Fundamentally Frightening

What is the link between the docuseries Shiny Happy People and the book-banning movement in the United States?

The series is about the Duggar family, the star of a TLC channel reality-TV series 19 Kids and Counting (19 being the latest count before the show's cancellation; the number changed as a new child is born). They're devout Independent Baptists, and have links to the Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP) and the Advanced Training Institute (ATI), both founded by American Christian minister, speaker, and writer Bill Gothard.

Writing in Book Riot, Kelly Jensen describes the IBLP as "one of the most dangerous Christian fundamentalist movements" in the United States, and that the homeschool curriculum the IBLP developed via the ATI "showcases the talking points being spewed by right-wing bigots bent on banning books." Also...

[Bill] Gothard’s teachings note that women remain subservient to men, that children be subservient to their parents, and that physical punishment is not only acceptable but expected in order to train obedience. These are but the tip of the iceberg.

I was reminded of this article after reading about some politician reportedly stating that "Western understanding on human rights concepts should not be accepted in Malaysia as its proponents are believers in Darwin’s theory of evolution, which goes against Islamic theories on creationism."

Local religious fundamentalists share a fair bit with their counterparts in the West. Like the Duggars, not a few parents also eschew family planning and believe that G*d alone dictates how many children they'll have. So one shouldn't be surprised that they don't subscribe to Darwin's theory of evolution. The Malay edition of The Origin of Species is banned here.

Perhaps suspicious of the curriculum in US schools, some Christian fundamentalist parents homeschool their offspring, often using curricula fashioned by organisations such as Gothard's ATI. Jensen highlights an example of what it contains...

...Take for example the “Christian Mom” who decided that her kids could no longer watch Ms. Rachel, a YouTube star whose show for toddlers teaches music, colors, shapes, and more. Why did she have a problem with such a straightforward show?

She and her family do not believe in dinosaurs and they do not believe in pronouns (Ms. Rachel has a regularly appearing and deeply beloved guest on the show, Jules, who uses they/them pronouns).

Jensen goes on to state that "Homeschool programs like these promote isolation, promote dependence on white male authority figures, and create such a culture of fear that indoctrinates do not speak up for fear of retaliation and excommunication." Who the heck benefits from the creation of such a society?

Eventually, this sort of fundametalism will bleed into other aspects of people's lives. The US abortion fight is the result of this encroachment, as is the ban on alcohol sales in coffee shops, supermarkets and convenience stores here, plus the imposition of a "modest" dress code in some public places.

Not only are book bans here "archaic", as reportedly described by the Penang Institute, but ineffective and seemingly arbitrary. Ban something and everyone rushes out to get a copy to see what the fuss is about. There is no deep, honest, mature and meaningful engagement with or discussion of the material.

We're losing the ability to think for ourselves because people in power cannot trust us to come to proper conclusions – or conclusions they want us to reach? – about what we see, hear, or encounter, so they're deciding that for us. Could there be something else other than an authoritarian bent behind this impulse?

Are some of the ways we react to things also to blame, especially with how we consume media like fast food and junk food: obsessively, with little pause and little heed for our health? Or how we argue the talking points about certain topics?

Regardless, trust is a two-way street, and there can be no way to move forward if bad-faith actors dictate what or who we should and should not read, listen to, watch, consume, or be offended by.