Jerry Falwell Jr’s Zipper

[hoipolloi]

6 hours ago, formergothardite said:

The family needs privacy. This is a sad situation. We need to leave them alone to heal in peace. This is a private matter.

This is par for the course and SOP.

 

[Howl]

18 hours ago, turquoise said:

Most of my fundie-lite family and friends aren't saying anything other than general comments about how sad they are for the Falwell family.

I'm starting to wonder if part of this is utter confusion at being presented with a sexually aggressive woman (Becki F.) and her voyeur husband. 

They have the whole shtick down for patriarchs who can't keep it in their pants (the devil and that evil woman led to the fall of a great man, touch not mine annointed, etc.) but when that's turned inside out and upside down, there's no handy narrative at hand to address (ahem!) what went down. 

And now the Falwell Jr.'s  have fallen well to the tune of 10.5 million. 

 

Edited August 27, 2020 by Howl

[Giraffe]

1 hour ago, hoipolloi said:

This is par for the course and SOP.

 

What’s SOP?

Eta, all of this justification reminds me why I (and so many others) didn’t recognize abuse within a relationship for a painful length of time. It was easy to minimize so many abusive behaviors because I didn’t want to be seen as bitter or unforgiving. 

Edited August 27, 2020 by Giraffe
Still talking

[stylites]

16 minutes ago, Howl said:

I'm starting to wonder if part of this is utter confusion at being presented with a sexually aggressive woman (Becki F.) and her voyeur husband. 

They have the whole shtick down for patriarchs who can't keep it in their pants (the devil and that evil woman led to the fall of a great man, touch not mine annointed, etc.) but when that's turned inside out and upside down, they simply can't process what's going on, there's no handy narrative at hand to address (ahem!) what went down.

Well, it's also the other side of the extremely gendered roles.  After all it's somewhat excusable if the problem with Falwell was that he was just *too* alpha, but the idea that he played an essentially passive role in this situation (as far as we know so far) is something to which they find it harder to adjust.

[hoipolloi]

1 hour ago, Giraffe said:

What’s SOP?

Standard Operating Procedure.

Re: fundie reactions to the Falwell Jr fallout. Crissy Stroop wrote a good overview of why SOP *may* not ultimately work for Jerry Falwell Jr in this instance.

Quote

 

Falwell’s initial claim, that his erratic behavior had resulted from depression caused by his wife’s affair, seemed at first to fall into familiar patterns of confession in cases of evangelical sex scandals. He seemed to be largely dodging personal responsibility and placing the bulk of the blame on his wife. This confession appeared to be perfectly designed to serve as the first step of his rehabilitation by situating him as a longsuffering and forgiving husband.

But now? “His redemption in evangelical circles will likely depend on which version [of the story] evangelicals accept,” says Du Mez [author of Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation]. “If they go with Falwell’s, his path to redemption is fairly straightforward. If Granda’s version gains traction, it not only undermines any claim Falwell can make to exemplifying noble Christian manhood, but it’s likely so far outside the realm of experience of most evangelicals that they may no longer see him as one of their own.”

 

 

[marmalade]

Becki accused of inappropriate actions with a student.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/27/becki-falwell-affair-liberty-university-student-band-jerry-402559

[turquoise]

40 minutes ago, marmalade said:

Becki accused of inappropriate actions with a student.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/27/becki-falwell-affair-liberty-university-student-band-jerry-402559

Wow. I was wondering how much the relationship with the pool boy was Becki's idea vs, pressure from Jerry to go along with his voyeurism. He certainly seemed to like bragging about his prowess in other situations. But the relationship described in the article sounds like Becki's idea. (It wouldn't surprise me if Jerry was in the closet watching, but the article says he was out of town during the encounter.)

Also -- Trey playing Led Zeppelin? The band drinking whiskey? Was Trey still underage then? If he was just out of high school when he started playing with the band, he probably would have been.

 

[turquoise]

4 hours ago, Giraffe said:

What’s SOP?

Eta, all of this justification reminds me why I (and so many others) didn’t recognize abuse within a relationship for a painful length of time. It was easy to minimize so many abusive behaviors because I didn’t want to be seen as bitter or unforgiving. 

