If you follow me on Twitter, you already know how I felt about the trainwreck that was the Duggars’ Fox News interview. It was so bad, I have to wonder who thought it was a good idea, because Michelle and Jim-Bob Duggar were so obviously coached and so obviously had their talking points, so someone, somewhere, thought it was a great idea for them to do this interview. I’m sure there were several dog-whistles just for the evangelical crowd (all of the Jesus talk, of course), but most of the time, whenever the Duggars tried to deflect to their faith, Megyn Kelly jumped in with a question about specific acts by Josh Duggar or specific inaction by Michelle or Jim-Bob. Note: I’m going to cover the Jessa and Jill Duggar information in a separate post. This post is just for Michelle and Jim-Bob. Some interesting moments from the interview plus my thoughts, in no particular order.
Megyn Kelly was a Duggar water-carrier. There were some moments where Megyn really forced a certain issue or really dug for an answer on a specific question, but she still allowed Jim-Bob and Michelle to make Josh Duggar’s systematic and escalating child molestation all about THEM. It was all about how THEY felt. There was little concern for Josh’s victims from Michelle and Jim-Bob. Kelly also carried water for them as they tried to deflect to the bigger issue, which in their mind was the vast left-wing conspiracy to get Josh Duggar to admit that he molested five little girls.
What we know about Josh’s crimes is all Josh’s story. All Michelle and Jim-Bob know about Josh’s crimes is from his own self-reporting to them. Jim-Bob and Michelle bent over backwards to give Josh credit for telling them that he molested his sisters. But all I can think is… how many incidents and victims did he not disclose to his parents? We’re just taking his word for how many victims he had and how many times he molested over the course of more than a year.
Jim-Bob confirms. He said that Josh molested four sisters and a babysitter. Jim-Bob also said he made Josh call the babysitter and apologize to her after he molested her and I guess Josh demanded that she forgive him.
Josh is M.I.A. Why didn’t Josh speak in his own defense? He’s a 27 year old man and his mommy and daddy are still bending over backwards to excuse his crimes.
No harm, no foul. The Duggars kept emphasizing how Josh’s crimes were “mostly” on sleeping girls. The emphasis was so extreme, it ended up being MORE disturbing. Not only did they end up painting their son as the kind of predator who preyed on unconscious victims, the fact that his victims didn’t understand what happened to them – and that the Duggars at no point explained what happened to them – made it all somehow worse. Jim-Bob even made the argument of “hey, it’s not like Josh raped one of them.”
The Duggars are terrible liars, or dumb, or both. Within minutes of the Duggar interview, Jim-Bob’s story had already changed about five times. Did Josh “only” molest sleeping girls or were some of his victims awake? How many times did Josh molest? How many girls did Josh molest? How many months or years was he preying on girls? We don’t know the answers to any of those questions because Jim-Bob and Michelle couldn’t keep their stories straight.
Were all of the incidents of molestation over-the-clothes? Jim-Bob was in the middle of saying that not every incident involved over-the-clothes molestation when Michelle interrupted him and shut him down.
Teaching girls not to get molested. Rather than teaching Josh not to molest. The Duggars insisted that they set up “safeguards” at some point to insure the safety of their daughters. Those safeguards worked so well that Josh kept molesting, incidentally. The Duggars also emphasized that they changed the “rules” for brothers and sisters’ interactions, like Josh wasn’t allowed to babysit his sisters. Basically, instead of dealing with Josh’s behavior head on, the Duggars blamed their daughters for being too molest-baity.
Josh was kicked out of the house temporarily after molesting a five-year-old. Probably because it was difficult for Jim-Bob and Michelle to figure out a way that a five-year-old was responsible for her own molestation.
The receipts. I’m going to need the receipts on all of the “professional counseling” that Josh and his victims received.
Slander. The Duggars don’t know the meaning of the word. They confirmed all of In Touch Weekly’s reporting – based off a completely legal FOIA request – and then some. If In Touch’s sourcing was impeccable and the Duggars confirmed everything in In Touch’s reporting, how is it slander? Still, Jim-Bob and Michelle are talking to some lawyers because they’re thinking about suing. Sure.
Gawker did a comprehensive list of all of the excuses the Duggars made for Josh during the interview – go here to read. It was all profoundly disturbing.
PS… Remember, I’ll be covering the Jessa and Jill stuff in another post. Please don’t threadjack!
Photos courtesy of WENN, Duggars’ social media.
OMG. I saw the clip this morning of Jim Bob saying, “These girls were asleep & didn’t even know it happened!” So disgusting… completely a “no harm no foul” situation in their warped minds. Just absolutely horrifying.
Yeah. None of the Cos’s victims can remember what happened, so it didn’t. Next question.
I’m just going to say this – sometimes you pretend you’re still asleep because you’re too paralyzed to do anything else.
All along I was giving this family the benefit of the doubt. I was thinking people don’t understand this family. But, wow, was I wrong. I just could not believe what they were saying. It’s like these parents have no clue that their son is a sexual predator. Disturbing. I am just horrified. I was really hoping none of the victims would be known.
I actually wondered yesterday if they have been advised by Bill Cosby and Cee Lo Green.
@insert
I’m sorry if this happened to you.
I understand and agree!
INSERTNAMEHERE I wanted to make that point too. Who says they were sleeping? If someone snuck into your room and grabbed your hoo-hoo would you seriously sleep through that? No way. Those poor girls just waited for it to be over and then “thought about what they had done to deserve” it. (Seriously – that is part of the home schooling “lesson.”) Sick on so many levels and JimBob is responsible for ALL OF IT. Michelle too but the cult is set up to serve him.
ugh hypocrites. they’ll jump all over someone else’s sexual crime but one of their own, they just excuse his inexcusable crime. horrifying and an embarrassment and shame to those who represent the the evangelical group they court. at least it lets us see who the crazies really are that defend them.
The father had said that pedophiles should be put to death. Did he say that in the interview about his pedophile son? Nope!
Yeah, I don’t know how several girls wouldn’t wake up if he was touching them, even on top of their clothes.
I’ve never seen the show, and correct me if I’m wrong, but they started thet show AFTER the molestation?
I thinkall these people that parade their families on reality shows have serious mental issues. I don’t think one family has been left unscathed since the whole reality show thing started. Live your life the way you want, but the obsessive need for a TV camera should be a psychological issue in itself
They are despicable hypocrites.
The lowest of the low.
I agree, Bette, about the mental states of people who agree to do these shows. It seems to be in the same vein of the people who post multiple times each day on social media about themselves. A really deep need for validation, I guess. But funny how they are only comfortable when they can control the narrative.
But I don’t mean to suggest that the Duggars are on par with typical Facebook narcissists. They are way, way worse — negligent, irresponsible and dangerous at best, criminal and evil at worst.
Unless they were drugged, it’s really bizarre to sell the story that they slept through it. Because that’s not how sleep works.
It’s interesting to speculate that the children may have been drugged (or, as another poster pointed out, feigning sleep), because there are many comments over at Gawker.com that Michelle seems to be – and very clearly to several people – under the influence of some type of benzo.
I don’t doubt that they were feigning sleep, as that’s a normal thing to do when you’re terrified. I hate to think they were doping the little girls, but the Victorians did it to keep their women suitably passive.
And yet, even though they “didn’t remember or understand” what happened, Michelle feels betrayed because all of the ‘experiences’ they shared with the police were made public. How could they have described any ‘experiences’ if they were clueless as to what happened to them? And why is Michelle crying about the press/media’s betray of their daughter’s trust and not her SON’s betrayal of his sister’s trust when he molested them. They don’t say ‘molest’ they don’t say ‘incest’ they say improper touching and wrong doing. They have had some extensive media coaching, it is obvious. I am more creeped out now than ever before. And Michelle’s fake crying and blusher situation made me want to throw something at the screen.
Yeah in one breath they didn’t know what happened,next breathed,” our girls poured their hearts out to the people at the children’s center and to police”.I am pi##ed the interview never discussed the police report.She could asked about the incident in laundry room and other specific incidents.I have less respect for these parents now,if that is possible.
Or her own betrayal of her daughters by allowing her son to prey on them. I want to call that woman every five minutes with recordings of her own hate-filled robo-calls
So I guess those football players who raped the girl who was passed out should be let out of prison, because you know, she was unconscious and didn’t know she was being raped. SMH at the idiotic ideas spewing from this family’s mouth.
But you know, it was already her fault for whatever she was wearing /doing /etc. The guys… its hormones, they are/were teens, (add here all the excuses the Duggars made for their idiot son), etc.
