Torah observant fundies and the Cormiers

[mirele]

I was flipping through the tv channels and stumbled upon a torah outreach program on the church channel. I couldnt help but snap a photo since hes decked out in religious clothing when hes not even Jewish as well as him butchering the shema prayer.

Y'all can beat me with a stick or whatever, but when I first saw that picture, I thought, "that's some sort of weird funky video game on that TV", and then I was like, "Why does Osama bin Laden have a tallit on?" In my defense, I just woke up from a nap. I'm definitely awake now.

[Sola]

Just leave the http bit off, putting 'dot' in makes it virtually impossible to edit for those on mobile devices.

Here's the proper link http://brandysbrood.blogspot.com/ again just c&p leaving off the http bit if you don't want her to know about fj. That said she seems to be inviting snarking and seems to want the fj badge of persecution.

brandysbrood dot blogspot dot com

(Did I do that right?)

I think the house tour may have been on the last incarnation of her blog. I was a FREAKIN' mess, and I can judge because I have 7 kids from 1 to 15 and my house never has looked like that.

By the way, the Cormiers have 2 kids. I thought a brood was a bunch of offspring--like chicks or goslings or Duggers. Maybe she's just having wishful thinking? That blog title drives me crazy.

One more snark: that post about voluntarily choosing simplicity is so defensive it's funny. They are poor because her husband is a night stocker in a grocery store, not because they gave away their belongings follow Christ (or Yeshua or whatever). They have 5 Compassion children. Cout 'em. FIVE. Did you hear? They have 5 Compassion children!! Brag much?

Jason was offered a million dollars for his songs?! Really? Because I read his poetry once, on one of his many blogs, and it was...ummmm...well...hmmm...

bad. Really. Very. Bad.

Oh, so much to snark about and so little time...

[JesusFightClub]

Bah, their house looks like that because it's tiny and they're poor. I don't think she's messy or doing anything wrong. They just have a lot of stuff and very little storage space.

[fundiefan]

Tiny house and being poor I don't care. Apparently they choose to be poor so what could one say?

She only breastfed her youngest for such a long time. She never bothered with the oldest. There were posts on one of the many blogs about how horrible that was and how they chose not to because of the evil influence of others - all the mean people, I guess. I do believe, in the length of time I've known of her, breastfeeding that child for two years was the only thing she ever stuck to in any area of life. So, she's capable of sticking to something, she just doesn't. As for more kids - and this is not snark, it's just...what it is - she is quite heavy. Often, overweight women have trouble conceiving. Or, maybe god is controlling her womb and keeping the babies out of it and not putting any more kids into that kind of life? They're just not very healthy people (emotionally). Her husband has talked of his past issues with drugs and depression. She has talked of being depressed.

They never leave their tiny little trailer. He goes to work and that's it. They never go anywhere or do anything. Their entire lives are lived in those rooms pictured. He works at a grocery store so he brings food home so there aren't even grocery store trips for her. They do not do anything within their community, outside. They live in the great wide open west and go nowhere and experience none of it. Their lives are influenced by their online circles of friends at any given time and no one else, really. So, it can't be a surprise (or, shouldn't be) that they have no convictions of their own. They go with the flow of whoever pays them attention online. And in the end, it has cost them quite a bit of the money they do have because part of their going whole hog out of the gate for whatever belief system they're gonna' follow, they buy and throw away possessions. The money wasted when they have a freak out about entertainment and throw away everything they own as far as books and dvd's and music that isn't properly the current brand of christian. Then when they change their mind, they buy out the store to get all the fun stuff again. Throw out everything having to do with Christmas? Since it is still six months away, I bet they'll be buying a tree and ornaments again in December to replace what they threw away on a whim this week. They waste more money on their religious whims than I do on my bad habits.

They really are among the most extreme of the whackadoodles I've come across in fundie blog land. But, because they don't actually know what to believe, they are no threat to anyone and are mostly just in the wings of online communities and apparently the rest of the world. Like driving by the train wreck. It really has no affect on me or you or anyone else, but you can't help but staring and craning your neck.

A million dollars, my ass.

[Kaylee]

Bah, their house looks like that because it's tiny and they're poor. I don't think she's messy or doing anything wrong. They just have a lot of stuff and very little storage space.

This.

