Michael Pearl is really a victim of persecution

[hoipolloi]

Did a search but didn't see any thread on this yet.

Could only watch about 30 minutes of the Pearls' new video (nogreaterjoy.org/video/the-fruit-of-child-training-webinar/). Although it's billed as a help for parents, its real purpose is showing how the Pearls are victims of religious persecution, how people have misunderstood or twisted Mike & Debi's writing, and how generally wonderful the Pearls really are. Nathan, Shalom & Shoshanna are there, with Nathan acting as moderator while "interviewing" his siblings & parents. He says that Gabriel & Rebekah were out of town, and therefore couldn't be there - the implication being they would have participated. I wonder although an apparently recent photo on their website shows Gabe & Rebekah with 2 of their kids along with the rest of the family.

Here are few things from this first part:

- Michael Pearl had to sign a gag order in order to appear on AC360 & other shows. So, he can't correct or clarify anything that was said, even though a lot of it was false or misleading.

- In general, fewer than 1 in a 100 quotes that people take from Michael Pearl's writings are accurate, and there are usually at least a couple outright fabrications.

- Michael Pearl teaches parents never to hit their children. There is a big difference between hitting and spanking, and Anderson Cooper was incorrect to say that the words are synonyms. Pearl also says that he has not recommended spanking a 6-month-old child. He also denied ever telling people to spank their children into submission.

- Shalom says she remembers being 7 months old and being spanked with a switch so that she wouldn't crawl up steep stairs. She also says that she remembers seeing the switch lying on the lowest step. Pretty amazing recall.

I may need an adult beverage or two in order to finish watching this thing.

[Glass Cowcatcher]

I just don't have the words other than to say I know narcissistic bullshit when I see it, the FIRST thing individuals like him that i have been unblessed enough to know in real life do to wiggle out of their own holes is always to claim out of context or that they didn't really mean what they said because one or two little words were misquoted.

[doggie]

Damn he is a spin doctor too. Nothing like denying the very things he wrote in his books. Sounds like damage control from attacks that hit the mark. If you dare question a christian then they are right and persecuted no matter what.

[CrazySister]

- Michael Pearl had to sign a gag order in order to appear on AC360 & other shows. So, he can't correct or clarify anything that was said, even though a lot of it was false or misleading.

- Shalom says she remembers being 7 months old and being spanked with a switch so that she wouldn't crawl up steep stairs. She also says that she remembers seeing the switch lying on the lowest step. Pretty amazing recall.

Selectively trimmed quote. Anyway, I find something very satisfying about them making him sign a gag order! Mwahahaha!. Also, I call "bullshit!" on Shalom remembering something from 7 MONTHS old. Seriously?? I don't have any doubt about being spanked or about seeing the switch lying there, but remembering that from 7 months old? I have some early memories (not *that* early) but remembering she was 7 months just seems so contrived.

[galaxygirl]

- Shalom says she remembers being 7 months old and being spanked with a switch so that she wouldn't crawl up steep stairs. She also says that she remembers seeing the switch lying on the lowest step. Pretty amazing recall.

I have an almost 7 month old and I can not even imagine spanking her by hand, let alone with a switch :shock:

[thoughtful]

Not up to watching that -- I need to go to sleep soon.

But the crap about being misquoted is such BS.

Here, read the fucking piece of trash -- you can find plenty of shocking, disgusting quotes. No need to misquote needed.

http://www.quicksilverqueen.com/ttuacbook.html

[doggie]

this is more about reassuring their leg humpers then actually defending themselves.

[CrazySister]

Just 'cause this can't be said enough: Michael Pearl's a lying, narcissistic, abusive piece of shit!

[doggie]

He is a victim for sure a victim of his own assholyness.

[Little_Eyes]

Doug Phillips is to Tool as Michael Pearl is to Lying Fuckwit.

That is to say, he's a lying liar who lies, with blood on his hands who cries persecution and expects people to believe it. Fuckwit.

eta:elaboration

[emmyfair]

Michael Pearl is a victim of persecution like I'm the Queen of England. If you're such a man, Michael, stand up with what you said, own it, and face the consequences like a big boy.

