Jill Duggar announced her pregnancy on the cover of People Magazine when she was only six weeks along. She claims to have fallen pregnant just two weeks into her new marriage, to accountant Derick Dillard. Many people were wondering what possessed Jill and Derick to make the announcement when it’s typical to wait until three months into a pregnancy to make it public. In a new interview with Page Six, Jill explains that she did it because “every life is precious no matter how young.”
Why they announced the pregnancy so early
Understanding that the majority of miscarriages happen within the first trimester, and believing that every life is precious no matter how young, we decided to share our joyful news as soon as we could.Why they got married 8 months after they met
We prayed a lot, prepared and really didn’t see any reason to have a long courtship and engagement. Once we knew we wanted to get married, we didn’t want to put off the wedding for a long time and provide a stumbling block for ourselves. We purposed to save ourselves physically for each other within marriage (even our first kiss for our wedding day!), so we had a short engagement period. We knew that we weren’t going to prevent having children, so when we found out we were expecting within our first month of marriage, we were thrilled!Why long engagements aren’t a good idea
You may not wanna push the wedding date out too far, as those natural God-given desires with too much time between engagement and marriage can make it harder to remain pure. If you are financially ready, and things are in place (which should be at the time the question is popped), we believe an engagement should only be long enough to plan a wedding!On if they will have a lot of kids
I have loved having lots of brothers and sisters and although Derick comes from a family with just one brother, both of us would love to have as many children as God will give us. We are also open to the possibility of adoption.
The Post also quotes a doctor throughout the piece who explains the percentages of pregnancies that go to term based on how far along the mother is. These people don’t understand or care about statistics, they have an agenda and they’re going to promote it. Jill is all of 23, she’s parroting everything she’s learned to date. Jill got married so she could have sex, she’s said so before, and she’s having sex so she can have as many kids as possible, just like her mom. I wonder if she’s going to become a reality star in her own right. I get the sense that she’s about to get her own show. Newlyweds, fundie style.
photos via Instagram, People
Do we have to suffer these fools as well?
She seems to talk about sex a lot. Like, a lot. Call me cynical, but I predict a premature birth. Hypocrites.
Yeah, I want to hear how they explain that 8 pound premie! It will be something I am sure.
At least she considers sex a “natural God-given desire”, because I don’t know what i would do if I had to hear her go on and on about sex if she considered it something unnatural that the “devil” or evil spirits want you to do.
I have to say that I don’t agree with this families views AT all but I don’t get why people keep hinting that she got pregnant before the wedding just because she announced it so soon. I had my first daughter when I was 20 ( got pregnant three mths after the wedding ) and I told people as soon as I found out. I didn’t wait three months heck I was probably 6/8 weeks along. I didnt know there was a so called wait period to share the news so I just shared it. They clearly got married to be able to have sex and it only takes one time to get pregnant so it’s not as far fetched as people want to believe.
I haven’t followed this at all, but yeah my first thought was all BS on the timeline. That lil bundle o’joy was conceived pre marriage (like sooooo many first born children are).
I doubt if they were ever alone before the wedding.
I can’t stand these people.
Second son John David took flying lessons, so JimBoob has bought him a plane to start his own airline with. He keeps the kids under his thumb.
http://www.freejinger.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=87&t=23078,
Ugh. Can’t this family go away already?
I think they want to start their own race of people. I have no real idea who they are except that they are super religious who have an assload of babies and a reality show
Someone who watches the show said that the mother (really the father since they adhere to his views) said that they needed to have as many babies as possible because the white race was becoming outnumbered. If she really said this, i’m surprised it never received a lot of publicity like those duck people.
Perhaps they need to accept God’s will that Caucasian genes are not dominant. 🙂
@LAK, I follow this family and dislike them greatly, but they do not express any overt racism, They are the typical white “saviors” of brown and black folk when they go on missions. They also don’t fall into the group that has tons of kids to create God’s army to over throw heathens. They are extremists and despicable in many ways, but they’re not having white kids to even the odds against minorities.
the quiverfull movement is about populating the world with Jesus’s Army
Her ignorance is profound.
+1
It really is.
Expectant mother don’t typically tell in the first trimester, not because they think the life isn’t
“precious”, but because they don’t want to have to share their grief with the world if something goes wrong. Shame on her for implying that people who chose differently than her don’t value their pregnancies just as much as she does.
per the show, they have no friends so everyone involved would just be their gigantic family if they didnt have a brand to build
I hope Jill and Derick have a healthy and happy baby. That said ,what has she done to deserve the cover of People? The only reason anyone knows about her is because her own mother had dozens of children.
Reality television has jumped the shark
My thoughts exactly. The only thing that irritates me more than her blatant ignorance is the fact that Lauren Bacall, an honest-to-God legend, got demoted to a small side picture so these idiots could get the cover story. That’s wrong in so many ways.
I could not agree more, Kris!!!
Both of them have the same expression on all of the pictures, it’s a bit creepy. Other than that I wished they wouldn’t procreate. At all. The world is bad enough as it is.
The entire family is creepy as hell
Yes! A LOT creepy, in fact.
They look very similar, as if they were related somehow, but she fancies the raised eyebrow expression, and looks as though she is surprised by taking her own photo. Somehow the photographer was able to get her to relax the eyebrows on the cover shot.
Those people who come to my door holding out those religious pamphlets have that same blank, somewhat dumb looking smile on their faces, like true believers or something. I can’t describe it.
Yes, terrifying. Lobotomized smiles, zombie-message carriers. It’s as frightening as Night of the Living Dead.
I’ve also found that a lot of them have this kind of counterfeit cheerfulness. It’s a vibe that’s hard to describe. You can almost see them mentally rifling through their proselytizing spiel then preparing their answers as they wait for you to respond.
Go up into northern Colorado Springs some day. It’s where the Focus on the Family headquarters is located. I used to call them the Pod People. You really can notice and feel a vibe of the same thing you describe, Sabrine. It’s really palpable. When I’d go up there (I lived on the other end of town for a couple years) I’d wonder if they’d ever rise up en masse, raise their arms like zombies, and start chanting “Come to Jebus…Come to Jebus…” as they lurched at anyone perceived to not be Christian.
Not to be cruel about others’ religious practices, but northern Colorado Springs is something, oh my wow.
I had a Jehovah’s Witness show up on my porch the other day with her toddler, and to be honest it feel weird to have a small child taken all to help prostheltize. The toddler is going to have no real understandingof what’s going on, they’re just going to parrot back. I realize that its her child and this is an important part of being a JW, but still.
@Frida_K, Once they cross the boundary of thinking that ringing your bell and entering your personal space at home is their right, then it is your right to have whatever perception of them, be it positive or negative. That’s when it becomes an infringement of privacy and trespassing since they are uninvited strangers. I think they are positively terrifying because they smile, but there is emptiness behind their eyes. The lights are on, but no one’s home.
