Shiny Happy People: A Duggar and IBLP Documentary

[thoughtful]

The second half of the second episode is covering the beatings, blanket training, the Pearls, etc. They are doing a pretty good job of showing how horrifying it is, and how it sets kids up for further abuse.

ETA - the music seemed much less intrusive in the second episode. It went on to talk about the courtship model, and how physical discipline was used on wives, as well as children.

JB and Michelle referred to beatings as "encouragement."

🤮 😡

Edited June 2, 2023 by thoughtful

[CanadianMamam]

Tia Leving's story is super harrowing. I knew some of it from her videos but hearing it all at once was rough. 

Finished the first two episodes, will watch the rest tomorrow but that was super intense and disturbing. So far Jill hasn't spilled a ton of tea (except to call her dad a power hungry control freak, in a roundabout way)  except for the Megyn Kelly interview and the fact that she was coerced to do it and to do Counting On.

[Jana814]

Just saw the first episode. I didn’t know all of Jim-Bob’s family background.  So glad Deanna raised Amy differently. 

[Anne Of Gray Gables]

I'm on the third episode. Haven't learned much new so far.

The music in the first episode sounds just like the soundtrack in the documentary "The Staircase" about Michael Peterson...

[Cam]

I watched Episode 1. What struck me was JB with the big tears for the camera whenever Michelle’s health was in major danger after birthing Josie. He says something like, “the situation is threatening to change our lives.” The thought came to me, “omg, if Michele had died, how long before JB found another wife, younger of course, and started getting her perpetually pregnant?” Do you think he’d think like that? Marry another fertile woman and have more kids to prove his virility? Was he thinking about THAT kind of change in his life?

 

Oh, and then bastard gets his wife pregnant again with #20. They’re two sickos.

 

Edited June 2, 2023 by Cam

[onekidanddone]

1 hour ago, thoughtful said:

JB and Michelle referred to beatings as "encouragement."

Did I ever mention how much I hate those puss nodules. 

[Cheetah]

Okay, 3 episodes, down, 1 to go.  So far for me there's really nothing actually new except a bit about wives having an actual contract about their husbands being able to beat them for 'disobedience'.  The only other newish stuff is just more detail from people who were in it but nothing that hadn't been guessed or assumed by this group already.  Do you guys follow Emily Elizabeth Anderson on FB (Thriving Forward)?  Her segment was especially sad.  

 

[Antimony]

For some reason, I thought this wasn't coming out until tomorrow but I figured I'd watch a bit before bed.

The shoutout to Discovery Health really is a blast from the past. I miss that when surgery was just on tv for like...no reason.

Also, the clip they dug up of Josh saying, "I'm Josh Duggar, I might not be a household name..." talk about fingers of the monkey's paw curling. 

[CanadianMamam]

The release date is fhe 2nd, but it is a global release so it came out at 8 p.m EST. 

 

[Loveday]

Just finished the first two episodes. My husband watched with me, and of course since he didn't really know much about the Duggars he had a ton of questions. I'm going to have to rewatch as I know I missed a lot while answering his questions. I told him, 'THIS is the sort of thing we talk about on my fundie forum every day. THIS is the rabbit hole we've all gone down for the past dozen years and more.'

I had tried, in the past, to explain Michael Pearl and plumbing line, but he never quite understood what I meant. Tonight, after watching that segment in the second episode, he finally got it.😞

[Sister Mozz]

I watched the first episode while doing some cleaning and working on projects, but even though I'm familiar with the material that was presented, I agree that it seemed kind of choppy. I hope the next episodes are a little more cohesive, and also I'll make it a point to actually sit and watch.

My family was in IBLP until I was 12. My parents saw some danger signs and got out, but still followed a lot of the teaching. My mom to this day doesn't believe Gothard abused girls at the training centers. I'll see how this documentary plays out and how strongly they call out the cultish stuff as it goes along.

[CTRLZero]

Finished all the episodes.  I was really interested in the lack of compensation and basically fraud as brought up by Jill Dillard.  I hope she takes her dad to task over that and gets a big settlement.

Also, was that Jill Rodrigues looking bedraggled and talking about modesty (it flew by pretty fast at that point).

Great shout out to Recovering Grace and speaking out in an informative way in general.  And calling it (IBLP) a cult - yes!

Good series.  I may need to watch it again since there was so much that was new to me, especially the TLC contracts, etc. 

[Carol]

Finished all four episodes.  Not a lot of new information but the show didn't pull any punches.  God, I hope people who watch this see Christian nationalism for the danger it is. 

[Bad Wolf]

I, too, was waiting until tomorrow until I read here. Mr. Wolf just read about blanket training. He doesn't know much about fundies. When Wolf Girl was about 6 months old she needed a brace for her hips. When the brace came off, we had to encourage her to move. The opposite of blanket training. We would put toys or cookies just out of her reach so she would crawl towards them.