Micheal Pearl is a thudfuck!!!

[hoipolloi]

Forgot to add that Nathan starts out by providing misleading accounts of the murders of Lydia Schatz & Hana Williams, minimizing the role that TTUAC had in those cases & belittling anyone who thinks otherwise.

[flojo]

Forgot to add that Nathan starts out by providing misleading accounts of the murders of Lydia Schatz & Hana Williams, minimizing the role that TTUAC had in those cases & belittling anyone who thinks otherwise.

Agree completely!

The thing is, even without being linked to these poor children, ultimately TTUAC is still a child beating manual. Child beating is unacceptable, and advocating it is evil. Period.

[alba]

- Shalom says she remembers being 7 months old and being spanked with a switch so that she wouldn't crawl up steep stairs. She also says that she remembers seeing the switch lying on the lowest step. Pretty amazing recall.

Fun fact: Using the Pearls' methods on your children will allow them to remember things more than two years before the average child!

Apparently we don't have the ability to form true memories till we're about three years old; anything we consciously remember from before then is generally influenced by accounts from parents and such.

[Juliakitty]

Actually, it IS possible for very young toddlers--though I'm not sure about seven-month-olds--to remember stuff that really traumatized them.

[debrand]

In their book, To Train Up A Child, the Pearls describe swatting four month old Rebekah-not Shalom- so that she would understand that she couldn't climb the stairs. They've changed both the age and the identity of the child. I've always wondered if the story was fabricated, not because I don't think that they are capable of hitting very young children but because I don't think that any four month old is mobile enough to climb stairs.

We've discussed about the Pearls weird double speak on this forum. They claim that hitting is different then spanking so therefore they don't hit. Also, they sometimes substitute the word, training for spanking and will say that a session didn't include spanking. And yet, they describe hitting the child during the training session.

There is an article on his magazine's site, No Greater Joy, in which he says a seven month old is too young to hit. Okay. He then proceeds to explain how to hit the same child for throwing their cereal on the floor. This, in his warped mind, is neither spanking nor hitting but training. I'll see if I can't find a link to it.

Some of his followers do the same thing. Read the counter comments under some of the negative Amazon reviews of To Train Up A Child and you will see that Pearl lap dogs claim that the reviewer either hasn't read the book or is purposely misquoting. This tactic has always boggled my mind. After all, everyone that reads the book knows that it has those same horrible sections dealing with abuse, how can his followers pretend/lie that they aren't in his book?

I really wish that everyone on this site could read To Train Up A Child. If I had more money, I would send a copy to any reporter with children. There needs to be more public outrage over his methods.

[debrand]

I am watching the video now. No idea how far my disgust will let me watch. First thing, the oldest two children aren't in the video. Nathan says that they are out of town. I wonder if there is any problem with the Pearls' older children(just idle speculation)

Basically Nathan says at the beginning that if you obey your spouse, train your children, follow god, your children will walk in truth. That is a mighty big promise. Even great Christian parents can end up with children who fall away from their faith. And Nathan needs a shave. Either grow a beard or shave the five o'clock shadow, Nate.

He is downplaying the role of his parents' book in the death of two children. Urg. Nathan Pearl states that the media's claims about their book is false because the reporters told them that they had never read the book. (Just for the record, I've read your parents' damned books, Nate. )

The Pearls feelings were hurt by the media's claims and by the fact that Christians were against them. The Pearls want to answer their critics directly without being filtered through the producer that hates god and Christians. Yep, that is what Nathan claims. What an ass. He says he is not doing this for the chance for to say that they are right but for all the poor little kids that will miss out on the lovely childhood that he and his siblings had. Gag He refers to somethign that a lost angry man produced in order to make ratings. Does he mean Anderson Cooper? Can we send this video to him

I will try to write on the rest but I can only take this in small doses. :angry-screaming:

I salute the OP for trying to watch this without being drunk first. You're a brave woman hoipolli

I'm adding more. First a question, why does Shalom have such a weird voice? She sounds like she is talking far back in her throat. I've never heard anyone speak like she does. Could she have had some speech issues when she was younger?

