The One About the Duggars

I'm in a class this semester that deals with current events. One of the units we discussed a few weeks ago was the fact that the world population was aging and would be shrinking within a generation. The girl I sit next to (I'm not really a fan of her anyway, but this just pissed me off to no end) leaned over and said "And yet, people still criticize the Duggars." I really respect (and fear a little bit) the professor of this class, otherwise I would have just started telling her off right then and there. I tried to bring it up later when we were out of class, but there wasn't ever a good time. This is what I would like to say to people like her who defend the Duggars. I just have a hard time coming up with the words to say in the moment... even when I have the time and opportunity.

Excellent post about the Duggars.

The One With Wild Comparisons

I'm in my second-to-last semester of my undergrad degree in History & Political Science, and I am doing my Sr. Research Project. I decided way back when I was a sophomore that nothing would please me more than to research Hitler Youth. I have a slight Hitler/Nazi/Holocaust obsession. I have watched more History Channel programs, read more books, and done more random Google searches about that madman than you can shake a stick at. But the thing that I always keep coming back to is the question of how he was able to convince the German people to follow him. The answer is simple. The German people needed someone to lead them out of a hard, dark place. They were beaten down, broken, and defeated after World War I and the ensuing depression. They needed a scapegoat to blame for all of Germany's ills. He was also a fantastic propagandist. Seriously, if you ever want a lesson in convincing people of anything, just look at Nazi political posters. They're fascinating.

This is very similar to what the parents of ATI experience. They may have had a bad experience with institutional schooling, or they had a childhood/youth that was less than admirable. They want a break from the norm, so they choose something that is so far from the norm that it leaves the norm standing there confused and bewildered. They need a scapegoat to blame for their past and so the culture is what is chosen as the thing to blame. Most of all, they want someone to lead and they want to feel powerful again.

Bill Gothard pulls these parents in with the promise of turning out smart, educated, respectable children. He convinces them that if they only follow his teaching and do everything by his book, their children will grow up healthy, well-adjusted, and thriving. What he fails to tell them is that unless the kids drink the kool-aid early on and continue to drink it, they will become disillusioned and then the system will fail.