Jessa and Ben discussed their first attempt of getting Spurgeon's passport, and how he pooped himself, my mom muttered, "You're talking one kid... at a Walgreens."

TLC must REALLY not have enough storylines if they have to recap Ben and Jessa's courtship, wedding and labor. And, it looks like next week's finale will probably have some Jill and Derick recaps. Blargh!

During a recap of Jessa's wedding, they showed Jim Bob getting ready to walk down the aisle. My dad: "Look, Jim Boob's crying." The wedding was November 2014, so I responded back to my father, "Give them six months and then they'll REALLY have something to cry about." AKA Joshgate 1.0.

Little People Big World sneak peak, aka not enough advertisers.

The Duggars last trip to dangerous Central America was for throwing Christmas parties, because #jeebus.

More old footage, more of me losing my mind...

Season finale part 1 = We're going to drag this sucker out to die a slow death.

My dad, after seeing Sierra: "She kind of rubs me the wrong way." Understatement of the year, dad.

This is basically the We Love Jessa show at this point.

I have to admit, usually it's been at least somewhat enjoyable to snark, but tonight was just too awful.

I'm going to finish with some quotes my dad kept saying under his breath during the show:

"What a bunch of kooks."

"It's all sad. I'm sad."

"What's sad is America watches this crap."

"I'll tell you what, TLC must be shooting themselves."

Hmmmmm, I might have heard wrong, and he could have said "shitting themselves." Either way, I agree.

Tonight sucked.

1. I tried to find the clip, but in the movie Calendar Girls at a WI Meeting someone goes on about cauliflower or rugs or something and Helen Mirren says [I'm probably butchering the quote] "Oh good, for a moment there I thought it'd be dull....." At this point hearing the howlers play Jerusalem on the banjo would be more interesting than anything they've shown.

2. CreationMuseumSeasonPass: Your folks.....OMG so glad there are families who could relate to my family's humor. One kid ... at a Walgreens.....PRICELESS. Cause that big ole drugstore wouldn't sell, say, diapers and a clean Onsie or anything. Brilliant.''

3. Buzzard: Oh the Humanity! 

 

 

 

 

 

[Dandruff]

15 hours ago, Buzzard said:

We're teased that next week the kids meet.  They go to an orphanage... and there is a "life changing" announcement.  They pimp Joy and Jinger, and ask Jessa if she or Jill will have another baby first.

How about:

- We're hoping to adopt.

- We want to adopt.

- We're planning to adopt.

- We'd love to adopt.

- We're filling out paperwork to adopt.

- We're talking to people about adoption.

- If we adopt a child, it will be the first adopted child in our family.

I'm not expecting a meaningful announcement.

 

[BabyBottlePop]

13 hours ago, IReallyAmHopewell said:

When Tweens get married it will always be a disaster.

If Ben  (and Jessa) had waited to marry, gone out and had fun, then things would be very different. I for one think Ben in particular needed time to be an idiot boy, have some fun, and grow up a bit. I think if he had done that he wouldn't have dead eyes now when he talks about how he is a husband and father. 

And he would have life experiences that would make him sound less like an imbecile when he talks.

13 hours ago, Carol said:

I am beginning to think Ben has more spine than I've given him credit for.  I wonder if some of it is in reaction to JB's humiliation of him during Ben and Jessa's courtship.  We saw him likely force the name Spurgeon on Jessa, he's going to hip hop concerts, befriending a hip hop singer.  This is totally out of Duggar territory, almost the Catholic version of mortal sin.  I don't think he is the pushover I thought he was.

My guess is that Jessa was thinking she could boss him in the marriage but it's been the opposite because Jessa has to defer to him as the head of their household.  I see her make passive aggressive digs on camera, maybe this is how she gets him back.

I don't see this marriage being very happy in the long run.  I truly hope I am wrong.

But then you have Jessa bossing him around on camera. I think the forced name, hip hop concerts, and the like are rebellion. "I'm doing this cause I can and you can't do anything about it cause I'm your husband"

Don't they believe you follow your husband even if your husband is wrong? So Jessa has to let Bin do this crap, even if she or JimBob and Michelle don't agree with it.

[Buzzard]

48 minutes ago, CoveredInBees said:

Covering Joshie coming home veers scarily close to actual reality, so erm no it won't be that

Life changing........... Mmmm....... Jessa and Bin are actually going to move to the inner city for their hip hop ministry? Joy declares she will only wear pants from now on? JB and Meechelle declare they've actually been closet atheists for the last 10 years? They switch to proper plates? who knows............

DING DING DING, this is my guess too.  The seawalds are moving to finish his degree.  They're leaving the compound to find their own "mission field."

[HereticHick]

Might the life-changing announcement be that Mr. and Mrs. Yeti are staying in OMGDANGEROUSCINTRALAMERICA?  [rather than coming home for good next month or so]

[Kjaerringa]

The life changing announcement will be the Dillards are coming home. NO brainer, here.  They said they were staying 8 months, right? So that should be just about now. And I DO think that Jinger is courting...but I don't think that is the announcement. She dodges every question about describing the perfect guy, asks them to tell her their opinion, turns away from crew when asked, so as not to lie...and Jana is interested in someone, but nothing is official, and I don't think the sisters know about him.... as evidenced by her fervent 'I hope and pray not' response when told she might end up with a white collar spouse.

[anotherone]

15 hours ago, BabyBottlePop said:

Do people realize one day their kids will grow up and see they've been put on Facebook for everyone to see? My baby book has many photos of me naked in a bathtub but my mom didn't (albeit, she couldn't) post them and glad no such thing existed when I was a baby/toddler.

There was a college class that was about social media and related things.  The instructor, never having met any of the students, started out by going, "Hi Joe, did you finally get that internship? Sally, how is your mother doing after her foot surgery?  Sam, did your sister start dating again after her breakup?  Sue, I can't believe what your roommate did!"  Everyone was so pissed that he was "stalking" them and knew all this stuff but he said he just spent 10 min before class looking up the class roster on FB. 

People just don't realize that once you put something out there, it is out there.

[cptbailey]

Derrick's beard is full of secrets.. like so