Shiny Happy People: A Duggar and IBLP Documentary

[GracieLou Free Duggar]

On 6/15/2023 at 8:56 AM, Coconut Flan said:

She's so right.  This is also why it's so dangerous to "other" the evangelical and conservative churches by calling them cults.  Cults in general view are fringe groups.  The evangelical, conservative churches are about 30% of the US.  That isn't a crazy fringe.  They're a major bloc of the Republican party and a huge part of the stranglehold the Republican conservatives have on the lives of the rest of us.  

I feel like if more people realized the poor actions and beliefs in the cults labelled as legitimate tax shelter, god honoring whatevers we might be able to get them taken down, taxed and exposed. Let's get the country back on track.

[Baba O'Riley]

Please forgive me if this has been posted already.  I did do a search.  There is a comedian with a podcast named Davey Jackson who is a survivor of IBLP.  He has a very interesting, informative, and somewhat funny three-episode video on Youtube, talking to another humorous survivor name Brice. I think it was posted in the last couple of days.  Part 1:  

 

[shesinsane]

There was another AMA on reddit today, this time with Brooke Arnold (former IBLP) from the documentary. Her first answer tells about the time Bill Gothard wanted to get married.

 

[CTRLZero]

Mormon Stories podcast has a panel discussion comparing and contrasting IBLP with Mormonism.  The panel includes Tia Levings, Brooke Arnold, and Lindsey Williams from Shiny Happy People.  The podcast/YouTube episode is #1778, and I’ll try to link it here:  Mormon Stories interviews former IBLP - episode 1778

The audio-visual quality has its ups and downs, but it had some new thoughts on the similarities of IBLP and another high demand system.  I’m enjoying all of the reviews and commentary on the documentary.  

Edited June 22, 2023 by CTRLZero
Awkward wording.

[marmalade]

Aftershow for SHP, from the mothership. The first two segments, survivors and experts who took part in SHP, are excellent. The last segment with Amy and Deanna was a throwaway. FF to about 5 minutes in for the start of the stream.

 

[CTRLZero]

11 hours ago, marmalade said:

Aftershow for SHP, from the mothership.

I liked the reference to Free Jinger!  And Deanna didn’t come across really well, just wanting to let everyone know she wasn’t IBLP.  

[JermajestyDuggar]

Allie B Stuckey posted on her Instagram how IBLP wasn’t wrong in any of their beliefs, but they just implemented those beliefs incorrectly and legalistically. Barf. That’s what so many fundies are saying. They are trying so hard to make their shitty beliefs ok while trying to distance themselves from IBLP. And Claire Duggar liked that post. 

[KWLand]

I guess Paul is still going on about how the documentary did them wrong.  I may just have to tune in to see the next one to see how the producers really toss him under the bus

[JermajestyDuggar]

Paul is such a man child. I wish he would just go away. I have no doubt those two will eventually divorce one day.

[hoipolloi]

6 hours ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

I have no doubt those two will eventually divorce one day.

Yep. That marriage has "implosion" written all over it. 

[AnnaSofia]

34 minutes ago, hoipolloi said:

Yep. That marriage has "implosion" written all over it. 

I mean she literally vomited during their wedding ceremony....

[DottyC]

17 hours ago, CTRLZero said:

I liked the reference to Free Jinger! 

The vocal fry is driving me insane I can't listen to it any more.
Can someone post the timestamp for the Free Jinger mention please?

[FiveAcres]

The blogger who writes Heresy in the Heartland rarely posts anymore, however she has written her reaction to the documentary series:

http://heresyintheheartland.blogspot.com/2023/06/cult-identity.html

Quote

Watching Shiny Happy People is like glimpsing Titanic’s murky wreckage through the Titan’s tiny viewport. The producers focus on one celebrity family (because ratings) but the real scope and scale of the tragedy? The broken families, the scarred hearts, the body count? The why and the how and the price tag? Scarcely comprehensible. 

 

[CTRLZero]

5 hours ago, DottyC said:

The vocal fry is driving me insane I can't listen to it any more.
Can someone post the timestamp for the Free Jinger mention please?

Jen mentions FJ around 27:20-40ish. 

[Antipatriarch]

Apparently in episode 2 there was a scene where the Duggars did a book burning, of things that accidentally slipped into the house, which they repented of? So now I'm curious what these awful books were.

[JermajestyDuggar]

27 minutes ago, Antipatriarch said:

Apparently in episode 2 there was a scene where the Duggars did a book burning, of things that accidentally slipped into the house, which they repented of? So now I'm curious what these awful books were.

