Safe at Home 4: Where the thread names change, but the Arndts stay the same

[Lisafer]

@JenniferJuniper Rick is actually driving the car during these live videos, right? All other considerations aside, that's really dangerous!

[JenniferJuniper]

9 minutes ago, Red Hair, Black Dress said:

Perhaps he was becoming so odd that no one would hire him, that's why the oldest boys took over the business?  Thus Rick "retired."

I don't think so.  He groomed the oldest two for a long time and then the next two or three until he could pass off the entire business to his sons.  Of course, I didn't know anything about him before the older manboys were working, but the business appeared to be thriving when he bowed out.  

The oldest sons support the household through their photography and court reporting businesses, and they both appear to do very well.  He very carefully groomed them for professions that would be both family businesses and would ensure the boys would have only one employer - Dad.  It's never been clear if the boys keep any of their own money; my own guess is that everything goes into the family fund with the boys getting allowances only.

Work was just a way to support his young family with a lot of work-from-home time.  He was a very involved father, I'll give him that.  But he sees his true calling as a personal mouth piece for Jesus who only likes black and white movies made during the Hollywood decency code days.  And abortion, yes, he needs to get that banned.  Court reporting doesn't rate compared with this.

14 minutes ago, Lisafer said:

@JenniferJuniper Rick is actually driving the car during these live videos, right? All other considerations aside, that's really dangerous!

Yes, but these are barely traveled roads and he drives like 10 miles an hour and pulls over if there is anyone behind him.  Still not the safest thing, but he's not likely to kill anyone else. 

[Lisafer]

8 minutes ago, JenniferJuniper said:

Yes, but these are barely traveled roads and he drives like 10 miles an hour and pulls over if there is anyone behind him.  Still not the safest thing, but he's not likely to kill anyone else. 

I probably shouldn't have laughed at that, but I did. Hey, maybe there'll be a FB live where Rick gets pulled over and spouts his Jesus message at the police officer. That should be interesting.

[QuiverFullofBooks]

On 1/26/2019 at 9:37 PM, Red Hair, Black Dress said:

If the original TV show said Wizzie shared a room with her brothers, does she still?

If that house has five bedrooms and Wizzie now has her own room, that leaves all those boys sharing 3 rooms. 12 men in 3 rooms.  2 sets of bunkbeds in each room. Men who was pushing 40 sharing a room.  With bunkbeds. With their brothers.

This is taking infantalizing your children to ridiculous levels.

I subtracted the parents’ room when I posted. There are six bedrooms. If Mary Elizabeth has her own room now, the guys are sharing four rooms. 

[JenniferJuniper]

8 hours ago, QuiverFullofBooks said:

I subtracted the parents’ room when I posted. There are six bedrooms. If Mary Elizabeth has her own room now, the guys are sharing four rooms. 

I don't remember the number of rooms, but one bedroom is used by Rick as his office.  The four oldest are on the third floor but that may count as a bedroom.  In recent years, photos of rooms with two bunk beds (four beds) have been posted.  Complete with juvenile bedspreads and matching window treatments.  

[Palimpsest]

On 1/26/2019 at 3:16 PM, QuiverFullofBooks said:

I had not realized that they homechurch in their own home, so the kids basically never leave. I can’t believe I’m going to say something positive about ATI, but at least it gets families out of the house, and encourages them to find friends and spouses among like-minded people. The Arents seem completely isolated. There was a young woman in the show called Ashley, who appeared to be Luke’s special friend, but clearly nothing came of that.

The Arndt boy-men have never been particularly isolated.  They have extended family and cousins locally, they trained at the YMCA, they have soft ball and social lives, they travel freely and work outside the home.  The big mystery about them is why, like homing pigeons penguins, they always come back to the dormitory.

My own theory is that they are both stunted emotionally and (if they are even trying) find it hard to find women who are:

1. Nutty about soft ball
2. As Godly as Cathy
3. Willing to put up with rather their adolescent jokes
4. Don't laugh at Vine Valley
5. Don't run a mile when they see the homestead and dorm conditions and
6. Don't run five miles more when they meet Cathy and Rick.

I also suspect those boy-men are actually happy living at home.  Three squares a day, housekeeping, laundry service, good times with the lads, lots of electronic toys and drones, solid business opportunities - why would they want to leave the nest. 

Whether it is because they have been fucked up emotionally by Rick and Cathy, are developmentally stunted, have low or non-existent sex-drives is debatable.  I think they just plain enjoy their lives and each other's company too much to rock the boat.  Even if they could find a woman.

18 hours ago, JenniferJuniper said:

No employer. He was a self-employed court reporter. 

It is possible that the courts stopped requesting Rick's services as the boy-men were more efficient. 

But I agree.  I also don't think Rick is any more bonkers than he ever was.  This new video rambling isn't much different than what he used to do.   He has always been disconnected and rambling.

I do think he retired way too early and is twiddling his thumbs.  He would disagree.  As he sees it he is pursuing his "ministry" full-time, and the boy-men seem OK with supporting him and the younger children.  Rufus knows why.