I think I'll watch one a night. 

[Cupcake79]

I don’t know where I could watch this as I’m in Europe. Need to figure that out. My question at this point is if and how much are the Bates in this?

[QuiverMeDone]

28 minutes ago, CTRLZero said:

Finished all the episodes.  I was really interested in the lack of compensation and basically fraud as brought up by Jill Dillard.  I hope she takes her dad to task over that and gets a big settlement.

Also, was that Jill Rodrigues looking bedraggled and talking about modesty (it flew by pretty fast at that point).

Great shout out to Recovering Grace and speaking out in an informative way in general.  And calling it (IBLP) a cult - yes!

Good series.  I may need to watch it again since there was so much that was new to me, especially the TLC contracts, etc. 

Yes that was Jill Rodrigues

[Giraffe]

33 minutes ago, Cupcake79 said:

I don’t know where I could watch this as I’m in Europe. Need to figure that out. My question at this point is if and how much are the Bates in this?

Early  on they showed stills of various fundy tv shows and the Batessesss were mixed in. It was probably less than a second on the screen. I think they were only shown one or two additional times very briefly in montages. 

 I can't say I learned anything new but I was glad it met my expectations. I wasn't disappointed which is a nice change for a documentary on christian fundamentalism. 

[flowergirl]

1 hour ago, QuiverMeDone said:

Yes that was Jill Rodrigues

Jill Rodrigues was shown, too? Was she interviewed for the show or did they take a video she had already shared on social media? 

She mentioned that she was offered to be on TV multiple times but refused. Maybe she referred to this and refused because it shows her cult in a negative way? 

I wonder what she thinks about that and when she'll share her thoughts about it with us. 

[Dandruff]

I watched the first episode.  Agree it was choppy.  Didn't realize that JB was introduced to IBLP when he was in high school.  I guess he and Michelle really latched onto it following the miscarriage (J'Caleb), which is when they decided to no longer use BC.

I'm trying to reconcile the Holts being disturbed about JB not wanting to disclose what Josh had done (per the episode) with their willingness to allow Josh to stay in their home for months after finding out what he did (per Bobye's statements prior to Josh's trial).  The former makes total sense to me since Josh was in a relationship with Kayleigh and they would want to protect her, but then why didn't they break off the relationship between the two immediately and refuse to let Josh near their kids once they found out?  Am I missing something?  Sorry for asking if this was clarified later in the series.

[FiveAcres]

3 hours ago, Dandruff said:

I watched the first episode.  Agree it was choppy.  Didn't realize that JB was introduced to IBLP when he was in high school.  I guess he and Michelle really latched onto it following the miscarriage (J'Caleb), which is when they decided to no longer use BC.

I'm trying to reconcile the Holts being disturbed about JB not wanting to disclose what Josh had done (per the episode) with their willingness to allow Josh to stay in their home for months after finding out what he did (per Bobye's statements prior to Josh's trial).  The former makes total sense to me since Josh was in a relationship with Kayleigh and they would want to protect her, but then why didn't they break off the relationship between the two immediately and refuse to let Josh near their kids once they found out?  Am I missing something?  Sorry for asking if this was clarified later in the series.

The Holts were in a cult with the Duggars: a cult in which the potential redemption / rehabilitation of an unrelated young white Christian male was more important in their religion than the safety of their own children. 

[Jana814]

Saw the rest of the series. So glad Jill got away & she seems to have Amy & her aunt in her corner.  I get why some people got involved with this cult. They were looking for something.  

[flowergirl]

Duggar cousin Amy commented on the Duggar statement on Instagram. (She made a video in her own Instagram profile with a screenshot of the Duggar Family statement as background.)

Something about "you didn't get Josh the help he needed". It's verbal and I didn't catch it well. Maybe someone could listen to it and tell us what she says? 

Edited June 2, 2023 by flowergirl

[Cam]

Just watching Episode I, Jill still seems kind of baby-fied. She seemed to give broad comments and is not overly specific. It felt like she held back because she is intentionally saving more details to be revealed in her book; like her appearance in the documentary serves to spark interest in and promote her book. Very calculated. 
 

The Holts came across as weird. Jim saying “did I tell you we were related?” about he and Bobye was very awkward when Josh made a similar joke on 19KAC. I also didn’t grasp why Jim said, “We have two kids”. Then she said “We have 11 kids.” What was that about? 

[Gobsmacked]

10 hours ago, ElizaB said:

Now the real question…. Do I binge watch all 4 episodes or limit myself to 1 each night. 

Binge watch please! I won’t be able to watch it for another week. You can report back. Pretty please.🤩

[ElizaB]

7 minutes ago, Gobsmacked said:

Binge watch please! I won’t be able to watch it for another week. You can report back. Pretty please.🤩

I felt it was really heavy and watching one at a time is going to be necessary. I couldn’t watch another. Anyone else feel this way?