Oh I bet it was stuff that a wasn’t much of a big deal. Probably kids stuff with magic and stuff. That would be my guess. I don’t think Gothard liked children’s fiction with magic in it. 

[ADoyle90815]

According to Amy, it was a lot of Disney stuff they burned, and other "worldly" items. 

"Duggars Had Huge Bonfire and Burned Everything Disney and Worldly" - Shiny Happy People - YouTube

Edited June 23, 2023 by ADoyle90815

[Tatar-tot]

32 minutes ago, ADoyle90815 said:

According to Amy, it was a lot of Disney stuff they burned, and other "worldly" items. 

"Duggars Had Huge Bonfire and Burned Everything Disney and Worldly" - Shiny Happy People - YouTube

Yet they enjoyed an all expense paid vacation to the Magic Kingdom sponsored by TLC……they are such a bunch of hypocrites.

Edited June 23, 2023 by Tatar-tot

[Nolongeroppressed8.4]

46 minutes ago, Tatar-tot said:

Yet they enjoyed an all expense paid vacation to the Magic Kingdom sponsored by TLC……they are such a bunch of hypocrites.

 

1 hour ago, ADoyle90815 said:

According to Amy, it was a lot of Disney stuff they burned, and other "worldly" items. 

"Duggars Had Huge Bonfire and Burned Everything Disney and Worldly" - Shiny Happy People - YouTube

Here’s the list of what would / could / potentially was burned (from my experience):

anything disney

anything comic books (magic/other world or women in a state of undress)

cabbage patch (they’re grown by satan and given devil names)

dungeons and dragons 

Anything occult-ey like Sabrina the teenage witch or magic-ey like Merlin the wizard

anything that has a women being a feminist

anything that speaks against religion even if imagined or subtle

Anything romance related - remember sex is taboo and kissing leads to sex and dancing leads to kissing (I wasn’t even allowed to read Christian romance fiction)

Anything with even a hint of an expletive (my mom would white out jeepers creepers in books because it “stood for Jesus Christ”)

Playing cards 

obviously anything like a ouiji board or magic 8 ball

anything where kids were smart mouthing parents or being too worldly (wasn’t allowed Adventures in Odyssey or Uncle Charley because of that - even one patch the pirate wasn’t allowed because it was “too edgy”)

I can keep going ….

 

 

[Loveday]

2 hours ago, Nolongeroppressed8.4 said:

Anything with even a hint of an expletive (my mom would white out jeepers creepers in books because it “stood for Jesus Christ"

Today I learned. I never made the connection! 😮

[thoughtful]

I finally got around to watching the last two episodes the other day, and reading through the rest of this thread. Now I need to go watch and read all of the reaction videos and things people posted here!

I'm so glad there are people talking about this. Yes, those still marinated in it, in denial, or trying to pretend they or their parents did no harm are being defensive, but there are also people speaking out, and others getting educated about the whole mess.

[JermajestyDuggar]

9 minutes ago, thoughtful said:

I finally got around to watching the last two episodes the other day, and reading through the rest of this thread. Now I need to go watch and read all of the reaction videos and things people posted here!

I'm so glad there are people talking about this. Yes, those still marinated in it, in denial, or trying to pretend they or their parents did no harm are being defensive, but there are also people speaking out, and others getting educated about the whole mess.

I’m sort of sad it took this long. The Duggars have been on tv since 2003. Gothard has been active since the 60s. His sexual harassment abuse scandal has been out in the open since 2014. Josh’s molestation scandal has been public knowledge for years. And of course FJ has known much of this shit since the beginning. When people finally catch up to things you’ve know for a decade or longer, you’re just like, ok what took so long? It’s not like we live in 1800. We have the internet, cell phones on us constantly, tv, radio, and podcasts. Come on.

[marmalade]

Gothard breaks his silence.

[thoughtful]

20 minutes ago, marmalade said:

Gothard breaks his silence.

Whoa.

Spoiler

Billy, my head brain, which is the only brain I have, tells me you are still slimy, out of your gourd, and trying to sell shit.

 

[Columbia]

That was the most incoherent babbling I've ever seen. 
 

Quote

During the past five years, God has graciously revealed a great treasure of His wisdom! It explains how we can get Scripture into our “inner being” so that can live victorious and fruitful Christian lives. It is based on the fact that we have three brains: 1. Our head brain, which is the weakest. 2. Our heart brain, which controls our head brain. And 3. Our gut brain, which controls our lives!

What on earth does this mean? What happened five years ago that Billy suddenly figured this out? Didn't he get kicked out in 2014? What has he been doing since then?