Michael whines that he didn't meet Cooper before the show except for a thirty second meeting in his dressing room. He also says that long before Pearl came around, the mediea invented an antifamily, antiChristian, anticonservative profile. For a manly man, Michael Pearl is awful whiny.

Shoshana trained her child to be potty trained by the time she was two weeks old.

They don't spank young children but a three month old child can have his fingers pulled loose if he touches someone's beard. :o If that doesn't work, they thump their hands. But they don't spank them. um....what the hell?

Watch the video, it is vile. But we all need to be aware of the Pearls' double speed.

[Bloo]

He says they don't advocate hitting children but then says that one of his own kids remembers being hit with a switch as a baby? What an insane fuckwit.

[Conuly]

Apparently we don't have the ability to form true memories till we're about three years old; anything we consciously remember from before then is generally influenced by accounts from parents and such.

Not always. The range of ages for ones earliest memories (in adulthood, children remember further back than they will when they're grown) runs from about 2 to about 7. The more you consciously call up those memories when young, the better you'll remember them when grown, and it seems that living with a family that discusses your life helps you form those memories. But we're still learning so much about how memory works that we still have SO LITTLE idea of how early memories work.

[thoughtful]

I really wish that everyone on this site could read To Train Up A Child.

They can, for free. I urge everyone here to read it. The more people there are who know exactly what it says, the less power the Pearls have.

Here it is: http://www.quicksilverqueen.com/ttuacbook.html

[Swamptribe]

He didn't have to sign the non-disclosure/ gag order forms.

[chaotic life]

I had a friend who helped coordinate the DA getting information on Pearl when Lydia Schatz was killed. There was evidence on their computers that they had been chatting online with Pearl directly during the 2 day "training session" they put that girl through and he deliberately instructed them continue to beat her throughout the day.

Prosectors not in TN are scared to try to pin the abuse and deaths on him. Dude may be bat-shit crazy but he makes TONS of money, hand over fist actually.

Around the time Lydia was killed, I did a college research project on Pearl, specifically concluding that Pearl played direct culpability in her death. There was another non-trad in my class. She had read TTUAC for her mother's reading group just a few months before. As I began to talk about the horrific stuff in the book, she was FLOORED. She had read the book and somehow completely missed all of the garbage in it.

[alba]

Actually, it IS possible for very young toddlers--though I'm not sure about seven-month-olds--to remember stuff that really traumatized them.

I was under the impression that generally these memories aren't really true memories in the sense that they can recall the event, but that reminders of the event terrify them later in life. I could be wrong on this, though.

Either way, though, if she's actually got any memory of what happened at seven months it must have been traumatic, which further bolsters the arguments against the Pearls' methods of abusing training children.

Not always. The range of ages for ones earliest memories (in adulthood, children remember further back than they will when they're grown) runs from about 2 to about 7. The more you consciously call up those memories when young, the better you'll remember them when grown, and it seems that living with a family that discusses your life helps you form those memories. But we're still learning so much about how memory works that we still have SO LITTLE idea of how early memories work.

That's interesting that there's such a range; I wasn't aware of that.

[Arielkay]

There is a really sad video documentary on youtube of a little girl who was severely abused before being adopted at 18 months. She speaks very clearly of remembering her father raping her (though in the words of a five year old). Poor little kid seems to have no moral center - she abuses her little brother, and her adoptive parents sleep with their door locked because she has threatened to stab them in their sleep.

I can't imagine why anyone would tell her about this abuse, but whether or not children consciously remember what happened, their psyche remembers it. They are forever damaged. It makes me want to cry.

[Bloo]

I read about that child, and I saw a video of her on YouTube. It seems that she was sent away to some intensive therapy home and, according to the people working there, was making a good amount of progress over the years. I hope so. That poor girl was so damaged.