We’re friends with a guy who’s a JW. I honestly would NEVER had guessed it, but he spends a few hours a week helping out around the church, and doing the odd ‘door to door’ thing. He’s never once even mentioned religion in front of us. I figured he just wasn’t practicing, but I guess he puts in more work than we thought. But at the same time, he’s not the kind of guy to spout of hate, or to think only based on the church. He’s pretty chill, and definitely not a Mary Sue kind of person.
kiddo, I take that “entering my personal space” thing seriously. you are right that they are uninvited strangers violating my privacy. mostly I don’t answer the door, just open my window and tell them to go away.
if I do open the door by mistake, it’s “get off my porch”. I have a screen door, and I keep that locked, too, so when I open the main door, that one can’t be opened. I am amazed that they actually try to open the screen as well! as if they’re a friend I invited in!
I don’t know why people think it’s ok to knock on someone’s door and start trying to convert them. talk about invasive…
@doofus, At home, I do the same, just sort of yell down from the window, if I acknowledge it at all, other than a ‘go away’. I have encountered the zombies at relative’s homes in different parts of the country, though. To say the experience was disconcerting is putting it mildly.
I have actually devised a solution to this. I keep a few Christian Science Journal copies on the table near my door. If anyone comes to the door, they always start with “Hi, would you like to know more about (insert their particular religion here)?” I always grab my journal copies and say, “No, but would you like to learn more about Christian Science?” It freaks them right the hell out.
(BTW, I never had to do this with Jehovah’s Witnesses. They tend to be nice church people who just want to drop off a pamphlet. But we’ve been dealing with a Mormon influx lately, and they are far more persistent. Thus, I feel the need to evangelize right back).
@Sam, I’m agnostic leaning atheist. There are no pamphlets. Should I leave copies of Christopher Hitchens’ books around? That could get pricey.
Wow, you guys actually yell at them from the window or door? Seems…I don’t know….harsh. I guess I feel that way because my childhood best friend is a Mormon(not of the polygamous branch) and she’s my favorite person in the world. She’s told me stories about how rude & crazy people have been to her, and it would make me mad b/c she’s simply doing what her faith impels her to do. She’s just the sweetest person ever it’s hard for me to picture her getting screamed at!
There is a local politician who’s been campaigning door to door to get reelected. I cannot stand him & his politics. I’m gonna lose my mind if he gets into office again. I have gotten the urge to scream Get off my lawn! but I just can’t scream at a 60 yr old man in public, I’ve just firmly told him I will not vote for him so he should speak to someone else. 🙂
I’ve done some volunteer campaigning before, for work stuff & also charities, and it’s much harder than you’d realize it would be. Approaching total strangers is difficult & I am not a shy person at all.
@Annika, To me, it’s no different than a cold call, trying to sell me something I don’t want to buy, on my time, when no one asked them to stop by. It doesn’t matter if it’s a church selling religion, a corporation selling credit card services, or a scam. I don’t know which specific religion the people I encountered came from. The most aggressive were not up in the northeast, but elsewhere. As far as the window response, I’m not climbing down flights of stairs to listen to something I didn’t ask for. People will only get yelled at if they don’t take no for an answer, but usually the window is already closed by the time they ramble on, if they can’t comprehend the lack of interest, initially, when I say “Not interested”.
I just simply take the pamphlet say “Thank you” followed by “I’m a devout Catholic.” and they politely say “God Bless” and leave. LOL!! Now the Mormon’s (whom I also have family that practice) I LOVE to mess with because they are on a “mission” to convert as many as possible. So I like to test their knowledge. I say “Well Jesus started my religion who started yours again?” and they leave. A bit irritated. LOL!! I respect all religions but come to my house early on my day off while I’m looking a hot mess be ready for some bitchiness.
I agree with kiddo and doofus. It’s not even because they’re religious people trying to convert me (yeah good luck with THAT project) but just the fact that they’re complete strangers.
I’m a woman living alone in an inner-city area. I don’t open the door for ANYONE. I have a phone–if you know me and you need to stop by, you can call me first.
There’s a solution. Post a “No Soliciting” sign right over your doorbell. If anyone knocks on your door point to it.
That being said, we have a lot of Mormon missionaries around here and a nicer group you will not find. I don’t espouse their beliefs at all, but they are unfailingly pleasant.
@bluhare, Here’s a better, more equitable and direct solution, don’t bother ringing bells of people who you don’t know and who you have no business bothering. It saves everyone the frustration. *The signs are not a very strong deterrent.
Has anyone ever been converted this way? I know not one person.
sorry, bluhare, I gotta disagree.
if I post a sign like that and the person STILL knocks on my door, they deserve to be told to get off my porch…and I agree with kiddo, I find it incredibly rude for a stranger to ring my bell or knock on my door and try to sell me something I’m not interested in and didn’t ask for. plus, when there’s a sign specifically saying NOT to, and they do anyway? RUDE.
I had a visit from two young men one day. I pretended to be asleep, but noted they were exceptionally well-dressed for Jehovah’s Witnesses (not that JW can’t dress, they just tend to be quite poor). Mentioning to my Mormon friend at work, she tells me – oh yeah, they’re Mormons. She sent them because I politely asked questions about her religion! Never again. They came back and had the nerve to tell me that they had observed me sleeping on the couch previously. My saving grace was they were not allowed to enter my home when I was alone (which I was). Obviously, if they had entered my home that day, I would have stolen both of their virginities.
@mayamae, Well you answered the conversion question, only it would be in reverse.
@Kiddo, you know it. 😉
It’s nobody’s “right” to knock on my door and try to sell me something, whether it be encyclopaedias, Jesus, a political agenda, or a sham-wow. I usually just inform them that I am pagan psychiatrist. And my dog is Catholic. They leave about a dozen pamphlets in their wake, but they leave.
I call it the “crazy enlightened” look.
This is the opposite of progress, even Disney had a message about waiting to get married in Frozen. Disney, land of the magic kiss and happily ever after.
Now this brainwashed twit is saying to get married as soon as possible. Not because it creates a healthy marriage but so she can get her rocks off.
Duggars you make me sad and angry in equal parts.
That was always the problem with religions who are hardcore about no premarital sex. The girls have to find a mate as soon as the are of legal age and the engagement has to be speedy. All to avoid natural urges being acted upon and to have sex. Problem is when you find out later that you are not compatible you are stuck.
Gorgeous photo of Lauren Bacall.
Nice. Thanks for that! : )
What a face she had, eh?
She was so beautiful!
They took the cover because they have a new season of Michelle Duggar: clown car vagina coming up. I don’t watch that mess but they promote the sh*t out of it during my Extreme Couponing marathons.
Dead
“clown car vagina” – this might be the funniest thing I’ve ever read about them. Well done! 😀
“Clown car vagina” HAHAHAHA! You win the Internet today.
+1
Love your handle! lol
They got married so quick cause they were horny. The side hug will get you every time !
Exactly. And of course she got pregnant immediately. She’s 23, they probably f*cked like bunnies and of course without any contraception. It was bound to happen.
What kind of side hugs are you doling out? 😉
Ha!
That’s what I got from this. And it gives even more fuel to the fire that this baby was conceived premarriage.
Oh yes please, let’s take advice on engagements and marriage from a Duggar. EPIC EYE ROLL.
i love how Lauren Bacall is basically rolling her eyes at them from where she’s at.
LOL and she totally would too.
Idiots.
I’ve seen several articles recently saying that the idea of waiting 12 weeks to announce a pregnancy is old-fashioned, so that if a miscarriage happens, the persons who have been sharing your joy can support you.