Sounds like the Duggars, Cosby, and Cee-Lo Green need to have a variety show together called the “Unconscious-able, Unconscionable Sin Tour. Cee-Lo could sing the intro to his staple song, but with new verses “F*** You (while you are sleeping)” followed by a Cosby comedy sketch. The Duggars could then quote Bible passages as segues between segments. Then Cee-Lo and the Duggars could conclude the show with a hip-hop version of “How Great Thou Art” with Michelle on the mic doing a rap to the spoken words of Jesus as a backing track.
I find your humor, but sadly, I bet your phone started ringing when you posted this idea. *Some producer* would take you literally and try to make it happen, I bet. 😉 Anything to make a buck…
Where is Robert Altman when you need him?
This Interview might be a blessing in disguise. The outrageous reveals of how their minds excused their son for what he did to their daughters and others won’t sit right with even conservatives. It’s so twisted and evil. More that hear and read this the better. Sadly, the victims might be attacked for defending their attacker.
I hope TLC, Duggars, and Fox all get destroyed for this.
Amen.
Exactly. I still don’t know how it’s legal what those TV networks are doing. They’re literally justifying and condoning child rape, it’s awful.
You’d think so but I just went onto the Fox website and read some of the comments on the interview. Not too much outrage for the Duggars, and instead lots of disparaging remarks about the Clintons and liberals. Nice group of readers there.
@Esmon, because it is always Bill Clinton’s fault.
Esmon
They’re removing posts. There were loads earlier. And going back on some yesterday and day before articles many comments were removed.
And they weren’t even extreme right wing liberal views and bashing Fox. They were logical never speaking to faith or political views. Just an assessment on parenting and the safety of children.
That’s it ! Seriously time to organize a boycott of EVERY TLC sponsor until they get these child abusing sc*m off the air. This show needs to be cancelled and the family seriously investigated.
I saw comments on an article about the interview in the Globe and Mail and sadly, there are a lot of commenters defending the Duggers parenting and in particularly Josh’s actions, calling this a liberalist conspiracy. I don’t understand when it became ok to be a child molester
@Insertnamehere Yup. You hope that if you’re asleep they’ll stop. They don’t.
I accidentally caught ~20 seconds of the interview (why the hell was our TV already on FOX?? I blame my SO) — Michelle talked about how they had emphasized to the girls concepts like “safe touching” and how to protect themselves from “improper touching.” How would this have helped the girls if they were “asleep” during the sexual assault?
From everything i’ve read about the quiverfull upbringing in general regarding daughters and the blanket training parenting style of the duggars, I doubt very much the girls would admit to anything that would displease the parents.
All the excuses given by the parents regarding the victims’s responses to any type of questioning by the parents only demonstrate how obtuse the parents are about themselves and their parenting.
1. All the children are taught to always be cheerful in their disposition and to obey their parent absolutely whilst aligning their actions to whatever the parents want. So they probably wouldn’t admit to anything that would distress the parents.
2. Their version of Christianity makes the girls victims based upon their gender. They have to submit to Josh as a superior male, but they also have to submit to their parents. Especially the parents. Parents are always right, no dissension allowed. They can’t dispute the parents’ version of events. Even when they are too young to understand what happened to them or are grown up and finally realise it.
Finally, Jim Bob says he talked to other families and this is a normal problem that happens to other families too!!!!!! Thus confirming what we already suspected about the epidemic of abuse in the cult, and the reason they have such a detailed sheet on how to deal with molestation of girls.
All this! We actually know a few “Quiverfull” families… the women are just in a desperate position – constantly pregnant and nursing (one woman is younger than I am… her oldest child is 13 and she’s got 9 total!), homeschooling, cooking from scratch, living in small houses, scraping by financially, homechurching… it’s completely insular and cut off from the world. It is a wonder we haven’t heard more of these stories…
GiGi, Andrea Yates the mother who drowned her 5 kids back in 2000/2001 was Quiverfull.
Me44 – I know! I think all the time about these women I know. The husbands work out of the home, there is no true partnership. The women are expected to carry the family on their own, with a smile & open legs whenever the man wants it. It’s not Christianity in any sense of the word and I can’t believe people like this have co-opted a mainstream religion to further their creepy-cult.
Right. This is not christianity. It’s evil. Though, not many people who claim as loudly as these people are actually those who try to live that way. The more and more you have to announce you are something the more suspicion there should be.
That doesn’t make sense. If they were “asleep” then how did they know to report this to Jim Boob and Me Shell?
I got to 1 minute and 4 seconds before I couldn’t take any more!!!! They are acting like their son is HERO for crying and coming to them on his own?!?!?! GAG ME!!!!! Horrible parents!!!!!!
It is almost worse if they were asleep as Josh knew what he was doing was wrong so he had to touch them while they were sleeping.
There was so much backpedaling, Jim Bob could’ve won the Tour de France in reverse.
Ha! But sadly, true.
Now THAT is the funniest thing I’ve read so far!!!! Perfect analogy!
Abbott, you SLAY me! ;))
Ha ha..clever, Bott!
Comment of the day.
Thanks for making me laugh instead of throwing up.
Yes, thanks for the laugh, Abbott. I needed it.
Good one! 🙂
There is no such thing as a perfect family. Almost all of TLC’s shows have the same problems. Families have real issues and this was not a secret at all. I mean if Oprah canceled an interview with them years ago….
TLC should stop looking for “perfect” family values to promote.
TLC should just stop building shows around people who are happy to exploit their children for fame and money. It shouldn’t be a surprise that these people often turn out to be human garbage.
^THIS. If you are willing to put your children on reality TV, you’re probably not a great parent to begin with
See: Kris and Caitlyn Jenner, John and Kate, Mama June..et al
well said.
every time I hear about a celeb who turned down a reality show, I cheer a little and it makes me like them a bit more.
Yes, well said.
This. TLC is the exploitation channel, and seem to thrive on shows that exploit children especially. I think the execs must be a very sick group themselves to want to constantly display little kids, some of which are made-up to look like sexy adults. The entire channel is a pedos dream, and the entire channel is pure filth.
Does anyone know where to find a list of the advertisers who have NOT yet publicly pulled out or issued a statement of intent?
Everyone of these shows are built around families that are in some way freakish. That seems to be the only requirement!
I think the mistake is in you believing even TLC thinks they’re a perfect family.
TLC knew what this family was like for years but also knew about the loyalty and almost obsessive fervor of their fanbase. I know we don’t want to talk politics but these types of shows resonate with the older, southern, conservative values type hence why Josh has a picture book of photos with every prominent Republican and has campaigned for them.
Now this is not to blame on the political party, I’m just saying that blind loyalty that is currently hurting the party also makes for some dedicated TV viewers who buy merchandise religiously. Ratings, it’s all about ratings.
This!
Those poor girls. These “parents” are awful. What better way to teach your daughters that they have no value, than to protect their molester, allow him to continue living with his victims and going on national tv to defend him. Makes me sick.
Think about it this way for those girls. They are molested by their brother at a young age. And then taught for the rest of their lives that any sexual contact (even hugging) before marriage means they are damaged goods.
It’s just awful for them.
I just can’t deal with the parents here. The dad pretty much finds his daughters their husbands but then bans them from any physical contact at all and can never be allowed alone. They can side hug, but that’s it. If I am not mistaken, all their contact with one another is monitored. So, what would ole Jim Bob do if one his daughters suitors was just curious? Would that be ok with him as well? Nothing about this whole situation is ok. The girls are all probably so damaged and brainwashed they will never be alright 🙁
So true! And I really resent that they think anyone who says anything against their behaviour surrounding this whole horrid mess has an ‘agenda’ or is attacking their belief system. Well I am sorry to let the Duggars know, they don’t have an exclusive line to Jesus. I am a Christian and I am appalled by all this. I am appalled by the way these people treat women. Not in my name Duggars, and certainly NOT in Jesus’s name.
I dabble in Eastern philosophy but don’t really identify with any one religion per se. However, I think Jesus was a lovely human and I appreciate his teachings. This line, “I am sorry to let the Duggars know, they don’t have an exclusive line to Jesus.” – great point!! Keep callin’ ’em out, Sister Christian! More Christians and other dogmatic religious followers of all stripes need to realize this point…Jesus, enlightenment, and peace, or whatever spiritual practice you want to follow is meant to be shared, not hoarded. There’s enough Jesus to go around! The Duggars – not to mention Fox News – don’t and will never own all of the peace and enlightenment Jesus tried to teach during his short time on Earth. Self-righteousness and ignorance are the root of all suffering, and this story sure illustrates that. Too bad the Duggars and their cult followers won’t wake up and see the truth staring them right in the face…
Agree. They are hiding behind a twisted view of religion and claiming persecution when this is about admitted molestation of children! The deflection is incredible.