Also, for the "dirty sheets" comments, that's what light colored sheets look like after a wile when you only have a set or two for each bed and have to use them for a year or a few, even with weekly washing, and even straight from the laundry with bleach in them. Been there, done that. They get incredibly soft but don't look like the starched white hotel sheets forever.

What I saw was a lot of stuff in a small space. Especially with kids' toys and lots of books, it's gonna look cluttered with 4 people living in 700 sf. I have a photo book somewhere that a friend of mine wrote, based on poverty and racism in the 1970s. One thing I remember being struck by is how most of the homes looked really messy or cluttered. I think it comes from hanging on to everything you can, even the worn out stuff, not knowing if/when you can afford replacements, and having a smaller than average home to keep everything in.

This is how many people with one income, little education, and multiple children live. I'd say it's probably much more common among fundies than the whole Victorian home or large farm/ranch furnished in period furniture or like a Pottery Barn catalog. It's just sad that VF and other big websites, and so many blogs, sell a picture of that sort of lifestyle when the singlewide or mill house with too many people, too little room, and other people's castoffs is what so many of their followers can actually afford.

[emesbe]

I call B.S. on the "million dollars" and the "we COULD have more money, if we wanted".

[FaustianSlip]

Y'all can beat me with a stick or whatever, but when I first saw that picture, I thought, "that's some sort of weird funky video game on that TV", and then I was like, "Why does Osama bin Laden have a tallit on?" In my defense, I just woke up from a nap. I'm definitely awake now.

No, you're not alone. I saw that, and my first thought was, "What the... who does he think he is, the Jewish Grand Mufti?"

That kind of shit pisses me off to no end. So much the worse if it's on TV, giving people the mistaken impression that it's anything but ridiculous. Ugh.

[clarinetpower]

I have lived in a small space with no closets (2 adults and a 60 lb. dog in 27 square meters in Paris), and can attest, even with minimal stuff (we brought 2 suitcases each with us), it looks cluttered quickly and you clean about 3 times as often as you would in more space. It seemed to me that, though they are not wealthy, she keeps it fairly well organized, and really she doesn't have that much stuff, it's just that the space is tiny. Books, especially when she details every one, make it look cluttered. I <3 books, but they build up fast, which is why I rarely buy them anymore, preferring to use my library and our nook. But then again, I'm one of those ebil people with an 1800 square foot house with 4 bedrooms for 4 people, several laptops, an ipad, several ipods, a flat screen TV, a hybrid car, etc. My poor children! :shock:

I do feel sorry for the girls if all this is true. Poor kids need some stimulation outside the home, friends, things to do. Lots of stuff is free--the library, hiking, parks, etc.

Oh, and she is looking for persecution. She says that she shut her last blog because of the nasty harpies online, ie US. Just wait. ;)

[gardenvarietycitizen]

Y'all can beat me with a stick or whatever, but when I first saw that picture, I thought, "that's some sort of weird funky video game on that TV", and then I was like, "Why does Osama bin Laden have a tallit on?" In my defense, I just woke up from a nap. I'm definitely awake now.

Heh. My first thought was it looks like Osama bin Laden in a tallit too!

[JesusFightClub]

Fundiefan, Raine put it far better than I could. I'm not broke by choice, but I am broke, and Brandy's house tour is just what poverty looks like. Mine is worse.

Brandy's life sounds tragic, and her posts on her blog seem like total firefighting, but no fair having a go at her for a perfectly clean and tidy but overcrowded and poor home.

[ChunkyBarbie]

I hate messy and cluttery homes. It totally makes my anxiety shoot through the roof. I could not live like that, but as long as it is CLEAN, live and let live. Just don't invite me over. (no worries there!)

I call total BS on the whole we could be well off, but choose not to be BS. :liar: my husband is successful and I don't see Mr. Brood as executive material. Plus, big companies tend to frown on whackadoodle employees and their spouses shining their arses on every occasion possible. Btw, fundies having money and being successful are not character flaws, sins or a gateway to Hell.

Wow! Does this even make sense? Instead of a double negative, it is a double BS. Does that negate the BS? :clap: Props for me being a dumb ass.

[ChunkyBarbie]

Y'all can beat me with a stick or whatever, but when I first saw that picture, I thought, "that's some sort of weird funky video game on that TV", and then I was like, "Why does Osama bin Laden have a tallit on?" In my defense, I just woke up from a nap. I'm definitely awake now.

When I first saw this I thought it was George Dubya. Still am not convinced it isn't him. Photoshop fun!

