Thread by @oldreepicheep

🧵 Image Repair Analysis of the @iblp response to the documentary #ShinyHappyPeople

Here is a link to their statement
iblp.org/a-statement-on…

I'm going to use screenshots this time, as IBLP's statement is more verbose.

If you read Jim Bob Duggar's statement, you will notice a similarity in structure and verbiage.

Both of them lead off with DARVO. IBLP is slightly more emphatic with it.

This is not only DARVO, but a backhanded TRANSCENDENCE.

How so?

By categorizing the documentary as "a reflection of today's culture", they are aligning the victims with the world and themselves with God.

So it would be fair to call this DARVO via TRANSCENDENCE. (@jdahlmd we have another "winner" here.)

Why is it DARVO? It's an implicit Denial of wrongdoing, a flagrant Attack on the victims' accounts, and it casts IBLP as victims, thus Reversing Victim and Offender.

Here is more ATTACKING.

This time, by calling the producers of the documentary "Media story makers", they are accusing them (and the victims by extension) of lying.

It doesn't get more DARVO than this.

More DARVO here. And note that they are imputing ulterior motives on their accusers.

Let's talk about that for a minute.

Yes, media outlets seek profit. So does IBLP. (Hey Bill, how much money have you made over the decades with IBLP?)

But when the media ran favorable coverage of your conventions in the 1970s, was that also for profit on their end? If you benefit from favorable coverage, then why complain at unfavorable coverage?

And if you have 30 accusers of sexual predation, I'd say that meets the "two or more witnesses" standard that Paul gave in the NT.

Don't blame THAT on the media.

Ok...moving right along.

In this one, we have MINIMIZATION via TRIANGULATION.

He is using faint praise for the victims, using their character against them by calling them "manipulated", WHEN HE'S THE ONE DOING THE MANIPULATION.

The end-result: more DARVO.

Here we have MINIMIZATION "IBLP is neither a church nor a religion...", as this implicitly attempts to shield IBLP from accountability to which church elders are Biblically subject.

But we also see TRANSCENDENCE: appealing to the Gospel, & IBLP as a "Christian ministry."

This paragraph is an example of BOLSTERING. What IBLP is doing here is elevating themselves by appealing to the "good" that they've done for decades. This helps minimize the perceived effect of their offenses.

Here we have BOLSTERING (appealing to the work of IBLP to help believers use the Bible as a guide). It is also TRANSCENDENCE in that by appealing to the Bible, they are taking the high road & casting their critics as being on the low road.

This paragraph is textbook MINIMIZATION via attempted INOCULATION by TRIANGULATION. By throwing Bill Gothard under the bus, IBLP is aiming to immunize themselves from further attack.

BUT IT'S GOTHARD'S CULTURE, GOTHARD'S BOOKS, GOTHARD'S STRUCTURE, that is also at issue.

Getting near the end, we have BOLSTERING via DARVO. They are clearly using a DARVO-style attack, while using it to BOLSTER their "ministry".

This is brazen on a large scale.

Finally, we have TRANSCENDENCE. This is an insidious form, as it is also wrapped in an ATTACK. The implicit message: the docuseries producers, and the victims of IBLP, are enemies of the Gospel.

In summary, this response by IBLP is a massive exercise in DARVO and gaslighting. Every other Image Repair tactic they use is in support of a DARVO and GASLIGHTING strategy to dismiss critics as agents of Satan, and present themselves as soldiers of the Gospel.

This is as evil as I've ever seen in a public scandal response. And that's saying something.

*NOTE: this is also an example of using TEMPORAL DISTANCING as a BOLSTERING tactic. In this case, they use it to highlight a long record of "good".

Usually, people use TD to MINIMIZE an abuse they committed "many years ago". But in this case, TD is a BOLSTERING tactic.