That’s up to the individual, but she chose to share, so good for her. Besides, if we truly support diversity, we should support people with diverse lifestyles – whether LGBT, extreme hetero breeder, or somewhere in between. It’s not our place to mock her life choices.
It wouldn’t be our place if she and her entire family didn’t loudly and obnoxiously discriminate against other people’s “life choices” (I’m putting this in quotes, because being gay is no more a life choice than being straight). They have a whole TV show devoted to celebrating them being ignorant and bigoted creeps.
That’s just it – it isn’t a life choice because she never had a choice. She was raised in a cult-like environment to believe that this is all women are good for.
Exactly.
I agree. She’s all of 23 – she’s not going to be the wisest or most-seasoned person on the block. I know she’s putting herself out there (People, her parents’ show), but I don’t think she deserves all the criticism she gets. Somehow it’s “WRONG” now for someone to not have sex before marriage. Different strokes for different folks. She’s choosing to live her life the way she wants to, even if it’s not what most people would choose.
I disagree that it’s old-fashioned to wait. If you miscarry, you can tell good friends about it if they didn’t know, and they can support you. I’ve had several good friends call me and tell me they lost a baby before it was public knowledge that they were pregnant. But if everybody knows, you’ll have people you don’t know well constantly asking you how it’s going, when’s the baby due, and you’ll find yourself having to explain that you lost the baby to virtual strangers and bursting into tears in the grocery store, embarrassing you and making the person who asked you feel terrible and awkward. Everything’s not about you.
And if you think people are “mocking her life choices,” you don’t know the first thing about this cult. She has had no life choices. Do some research. Her ONLY choice was to marry and become a breeder just like her mother. She was denied an education, a career choice, the opportunity to be out on her own and discover who she is, the opportunity to choose her own husband, for God’s sake. This isn’t a lifestyle choice. She has been abused mentally her entire life, which was planned for her by her cult leader father. She’s been taught that women are inferior to men. If you want to support that, I guess that’s your right, but don’t tell me to remain silent about these dangerous, child abusing, evil people, because I won’t.
Ditto! I have been thru that and it was horrible. And in my case it was just a few dozen ppl at most. This time, Im not telling, even if it means being locked up in the house with my head hanging down the toilet (urgh).
THIS.
If/When we decide to have kids, I’m waiting to announce until at least 12 weeks. I’d probably tell my mom and dad, and the inlaws, and a couple really close friends, but that’s it. The idea of having an early miscarriage and having everyone you know asking about your pregnancy is an absolutely heart wrenching idea.
People can be so nosy about pregnancy that everyone found out about my first when I was nine weeks. People wondered why I didn’t want to drink or have my daily cups of coffee. My mom mass texted my ultrasound at nine weeks, so the cat was out of the bag. I didn’t even get a chance to announce it on my own. I was way more careful the second time. I think this cover is ridiculous, but I could unfortunately see them using a miscarriage for ratings. I was also engaged for two years (Aniston style) and nope, I could not resist those natural urges girl!
We waited until I was 4 months along. I wanted to wait until the first trimester was past & then ended up waiting another month because I was very very sick with a weird flu & I was just worried that it would somehow affect things…..But very early on I told my mom & my sisters.
I totally agree with you, GNAT. Well written!
I am so sorry you had that happen to you, Peppa. I am amazed that your mother announced your pregnancy without your permission. Wow.
her life choices are basically JimBobs choices.
this family equates transgender people with pedophiles. I will mock, ridicule, and bash them all I want.
Yep.
Exactly.
Sounds hypocritical, but ok.
how so?
I’m mocking this family for being so willfully ignorant, deliberately uninformed and intellectually incurious…they perpetuate intolerance, misogyny and discrimination.
that’s the same as calling all transgender people pedophiles and/or convicted sex offenders?
please, ‘splain it to me.
Supporting folks who are born gay or gender opposite/neutral is different than supporting religious fundamentalists.
And they probably needed the check they collected from People.
Six weeks along and she’s showing already?? I’m calling BS on the saving it till marriage. She clearly took the car for a test drive before she bought it 😉
Lol it actually wouldn’t surprise me at all to be totally honest
I thought that six weeks was too early for her to show on the cover photo as well…but then I remembered that every photo ever published in a magazine is photoshopped to the hilt. So the editors could have just added a bump for effect.
I think that’s just her food belly, she’s had one for a while. They eat horribly and I’m surprised they’re not all carrying a few extra pounds. I watch the show sometimes out of curiosity, and I NEVER see fresh fruits or veggies. Lots of carbs and they only use paper plates. I don’t think any of them know how to cook a healthy meal, their favorite is something called Tater Tot Casserole. It’s too bad grandma doesn’t have time to teach the older kids how to cook, since Ma Duggar doesn’t seem to know. But grandma’s too busy doing laundry for the entire household and the older girls are too busy homeschooling and taking care of the little kids and the house. Michelle should take time out of her busy schedule of working out and napping to do some cooking. I’m sure they can’t have anything against reading a cookbook!
They ” snack” on pickles and canned green beens, both incredibly high in sodium and I once watched a show where one of the girls under microwaved ramen noodles and ate them plain and semi-cooked for breakfast. Everything is canned and frozen. When they ordered pizza and Jim Bob was on a diet. Michelle literally opened up some canned tomatoes and served them to him on a paper plate. They can’t cook at all, but proudly have their family recipes on their website. All are extremely unhealthy and they are all titled “Daddy’s favourite rolls”, “Daddy’s favourite pie”, “Daddy’s favourite casserole” etc. Apparently, not only does Jim Bob dictate the women’s hair, dress, lack of education and choice of spouse, he also demands that the entire family eat his favourite foods as staples in their diet.
Good grief! “Canned tomatoes on a paper plate”: the essence of pointless frugality, and the nadir of pleasureless food.
Jaysus, you’d think this wifey would learn to cook; wouldn’t it be ordained in their Commandments/Book as something a woman must do, a man never?
He looked repulsed and I can’t blame him. There are plenty of healthy alternatives to pizza other than room temp, canned tomatoes. The women do all of the food prep and cooking, but apparently, opening and heating processed, canned and frozen food is godly enough for them.
Lauren Bacall deserved a cover and long story, yet we got THIS? Please.
Shut up. I hope they get lost in the wilderness of Arkansas
Well now, it looks like we may have a new set of media moochers. They may be religious , but none the less, they appear to love the spotlight. Interesting to see how this progresses. However, they have let People know their every move for the last few years. So, what’s the difference between them and the Kardashians? Money? Morals? Dignity? They wear more clothes?
No different from Khardishians well at least the K gals work. Both families are known for their de lives and what is going on in their vaginas. Both reality show stars.
“You may not wanna push the wedding date out too far, as those natural God-given desires with too much time between engagement and marriage can make it harder to remain pure.”
Remain pure? Remanin pure??! Seriously gross!
I wonder since Derrick is not so fundie as the Duggars if he can deprogram Jill a little bit.
I also read the rush for kids is because Derricks mom is really sick. I think Jill and Derrick are pretty good together. I mean ya they married too quick and they maybe should have tried each other out a little bit, but really they do seem to be in love.
