When you need to rant...

[Drtooth]

I'm sure everyone heard of the molestation scandal with the 19 Kids and Counting father. And I'm sure everyone heard that the show has been pulled.

Now, I could rag on the fact that these guys are insanely far right religiously and belong to the same sort of organization (if not the exact same one) Orson Scott Card does. You know the "Crush the freedoms of other humans and marginalize them because Bible" ones who want to impose the Christian equivalent of Sharia Law while whining about other religions doing the same. But frankly, these guys willingly had a liter of children. They essentially exhibit cult like behavior anyway.

No. My rant is thus:

This was a show in the first place. TLC made this a show in the first place. They knew full well this family was controversial. Remember the Duck Dynasty thing where everyone was vilifying that jerk? The one that spewed his I'm a Christian for hating gays, but Social Darwinism because I have money? And then his show got pulled for a brief amount of time before he became a hero to like minded Christian when it's convenient Conservatives? Yeah, we should have probably ignored that. But even though it made him more belligerent and a martyr he was punished for less than what the 19 Kids family essentially ran on. Seriously... if you give a contract to someone who thinks God wanted them to personally populate a city, you know you're playing with a dangerous mentality. TLC knew full well, gave them a contract and a TV show and money to essentially give crazy people a venue and let everyone laugh at them.

The thing that really honks me off is that the only reason this show got pulled was because the sponsors backed out. Meaning that if that wasn't the case, TLC would be fine airing a show about a crazy religious zealot that says mean things about gays being pedos when he was one in the first place. And managed to have 19 freaking kids too. That's TLC. Right there. Fat freaks, short freaks, religious freaks... all point and laugh at the freaks because reality TV is cheap and stupid people watch it ironically only to pick up pitchforks and torches when one of the freaks does something freakish that isn't funny. I HATE them, and their oh so inspirational shows about giant blobs of wasted life that serve only to say that "this is every fat person ever!" I mean, getting that fat is a feat. I don't take good care of myself and I'm under Homer Simpson's weight and size (as any Simpsons fan can tell, he's the thinnest fat person in the show, Wiggum, Comic Book Guy, and Marvin Monroe are twice his size). To get to 600+ pounds is quite a lot of work. But yeah. Just the fact these exploitive, nasty shows are a thing and the channel has the word "Learning" in its name is disgusting. Not molesting girls and then hypocritically categorizing gays as pedos disgusting, but disgusting none the less.

 

[D'Snowth]

Just to clarify, it wasn't the father who molested little girls, it was their oldest son - I also saw in an interview with a lady who used to be a member of their cult saying that she (and I think others) tried to warn the parents about his behavior, but they essentially tried to cover up for him and took a, "This is something that he needs to correct with God" mentality.

But anyway, I hate to bring up an old topic, but I just remembered something to add to a past discussion:

That, and just because of my plain insanity, I begrudge CN for merchandising the heck out of their cartoons since KND (with PPG and Dexter being the only exceptions to the rule), when prior to that, we were lucky if a CN series got even a fast-food deal . . . when Taco Bell and Hardee''s came out with COW AND CHICKEN toys, and Subway came out with toys for SHEEP IN THE BIG CITY, COURAGE THE COWARDLY DOG, and ED, EDD N EDDY, I snatched them up lemme tell ya (and I don't even like Hardee's or Subway's food)!

I actually forgot that while the classic CN shows may not have gotten much as far as merchandising goes compared to their more modern show, they did at least get some publications. There were those DC comics that I used to snag every month (mostly for the Eds and Courage stories), and there was also a line of coloring/activity books that I actually collected one of each and refused to actually color in them or use any of the stickers or temporary tattoos and such.

But interestingly? Even before all that? Cow and Chicken had coloring books. That's right, Cow and Chicken had coloring books. I actually had one (I can't remember where it may have disappeared to) that was of the "Orthodontic Police" episode that CN seemed to love so much, and the back cover had a cut-out and paste together milk carton that was covered in green mold and had Mom and Dad on the back as their upper halves were "missing".

 

[charlietheowl]

I'm sure everyone heard of the molestation scandal with the 19 Kids and Counting father. And I'm sure everyone heard that the show has been pulled.

Now, I could rag on the fact that these guys are insanely far right religiously and belong to the same sort of organization (if not the exact same one) Orson Scott Card does. You know the "Crush the freedoms of other humans and marginalize them because Bible" ones who want to impose the Christian equivalent of Sharia Law while whining about other religions doing the same. But frankly, these guys willingly had a liter of children. They essentially exhibit cult like behavior anyway.