They should talk to the priests that “inadvertently” touched children. How’s that working for them?
“The Duggars kept emphasizing how Josh’s crimes were “mostly” on sleeping girls.”
“Rather than teaching Josh not to molest the Duggars insisted that they set up “safeguards” at some point to insure the safety of their daughters.”
So the “safeguards” presumably include never going to sleep – which I’m pretty sure is the plot to Nightmare on Elm Street…
Brilliant! Freddie Duggar!!!
Safeguards were that boys could never babysit again, enforcing gender stereotypes on top of everything else wrong here.
Jim Bob and Michelle should go ahead and sue In Touch. They better be prepared for more of their dirty laundry to come out. Jim Bob and Michelle are beyond gross.
Michelle, especially, repulses me with that baby voice and acting so calm and passive. I want to take all that hair and strangle her with it.
My heart has harden towards that disgusting pile of hair who dares claim the title of “mother.”
Her fake crying about made my head explode.
And the way she looks up at that creepy Jim-Bob, like he is God! They both make me shudder…..
The baby voice drives me crazy. She and her husband are like caricatures, and they both seem to have no empathy for their daughters….I wish they could be held legally responsible for not turning josh over to the juvenile justice system.
That baby voice makes my skin crawl!
It’s hard to pick but I think I honestly hate her more than that inbred-looking evil doofus of a husband. Michelle wasn’t brought up in the cult. She CHOSE Jim Bob and chose to bring her children up that way. Then she CHOSE to lay on her back for Jim Bob and foist each new little rabbit off on her older children to raise – because no way do they have the right to just be children. They’re just slave-labor babysitters for Michelle the walking sperm bank. Then she gets paid on top of it with a show that celebrates her and feeds her deluded, narcissistic vision of herself.
Screw both of them, but she and Kris Jenner can be thrown into the same crocodile pit.
@Skye, standing ovation!
The lawsuit would be epic. Just like Tommy Girl suing the tabs for their “where’s Suri” story. A lot of crazy came out of the depositions. Yeah bring it on! Sue In Style.
To be honest I couldnt even watch because I was just so angry and knew I wouldn’t be able to deal with their lying and total spin-Let’s just ignore the actual problem and point fingers everywhere else!! However I did catch the recap on other channels and followed the comments on twitter. What I am having a hard time with is the amount of people defending the Duggars. I am just blown away that we have people in our society that will justify all bad behavior away. I’m so disappointed. Twitter, Instagram, different comment sections online have really just made me go wow- WOW. I’m so disappointed in the human race and that only seems to be getting worse by the day.
TIFY I feel the same. So many people rushing to DEFEND both the pervert and his parents. He is a hero to them! The “God has forgiven” angle is so curious – do we not need jails, then? Does God just keep forgiving a serial molester? This creep has little girls of his own now. Can he molest them and just get forgiven again? Does this God of theirs only forgive white men?
Those sickly sweet photos are beyond inappropriate. They are juvenile in the head.
It’s disgusting. Best I can tell, “forgiven” is code for “white, Christian, straight, and wealthy”.
I don’t understand the emphasis on he was FORGIVEN! Josh’s spiritual forgiveness has always been between Josh and his higher power. No one else cares. What people do care about is how he managed to completely avoid the legal system and never pay for his CRIMES, and what if anything was done for the victims.
You missed out.
At the 22 minute mark, Kelly asks them if they believed anyone was out to get them. Michelle says:
“Lesbian Agenda.”
I had to rewind it just to make sure. Those horrible lesbians, and there super- secret agenda! First they marry all the women, leaving none for the rest. Who knows what they’ll do next? Adopt an unwanted child who was born becuase their mother had no access to birth control or a safe abortion?
A child needs a mother and a father. A father who will sweep molestation under the rug for the golden first born and ignore his own daughters and their pain.
The Duggar Family: making me wish there was a vetting process before someone to call themselves a christian since 2012.
WTF?? She really said “lesbian agenda”? Are you sure?
@Kitten
Oh yes, she said it “lesbian agenda” 22:04 (ish)
A ray of sunshine in this atrocity.
OMG. *Lesbian Agenda* WTF? I mean… really… what is happening in this world? I’m going to need all the crazies to back away from the spotlight…
Oh… I think she says “must be some kind of agenda” not “lesbian agenda”… but I still hate them.
she’s so wrong.
the Lesbian Agenda consists of flannel, beer, campfires and Home Depot. at least, that’s what they’ve always pushed on me…but I push bourbon and Nordstrom back on them so I win.
“the Lesbian Agenda consists of flannel, beer, campfires and Home Depot”
Based on this information, I think I might be a lesbian.
Kitten, they usually like cats, too…
you in danger, girl… 🙂
Oh no! I like flannel, beer, campfires, Home Depot AND bourbon and Nordstrom! Am I a lesbian now?!? Damn the Lesbian Agenda!
Please say you are joking. Dis she possibly mean “liberal” agenda but her bangs got in the way?
Wren, they got to you too, dammit. I don’t blame you…it’s an attractive agenda.
no wonder it’s such a danger to everyone.
@Whipmyhair She said “must be an agenda”.
I think she said “lesbian agenda” because, apparently, it was a lesbian couple in their town who contacted In Touch magazine with this information. Sorry; I can’t remember who it was.
@whipmyhair – and that right there is another reason I loathe these people. I am so sick of their nonsense it raises my blood pressure !! They can spread hate all day and it’s fine but the minute you so much as criticize them or call them out on their sh*t they cry religious persecution! No it has nothing to do with your religion and everything to so with you being raging a$$holes.
Lesbians are vehemently opposed to child molesters and the people who enable them to get away with it? AND they like bourbon and beer and Nordstrom? I am straight, but this lesbian agenda sounds like a hell of a good time with solid values to boot!
~raising rainbow flag~
Their towns police chief is a lesbian her name is Kathy O’Kelly
Instead of “lesbian agenda,” I heard “I figured it must be an agenda.”
Yeah I was originally planning to watch it but I decided not to because
1) Like you, I knew I would get all rage-y and worked up and lately I’ve been trying to chill on the anger and negative energy and work on my meditative shit.
2) I REALLY don’t want to watch Fox News. I just don’t want to support that network in any way, shape, or form.
3) I knew Kaiser would do a great write-up and I’d get to read intelligent, thoughtful, and occasionally sassy comments here, so why waste my time? I watched Gilmore Girls instead 🙂
ditto to everything you said, except I watched “The Heat” and “The Departed”.
Wow, that’s an intense back-to-back movie selection!
Good choices.
well, The Heat isn’t so much intense as it is belly-laugh inducing…Melissa McCarthy and Sandra Bullock have such great chemistry and McCarthy has the best “zingers”. I always wonder how many of her lines she ad-libbed. and that scene with her family at the dinner table?…DEAD, as I have Boston relatives and they all talk like that.
But yeah, the Departed is pretty intense but a GREAT movie. hey, both Boston movies…didn’t even realize that until now!
I should have finished with “The Town”.
Blargh. I was thinking “Heat”
I’ve never even heard of “The Heat”. Do you know if it was actually filmed in Boston?
But yeah Melissa McCarthy is far less intense than Al Pacino 😉
Hey, we were both watching Melissa McCarthy instead of the The Duggars. yay!
Speaking of The Town, they were filming something in Monument Square the other day..noticed it as I was walking home from work. Maybe Lilacflowers or someone else knows what it was..?
I kinda figured you had though of Heat. (TBH, I actually fell asleep while watching that and missed my secret boyfriend’s part…secret BF being Henry Rollins. SWOON.)
I think you’d probably LOVE The Heat. McCarthy is a Boston cop and Bullock (as “the straight man” in the pair) is an FBI agent. don’t know if it was filmed there; I’d bet YOU’D be able to tell if you saw it. but it’s really funny. and I loved McCarthy as Sookie! she was the best part of that show.
Yup. have no intention of watching that video, ever. I have high blood pressure already. Just the written recaps are making me twitch. I need to go look at pics of baby seals, kittens and puppies for awhile.
@kitten Gilmore girls is always my go to, It never gets old. Oh that and Golden Girls!
Both The Heat and The Departed feature people driving over the Zakim to get to locations they wouldn’t drive over the Zakim to reach. Gone Baby Gone makes three. Much of The Heat was filmed in the South End, Roslindale, and Mattapan. And Damian Bechir was here and I never knew it.