Jessa and her bf Ben is another story. He is an idiot and she is just horny.
“because every penny is precious to our family.” There, fixed that for ya.
How many shots do you think it took the photographer to get that photo of her without her eyebrows raised sky-high?
Wish I’d seen your post before I posted mine. Exactly!
Gosh, these folks are relentless! Will everyone of them get a TV show? Healthy 23 yr old gets pregnant after having unprotected sex-that’s news. Would actually like to see the show where she’s 27 and had four little kids, with no older sibs available to look after them- that would be a show.
Every sperm is sacred.
Every sperm is great.
If a sperm is wasted,
God gets quite irate.
Bravo. I mean that quite seriously. There are very few things that can’t be improved without sone Monty Python.
+1
I bow down.
*clapping*
I heart you.
🙂
Haha, I was going to post this. It was my first thought upon reading that line.
Here’s a link for those of you who don’t know their classics:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUspLVStPbk
Skip to 0:55 for the chorus.
If they are truly pushing their religion and way of life, this is not a good way to do it. It looses it credibility and dignity when people like the Duggars become media stars. Cheapen’s the entire thing. Also makes them look desperate for attention and money.
I lost a lot of respect for the Duggars when they turned the memorial for Michelle’s miscarried baby into a pro-life screed, complete with pictures and made it public. I have no beef with mourning for a deceased or miscarried child – but the manner in which they did it was so creepy. Like they felt the need to show the world how “real” she was. When it didn’t matter what the world thought, she was real to them, and that was enough.
I hope Jill is okay in her marriage. Marriages like her’s are, sadly, are very prone to abuse. The marriages are not equitable in terms of sex. The urge for sex is believed to come from the male, which the female has a Biblical duty to satisfy. Female sexual agency is not something they acknowledge. Michelle has basically come out and admitted that she has sex on Jim Bob’s schedule, not her own.
And isn’t it kinda sad that they cop to getting married so that they won’t “stumble” and maybe have intimate contact? It makes it sound like the marriage is less for love and more something you do as a safeguard against “sin.” Doesn’t really strike me as romantic.
They don’t seem to grasp the depth of committing to marriage. They just seem to think it’s the only way towards sin-free sex and babies. It’s really sad.
I mean, i dunno. Are Tv programs airing these kind of shows deliberately? To make us dumb? What can we learn from these people? Not even history channel is watchable anymore.
Understanding that the majority of miscarriages happen within the first trimester, and believing
that every life is precious no matter how young,we should capitalize on the premise of the show (gotta keep those checks coming amirite?), we decided to share our joyful news as soon as we could.I wonder how they feel about Factory Farms then, there are lots of precious lives that go through that hell.
“Human beings were granted ‘dominion over the beasts of the field’ ” according to the bible.
Also the bible articulates a hierarchical model of creation, with humans ruling over the animals (Gen. 1:26). Genesis depicts humans as set apart from the rest of creation, for only humans have been created “in God’s image” (Gen. 1:27). “You are worth more than many sparrows” (Matt. 10:31) also prioritizes human’s value above animals.
In other words, these people likely think animal lives are worth shit, but SAVE THE ZYGOTES!!!!
They don’t care about animals at all. They had twenty something pets, mostly cats, in under twenty years. They are forced to live outside regardless of weather conditions and none live long. They got kittens and just dumped them outside when they grew. Their last dog died young too. Jim Bob wants to get farm animals and I can’t even imagine the neglect they would experience. For the Duggars, fetuses are important, and have rights and should be protected, but animals and gay people don’t deserve the same compassion. They are candy coated bigots,
WTF. I’ve been pretty much indifferent towards these people until now.
That is just AWFUL.
“They got kittens and just dumped them outside when they grew.”
I’m straight-up stabby right now.
Their son and his wife got a kitten to kill the mice in their house and he said he didn’t like indoor cats. When it got older, they put it outside of their house on a very busy road, with no shelter and when it disappeared, they didn’t even look for it. Who knows if they even continued to feed it. Anna said she thought it might have gone to live with another family. They proceeded to get another kitten. Notice they have no cat living with them now. I’m sure they dumped it outside too. Their treatment of their pets is one of the most disgusting things I’ve ever seen. I’ve had cats that lived to almost twenty and my last dog lived to 17. Now I fed them, kept the cats indoors and got them vet care, but that’s just me.
As someone who just lost her 7 year old cat to a coyote, this makes me want to kick things. How dare they have pets that they don’t take care of, and how dare they be so frivolous with their lives. Those cats did not ask for that.
It’s one thing to let cats outside when they want to (as my family did, because my cat liked to hunt and roam outside), but to leave them outside and neglect them? That’s cruel. They’re not feral cats. They need some love and attention.
I’m so mad.
Great, it’s not like I needed one more reason to despise that family, but here it is.
Wow, Deanne…there are no words. These people are just awful.
@G-*hugs* So sorry you lost your kitty..so young too 🙁
One of my close friends had kitties and lives in VT. She would let them roam in the woods but only during the day, at night they remained inside. She lost one to coyotes and one just disappeared. Now she has a dog. She said it was too much heartache to have cats that loved the outdoors.
@G I’m so sorry about the loss of your cat. It’s heartbreaking and so hard to get over. Coyotes are stealthy bastards. Plenty of cats go outdoors for part of the day and are loved and well cared for. I didn’t mean to imply that someone is an abusive owner just by letting them out. They however, don’t seem to value their pets in the least. My reason for keeping mine in is that my vet told me that the average outdoor cat lives under two years and the average indoor cat lives over twelve. My cats do have a big cat run that’s caged in, so they can sit on the grass,, chase bugs and get fresh air, but where we live coyotes are rampant and cars are too much of a risk for me to chance it.
Oh wow, I knew these people were awful, greedy, intolerant religious zealots, but neglecting animals? That’s a special level of terrible. They can GTFO.
@Deanne: That breaks my heart. I think I spend more per month on my kitties than I do myself because they were all rescues and I just want to make up for the time those poor babies were scrounging around dumpsters and dodging cars.
@Bucky-mine are purebred Scottish Folds and I’ve spent close to $3,000 on both this year, just for vet-related stuff (my oldest had acute kidney failure and had to be hospitalized this past Spring).
I would gladly go broke before I sacrifice the health and well-being of my kitties.
My greatest fear is that one of my cats will get outside (I live in a VERY urban area) because they would not last a day out there. I can’t imagine WILLINGLY throwing them out in the street like trash, leaving them to fend for themselves.
These people disgust me.
@Deanne
Oh no, it’s cool! I’ve had friends shade my family for the outdoor cat thing, but it’s true that they do tend to live longer when they’re inside. With the exception of my childhood cat, who made it to 19.
The problem is my cats never want to do that, which is how bad things happen. That being said, we always tried to get her inside before nightfall, and she was very well fed and loved. She was such a spoiled kitty, because we always bended to her whims. I miss her so much.
Which is why this pisses me off so much. They get a ton of pets and don’t take care if them. No animal deserves that.
Thanks everyone though. I know she’s very happy frolicking in cat heaven.