[HerNameIsBuffy]

19 hours ago, Red Hair, Black Dress said:

Are we absolutely certain Rick retired of his own free will?  Is it possible he was asked to leave and they permitted him to resign rather than be fired? Retired became the cover story.

I've always thought Stevehovah was allowed to resign rather than be fired and his cover story of "corporate espionage" or whatever was just a lie to cover his firing over refusal to work with women

Sorry to be OT but Steve’s lie infuriates me and I want them to sue him just on principle.  I know they won’t  but I want them to.

 

[usedbicycle]

I take back my earlier theory about the Arndt home being one happy frat party, just too comfy for the manboys to leave.

I think some much more sinister emotional and spiritual manipulation is going on. Arndtland is a cult where Rick is the guru and Cathy his enabler. I'm starting to become afraid it won't end well. 

[JenniferJuniper]

27 minutes ago, Palimpsest said:

I also suspect those boy-men are actually happy living at home.  Three squares a day, housekeeping, laundry service, good times with the lads, lots of electronic toys and drones, solid business opportunities - why would they want to leave the nest. 

 

Sex?

[Palimpsest]

4 minutes ago, JenniferJuniper said:

Sex?

Get thee behind me, Satan! 

 

Weren't the Arndts building another house on the property at one point?  Perhaps the older man-boys are no longer sharing the house with their parents and have their own beds with grown up sheets.

I think the whole Fam Team thing could be a total con.  In my dreams the boy-men are actually all happily married or partnered and living separately and independently.   They just haven't told Rick yet.

They just come home occasionally to give Rick some cash, deliver penguins, and play soft ball together.

 

[HerNameIsBuffy]

19 hours ago, JenniferJuniper said:

No employer. He was a self-employed court reporter. 

Also, I don't think he'd object to working with women assuming he ever had an employer.  They started out as Catholics, so they aren't the typical King James bible only Protestant fundies.  He absolutely believes women should be home with children, but beyond that I wouldn't think it would be an issue.

Cathy has a number of sisters who work.  One has a management role in the family company now run by her brother and another is a chiropractor with her own business. 

Once I watched several of his ministry videos because I was curious to see if there were remnants of Catholicism in his theology but I honestly couldn’t follow his train of thought.  

And these were the vids from years ago.

The whole anointing of his phone was a whiff of ritualistic symbolism that many fundies shy away from.

I would pay money to see a Rick Arndt vs Steve Maxwell theology debate.

16 minutes ago, Palimpsest said:

They just come home occasionally to give Rick some cash, deliver penguins, and play soft ball together.

Except for the softball that’s all I’ve ever wanted from my children.

[JenniferJuniper]

39 minutes ago, Palimpsest said:

Get thee behind me, Satan! 

 

And don't push!

39 minutes ago, Palimpsest said:

Weren't the Arndts building another house on the property at one point?  Perhaps the older man-boys are no longer sharing the house with their parents and have their own beds with grown up sheets.

I thought they were too, but while they have the land, there have no mentions of new buildings.

In one of his drives/talks/prayers/oil-anointing sessions he mentioned something about expanding the house itself in the future.  I was barely listening, but I think he was talking about guest space or maybe it was just more prayer group space. 

As for the boys having true space of their own, I don't think it will happen.  Rick wants too much control over them.  He is very proud of the fact that he married as a virgin, and damnit, his sons will too.  Even if they are in their 60's when they finally do get married. 

[HerNameIsBuffy]

18 minutes ago, JenniferJuniper said:

I was barely listening, but I think he was talking about guest space or maybe it was just more prayer group space. 

If I were an adult sleeping in a bunk bed the idea of additional space for guests or praying for strangers would enrage me.

18 minutes ago, JenniferJuniper said:

He is very proud of the fact that he married as a virgin, and damnit, his sons will too.  Even if they are in their 60's when they finally do get married. 

Idk about you ladies, but I couldn’t handle the pressure.

Being someone’s first even just well into middle age would unnerve me.  Even I can’t live up to decades of nothing but idealized fantasy.    

[JenniferJuniper]

I stand corrected about Rick not building another structure.  During the five minutes I could manage last night he mentioned building a new building almost directly next to the house.  It would look like a barn, I think?  It would serve multiple purposes, housing lots of their equipment and props for the wedding photo business, including interior backdrops for photos during inclement weather.

I could be wrong, but I also get the sense Pastor Rick would like to marry people there as well, although he didn't say this.  But there are no ground breaking plans as they need to grow their businesses some more before they'd have the funds for the project.

So even if they include some upper floor bedrooms, Paul would probably be pushing 50 by the time he could move in.  With some of his brothers.    But they have so much land, maybe a compound of buildings is the ultimate plan. Arndtland.

[livinginthelight]

On 1/26/2019 at 10:42 AM, Markie said:

Perhaps Rick is the reason none of the kidults are married. One or two meetings with Rick would turn off most women and their fundie parents.