The pressure to deal with sin privately and not make the church look bad allows predators to keep taking advantage of new victims. 

I'm sorry for what you've been through.

Edited August 28, 2020 by turquoise
Edited because I'm repeating myself

[Ozlsn]

56 minutes ago, turquoise said:

The pressure to deal with sin privately and not make the church look bad allows predators to keep taking advantage of new victims. 

I'm sorry for what you've been through.

This is one thing that came out very strongly from Australia's Royal Commission Into Institutional Responses To Child Sexual Abuse.  The onus should always be on the church (or other institution) to report the abuse and deal with it publically, and reputation protection should be a lot lower priority. If there's one thing we learned it's that it will come out and your reputation will look much worse.

[gustava]

If Becki was the "aggressor" does that mean that Jer, jr. had low libido?

[Howl]

14 hours ago, marmalade said:

Becki accused of inappropriate actions with a student.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/27/becki-falwell-affair-liberty-university-student-band-jerry-402559

Important sentence from this article: 

Quote

POLITICO has also reported that Liberty has given a contract to a company owned by the Falwell's son and sold property to friends and family without always making proper tax disclosures.

This is the kind of shit that can incur huge fines and jail time. Never, ever f**k with the IRS. 

Well, maybe not in the Trump administration, but in normal times. 

I'm betting these disclosures are the tip of the iceberg of bad dealings, corruption, impropriety of every kind, blatant illegality and sex abuse.  How it's stayed under wraps for this long is surprising. I wonder if Liberty U has it's own "catch and kill" dept. and how much $$$$$$ it's paid out to Fallwell victims. 

[nausicaa]

14 hours ago, turquoise said:

Wow. I was wondering how much the relationship with the pool boy was Becki's idea vs, pressure from Jerry to go along with his voyeurism. He certainly seemed to like bragging about his prowess in other situations. But the relationship described in the article sounds like Becki's idea.

Completely anecdotal, but I've known more than one man into the whole virile, "look how big my dick is" schtick whose wife was into polyamory/cuckolding stuff, or just cheating.

Compensation is definitely a legit human phenomenon. 

[Snarkasarus Rex]

It will be interesting to see how they play this as more stories come out. Do they maintain a united front, or does Jerry throw Becki under the bus and she responds in kind?  Tune in tomorrow...???

[seraaa]

On 8/26/2020 at 3:37 AM, hasunah said:

Well , I leave that here 

https://old.reddit.com/r/LibertyUniversity/comments/ifgfd8/and_the_skeletons_begin_to_come_out_of_the_closet/g2nqt0o/

and another one

https://old.reddit.com/r/LibertyUniversity/comments/ifv7q5/serious_question/

 

Well, the new politico article seems to confirm the rumour that Becki sought out friends of her son. And it reads like sexual harassment, at the very least. That encounter he describes notably lacks enthusiastic consent, which is assault or coercion. 

Edited August 28, 2020 by seraaa

[seraaa]

17 hours ago, marmalade said:

Becki accused of inappropriate actions with a student.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/27/becki-falwell-affair-liberty-university-student-band-jerry-402559

It makes me sad that he is grappling with guilt when her behaviour was clearly so coercive 

Edited August 28, 2020 by seraaa

[Howl]

3 hours ago, nausicaa said:

Completely anecdotal, but I've known more than one man into the whole virile, "look how big my dick is" schtick whose wife was into polyamory/cuckolding stuff, or just cheating.

Compensation is definitely a legit human phenomenon. 

Yeah, at least one person interviewed for the Falwell exposé article early this year claimed that JF Jr.  would inappropriately discuss how he was "too big" for his wife. 

Edited August 28, 2020 by Howl

[Cartmann99]

On 8/26/2020 at 10:05 AM, 47of74 said:

eah I don't give a flying fornicate what consenting adults do in private.  That said Jerry and the rest of the GOP made careers out of sitting in judgement over the specks in the eyes of others all while ignoring the fornicating log in their own eyes so I have no problem calling them out.

So, replenishing the wood pile is simply a matter of leaving out a bottle of wine, lighting a few candles, and playing some Marvin Gaye?