@TheOriginalKitten I hope your kitty is doing better! I kind of fell into adopting three rescues under the age of 1 last year, so I spent a ton of money on vet visits in a really short span of time. Totally worth it.
Also, that is my greatest fear as well. I live in a very urban area, too, and I don’t even use my front door for fear that one will dart into the street in front of my house.
I cannot imagine throwing a house cat out to fend for itself. It makes me sick at my stomach.
Why haven’t they been investigated yet by the ASPCA or Humane Society? They have documented evidence, FFS!
In their tiny little primordial minds, the Duggars don’t view pets as sentient beings with thoughts and feelings of their own. They use the pets as props to convnce us heathens, along with their leghumpers, that they have reverence for all life. Cmon, they barely think of their KIDS as sentient beings, why are we expecting better bahavior from them with their pets?
@Izzy I think that people who aren’t animal lovers don’t even notice. I’ve seen people mention it on other sites, but it doesn’t get much of a response because those other sites tend to be populated with commenters who buy into their facade and wouldn’t think to question what happened to the multiple cats they’ve has throughout the last few years. The focus is on their brood of children and their “ministry”. I’ve always been hyper sensitive to the treatment of animals and noticed because they matter to me.I’m sure heaven for the Duggars, does not include family pets so they don’t care what happens to them.
My biggest fear has always been one of the little girls tucking a tiny kitten into a box and just leaving it there while it slowly starves to death. That home is a madhouse, no one would notice the sound of a little kitten crying.
I believe every life is precious no matter how young. I find it sad that that is now thought of as something to mock and make fun of. You don’t like abortion?! What is the matter with you, you fundamentalist republican loser!
That’s how it feels sometimes. I feel weird about the world we live in. Abortion is cool? It’s hip. I don’t think that’s healthy for society. Abortion should be a last resort under extreme and terrible circumstances, imo. It shouldn’t be a backup to your birth control.
I don’t know anyone who think abortions are cool.I don’t know anyone who likes abortions. People do like women having access to them and having control over their own bodies.
Abortion is a last resort. I don’t believe anyone is using it as back up birth control. It is a difficult choice that many women face. The fact that many women have to face a gauntlet of yelling, intimidating and honestly abusive people to get medical care at a clinic is where part of the problem is. There are people out there who think they have the right to control women’s bodies. You can check the congress rolls at both the state and federal level. There were over 100 laws last year that were about control of women’s reproductive rights . There were no laws abour men;s reproductive rights.
This is a pretty liberal forum and your views might make you feel a like the odd man out. I can assure you no one is calling you a crazy republican woman hating fundie. We can have different ideas and not reduce it to name calling.
We are commenting on the Duggar family’s insistence on making sure they are breeders and then making a living from it. I didn’t see one comment about abortion in the comments. You are the only one that mentioned abortion. The only options in life aren’t limited to live birth and abortion. Affordable and safe birth control and sex education are vital. The Duggar children will have access to none of that. And that is the shame.
It’s not mocking people who are uncomfortable with abortion. Lots of pro-choice people are uncomfortable with it, or would never do it themselves. Nobody is mocking that.
The problem with the Duggars is that they believe their choices are right for everyone. They actively campaigned on behalf of political candidates who wished to see abortion – and birth control too – made illegal. That’s the problem. Why is it so difficult to understand that different people feel differently about this stuff and you should not be imposing your own views on others?
Also, it’s tough to take pro-life people seriously when they insist “every life is precious” when so many of them can support the death penalty, can favor slashing aid for low-income people, can enjoy a factory-farmed steak (since the animals clearly do not count), etc. Most of them are not exactly living in accordance with their values.
I’m a Dem who considers herself pro-choice, but the honest truth is abortion gives me the willies. I do think every life is precious, even those tiny specks sparked at conception. It’s hard for me to find wisdom in terminating a life, except in cases of rape, incest or when the mother’s life is in danger.
I was shocked to discover 92% of babies with Down Syndrome are aborted in Europe. That makes me so sad. I know I’m supposed to support the choices of other women, but I find that unacceptable. Women should have the right to choose so many things, but finding a child with a disability to be too great of an inconvenience worries me. Life is full of unexpected challenges, but we don’t get to erase those. Why babies? Just because we have the ability to do so?
I’m not trying to debate, just honestly confused about this matter. I’ve repeated the standard lines about choice to myself and others over the years (especially since so many pro-lifers are religious nuts), but there are days I question my standpoint. Persuade me!
Ask yourself honestly Quincy: if you are fine with abortion in cases of rape and incest or the mother’s health being in danger then what is it you’re opposed to? It can’t be the termination of life because you’re fine with it in some circumstances. If you think that the woman wanting the abortion ‘deserves’ it enough then go ahead, get rid of that zygote. Perhaps you are actually just unhappy with women going around and having non-reproductive sex. Maybe it burns some corner of your mind that we get to enjoy our sexuality without having motherhood waiting for us at the end as a suitable punishment for being such hussies. It might be worth thinking about from that angle.
Can we PLEASE stop using the term “pro-life”? Every single person I know is pro-life, even if they are “pro-choice” politically.
Two ways of thinking when it comes to this issue:
1) Pro-Choice
2) Anti-Choice
The End.
Thank you. I am pro-choice. That doesn’t make me anti-life.
I love you for this comment. (well, I love you anyway but this comment solidifies it!)
I tell people all the time that you can be both pro-life AND pro-choice. As in, I wouldn’t ever have one but that’s not for me to decide for everyone else.
Okitt bringing the reals.
+10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Politically convenient terms are the best weapon in the war to dumb down the populace. And moreover it really aggravates anti-abortion activists when you call out stats on how often women don’t have abortions. They oppose it and yet desperately want to believe we’re all doing it all the time. WTF?
Thank you! Well said.
EXACTLY!!! In an ideal world, no one would need an abortion, but since that’s not reality, then at least make it affordable and available. I wouldn’t have one, but I also don’t believe it’s my place to prevent someone else from making that choice. Maybe if these fundies allowed themselves a little glass of wine once in while, they could relax and not be so obnoxious, haha! Even Jesus turned water into wine at a wedding. That’s what it says in the Catholic bible, anyway. 😉
@TheOriginalKitten
You are informed. The end.
Also if thie thought process represents ‘reasoning’ on the fundy-republican point of view, that women seek self determination of their own bodies because of ‘trends’ and ‘hipness’, then I would argue it deserves some ribbing, if not full-out mocking.
If you would read the posts, you would see that no one is mocking them for their stance on abortion. It’s for their stance on women, gays, blacks, education, and everything else they stand for. The life she is carrying is precious. I don’t think one person on here said otherwise. It’s just sad that this young girl was brought up in a cult and believes her only life choice is to start cranking out child after child. If that’s your educated decision, fine. But she never had a choice.
um, I don’t think anyone “likes abortion”. they just like freedom of choice. as in, each woman (or couple) needs to make the choice that is best for THEM, not what someone else, whose only motivation is religion, thinks is best for them.
and while I agree that it shouldn’t be a back up for birth control (prevention is much better), you don’t get to decide WHY a woman has an abortion. if it’s legal, a woman can make that choice.
Abortion is hip? What?? The US’s abortion rates have dropped significantly in the last decade, as have teen birth rates. You have no idea what you’re talking about.