Not sure what’s going on in Monument Square but the Rock has been filming stuff up in Malden. That may have moved to Charlestown.
Lilac, I was cracking up when I read your post. They filmed a couple of movies in my town, and when I saw them, I was like “you wouldn’t take that road to go where they went”…can’t fool the locals!!!
Pity
Ditto here with the avoidance of anger and negative energy. I’ve been watching Keeping up Appearances instead, because everyone knows that Mrs. Bucket is simply priceless… “Bouquet residence, lady of the house speaking!” She makes me laugh almost as hard as the Celebitchy crowd… this “lesbian agenda” thread made me laugh so hard I had tears. I just adore this website.
I tried to watch the interview but only got about twenty minutes in before I got so angry I wanted to punch the tv.
They’re so out of touch on In Touch’s reporting on Josh’s touching.
Ha! Nice one 🙂
They lied about things that were in the police reports. They made it sound like it was a one time thing at first (riiiight) and then backtracked. They said they only got involved to send him out of the house when “it happened to someone under 10” because before that who cares right?
The trying to excuse child abuse as ‘it’s not like he raped them’ and ‘they were asleep and had no idea’ and ‘it was only for a couple of seconds’ makes me want to vomit.
And the entire thing was about how the liberal media is out to get them, and they are the victims because they are Christians being persecuted gave me a rage stroke.
Isn’t religion great! You can do anything you want and God will forgive you! So, Josh molested these little girls, no problem, God forgave him! Hitler exterminated 6 million Jews, so what, God forgave him! Too bad God doesn’t stop these bad things from happening before they happen! I’m not just talking Christians, I’m talking all religions…all religions are a joke! Religion is and has been the cause of and the excuse for most of the violence in the world.
Amen mrsbpitt! People don’t want to give up religion because then they’d have to care about the world. Oh I could recycle..but that’s hard and god will just fix the planet if we pollute it! Oh people are starving? That’s really sad …I will pray for them rather than do anything to help the problem!
God saved me in my car accident! I mean other people are horribly injured and killed but if I wasn’t it’s because of god because he really loves me since I’m so much more devout!
You basically have to be a complete narcissist to follow religious teachings
Pinetree13, well said. It’s really discouraging when people think professing their faith is enough and they don’t have to take action about anything. I was once telling a couple acquaintances how my son donated his first paycheck to a service project they were working on at school — raising funds to build a well in Africa. And one looked at me, knowing we don’t belong to a church, and said, “wow that’s amazing considering you’re not even religious!” As if you could only be generous or caring if you were religious? Sigh.
L, my thoughts exactly re: the “liberal media.” Yes, move over Mother Jones, In Touch Weekly is the new no-holds-barred, liberal media agenda-pusher!
I agree with everyone people have said on here regarding the victims. But you know, it also really irks me that they ignored the obvious cries for help from teenaged Josh. From what I’ve read, it seems that at least one time he came to them and confessed voluntarily. He deserved real therapy–not only to prevent future harm to his victims–but to help himself. By ignoring the severity of the situation, they managed to send “don’t worry, it’s no big deal” and “we’re not listening to you” messages at the same time, both of them harmful.
They plainly forget the commandment about not bearing false witness. But we already knew they are extremely selective “Christians.”
In other news, I needed three very large rum and Cokes to watch this interview without rage punching the TV. I am sure my neighbours were entertained by my sarcastic running commentary though.
They also plainly forgot to set aside their vanity. These people are not Christians. They have no humility, and it’s clear that they have not repented for their sins. They think they are above all others, but if they were actually Christian, they would realize that nothing has been forgiven, because they are not actually sorry about a darn thing. A Christian takes responsibility for his or her actions, not blame everyone else. I find nothing at all Christian about this filth. They are most definitely the work of the devil.
A wolf in sheep’s clothing comes to mind.
The walk and the talk do not match up here.
As much as I hate reading about this I’m glad you still do posts on this because I really don’t want the story to go away. We need to talk about this and make sure The Duggars don’t get away with this horrible injustice.
Can we get some laws passed (or overturned) to eliminate this statute-of-limitations crap, especially for sexual assault and child abuse/molestation? It’s hard enough to prosecute cases when evidence is fresh; I don’t think prisons will suddenly fill up if we remove that barrier… but if by some MIRACLE an abuse survivor has both the courage AND the evidence to confront his/her attacker, give the justice system a chance to work. There should NOT be any safe haven or “finish line” for people who manage to conceal their crimes and intimidate / manipulate their victims – in many cases children whose daily existence they control – long enough to run out the clock. And for the record, I don’t give Josh a pass, but it really is his parents who deserve prison for abdicating their responsibilities as parents, citizens and human beings. They’re absolutely right to bemoan what this has done to him, but THEY did it.
Call it the 19 Years and Counting Act.
They think they can lie, spin, deflect, blame others and tie all up in a nice little bow with a Bible on top, and keep that dreadful show going. Absolutely horrible people and that show needs to be cancelled yesterday.
I’m done with Discovery, period. TLC’s parent company owns Discovery, Discovery Health, Animal Planet and more. Frighteningly, they also have a textbook/ed-publishing division. There’s probably SOME good science/nature I’ll miss, but if science wants to slum with the carnival-barking kiddie pimps at TLC, I’ll get my science elsewhere.
PBS’s Nova is an excellent source for science and their Nature (animal centric) show is awesome. I gave up the Discovery owned channels a few years ago when they started scraping the bottom of society’s barrel for TV programming.
It was sickening. I too found their emphasis on the fact most girls were sleeping EXTREMELY disturbing. It was almost like they thought it didn’t count…. 🙁
I was the victim of sexual molestation at an early age by my step-brother and then later by my older male cousin. I have no ill-will towards them but I probably would have been better adjusted growing up as a teen without those experiences. Because of the experiences I was sexually confused and thought I might be gay when I was a teenager or possibly bisexual. It wasn’t until I reached college and took some courses in psychology and sexual health that my eyes were open and I felt a bit more secure about my sexual identity. When I was around 14 I molested a few younger kids (male and female) because I was confused about my sexual identity. So I was passing on the horrible behavior. Right before I turned 16 I realized what I was doing was not only morally wrong but could get me into trouble legally since I was starting to come of adult age.
In between that time around age 15 I made friends with two other boys of the same age and we had a mutual exploration of each other which was actually very positive, but I was uncomfortable with it because of my Christian background. This was a one summer situation and I decided not to continue on with the two other boys because of my guilt. At this point I didn’t know if I was straight, gay, or bisexual. I was really messed up in the head.
In my later teens (16-19) I shifted my sexual focus into porn. This was back in the day when the VHS machines were in full use (1980s). So at least then I was just molesting myself so to speak but it still wasn’t healthy because I thought that having sex meant doing all the crazy stuff I saw in the videos. I definitely learned HOW to have sex watching them but didn’t understand all the other stuff that included like love, diseases, romance, mutual attraction, dating, kissing, holding hands, and being vulnerable.
All through high school I never had sex with anyone because this was the time that AIDS appeared on the scene, I was a big bible-thumping Christian, and was just too confused about my identity. But I wanted to know what it was like and by the time I was 18 or 19 I really wanted to fall in love and be happy like my parents were. But all through growing up, no direction, no help, and my Christian beliefs just confused rather than clarified things and made my feel like I was some sort of horrible demon for wanted to have sex, not realizing that it was a normal curiosity for someone at my age.
I still watched porn and didn’t have much luck dating until I was around 23. That was the time that I finally got a grip on my sexuality and felt comfortable to have sex with a woman for the first time. Needless to say i was naive and she broke my heart so bad I gave up on dating completely until I started dating my wife almost a year later.
My wife saved me physically, mentally, and spiritually at the age of 24. From that moment on I knew what it was to be loved, to be intimate all on levels, love unconditionally, etc. I told her all about my history, my problems, etc. and she still loved me for who I was. Needless to say it was heaven on earth to connect with someone so completely. I just hated the fact it took me until I was 24 to get my head on straight. She also told me of her being raped at age 8 as a girl by her babysitter. And then assaulted by a guy just 3 months before we started dating. So we definitely helped each other to heal over the years.
We have now been married for over 20 years and have a son that is getting ready to graduate highschool. The stuff he has to deal with sexually is absolutely crazy, things like having technology like phones, computers, and Ipads in the mix. It is tough sometimes growing up and trying to struggle with your sexual identity and odds are I’m probably not helping him any better than my folks did.