Why doesn't anybody ever tell me these things?

Edited August 28, 2020 by Cartmann99
I can't write worth a damn

[47of74]

7 minutes ago, Cartmann99 said:

So, replenishing the wood pile is simply a matter of leaving out a bottle of wine, lighting a few candles, and playing some Marvin Gaye?

Why doesn't anybody ever tell me these things?

Either that or the Squeezy McFeelpants theme from Debbie Does Dallas (h/t Stephanie Miller)

 

[Giraffe]

3 hours ago, Howl said:

Yeah, at least one person interviewed for the Falwell exposé article early this year claimed that JF Jr.  would inappropriately discuss how he was "too big" for his wife. 

I keep seeing these kinds of horrible things he’s said/saying about his wife. I hope she kicks him to the curb after all this and stops preying on others!!

[hoipolloi]

Extended reporting today from Good Morning, America and an interview with the pool boy.

 

 

[Ozlsn]

6 hours ago, seraaa said:

It makes me sad that he is grappling with guilt when her behaviour was clearly so coercive 

This quote from the article:

"Liberty University has checked its Human Resources and Title IX records and finds no complaints were ever lodged against Becki Falwell for any inappropriate relationship nor were any investigations of such matters conducted. This is a fresh allegation, as far as we can tell.”"

Why on earth would you lodge a complaint as a student of the university? That would expose you to repercussions for having "premarital sex", while likely leaving Becky untouched. This is the equivalent of the Saudi laws making it impossible to report sexual assault.  I am not going to be surprised if a lot more of these stories start coming out - and I hope they come out against other predators who are likely still in place too.  That rigid hierarchical structure facilitates predatory behaviour- ask any number of organisations, starting with the Catholic Church. 

One thing that I don't really understand here, which may be a cultural thing - what is the attraction as a parent or student of sending your child/going to this university with this ridiculous level of behavioural restriction?  Is it a way of maintaining control over your child even though they are an adult? It it the JRod "we can't have our child exposed to competing worldviews (or non-KJV)"? Is it just that it's a big name in Baptist circles with a lot of prestige? (I honestly hadn't heard of it before this, it's not well known overseas). Just curious.

[Giraffe]

3 minutes ago, Ozlsn said:

One thing that I don't really understand here, which may be a cultural thing - what is the attraction as a parent or student of sending your child/going to this university with this ridiculous level of behavioural restriction?  Is it a way of maintaining control over your child even though they are an adult? It it the JRod "we can't have our child exposed to competing worldviews (or non-KJV)"? Is it just that it's a big name in Baptist circles with a lot of prestige? (I honestly hadn't heard of it before this, it's not well known overseas). Just curious.

This is exactly what it is. Parents can claim they’re still protecting their children from the evils of the world because the college will shelter their kids for them. 

[Marmion]

2 hours ago, Giraffe said:

This is exactly what it is. Parents can claim they’re still protecting their children from the evils of the world because the college will shelter their kids for them. 

It's what is officially been known as " in loco parentis " .  It's just that this regulatory regime has been rescinded in most other types of college campuses .  https://www.theryder.com/magazine/feature-articles/in-loco-parentis-curfews-curlers/

[Ozlsn]

21 minutes ago, Marmion said:

It's what is officially been known as " in loco parentis " .  It's just that this regulatory regime has been rescinded in most other types of college campuses .  https://www.theryder.com/magazine/feature-articles/in-loco-parentis-curfews-curlers/

Thank you for that, that was fascinating. I had to go and look up when 18 became the age of majority in the USA (1971, except for alcohol), just because I was curious. It was probably not dissimilar here (the student accommodation at the university I went to has alternating large and small colleges - the large ones were the men's, the small the sister women's college of the men's college - but they've all been co-ed since I've known of them, and there are no curfews, visitation restrictions or dress restrictions. Well, OK, nudity is discouraged.) It just seems very weird to me that the universities can't give out course or financial information to parents without specific consent, but can put in these archaic restrictions on students.

[Giraffe]

Betty Bowers on done a video on Jerry. “Fake Christian of the week.”