Also, no one is mocking their stance on abortion. I think being anti-choice is wrong, but we are very legitimately criticizing them for being intolerant, anti-woman, religious zealots, all presented in an aw shucks way that makes them lots and lots of money.
Why, yes, because I’ve met soooooo many women who have said, “You know, it’s always been a dream of mine to have an abortion.”
Are you for real? Please note, I mock because you seem to believe that women WANT to have to make that terrible choice, that they WANT to be made to feel dirty and ashamed because they did make that choice. I have never met one who does. But I have met a few who were glad they had the choice available to them, and I have met MANY who want to be able to have that choice. And as a woman, I do not want anyone else telling me what I can and can’t do with my body. You are correct, it should be a last resort. But it should NEVER be a decision left to someone else, or a government, or a religion.
Excellent ^^^
Here in Norway we had a debate over the summer on if some doctors could refuse to offer guidance to women who wanted to have an abortion. A female celebrity went out and said that she wished she’d had an abortion in the past so she could brag about it. It made me sick. Not because I’m against abortion, but because I thought about friends of mine who have had abortions and who must have felt that their pain of going through a serious medical procedure and a personal dilemma was portrayed as though they did it to make a point.
Me? I’m pro-life for my own sake, and pro-staying-the-hell-out-of-someone-elses-business for everyone elses. I don’t like abortion, but I like the alternative – women dying from back alley surgery or kids growing up feeling like they weren’t wanted – even less.
Well that escalated quickly. I don’t even know where your rant came from. No one was even talking about abortion.
They announced it early because she is carrying on her parents tradition of attention mongering through procreation and making sure that if she does have a miscarriage , like 20 % of all pregnant women, they can have a massive funeral for the fetus, even if it’s in the first trimester and make the whole thing a Pro-life advertisement. I actually find Jill, beyond the obvious brain washing and parroting of what she’s been enmeshed in, to be a sweet young woman and wish her a healthy pregnancy. She’s come from a family that has gone to extremes to control the thoughts and actions of their children, to prevent them from having access to ideas, that vary even slightly from their cult’s doctrine. She’s been taught that a woman’s only value is to serve God by serving her husband and pumping out child after child, despite health risks and financial inability to provide for them. It will be the same for her sister who’s engaged to the teenaged boy. They are all like robots.
I agree. I think it’s about getting attention for their show.
She is 23 legally, but only like 13 mentally. So sheltered and brainwashed, poor dear.
I truly hope as she has her own family she matures a bit. But it’s a slim hope.
Do wish her all the best with her pregnancy, like I would for anyone.
I guess I’m alone here but I like the duggars. Their religious beliefs don’t bother me. They seem like a nice family. My mom and my sister both got pregnant right after they got married so I believe Jill. I also think she is really excited and couldn’t wait to share the news. If you watch the show you would know that Jill loves kids.
“a nice family” doesn’t work to knock back anti-discrimination laws, equate transgender people with pedophiles and convicted sex offenders, or abuse animals like this family does.
loving kids is great…perpetuating the idea that a woman’s ONLY value is to pop them out?…not so much.
+1,000,000
I agree with you Jess. I do think they’re a nice family, but then again, I don’t judge whether people are a loving or nice family based on their political or religious beliefs and whether I agree with them. I think it’s too bad that we’ve reached a point where people can’t get along unless they agree on the same set of principles.
That’s a laudable aspiration but in practice tis a tricky one. How does someone interact with others without revealing their deepest, core beliefs in some manner?
One person who seems to have kept her foul beliefs entirely separate from every adjacent atom of her personality is the notorious Hitler admirer/lovely person, Diana Mosley (née Mitford) in turn, she’s a good example also of how keeping it separate is very dicey……she maintained that her admiration of Hitler was all about his charming manners. So……*not* involving a person’s beliefs in your friendship can be a very ill-advised approach, imo.
I think you can like people and find them nice even if there are political and religious differences, but it all depends on what the differences are, how diametrically opposed they are, and whether the thoughts or beliefs are acted upon.
She has the same crazy eyes as her mother. Ugh…enough with these people.
I will not over post on Duggar threads. I will not over post on Duggar threads. I will not over post on Duggar threads. I will not over post on Duggar threads. I will not over post on Duggar threads.
Just wondering, did either of these two go to college? Do they have good jobs? How do her parents support so many kids? There is no reason to ever announce a pregnancy so early…maybe to family and close friends, but not to the whole world…why ???
College?? Do you have any idea what education does to birth rates?? Women with options choose not to be baby factories… producing an average of (gasp!) only 1.5 children. These people have a planet to overpopulate. No time for books and ideas.
Jill’s husband has a college degree. I think it’s in accounting. Jill was homeschooled Duggar style – SOTDRT (school of the dining room table). The Duggars used to “homeschool” their children to the age of sixteen, then have the child take the GED. They’ve given up the GED the last five years or so. All children (aged 5-16) receive the exact same lecture – for example, bankruptcy (I’m not joking).
So they’re different from the Taliban how?
Um, let me think. Got it – they can show their naked shins.
The Duggars are religious fanatics that probably believe they are going to be the 144,000 “chosen ones”. That’s why there are so many of them and that’s why they keep procreating like rabbits.
It’s scarier than that. Part of their belief system is that, through large-scale reproduction, they will eventually have enough people to form a voting bloc that can basically vote in line with their own beliefs and begin to control the areas in which they live. I am not making this up.
If you want to see what the Duggars envision for America, look at places that are dealing with the Ultra-Orthodox branches of Judaism. They settle in a region, proceed to reproduce at a tremendous rate, and then form voting blocs to control the local government. There was a terrible article written a while ago about how once the Ultra-Orthdox seized control in a town, they basically gutted the local public schools because they personally do not use them and left the mostly Latino and black students to languish (the article series is here: http://archive.lohud.com/section/news03&template=theme&theme=eastramapo&keywords=eastramapo&title=East%20Ramapo:%20A%20district%20divided)
This is what the Duggars envision for themselves, just the fundamentalist Christian version. Once you start to learn more about them, they really, truly are a scary group.
This is the point where I’m thinking that it’s not really about religion with these people. It’s about needing to control other people’s lives, about feeling better than them, about having the perceived moral high ground.
What you describe about what happened in that town – this does seem to be a specifically American phenomenon, though. In Europe the protection of religious freedom would never go as far as allowing a religious group to dominate the politics of an entire town in that manner. The idea of separation of church and state has somewhat deeper roots here, I guess.
Extremist religion is nearly always about political control.
That’s terrifying.
There are 7.2 *billion* people in the world. I’m really starting to rethink the “every life is precious” thing.
yeah, but these nutters think that the entire earth population can fit in the state of Florida.
Not even the entire state. Michelle said the world’s entire population can fit within/around the city of Jacksonville! Of course, she’s probably unaware the world has people living somewhere other than one major city in each country.
Well, the population technically could fit in one state, physically. The problem is the carrying capacity of the planet, not size. You could physically fit 1000 fish into a small pond, but most of them will die of starvation in short order because there aren’t enough resources to sustain the population. Or you could say that the entire population of the Earth could fit on Mars, but everyone would die anyway because there are no resources on Mars that could sustain life.