[maybeizfundie]

The house tour made me sad. I understand how it gets that way, and I also know how crappy I'd feel living with it every day.

It can be hard and unmotivating to keep a house super-tidy when you know it's *never* going to really shine--whether it's because you live in an old tiny trailer, or you have an older house and not enough money to completely refurbish, which is our situation. You start feeling like "Why bother? This is good enough." Since I tend to want to hang on to stuff, it's a huge mental effort to keep things decluttered and neat but it is so, so, so worth it. I don't think they need to have a fancier, bigger house in order to live happily and raise their children well. But they might find a big improvement in mood just by shifting *how* they live in that house.

[MollyM]

Brandy tends to follow and try to be like any blogger who she starts going to all the time. At one point in time she was trying to be exactly like Candy, she is now trying to be like the Dixon Family, Jacque. Next she'll say she isn't going to shave her legs anymore, as the Dixons think it's done in vanity! Total whackadoo's!

[Elaine]

she is now trying to be like the Dixon Family, Jacque

Okay, I took a peek at the Dixon's blog--specifically, I looked at their homeschool plan. I am completely unfamiliar with them, but...

Oh. My. Gosh.

Writing program: blogging

Spanish program: you tube

History program: "Daily times, history happening before our eyes, also to include any background on what is happening" (That' actually called current events. History is IN THE PAST.)

Granted, there are other sources listed, but, wow, it is almost all Doorposts and restoring the Torah...astounding.

The 2 oldest daughters are "preparing to be a wife and mother." I think that means cleaning the house, cooking the meals and babysitting.

[defrauding]

I was flipping through the tv channels and stumbled upon a torah outreach program on the church channel. I couldnt help but snap a photo since hes decked out in religious clothing when hes not even Jewish as well as him butchering the shema prayer.

That's Kirt Schneider, a so-called "Messianic rabbi" who claims to have discovered Jesus at age twenty after growing up in a Conservative Jewish household. He also claims that his parents disapproved so strongly that they hired a cult deprogrammer and conspired with a psychiatrist to have him committed to a hospital for two months.

I'd love to find out the real story from his parents.

[Rowan]

I :roll: :lol: at the "we love our books/love to read!" because they have what....2 bookshelves? I have that many in my living room alone, and they're twice the size of those. Although as previous posters have said, it would be expensive to replace nearly all of your books every few months so it's probably better to not have lots of them.

I am guilty of things all over my walls - multiple photos. But I'll plaster the holes before I move out and after 8 years, my apartment will need re-painting when I leave regardless of the nail holes.

[LynnKaboom]

Okay, I took a peek at the Dixon's blog--specifically, I looked at their homeschool plan. I am completely unfamiliar with them, but...

Oh. My. Gosh.

Writing program: blogging

Spanish program: you tube

History program: "Daily times, history happening before our eyes, also to include any background on what is happening" (That' actually called current events. History is IN THE PAST.)

Granted, there are other sources listed, but, wow, it is almost all Doorposts and restoring the Torah...astounding.

The 2 oldest daughters are "preparing to be a wife and mother." I think that means cleaning the house, cooking the meals and babysitting.

When I was in high school my Spanish teacher would occasionally have us watch Telemundo, with all the soap operas, since it helps people to understand spoken speech, but if your entire Spanish program is YouTube, then you probably have a problem.

[emmiedahl]

Where do you think they eat? Or did I miss a kitchen table somewhere? it was really a challenge carving out a 'dining space' from our apartment.

It's not a good space for children and she has done little to make it better. Children need beds, not mattresses thrown on the floor. And no one wants to wake up at night to the sound of people having sex, especially not if 'people' are your parents. We have similar square footage per person, but I think mine looks neater, like an actual home, and cleaner so I feel free to judge. I feel bad that she must make do with so little space, but she could make it better and she doesn't.

What really gets me: she probably planned to bring children into that trailer and plans to have more, Emily-style. I lived in a huge, new-ish home with an acre of lawn when I was pregnant with my youngest; we never planned to be laid off and live on minimum wage in subsidized housing and absolutely will not have more children until we have a better situation. It's criminal to plan to raise children in poverty, and then to call it 'simple living' or whatever... I call bullshit. Simple living is when I gardened and hung out laundry in my former huge backyard, or when I sewed my daughters matching pillow case dresses in our former crafting room. Living in a small space with kids just blows and shame on her for not making it better.