I sincerely hope that TLC keeps the show off the air (the AV Club reported that TLC is planning a spin-off show surrounding one or two of the oldest daughters and basically cutting everyone else out). I'm not one to bash people's religions because it is a personal issue, but the Quiverfull sect is bizarre and dangerous. Gawker has been doing great coverage on how restrictive and harmful they are (link contains strong language), with the idea that infertility is a punishment from God and that women are essentially the property of the men in their lives, not to mention their anti-LGBT attitude. Their cult is mind-numbingly terrible and the fact that conservative political leaders were cozying up to the Duggars is sickening, but suppose that's politics in 2015.

 

[Drtooth]

Just to clarify, it wasn't the father who molested little girls, it was their oldest son - I also saw in an interview with a lady who used to be a member of their cult saying that she (and I think others) tried to warn the parents about his behavior, but they essentially tried to cover up for him and took a, "This is something that he needs to correct with God" mentality.

I meant to correct that and didn't before the editing period was up. Just the same, that's a very disturbing mentality and I bet if the kid was gay and came out while doing nothing wrong, the family would have disowned him. I hate the whole "Homosexuality is wrong because it's like rape and molestation, but ACTUAL rape and molestation is fine to wave off." Other than that, they are indeed a cult and far removed from any actual religious teachings. If they were any religion but Christian-ish, they'd be seen either as terrorist like or Doomsday Cult-ish.

I sincerely hope that TLC keeps the show off the air (the AV Club reported that TLC is planning a spin-off show surrounding one or two of the oldest daughters and basically cutting everyone else out). I'm not one to bash people's religions because it is a personal issue, but the Quiverfull sect is bizarre and dangerous. Gawker has been doing great coverage on how restrictive and harmful they are (link contains strong language), with the idea that infertility is a punishment from God and that women are essentially the property of the men in their lives, not to mention their anti-LGBT attitude. Their cult is mind-numbingly terrible and the fact that conservative political leaders were cozying up to the Duggars is sickening, but suppose that's politics in 2015.

Like I said, the real blame should lie in that TLC gave these crazies a TV Show. And as point and laughy as they could be, the fact they come across on television as not extremely dangerous fringe group is disturbing. This should never have been a show. I saw a Funny or Die that essentially lambasted the crap out of them a while back.

But yeah. No surprise the Republicans that are the most fringy are taking photos and making them saints for their in all but name Christian Sharia law cause. In the end, that's going to do damage for their image. They already come off as a bizarre amalgam of Frollo and Mr. Burns to everyone but themselves (and the ones that are aware don't give two craps). But this makes them pass culturally irrelevant and out of touch territory to UnAmerican religious rule. Way to go. I'm sure your Gerrymandering's going to get you all reelected anyway.

I'm sure those guys who drank tainted Kool-Aid would probably get a show today. TLC makes American Horror Story Freakshow (in universe) look rational.

But interestingly? Even before all that? Cow and Chicken had coloring books. That's right, Cow and Chicken had coloring books. I actually had one (I can't remember where it may have disappeared to) that was of the "Orthodontic Police" episode that CN seemed to love so much, and the back cover had a cut-out and paste together milk carton that was covered in green mold and had Mom and Dad on the back as their upper halves were "missing".

Yeah. I remember. There used to be all these 90's CN shows and Hanna Barbera shows associated with the network. I have a Wacky Races one somewhere. I swear I bought my sister a Dexter's Lab one at some point.

 

[mr3urious]

Boy, that Quiverfull article was a real eye-opener. They're about as bad as the Branch Davidians and the FLDS Church, maybe even worse.

 

[Drtooth]

I read that and not only was I shocked. I was shocked to read everything I assumed about them was right. They totally are only breading to create an army of Nixels...errr...Warboys...err...brainwashed soldiers to further their oh so ancient beliefs and take over the world. They're downright Talibannish right down to the not letting their kids listen to music. This is frightening and because we have freedom of religion, we can't do a bleeding thing about them except marginalize them. And it's downright hypocritical that the Republican party, the champions of Ayn Rand Objectivisim, support a group of people dead set on destroying individuality in the name of some guy who probably made the whole cult up so he could get a lot of sex.

Seriously. I want to be kidding about calling them warboys...but... yeah... kinda wish I didn't see Mad Max now.

 

[D'Snowth]

Just the same, that's a very disturbing mentality and I bet if the kid was gay and came out while doing nothing wrong, the family would have disowned him. I hate the whole "Homosexuality is wrong because it's like rape and molestation, but ACTUAL rape and molestation is fine to wave off."