Though I doubt the Duggars would care about such things.
This is the way of fundies, though. They take one dubious fact and use it to shield themselves against all other facts. “We can all fit into Jacksonville, therefore there is no overpopulation!” Mathematically, probably true, but that doesn’t account for the strain on finite resources or the reality that were are one major drought cycle away from wide-scale starvation and subsequent die off. Our food supply is precarious, there are far more people than we can naturally feed. If anything interrupts the artificial growing seasons or world-wide transport of food, much of the world would be completely f-cked. But still! Jacksonville!
Algernon, true. Or they’ll pull a Pat Robertson and claim all of those starving people are sinners. It’s God’s will that they go without food…
Damned good point, and as ever, Dan Brown is on the case, in his last book!
I’m reading this thread etc with a feeling of real nausea. That enormous family makes me feel physically sick….never mind their utterly odious beliefs. This is one of those giant gulfs between The US and the UK……I hardly know where to start so I won’t.
But bottom line, and probably Kitten might agree, dunno…..ok, you have certain rights regarding your kids’ welfare that bar my interfering, but you mistreat a domestic animal and you are a legitimate target for my wrath, so take cover you sanctimonious cowardly bastard.
We cannot even feed the current population of earth. More people need to think about that. Moreso, even if we all became completely selfless and shifted all wealth around to be even, there are not enough resources on the PLANET for us to all live a comfortable, middle class lifestyle.
Because of the way population growth works (ie rapidly) we are set to double. I find it so weird that no one worries about this. It’s truly, utterly frightening. We cannot spread birth control education fast enough…
Why so much negativity!! I think the show and family is refreshing for reality TV. It is a nice contrast from the Kardashians, RHof whatever city, the Bachelor and the rest of the garbage.
Interesting that you find it refreshing for a girl to be told she is less worthy than a man, and that her only acceptable place in life is as a subservient wife, cranking out child after child with a husband chosen for her by her father, with whom she has never had a private conversation. That the girls are denied the same education as the boys because they “don’t need it,” as their only career choice is mother or midwife. That they want to have so many children because they think people of color will soon outnumber white people. That they adopt pet after pet, then toss them outside to fend for themselves in the elements. That they hate Catholics, gays and women who work. Refreshing. That’s a new word for hem. I find them dangerous and revolting. I think their children and animals should be taken away from them and given proper homes in a sane environment. That would be refreshing.
Thank you! It amazes me that people don’t take the time to look into heir real beliefs and instead take the candy coated version that TLC presents as being wholesome and something to be respected and emulated. I guess if the USA as it was in Margaret Atwood’s, A Handmaid’s Tale, is your version of the perfect world, the Duggar’s are indeed refreshing. For those of us who don’t want religious zealots being our overlords, they are something else altogether.
Right on, Sistuh!
Go GNAT!
I want to know….where do these guys like this patriarch get willing women from? You have a system over there enshrining enormous personal freedom……so power–mad men invent religious offshoots in order to live as sole lawmakers in their own little bubble, and sure, you can see the attraction for that guy. But why would a woman sign up?? I mean, as far as I can see, if it were not for the protection afforded to weird beliefs, these guys would be acting in a criminal manner, akin to imprisonment. What on earth attracts these wives?
If the show was FAKE like the other reality shows, then it would be worthy entertainment. But the fact these people REALLY live like this, really have those beliefs, and really have THAT many kids is insane. They have the right to believe what they want, but doesn’t it seem like this family has become addicted to fame and money? Why else do the cover of People mag announcing your pregnancy when you’re only a few weeks a long?
people have stated pretty clearly, throughout this thread, why there is “so much negativity” surrounding them. if you choose to ignore people’s reasoning, that’s your own willful ignorance at work.
Oh dear my willful ignorance. I prefer this to some want to be starlet who busts it wide open for fame, or hair pulling and backbiting. Again, I think it is refreshing to see something different. They go all in for their beliefs and that’s good that they have some personal convictions. If their blind then so be it. We all can’t be cookie cutter people. So much for tolerance.
yes, willful ignorance.
people were very clear about why they dislike this family and you asked “why so much negativity”. I notice that you didn’t address any of the points that GNAT made about why there is so much negativity. again, you are choosing to ignore what people have written.
and this is not about which reality star is “better”. KUWTK and Real Housewives are ALSO garbage and not worth watching, as is most “reality” TV. no one is defending those shows as “better”.
however, I will say that those shows are not as…well, dangerous might not be the right word, but it works. on KUWTK and Real Housewives, there is no hiding of what those people are about…no whitewashing, no putting on a “nice” face to mask their feelings. they may be trashy, but they’re showing who they really are. the Duggars are more insidious…they hide their misogyny, homophobia and bigotry behind their religion and “aw shucks” facade.
ETA: re the tolerance…I am tolerant of others’ views. what I am NOT tolerant of is people trying to force others to live by THEIR rules and religious morals.
Here here! I was thinking I was the only one who doesn’t hate these people. Live and let live y’all, practice what ya preach. I too shuddered at Michelle Duggar’s transgender discrimination comments but I’ve chosen to live in a place where that is not prevalent. I am originally from Arkansas and this way of life is not for me. But it is for them obviously. They aren’t knocking on your doors or forcing you to watch their show. They said WE BELIEVE – not “it is what is commanded by thee Lord”.
The only way we will ever make progress in this crazy world is to love each other. JUST LOVE EACH OTHER. These people too. Love em. They aren’t your cup of tea but they are honest people living life as they see fit. And I’d rather watch them over the Kardashian Klan anyday.
Isn’t it crystal clear that our progress in decency, in equality, in tolerance for those on different paths…..(in short, the giant steps taken in the past 50 yrs towards loving each other) …that this progress has been accompanied by an upsurge in religious fundamentalism? Can you not see the whe cloth? Women are accorded legal rights, so too are those who have fought for the right to exist at all…..every step forward, towards the society we should logically have had by 1965 or so, has been blocked or resisted by the religious fundamentalists. They seek to grab back minority rights, and women obviously are their greatest threat, so they eliminate them right at the start by making sure they haven’t the wit nor will to resist.
They may hate the Roman Catholic Church, but they continue its worst work nonetheless. When Rome for centuries would suffocate scientific discovery, nowadays the religious right seeks to prevent or reverse social evolution. Every regained freedom is matched by another few million dollars spent in attempts to negate it, by influencing the legislators.
They aren’t knocking on our doors but they are invading our television sets, preaching their beliefs over phone and through various media and trying vainly to influence public policy to bring life more into line with their ‘harmless’ beliefs. I can’t love someone who thinks I as a woman have lesser social value than a man. I can’t love someone who would have me believe in a god I don’t think exists. I can’t love someone who would dictate how I dress, what I read, who I see, what I learn and what I do with my body. Someone who would control that does not love me.
I would “live and let live” if THEY did…but they don’t. they actively campaign for candidates who want to outlaw both abortion AND birth control, and for laws that discriminate. they’re working toward making others live how THEY live.
and it’s great that you “live in an area where it’s not prevalent”, but what about everyone else? should we not care about the atrocities committed in other parts of the world because “it’s not prevalent” here? should we ignore racism in places like Ferguson, MO, because it’s “not prevalent” where we happen to live? as long as it’s not happening to YOU, it’s OK if it happens somewhere else?
