Posted on 09/05/2014 4:16:03 PM PDT by Kaslin
The new season of "19 Kids and Counting" is here. And I'm excited. So what?
Generally speaking, I enjoy the most salacious, violent and depressing television shows I can find. Maybe it's just a perverse form of escapism, maybe it's the high quality of shows being produced these days, but I can't resist "prestige" television -- "The Wire," "Breaking Bad," "Fargo," "The Sopranos," "Game of Thrones," "House Of Cards," "The Walking Dead" and so on. For that matter, I also hung around for four seasons of "The Killing" and watched every episode of the "Halt and Catch Fire." So, apparently, whatever you make, I' y for watching such dreck -- and I never left. I can't remember when it happened exactly, and I don't know if I'll be able shake this bizarre feeling, but I do know that I'm hooked on what has to be the most countercultural show on TV these days.
For the unfamiliar, "19 Kids and Counting" is a reality television show featuring the Duggar family of northwestern Arkansas. The Duggars are devout Independent Baptists, a fundamentalist offshoot of Baptism that, from what I can gather, is a bit cultish and has experienced some rough patches over the past few years. No matter; the Duggars never proselytize as far as I can tell -- unless you count making a pious life with tons of kids seem fulfilling and extraordinarily fun.
What the Duggars do is engage in the reactionary act of producing a large number of offspring -- all of whom are given first names that begin with "J" (though "Jinger" seems like cheating to me). Jim Bob and Michelle have also have gone through two miscarriages (the show deals with the family's grieving process) and have a couple of grandkids. And other comparably enormous families tend to pop in and out of their lives as the Duggars do their mission work and disembark in various cities and tourist sites around the country.
This week, the new season kicked off. It will focus on Jill Duggar, one of the older girls, and her pending marriage to a ridiculously respectful young man named Derek. This relationship blossomed after a courtship -- the Duggar children court prospective mates, they do not date. (As a father of two daughters, this seems far less outrageous than I would have imagined.)
Though it stands to reason that the show is often staged, what I see cuts against many cultural notions we have about family: what children strive for, what parents owe their kids, how a family acts towards one another, what young people are capable of. Considering what we see on TV, it's basically transgressive. A place where homeschooling is treated as a reasonable way to educate your children, where kids talk about "honoring" their parents rather than demanding things from them, and where older kids start successful small businesses without a traditional college education.
I can recall that the shows my children grew up watching almost always featured some bratty kid with an endless supply of snappy comebacks and the ability to outwit all the hapless adults in their lives. Most reality TV I've run across oscillates between depravity and stupidity. "19 Kids and Counting" is basically the most earnest show I've ever watched. And while almost any mainstream show I grew up watching saw social conservatives through a political prism -- irrational and hopeless -- the Duggars' charitable spirit allows people to see the manifestation of religious ideals in real-time. Or so this apostate imagines. In any event, it's almost impossible to not be charmed.
The Duggars lifestyle is completely foreign to me. By any measure, their lives should rub my secular sensibilities the wrong way, and the austerity of their beliefs are still somewhat off-putting. But whether you believe the family's lifestyle is optimal or not -- and I don't -- you can learn from them. What will most impress any parent is the boundless patience Jim Bob and Michelle have towards their many children. They handle situations with calmness and purpose, focusing on preparing capable adults, but also good people. Which all sounds terribly boring, but it's not. I never imagined that I would ever find myself asking the question "What would Jim Bob do?" ... But, well, there it is.
Now, I certainly don't want to be a Duggar, but I have to confess that I want to be more like a Duggar than I am right now. Or maybe I just need a break from all the cynicism. So what?
Here is a mirror, look in it. See the idiot looking back at you?
DH and I were sad when it ended, it is so hard to find decent entertainment.
Thanks, like the author, my high strung & impatient self often asks “what would Michelle do?” when dealing with misbehaving children. Judging by her kids’ behavior she is probably just as calm and consistent off camera as she is on. How does she do it?!
I would rather listen to her non stop for an hour than spend thirty seconds listening to Obama.
I was thinking the same thing. Getting pregnant is the natural result of sexual intercourse. Particularly by young newlyweds.
Lark Rise to Candleford is great!
I’m a BBC, English-period piece TV series fanatic. Try Cranford also. Lots of famous British actresses in it.
I’m just amazed at how these folks (the Duggars) can raise nice kids and SO many of them! Yikes!
Was there a sale on ladybug dresses at target or something?
I was going to say, that he does kinda look familiar...
5 seconds is to much having to listen to that arrogant pos
There is a certain word for people like you
I have to see if I can get it on Amazon Fire TV
LOVE the mom. Michelle’s tone is always loving - always.
It’s reflected by her kids.
Harmony WORKS.
And that word is?
“Misunderstood”?
I totally agree with the premise that the author is writing about in this article. For several months there my wife and I were watching the tv series “John & Kate Plus Eight”. They seemed “normal” enough, but (now) pitted against the Duggars, the John & Kate Plus Eight (now Kate Plus Eight) family seems SO dysfunctional! We noticed how material Kate and her children are vs. the spiritual side of the Duggars. Like night and day.
For whatever reason, I've been getting up well before 4am lately, and TLC is consistently running the very early episodes...it's been fun watching all the chirren grow up.
NotyhstarMom: “how quickly and strongly the media influences kids”
I think it’s only fair to point out how vulnerable people of all ages are to the potential of the media’s influence, whether it’s intentional or not.
When I was a kid, I hated commercials and still have to laugh in disgust at how advertisers must have to hope that consumers are as gullible as they’re needed to be.
Unless you’re talking about a product like “Life Alert” or something similar, how can any of that bullsh*t be taken seriously? You almost have to be a willing participant. Con-artists have a word for suckers like that and that word is “mark”. In their world, a good consumer is a responsive consumer. How do you think we ended up with Obama in the WH???
You’re right. Obama was marketed to the masses, and a voting majority fell for the ad campaign, hook, line and sinker. The rest of us were astonished that someone with so few qualifications was suddenly President of the United States. It still boggles my mind. It’s amateur hour in the White House by our first affirmative action president.
Again, anyone who claims marketing doesn’t affect people is seriously mistaken. A brain works on what it takes in. How can it be anything other than a product of the experiences it receives? Feed a mind CBS, NBC, and ABC, and it receives a steady diet of Democrat propaganda. It’s like junk food for the brain, only worse!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.