Or because they're afraid to rock his small and leaking boat. Maybe they don't want to be the ones to set him off and they stay out of loyalty and solidarity with the rest of the family.

[Black Aliss]

On 1/25/2019 at 3:05 PM, JenniferJuniper said:

He's bonkers. 

My money is on early-onset dementia. His language skills are still mostly intact but I bet he couldn't follow a series of instructions if his life depended on it.

On 1/26/2019 at 5:35 PM, Lisafer said:

Rick and Cathy have so many children that you'd think somebody would try to intervene in the situation, but denial is pretty powerful. There's plenty of families that try to deny or cover up the fact that one of their members is going off the rails, say with drug abuse, mental illness, dementia, etc. Confronting reality can be terrifying. If one Arndt tried to say, "Hey, maybe Dad needs to see a doctor," would the others listen? Or would that one be dismissed by all the others?

I suspect there's already been an official diagnosis. 

[JenniferJuniper]

25 minutes ago, livinginthelight said:

Or because they're afraid to rock his small and leaking boat. Maybe they don't want to be the ones to set him off and they stay out of loyalty and solidarity with the rest of the family.

I think this is as close as the truth as we can get.  Rick is crazy, Cathy is unknowable, but the "kids" all seem to be nice, smart, funny people who probably do feel as sense of solidarity with each other.  And we can't forget that until recent years, there were always younger kids around, younger kids who probably benefited a good deal from the support of their older brothers. 

[Lisafer]

26 minutes ago, Black Aliss said:

My money is on early-onset dementia. His language skills are still mostly intact but I bet he couldn't follow a series of instructions if his life depended on it.

I suspect there's already been an official diagnosis. 

It's definitely a possibility that he's already been diagnosed with something. I guess dementia could be a possibility, but what about his grandiosity in calling himself "Pastor Rick" and thinking his prayer rooms are going to change the world? It seems more like mania or obsessive thinking.

[gustava]

14 minutes ago, Lisafer said:

It's definitely a possibility that he's already been diagnosed with something. I guess dementia could be a possibility, but what about his grandiosity in calling himself "Pastor Rick" and thinking his prayer rooms are going to change the world? It seems more like mania or obsessive thinking.

Or just basic grandiose white male privilege....

[Black Aliss]

22 minutes ago, Lisafer said:

It's definitely a possibility that he's already been diagnosed with something. I guess dementia could be a possibility, but what about his grandiosity in calling himself "Pastor Rick" and thinking his prayer rooms are going to change the world? It seems more like mania or obsessive thinking.

They're not mutually exclusive. Sometimes with Alzheimer's a lot of other behavioral disorders present, that were not diagnosed earlier. Or they become magnified as the person's impulse control and social learning deteriorate.

[Lisafer]

5 minutes ago, gustava said:

Or just basic grandiose white male privilege....

No no, that's Steve Maxwell! Wrong thread!

Kidding aside, Rick is privileged, but I would argue that there's some kind of mental problem in addition to that. I don't think he could debate Steve Maxwell like a PP suggested; I think Rick would devolve into agitation and confusion, unable to make coherent arguments.

[HereticHick]

I'm dealing with elders with dementia and I agree that it is certainly possible. Does the family let him drive alone? How does he look when he walks? Does he shuffle?

 

Also, I assume he annointed that phone with Extra Virgin Olive Oil, yes?

[JenniferJuniper]

1 hour ago, HereticHick said:

I'm dealing with elders with dementia and I agree that it is certainly possible. Does the family let him drive alone? How does he look when he walks? Does he shuffle?

I've only seen him walk in Vine Valley clips in which he doesn't stay upright long enough to determine whether he shuffles or not.?

[Carm_88]

20 minutes ago, JenniferJuniper said:

I've only seen him walk in Vine Valley clips in which he doesn't stay upright long enough to determine whether he shuffles or not.?

And we really have no idea when those VV clips were filmed. I always thought that Rick was a bit batty, but he's getting scary. 

[Red Hair, Black Dress]

Rick is still youngish and in seemingly in good physical health.

Friend of mine's mother lived with Alzheimer's for 14 years,  perfectly healthy but her mind was completely gone for most of it.  Finally died of natural causes (essentially old age) in her late 80s. 

Another friend's mom lived nearly 17 years with vascular dementia. Her health got progressive worse as the dementia took its toll, but she hung in. She eventually died of pneumonia in her early 90s, hadn't recognized anyone, or known where she was in years and years. 

Another friend's wife died after 10 years following early onset Alzheimers, Doctors figured it began in her mid to late 40s although she wasn't definitely diagnosed for about 8 years. She was in good health the whole time, but had absolutely no cognitive function for the last 4 years or so.  She only died because eventually she refused to eat.

My point with all this gloom is that if Rick has been diagnosed with Alzheimers/ dementia the Arndts may be in for a long rough haul.

Edited January 29, 2019 by Red Hair, Black Dress