“The only way we will ever make progress in this crazy world is to love each other.”
that would be nice, but this family doesn’t. they actively support laws that discriminate and equate transgender people with pedophiles. that’s not love, that’s bigotry. and we haven’t even touched on their continued misogyny. yeah, great family.
I’d never want to agree with something a Duggar says but I too don’t see the point of a long engagement. Not as short as theirs but much more than a year seems so long. To each their own though. I know some people will want to save up for the wedding or a house.
We had a six month engagement because the church made us book at least six months in advance. And even though by the time I was her age (23) I was already married with two kids, I wish I could go back in time and wait a little longer, and develop as an individual more before becoming Mrs. and mommy. And I’m all for making the legal marriage age 25, just to make sure the ADULTS making a decision affecting the rest of their lives know what they’re doing. 🙂
I got engaged over the summer and thought I’d run right out and plan my wedding but…I like being engaged. Planning a wedding is so much stress and money. We’re having a big engagement party in October, and then, I don’t know. Might not actually get married. We’ve chosen each other, we’ve made the commitment to be together. Feels like enough for now. People make the decision that’s best for them, and as long as they’re not hurting anyone, who cares?
@Algernon, you do you! I’m not really interested in getting married, but if my boyfriend and I did decide to take that step at some point, I think I’d have a party with my friends and then Justice of the Peace it up when I felt like it.
Perhaps a new tradition of a “commitment party”; a way to celebrate your decision to be together without the expectation of marriage. So many people don’t see the need of an actual wedding or getting married but then miss out on the celebration of love which is a shame. Commitment parties all round!
Flash! Married woman gets pregnant!
She shared her pregnancy for the same reasons we have Kardashians in the news for nothing. The Duggars and the Kardashians are two sides of the same coin.
Agree. Really no different than the Kardashian’s. The constant media about these people only perpetuate that they are in it for the money. It’s reeks of greed and self promotion to me. Seems like their “church” would see the media blitz as a way to lose credibility and, for lack of a better word, dignity.
Are you kidding @Dorothy? It’s a well known fact that the Independent Fundamentalist Baptist Cult-uh, sorry, church-LOVES the Duggar’s and how their tv show has brought incredible interest and promotion to their cause. (Think Cruise, Travolta and Scient*logy.)
The deal is that the Duggar’s are INCREDIBLY careful not to ever mention the name of their actual church & origination lest it and the families within it be criticized, but the fact remains, they are superstars for this particular cult.
If you want to know the horrifying truth of what actually goes on inside the Duggar’s actual Arkansas church, I recently read and awesome book by a woman who’s an escaped member called “I Fired God.” Her story is incredible and she talks about all of the code words, expressions and under the radar practices (to the common eye) that she saw the few times she allowed herself to watch “19 Kids” and immediately saw her own abusivr past carefully hidden inside it. Sad.
I might be daft but I don’t understand why these folks are famous, for doing what millions and millions and millions of women do all over the world.
What’s the next biological function that will become famous tomorrow????
What I’d like to know is do any of them ever get in a bad mood? No one is that happy all the time. No one.
According to their cult, showing any emotion, other than joy and happiness is rebelling and disrespectful to your patents and God.
What I find most intersting across these Duggar stories is that Jim Bob always insists that his children are allowed to “create their own relationship boundaries” within the confines of engagements yet so far, ALL of his adult children have *shockingly* “chosen” to maintain EXACTLY THE SAME Jim Bob & Michelle approved rules throughout each of their engagements: Hand holding & “side” hugs (and nothing more) are ok, kissing must be held off on until the actual wedding day. (I mean, in the video of Josh proposing to Anna, you could see them both instinctively quickly move toward each other to embrace in elation and love after she accepted only to abruptly stop short and “hug” side by side in front of both sets of parents. It was so sad to see that small glimpse of natural human spirit get shot down!)
Because, you know, and mom & dad are only made a part of every text (really, they have to CC both parents in every single correspondence and/or communication) and date(!) to “hold them accountable to the standards that THEY’VE chosen themselves. Right.
I think she shared the news because having kids is the only accomplishment these women are allowed to have and be proud of. In regard to door-to-door religious proselytizers, I find it seriously offensive. The assumption is that those they visit are spiritually lost and they have all the answers. B*tch, interrupt my day off with that arrogance and you better hope your savior is watching over you.
It’s 1673 and you are a radical Puritan, dismayed to see the Stuarts once more on the throne, but still with hopes for a better, more enlightened social experiment. Thus you sail to Boston, and vow that this new land you are part of will be free from corrupt religion, and built on a basis of decency and individual accountability. Amazingly, this comes to pass!
And what do your descendants do? Why, they find it was all very well when everyone else that mattered was also a Puritan, but now they find the need for *another* new land, safe from those who would question their interpretation of ‘freedom’ ( which, as they see it, applies only to them).
It’s 1673…….you would not set sail if you could forsee the efforts put in to making your land a safe haven for religious corruption snd intolerance.
I’ll give her that she’s one of the pro-life advocates I’ve actually seen mention adoption (though whether they actually go for it is questionable – their parents certainly didn’t), which is one of my biggest pet peeves when anti-choice protestors get on their high horse. I have no problem if you find abortion unethical, but you better sure as shit be part of the solution than just shaming women for the problem. Funny how they’re never as loud about developing better, more affordable adoption and single parent support systems.
(I’m also agreeing that I find it unlikely she wasn’t pregnant when they were getting married. That’s not a big deal by itself – a lot of Christian couples tend to loosen up in the weeks before the wedding – but it is shady as f*ck if she’s selling it as the perfect Christian romance fantasy without acknowledging all the privileges that allowed her to indulge it.)
Get married fast to have sex, why bother to get to know one another properly before signing up for a lifetime commitment?
Jesus wept. If sex controls their lives that much, then no wonder they think it does everyone else. I’d rather wait three years than be stuck with the wrong person for sixty.
I don’t think any of these girls or their son got married for “love”. They got married for sex and to have kids. I really hope the people they marry they actually love and their partner loves them, because they’re trapped forever even in an unhappy marriage because Duggars don’t do divorce. After, seeing a few episodes I think maybe their eldest son, loves his wife but I just don’t get this vibe from the daughter that recently married and especially the one who just got engaged. Marry for love, not lust and to procreate but what can I say it’s the Duggar way. Sad 🙁
I’d rather see this family than the Pit family
you can’ tell those kids are brats
At least they are providing education for their children, boys and girls, and also most probably they will be able to choose their own path, not just become part of a reality show based on breeding.
I loathe the views they have on women, they are almost on par with other extremists.
BALLS
no, we’re saying “BUTTOCK FATOCK!” now.
but balls is still OK.
🙂
@Jenn
Good way to try and derail the conversation.
BALLS!
We live in a world where a fertilized egg might actually need it’s own lawyer. What distinguishes these people from the Kardashians? Nothing is sacred with this family either.
Damn, Duggars…… You scary!
Nobody cares about your belly full of sperm or your stock in jean skirts or anything else about your Little House on the Prairie ideals. Damn thirsty Duggars.