My point of this whole story is to simply say, Hey life is screwed up sometimes and it can suck. you do the best you can and make a lot of mistakes when you’re young. I’m not saying what Josh Duggar did was not wrong but it was done while he was still trying to figure out his sexual identity. It sounds like when he got older he realized his behavior was wrong and corrected it. My opinion of him might change if he was 16 or older and kept doing it. However it looks bad because of the blatant cover up by his parents. But put yourself in their shoes, they’re a strongly religious family and this was incredibly embarrassing for them. They just want to put this all behind them.
The problem here is that these situations were not dealt with in a timely manner and I don’t get a sense that the girls he molested received any kind of help. There’s a damage that occurs when it happens. Now I can’t speak for anyone else but males who I talk to who were molested as kids seem to come out fine especially by the time they’re married and have kids of their own. However, from women I’ve talked to the scars are deep and long lasting. Maybe it’s a stereotype but that just my own personal observations. So that being said the girls still need help today and Josh needs to come to gripes with what he did and own it, and make amends.
I do think that this story is a lightning rod topic that strongly divides people to either side. But let’s breathe and take a moment to consider age, circumstances, and all the other perspectives from those in the family. The bottom line is that, good or bad, the parents were doing what they thought was right at the time. I personally think they failed but they’re not my kids. However now that everything is being aired for public consumption I think a frank “wound-opening” dialogue needs to happen in that family so they can learn from it and turn the page.
As a last note here I want to go on record on how horrible my faith and church made me feel about my sexuality growing up. It would have been a lot easier to have a pastor or counselor to talk to that could have helped me sort out my feeling without preaching at me, etc. For this reason and others I pretty much have given up on the whole religion thing in my life.
First, let me say that I’m sorry that you had to endure the suffering.
But the problem here is that the parents are MAJOR f_ckwits. They made excuses then, and they are making excuses now, because the value is placed on rescuing a golden-child son who they didn’t seek counseling for, and most importantly, for the daughters, they have minimized the impact over and over, TO THIS DAY. It’s not over, if they are making major overtures that this wasn’t a big deal.
They didn’t know…
But as we’ve talked to other parents and different ones since then, a lot of families since said that they’ve had similar things happen in their families.
REALLY? We all know it happens, but that is not a good thing, and they are trying to normalize the behavior as “a common occurrence”.
He knew that it was wrong. But they weren’t even aware. To them they probably didn’t even understand that it was an improper touch.. And this makes it less impactful? No, this makes it insane. They taught their daughters nothing about having THE RIGHT to self-determination of their own bodies, and about appropriate touch, and the ability to report unwanted advances. Because their religion teaches that they don’t have jurisdiction over their own bodies.
This sounds very angry, and it is, but not directed at you.
Yeah I agree with everything you said here, Kiddo, 100% No excuses given.
@Daniel-Thanks for sharing. That can’t be easy to talk about, even in an anonymous forum like this one. Your story really illustrates the depth of the emotional damage caused by molestation. It’s scary and heart-breaking. I’m glad you found someone to love and who loves you in return but I can’t help but think about the kids that you molested and I wonder what happened to them and how they dealt with the trauma you inflicted upon them. I hope that like you, they got counseling and found a way to become happy, healthy adults. It’s really sad to see how that cycle of abuse perpetuates itself and it does make me wonder if Josh Duggar himself was molested.
Yes, I guess part of my anger was also about the disturbing element of the continuing cycle of abuse. Thanks O’Kitt.
Kiddo, I too agree with you 100%.
This by Kaiser, is exactly what I thought too — “The Duggars are terrible liars, or dumb, or both. Within minutes of the Duggar interview, Jim-Bob’s story had already changed about five times” — exactly.
Yesterday I said maybe they’d hang themselves. They did. I was watching this going, Wow, they are this dumb? this clueless? Or such good wide-eyed actors, hoping to do TLC proud so they can keep the bucks flowing in?
My gut feeling while watching was this: No guy connives to make this much money, calls in cover-ups and hangs with AK big shots and gets a TV show and is THIS aw shucks innocent. So, nope. I don’t believe the oh gosh we know he was cured in his heart stuff. I also had the sense of HUGE HUGE cover-up of more stuff, or more heinous stuff, by Jim Bob — he looked fake-innocent but also a little fearful that someone will find out more.
Your anecdotal conclusion that males who are molested as children usually “come out fine” couldn’t be further from the truth. There are often far-reaching and long-lasting psychological scars, sometimes leading to terrible consequences such as suicide and drug abuse, amongst both male and female victims alike. Please don’t make conclusions based on a small handful of male victims with whom you are acquainted. And although I’m glad you survived it – please don’t assume your experience applies to other men.
Otherwise, thanks for sharing your story and perspective.
My take-away, based upon Jim-Bob’s claim that all had been cleared with the state, the Huckabee administration settled the lawsuit the Duggars brought on Josh’s behalf. Otherwise, Jim-bob would have referred to the judge, not the state.
And Jim-Bob on his daughers: “no victim wants their minor story told.” Hello? This was not a MINOR story! And no, Jim-Bob, not every family has THIS kind of secret.
And that idiot Michelle, boys babysitting does not generally result in child molestation.
And both you disgusting morons, one does not have to be an adult to be a pedophile. Our prisons are chock full of pedophiles who started their crimes at the same exact age and in the same exact manner as your pedophile son.
I took “minor” in that comment to mean “child.” But his comment still misses the point completely, right? This story is about a crime, and the parents’ role in covering it up.
Perhaps, but he has no right or authority to speak to what any victims want or need. Yes, he does miss the point completely and I think deliberately. And I just can’t with that alleged “mother.” She offered her daughters up as prey and still continues to downplay what the monster pedophile she birthed and raised has done. And has she NEVER been in a public ladies room? Is she clueless to the existence of stalls?
I couldn’t watch more than 30 seconds. I can’t stand his creepiness, and her simpering little girl voice. They are truly the worst kind of people.
LOL to them thinking they should sue – info from public records, confirmed by them. Where’s the slander? Perhaps a trans or LBGT group should sue them, for running around calling them dangerous perverts, with no proof or evidence. Now that might be slander.
My brain shut of when Jim Bob made the comment about the girls sleeping, and my blood pressure skyrocketed. As much as I loathe these people, this story needs to remain front and center – Jim Bob, Michele and Josh Duggar don’t get to quietly go away, unless they’re in orange jumpsuits.
I couldn’t bring myself to watch these evil, vile maggots. I knew it would all be lies and they would make it all about them. I cannot stand to even look at them or listen to their pathetic manipulations of the truth. I hope after this, they have no refuge anywhere. Right now they are being (rightfully) judged by us. Later on, they will be judged by a much higher power. Karma will be coming for them.
Since it is obvious that this disgusting family is clueless and nothing really can be expected of them, what I am looking for is two things: first, TLC should cancel the show and stop trying to find a way to continue airing previous episodes. Forever.
Two, not sure what and who can start a motion to change US law so that there is NO statute of limitations on child molesting. How can you possibly allow someone like this predator to go free, father a little girl who is there at his disposal unprotected (you know her brainwashed mom would do nothing except maybe dress her in a burka to make her less attractive) and be a “pillar of the community” ? Absolutely vile….
I have no comment about their supporters except to say there is no cure for stupid, and their absolute hypocrisy turns my stomach when they have the nerve to state that sharing a bathroom with a trans person will damage a child, recognizing gay marriage will hurt society, yet a pedo criminal can just pray away his crime. Jesus weeps.
Yes. All of this.
A few years ago, the Minnesota state legislature raised the statute of limitations for bringing charges of molestation which gave victims of Catholic priests more time to join a class action lawsuit against the St. Paul/Mpls Archdiocese. The short story is that the prosecuting attorney was successful in forcing the church to open their own files of complaints against priests that they never disclosed to law enforcement and settling out of court an undisclosed cash amount for all the victims. The Archdiocese filed for bankruptcy a few months ago but only after negotiating with the victims and obtaining a judges approval of their reorg plans.
Arkansas is too conservative and their legislature would never do something similar. But if this all works out the way I think it will, at least the Duggars and their TLC money tree will soon be no more.
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/collections/catholic-church/
Having worked with teen and pre-teen
Boys for the last eight years I have to say
This doesn’t shock me. Many families deal with similar situations but it’s never discussed or made known to those around them, I’m not trying to condone his actions in any way And I’m definetly not saying “well boys will be boys” I just think most people have no idea how common it is for boys of this age (14 I believe) to have a complete lack of self control when it comes to their sexual urges.
