You may hear a lot about Amazon Prime’s latest Duggar family docuseries, “Shiny Happy People,” over the next few weeks. The corporate media have already gleefully seized on the series’ content as evidence of why Christian values are incompatible with contemporary America and homeschooling is apparently rife with abuse and educational neglect.
The series follows the explosive drama surrounding the Duggar family, who were made famous by TLC’s hit show “19 Kids and Counting,” and the Institute of Basic Life Principles (IBLP), the Christian organization the Duggars promote and belong to.
The IBLP espouses a distorted and damaging interpretation of Christianity. Full stop. The biggest example of this explored in the docuseries is its teachings on abuse. The IBLP both victim-blames people who have been sexually abused and glorifies their suffering. One ex-IBLP member in the documentary even said that the twisted teaching made her feel envious of friends who had been assaulted.
“Shiny Happy People” reasonably links these problematic teachings to the behavior of IBLP founder and former leader, Bill Gothard, who has been accused of sexual harassment and molestation by 34 women, some of whom were interviewed in “Shiny Happy People.” (Gothard denies the truth of the accusations.)
The documentary also interviews Jill Duggar, the fourth eldest of the 19 Duggars, and her husband, Derick Dillard. The couple blasts Jill’s parents for legitimate personal grievances, such as Jill’s father, Jim Bob, not fairly compensating them for their participation in the reality show. Jill also revealed that she felt “obligated”