And again, that's something I hate about uber-conservative far-right Christians, is that they are so obsessed with homosexuality to the point that they spend half of their time talking about, "If you don't accept Jesus Christ, you will burn in **** for all eternity," and the other half talking about, "all homosexuals are scum of the earth, and deserve to be smited by God for their lifestyle." With these uber-conservative far-right Christians, it's like if you're a murdered, adulterer (well, more about that later), thief, big fat liar, whatever, you can be forgiven for that entirely because it's no big deal, but if you're a homosexual, you're lower than a snake. And really, the other kind of people actually are the ones who do more harm with their actions than homosexuals do with theirs: murderers take innocent lives, adulterers mentally and emotionally hurt their significant others, thief rob people of what they've worked for, liars create situations for themselves that dig themselves into deeper trouble than they may already do . . . and all homosexuals do is love their own gender. So yeah, while the Bible does say that such is an abomination, the Bible also condemns all the other actions I just mentioned, and while all sin is equally bad in the eyes of the Lord, it seems to me that more energy could be used condemning the actions of people who actually do bad and harmful things than those of people who actually try to promote peace, happiness, and love . . . which, y'know, God actually wants us to do too.

As I've said before, sometimes when these uber-right-conservatives go on their Bible-thumping sprees against the homosexuals of the world, I get the urge to hog tie them all together and remind them of certain passages in the Bible that tell us to love our neighbors as ourselves, and to reserve judgement against others as only God can dish out judgement against us.

 

[Drtooth]

A lot of it isn't so much "The Bible says to hate Gays" so much as "The Bible Says it's okay for us to hate Gays." Religious based atrocity is essentially regular atrocity with carefully mined quotes taken out of context to rationalize their behavior. If you hate something, you can pick out a bible quote and say "hey, don't blame me." And I also like to bring up how the right essentially claims Christianity when Neo-Con politics sort of completely contradicts what Jesus was preaching. Every man for himself style Social Darwinism doesn't work with give of yourself and whatever you do to my people you do to me Charitable Christianity. For the political right, it's all a scam carefully crafted in the 70's to get the religious types to go to their side when it's all about saying "family Values" to get votes and make sure that Mommy and Daddy have to work multiple jobs to support said families because Montana Max and Monty Burns style Robber Barons give the party money.

But the Quiverfull cult is removed from that sort of thing. The Duck Dynasty guy might be a totally jerk, and he does believe in that contradictory Christian Neo-Con paradox (the government shouldn't give anyone charity because that's my money but traditional values), but in the end, he didn't hurt anyone. I even shudder to call Quiverfull Christian. They're frighteningly dangerous and megalomaniacal. They want to spread their specific brand of "religious" tyranny by forcing as many zombie kids as possible to make sure they overpopulate the world and force their beliefs on the entire planet. They've effectively found the exact opposite of a suicide vest! Flood the planet with life instead of killing. That's perversely brilliant if you think about it. They're like the Cobra of Christianity. The comic book Cobra that's ruthlessly efficient.

 

[charlietheowl]

I read that and not only was I shocked. I was shocked to read everything I assumed about them was right. They totally are only breading to create an army of Nixels...errr...Warboys...err...brainwashed soldiers to further their oh so ancient beliefs and take over the world. They're downright Talibannish right down to the not letting their kids listen to music. This is frightening and because we have freedom of religion, we can't do a bleeding thing about them except marginalize them. And it's downright hypocritical that the Republican party, the champions of Ayn Rand Objectivisim, support a group of people dead set on destroying individuality in the name of some guy who probably made the whole cult up so he could get a lot of sex.

Seriously. I want to be kidding about calling them warboys...but... yeah... kinda wish I didn't see Mad Max now.

I thought it was baldly hypocritical that the family won't let their kids take in popular culture in any form, but has no problem taking TLC's generous handouts to be on TV. I'm sure they've tried to justify that somewhere, but come on! You can't say one thing and then do the other without realizing how stupid you look, or else they don't care.

 

[Drtooth]

I can take that as either they're hypocrites for those same reasons (and the whole "handouts are the devil" logic), or they're using it as a carefully calculated plan to make Quiverfull look rational, reasonable, and everything they are not. I'm going with the second option. From what I can garner, the TV show makes the family look no worse than most Conservative Christians. I'm sure if the cult's creepy Taliban-esque teachings were broadcast, the show would be a frightening warning sign of Machiavellian doings similar to the guys we're dropping bombs on and not a gentle "Yeah, we have weird quirks, but that makes our family adorkable." For shame on TLC for making this a show in the first place, for shame on the Right Wing politicians who cosied up to them for the votes, and for shame for the sponsors that waited until the molestation charges to pull all funding. There is no justification for giving this cult a venue outside of Chick Tracts like pamphlets and crazy websites only other members of this Kookoo Cola Cult visit.