I don’t buy that there’s an epidemic of 14&15 year-olds touching 5 year-olds and viewing them sexually.
Amen, Alyce. My sons are that age and I know a lot of boys that age and I can tell you that while they may be curious about sexuality and some may already be dabbling — within their peer group and NOT with young children. They are far from having “a complete lack of self control” the way Amanda describes. In no way, shape or form was Josh D’s behavior typical teen stuff.
Nope. Me, either. I remember when my brother was 14. He was interested in 13-18 year old girls, and that’s it. VERY interested in them, LOL. Not that they were interested in him at the time.
I’ve always though it was more like “suddenly I feel the need to shower a lot for a long time and erase my browser history/search my friend’s older brothers room for boobie pictures” than a “grope toddlers” kind of thing when boys discover their dicks.
I know I have seen statistics showing that early and mid teen boys commit the majority of molestation acts. I’m not gonna google it but if someone wants it I think the data would not be hard to retrieve.
Well those boys need to be removed from the home and need to get therapy.Josh went from molesting sisters in their sleep to molesting a babysitter for.To molesting his five year old sister while reading her a book.He admitted to molesting his sister in 2002 so why the F is he allowed to have his five year old sister on his lap in 2003? Where the F were the parents,conceiving baby #16? OK I need to calm down
That may mean that there are offenders in that age group, but that doesn’t make all in that age group offenders. MOST boys that age are interested in girls their own ages and DON’T ASSAULT them.
The one biggest reason I can’t agree with you is that one of his victims was FIVE YEARS OLD.
Five.
14 year old boys are not normally sexually into five year olds. In fact, pretty much no one is sexually into five year olds.
That’s NOT normal. That’s brought on by either being a victim themselves at a young age, living in an environment of extreme sexual repression, or both.
Colette and Anastasia,
I did not say it was normal and statistical majority does not mean acceptable or as you put it normal.
If I had written that men commit the majority of sexual assaults, that does not mean men sexually assaulting women is normal.
Yep. When I heard the first whispers about this whole thing, I thought we were going to get a story about how Josh and maybe one/a few of his sisters had gotten curious, and were looking/touching each other’s business–because they’re crammed into rooms on top of each other, and they don’t really interact with other people. And something like THAT, I get. Even as teenagers, especially with how they are raised–but it being CONSENSUAL is the key. But a five year old? YOU KNOW THAT’S WRONG. Period.
One of them was 5… and it occurred while they slept. He was being a pervert. He wasn’t a 14 year old trying to get a peep show. He was a 14 year old molesting a small child.
“And I’m definetly not saying “well boys will be boys” I just think most people have no idea how common it is for boys of this age (14 I believe) to have a complete lack of self control when it comes to their sexual urges. ”
so, you’re saying it’s “common” for a 14 year old to molest a 5 year old? um…NO. it’s common for 14 year old boys to have URGES, but most often they are touching only themselves or other teenagers. with that statement, you ARE essentially saying “boys will be boys” and that it’s just common, typical sexual curiosity. again, NO, NO, NO. it is NOT typical for ANYone to see a 5 year old as a sexual being. to add, HE CONTINUED TO DO IT through the age of 17. That is NOT typical teenage sexual curiosity. it is predation, period.
Are you working in an industry like counseling or social work? I could see this being repeated as an issue. But if you are talking about the general population, you are absolutely wrong.
You seem to be glossing over the issue as if it were normal.
Yeah sorry but this feels like you’re trying to normalize it.
NO, this is not typical or common behavior for 14-15 year-old boys.
I teach junior and senior high school and this is sadly quite common. I have had many students touched by brothers, and often worse. No excuses, just what I’ve seen. And I bet everyone here calling for Duggar’s imprisonmant and death all know a family this happened in. Families just don’t publicize it. They handle it quietly, and is it any wonder when you see the bloodlust for acts done when 14?
It’s not bloodlust, it’s a perfectly reasonable reaction to child molestation being ignored and the victims being told it’s all their fault while their abuser is feted on national tv! The abuser who was, I might remind you, 14 and feeling up a little 5 year old girl.
Many people in here have told their stories of similar familial abuse and the damage and heartbreak that is caused to them by their families sweeping it under the rug. Maybe if there was a little bit more publicity and outrage victims wouldn’t be stuck having their abuse ‘handled quietly’ to their own detriment.
I’ve heard a thousand abuse stories, some from friends and a lot through the media. Sister abuse seems very rare, much rarer than stepdads or uncles abusing, and I don’t know any families where it’s happened myself.
I missed the first 17 minutes but then I decided to watch so I could comment here and be informed.
When Jim Bob made the statement (I’m paraphrasing) that maybe this came out for a reason, to help people realize basically you can come to Jesus and there is redemption, I was stunned. I thought he was going to say maybe it came out for a reason, that victims of sexual abuse by a family member or family acquaintance should not be afraid and should go to someone, etc. Noooooo. It was all about Josh and redemption.
Jim Bob makes my skin crawl. The show will be back on the air once the Jill and Jessa interview comes out and they are sobbing. The show would never be back except the two girls have a lot of fans and bring a lot of interest to the show with their new marriages and babies and pregnancy. That seems to be the draw for a lot of people.
If Michelle and Jim Bob cared so much about what was happening to their girls and family, why after 11 kids when the molestation started happening, did they continue on to pop out eight more kids? There is no way to supervise and take care of 19 kids properly. The burden is on kids taking care of kids. A year after the first molestions, he was home with some of the kids and molested his five-year-old sister while the parents were out. How is that protecting your children, leaving them home with a son who had previously admitted to molesting several of his sisters?
I don’t buy this they all went to an “accredited” therapist. I want receipts also.
I think an accredited therapist would have told them to make sure he had no unsupervised contact with children. Most likely they would have been told to send him to live with someone who had no children in the house while he was undergoing therapy and to not allow him back (with supervision) until the therapist thought it was safe for him and his victims. He was doing this stuff for at least a couple of years, that’s very serious even considering he was still rather young himself. He definitely wasn’t getting healed, he was getting worse.
Such things with boys his age can theoretically be handled outside the courts (and I can understand why parents would try to keep their child out of the juvenile justice system, that can make things much worse, our system can be pretty awful and counterproductive), but not the way they did it. If they had found proper treatment for him as soon as they were aware of what he was doing, he would have had a better chance of real healing and less damage would have been done to the girls. If my brother had done to me what he did to his sisters – I would have freaked. Even a lock on my door wouldn’t have made me feel safe. That’s why you get the boy out of the house, to protect his targets while at the same time trying to help him. It’s not about punishment, but rather about making the victims feel safe in their own home and the offender being removed from the opportunity to keep going after the targets. It’s just common sense. If your child keeps sticking his hand in a flame, you don’t keep giving him matches and candles.
jwoolman: excellently put. This is the kind of help that would have benefitted the sisters, as well as the brother.
“I don’t buy this they all went to an “accredited” therapist. I want receipts also.”
I don’t buy it either. This family is extremely insulated and wouldn’t dare send their kid to anyone outside of their own little church circle. The fact that their homeschooling program had instructions on how to deal with it (blame the victim) says that there is a LOT of this crime happening within the ranks. I’m guessing they sent him to talk to someone at their church and called it a day.
The really saddest part of all is that Jim Bob, Michelle and even Josh, through his parents, are using his sisters once again to minimize what happened to them and put the image of the wonderful family first. The girls may be what saves the show …or they get a spinoff or whatever, but it’s the girls who will keep the money rolling in and it’s the girls who will parrot what their parents want them to say in order to keep THEIR agenda on track and convince everyone that Josh is wonderful brother who made a small mistake and they barely even remember it until the mean media and the mean police chief with an agenda released the police report and hurt them by exposing all their private and long forgotten business to the public, and it’s THAT…the public knowing…that is what really makes them sad. Cue the crying. The mean, bad media and all the people who just won’t let it go, even though they forgave Josh ages ago and it has no impact on their lives other than that it’s brought them closer to God and as a family.
I haven’t seen the girls interview and I have no idea what they actually say, but that is my prediction. They are just tools for Jim Bob and Michelle to use to keep their family image as the perfect Christian family…now they can be martyrs for the cause.
Thank you! Once you get up there to eight or more kids…there is absolutely no way they are being taken proper care of. Both my parents came from large families and they hit zero parental attention. It is not a healthy family dynamic at all to have that many children. You cannot give each child enough to meet their emotional needs. You’re kidding yourself if you think otherwise.
