True! And FWIW I actually have a problem with "reality TV" in the first place, but that's a whole 'nother issue.
For the rest, I honestly know very little about Amish, although yes I have heard of that practice. They were just the example that popped into my head that fit many of those same arguments but seem to be generally perceived in a more positive light (certainly not by everyone).
As far as sending your kids out into the world from 16-18...well, I wouldn't do it! Would you? Not that it matters, it's just a thought that occurs to me. I think the shock of being out in the world at 16 would be enough to send most young people scrambling back to safety (I know a few exceptions personally, but still...) and probably isn't really so much a testament to choosing one lifestyle over another as simply being too young to be out there in the big world in the first place. Of course that's my opinion, and my opinion on that probably has nothing to do with the subject at hand.
From my own observations in life, I've noticed that there are people from pretty much any/every way of life or religion of their upbringing who stick with it as adults, and others who do not. I know people who were raised within strict church environments or other kinds of lifestyles with rules or practices that might seem very "extreme," "different," "weird," or "cultish" to others, and who do not follow that way of life as adults. And, of course, others who do.
My point is that ultimately I think the Duggar children and the Bates children will choose for themselves. If they choose to live as they were raised, is that necessarily proof that they were brainwashed? I honestly don't think so, any more than is necessarily the case for any individual Catholic, Muslim, Mormon, etc etc etc.
And that 's ok for a man but not a woman. Why???
You are not tellnig them they are horrible people and going to hell everytime they break a rule are you? You don't tell your girls they cannot have a job, and that thier only job is to make babies and keep house do you? You don't shun them if they make a mistake do you? All of this happens in quiverfull society.
Things have changed for the Duggars since thier first special, but not for many of the familes that believe as they do. In most, the girls are not allowed to work outside the home. Michelle said in the first few specials that they didn't believe women should ever work outside the home. They also do not allow thier children to associate with anyone outside the fold, and will choose thier children's spouses. In early shows they talk about "guiding" thier children toward "acceptable" spouses. Once a woman is married, she should never express any opinion without first checking to see if her husband agrees. She should never ever express that she disagrees with anything he says or does, becuase thebible says she is subserviant to him. They blanket train babies as young as six months be hitting them with a switch every time they stray from the blanket. Michelle once described the technique in an interview. They do this so that thier homeschool is not interrupted by the babies needing attention. The Goddard homeschool method, whcih the Duggars used, at least early on, REQUIRED parents to commint to "physical correction" of children who do not have a "meek spirit" at all times.
the enemy at the gate paretis what quiverfull latches onto. They beleive that the morechildren they produce the mors soldiers God will have in the comingwatr with the anti-christ. I don't think that is valid reaosn for having children. I don't have a problem with large families who WANT to haveall those chidlren, but I would hate to be achild and know that the only reason my parents had me was to be cannon fodder.
that makes absolutely no sense.