Just wanted to comment on the insightful and intelligent reporting you’ve done, Kaiser, on this story in particular. I’ve followed this horrible story from the beginning and I know I can come here to get a more thorough commentary and assessment of it…That said, I wish this story didn’t exist at all…my heart aches for the girls. It is very similar to events in my family with my siblings and two neighbors. Although I was affected, I wasn’t as victimized as the two neighbors were (a toddler and an infant.) It disgusts me on a soul level that people who are clearly old enough to know right from wrong did this (Josh Duggar included). Though I wasn’t raised religious at all, the response and actions by my parents were the same. Apparently the mindset of, “this happens in every family” is more common than many might believe. Even the neighbors’ parents were content with “counseling” for the abuser (my sibling), which consisted of like two therapy sessions. I never understood it before and as a parent now, I still absolutely do not understand how a parent can brush off abuse of their child. 🙁
Denial is strong in a lot of parents who would rather believe ridiculous lies than face the truth. Look at Casey Anthony’s parents!?! They don’t want to face the reality of what their child not only has done, but what kind of issues they might have that made them do it, so it’s easier to pretend to themselves it’s just a one time thing or a few mistakes. Maybe they get some counselling but likely it’s a stern talk. Then swept under the rug and no one every talks about it again. Meanwhile, the victims suffer and don’t feel able to speak up in any way about it. Eventually many convince themselves that it was no big deal. Sad.
Jim Bob and Michelle believe their way is the right way to raise kids and therefore what Josh did must be a bump in the road by a curious teen who has apologised, been disciplined and now has been redeemed by God and is a good Christian person who make a mistake long ago, but it brought him (and them) closer to God. They are way too invested in their way of life and the patriarchal Gothard-cult lifestyle to ever admit that they (or Gothard) might be wrong, or their rigid belief about sex and everything being a sin and the girls immodesty at fault might contribute to this having happened. No way. They can’t be wrong. They are perfect parents in their minds.
I’m beyond disgusted. Their family and cult need to be investigated by social services and local law enforcement should be subject to a federal investigation. Their misogyny shines through at every step. Girls who held hands before marriage wily be condemed as whores. Boys sexually abusing though? No big deal. They deserve no forgiveness as long as they maintain this foul charade.
TLC network = Touching Little Children network
“TLC network = Touching Little Children network”
This ^ is exactly the sort of thing that will help damage TLC in any PR. It’s very useful to repeat a phrase like this when writing letters to advertisers and to TLC execs. I’m also going to borrow it for my special letter to their PR department.
P.S. I believe it’s also very useful to write to companies that advertise on TLC – on ANY of their shows; this will help make the entire channel itself seem toxic, and may significantly cut down on TLC’s scatter-buy revenue.
disgusting story … how could they defend a child molester like that… seriously crazy.
on the side note : I am from southeast asia. i am not familiar with reality show about a family like the kadarshian or duggars. so i never understand why these kind of family have a program on tv and famous too.. because they have 19 children?? (btw, who’s on earth have 19 children? even in my country 5 are too many.. because you have to take care each of them. and it need energy)
The Duggars had so many kids because they think it’s what God wants them to do. Really.
As for the rest, I’m kind of hopeful that now that both the Honey Boo-Boo clan and the Duggars have turned out to be such reprehensible trash, TLC might rethink creating TV series around people who exploit their kids for money. I doubt it, but I can hope.
Don’t forget how even they realize the majority thinks their ideas and lifestyle are crazy. So, they decided to fix that roadblock by becoming the majority. No, really.
zappy, I didn’t watch the entire interview, but the beginning was definitely the parents spending most of the time defending their own response with some time downplaying what Josh did. My hunch is if this parent interview doesn’t save their tv show, they’ll try to save it by having Fox interview Josh.
Nah. Josh doesn’t want to be interviewed and have to answer about trying to diddle his five-year-old sister when he was 15. The show would definitely be over. Josh is off the show if it even stays on.
Jill and Jessa are their magic Hail Mary for a chance to stay on. Their interview will be aired and their love for their brother and saying they were fine with no memory and then the big mean media is making their life miserable will be their last resort damage control. Jill and Jessa have been the stars of the show anyway. Jill and Jess love the limelight with so much focus on them, and the money. I think they are freaked out about losing all of this.
Yes–freaked out about losing their show–you said it better than I did.
i didnt watch the interview. but, seriously how disturbing their mind is .. i mean they dont allow boys to babysit their sisters because its sexual?? *i dont know how to say it, sorry*
like.. they are sibling. you dont suppose to have sexual feeling to your sibling or little kids. you suppose to protect them, kind to them..
I am a high school teacher and no, I dont have any kind of sexual feeling to my students. they are kids to mr
I hear you. My teenage sons spend time with their little female cousin and her friends and I can tell you nothing sexual has never crossed their minds, you can just tell by the dynamic. They patiently sit through her tea parties and play with her dollhouse with her and humor her by listening to her stories and songs and by chasing her around the yard but basically they’re amused by her, they tolerate her presence — and then they’re glad to get away from her and back to their music and sports and other teenage stuff.
Any credibility that Megyn Kelly had (albeit undeserved) should be shot after this shameless publicity stunt disguised as journalism.
What bugs me is that I can hear her reaming people out when one of my relatives is watching her show (I do not watch her show, but I can overhear the nonstop ranting from another room). Yet most of us suspected she would take it soft with this story.
Maybe Josh can babysit for her young kids sometime.
I didn’t watch the interview. However, based on what I heard, they lied. Josh didn’t go to them admitting anything. That direction doesn’t add up.
“josh made bad choices”
honey, my perm was a bad choice
and since sleeping diddling doesnt count, i wonder how dimbulb would feel about a man diddling him in his sleep
BUT DONT LET A GAY PEE IN THE SAME ROOM AS A CHILD IN A PUBLIC BATHROOM. now that will ruin your life.
Ugh, seriously. I don’t know whether to laugh to cry at this.
I’m just imagining Jim Bob’s reaction to being asked if he wouldn’t mind being diddled in his sleep. I think he’d be knocked speechless for once.
But he’d NEVER see the connection, never. Cognitive dissonance is a powerful thing.
I encourage everyone to go to the TLC website and demand that the network cancel “19 kids and counting”.
Interesting take on the lack of cancellation thus far, from a seemingly-neutral voice: http://money.cnn.com/2015/05/28/media/tlc-19-kids-and-counting-scandal/
I urge everyone here to visit change.org and moveon.org, or google petitions circulating online that are urging TLC to cancel this BS show (I googled “petition TLC cancel 19 kids and counting” and got several good hits), and sign as many of them as you can. If we don’t speak out, Duggar supporters and fans of this idiotic show will win.
This is what I got from this interview: blah, blah, jeebus, blah, blah, mistake, blah, blah, forgiven, blah, blah, counseling, blah, blah, no, srsly, jeebus, blah, blah, blah, redemption, whine, blah, blah with the inference of liberal media witch hunt/everyone is picking in us because they don’t believe in god/everyone is fine now because jeebus.
It was every horrible thing that I expected them to say-like, they literally checked off every lame ass excuse I thought they would.
They SHOULD have felt like failures as parents because they ARE and continue to be. They are also failures as Christians and human beings. It makes me rage that they have the unmitigated gall to portray themselves as being persecuted when they not only allowed the abuse to continue once they knew about it, they knowingly and purposefully didn’t report it until they knew the statute of limitations had expired AND THEN conspired with the judge to have the records destroyed in an attempt to keep it from ever coming to to light! And none of that was done to protect their daughters-it was done to cover up for their child molesting son and ultimately, their own bottom line.
The fact that they were able to program their own daughters into basically being Stockholm Syndrome victims is nothing to be proud of. I have said before, I have absolutely no doubt that they were told that they were to blame for what had happened and if they didn’t forgive him and then never mention it, they would be going to hell or worse. And worse, this just leaves the door open for this type of abuse to continue, because this is what they’re going to teach their own kids.
Lastly, the only people victimizing those girls are their parents. They could have not included them in this interview. They could have made a case for keeping those names secret. But they trotted them out and fed them lines in order to bolster their case and more importantly, keep their cash cow in tact. Make no mistake, they’re living for their own glory, not god’s.
Awesome analysis. *tips hat*
How come their MOLESTER POS SON isn’t doing interviews explaining his behavior?!! No, Mommy and daddy will protect their baby boy. Not only is he a pedophile, he is a PUSSY.
How did the girls not know what was happening when one of them went to their parents and told on Josh?
They’re obsessed with sex. Everything is all about staying pure then popping out babies. How could the girls not know about improper touch?
4 kids in my family growing up, 2 girls 2 boys… Eldest boy was often left in charge. Like, ALOT. Thing is, big bro never touched anybody inappropriately. Never was an issue at all. He would ‘tax’ us on whatever we were snacking on at the time, that was the worst thing he did.
What Josh did to his sisters is FAR from normal or average; I am deeply alarmed how they are attempting to normalize Josh’s behavior. Something is wrong with him, and anyone who does this.
Our most frequent babysitter was a male cousin from the time he was 13 until he finished high school He is responsible for my addiction to Cheez-it’s but he would never have touched any of us.
I’d say that was a great babysitter. cheezits are awesome.
If loving Cheez-Its is wrong, I don’t wanna be right. Especially the white cheddar ones…YUM. Your cousin clearly raised you well.
I also found it disturbing that they think NO males should be allowed to babysit, have a child sit on a man’s lap (except their father), no hide and seek (WTF). That makes it sound like ALL men/boys are just dying to be molesters. Not true. What they SHOULD have done is not allow their son to continue to prey on their daughters and guests for years after they knew he was molesting them. Obviously their “safeguards” failed twice before they decided to ‘remove’ josh from the home. My brother was a year older than me and was my best friend – we used to spend the nights in tents in each other’s rooms and nothing ever happened – of course. He wasn’t a pedofile.
That’s reminiscent of radical Islamists saying women must be covered so that they don’t tempt men into assaulting them. It’s not the perpetrators fault for not controlling his urges; it’s the females fault for the crime of being attractive.
I feel bad; I used to defend the Duggars having the right to worship as they please-and I’m not even a christian. I just figured that everyone has the right to worship, live and raise their children as they wish. Now that I know how inherently evil these people are I feel guilty for ever defending them. 🙁
When we were traveling for a couple of months, my older brother and I were often stuck sleeping in the same bed. Other than my brother’s worry that someone might think that big stuffed Scottie dog and teddy bear were his – nothing untoward happened. Ever. Not to me or the stuffed animals (although I’m sure brother dearest would have loved for them to go missing).
Considering that Jim Bob and Michelle subscribe to the idea that one must be MARRIED to hug face-to-face, you would THINK that fondling of sexual body parts would be very, very upsetting to them…
But, I guess since it happened to females- who don’t count for much- it’s okay…
Excuse me while I vomit.
I suspect they weren’t that upset because they didn’t see their son’s “activities” as a threat to their daughters’ virginities. Just a bit of bad touching! On top of clothes! Mostly… Screw their feelings, the girls were still marriage material. All is well – now if only you people stop talking, it would be like it never happened.
What a bunch of asshats. I have no respect for anyone who treats people like their genitals are the biggest indicator of their worth.
Michelle is a human incubator, but does not act like a mother. Dim Bulb I have no words for.
I feel sorry for every girl in that family.
In Spanish we say that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Well, the Duggars seem to believe that the road to Heaven is paved with lies.
The Lord I know will judge them in Heaven but I want good old fashion justice to take care of them here on Earth. I want a judge ordering them to take care of their children and to offer them a proper education and not that ATI crap. I want someone supervising those kids and making sure they are safe.
Proabably I am the only one who wants the tv show to go on , but I say so only because I am afraid that without the TV income and attention the kids of Jessa, Jill, and Anna will be neglected even further. Jessa and Ben do not seem to have any income besides the TV gig…
“But as we’ve talked to other parents and different ones since then, a lot of families since said that they’ve had similar things happen in their families.”
Well, they only hang out with the Quiverfill cult, so I guess it’s the norm for that cult.
Right? They mad it sound like, hey no biggie. It’s Arkansas!
They said it RIGHT THERE. Holy crap!
His sisters must be deep-sleepers.
I’ve got nothing for these people, screw them. Monsters.
Michelle’s face was so animated while she listened to Jim Bob.
She looked like a cross between jaden smith and Mary Pickford .all pious concern as she stared at him like a devoted puppy.
She let him do 95% of the talking and only let loose when she described how victimized they have been by the press.
Don’t think any minds were changed by this, evangelicals heard the magic words, forgiveness ,redemption, Jesus .everyone else heard squirming liars.
Do not expect TLC to do the right thing here,
If 19 is canceled, they will use the girls for a new show.
Jeepers, and I thought being raise catholic was a hot mess!
*Pours tea*
Let it roll. They are burying themselves. My Duggar bingo card is in front of me, and they hit everything on it. They made every predictable excuse, resorted to every standard issue evasion in the book.
I hope this also buries any possibility that this ugly show will return. I have a hard time believing that any advertiser will want to be near them after this.
Question: does this show still have *any* lingering sponsors? We should call and let them know what a boycott is.
Sugar bingo card! Is that tea iced?
That should be Duggar bingo card. Thanks autocorrect!
Tea the way you like it! Now that Boston is warming up a bit, yes we have iced– lemon and mint leaves and everything.
I am also happy to notice that the rest of the media is not buying into anything they have said, and is if anything pointing out the fucked-uppedness of so much of what they are saying.
Only the most wingnutty wingnuts are defending them. No advertisers? That’s awesome.
I don’t think so. I think all of the corporations have pulled advertising for this disgusting show. I will happily SUPPORT these companies!!!
To answer your question Miss, 19 Kids is not currently in production – so sponsors & even TLC really don’t have to make a decision right now.
I’d say, applaud those sponsors jumping ship now. I believe General Mills was the first.
I watched the whole thing and I can honestly say I don’t think I’ve ever seen two people in such a state of self-protective denial. They are absolutely odious, the pair of them. It very much sounds to me like that boy was asking them for help when he first confessed to molesting his sisters because he knew what he was doing was wrong. However, instead of actively helping him confront his behaviour they just left it to their God to deal with as they were far to busy proving to the world just how fertile they both are.
I also wouldn’t be at all surprised if Josh got more attention and time with his parents when he confessed to wrong-doing than at any time when he was the well-behaved eldest boy. I’m not excusing what he did in any way but you know what child psychologists say about rewarding bad behaviour…………….
I agree. The first time he confesed should have been the time they corrected it. They would have been able to save him, showing him how wrong it was what he did and giving him the tools to get out of his unhealthy behaviour. Instead they just turn a blind eye and show him doing something as heinous as touching your sisters inaproprietly has no consecuences and all is fine. This all is the parent’s fault and they made him a monster.
Yes that’s what jumped out at me too. When I initially read the police report I assumed it was one of the GIRLS that went to Jim Bob and Michelle crying about Josh going into the girls room and touching them. Nope it was actually Josh.
That makes the whole situation SADDER. Obviously he was crying out for HELP from his parents and they failed him. I’m not excusing what he did at all but I’m shifting more of my ire on to Michelle and Jim Bob. And good point about Josh getting more attention from his parents. That’s a premium in a family that large.
I don’t believe Josh came to them, I think Jill did ( the tattletale of the family as Josh once called her)
Why would you think Jim Bob and Michelle would tell the truth to the police?
It sounds so much more repentful to say he suffered from a “heavy Heart”and came to them but the deceit in this family stated long before the molestration did.
Question: short skirts and pants are wrong but an entire container of blush on each cheek is okay?
Surprisingly, yes. The Lord they pray to apparently says that showing your bare shoulders is an invitation to being rape and skirts and pants are equivalent to being naked.
So, to distract men from looking at your body you have to use make up and curl your hair. This way may will only focus on the sparks in your eyes, your rosy cheeks and your shiny locks.
I’ve been trying to understand the Duggars for a while but their logic is too messed up for me.
I was willing to give them the benefit of a doubt. If I had other kids at home I’d trad lightly as well for fear of them being taken away and out into fostercare, which in many instances is worse. However, after watching this, it’s disturbing and those parents are in complete denial.
What is in error in this article, however, is that while it was a FOIA request, since he was a minor when it happened, the file was supposed to be sealed and those files are not to be released even under FOIA. This isn’t just for the duggars, it’s for all minors.
I thought the records would be sealed IF he is charged with or convicted of a crime.Also why is every time an unarmed teenager is killed we hear about their record. When the 12 year boy in Cleveland was killed by the cops we heard about his previous involvement with the police.
Couldn’t get past the first few minutes of a Jim Bob spinning his tapestry of bulls**t. It wasn’t really rape? What exactly is his definition of rape I’d like to know. And how on earth were the girls being touched in their sleep and not waking up? Not buying that. And is it not a woman’s worst nightmare to wake up and find some creep in their room physically molesting them? Now imagine it’s being done by a brother. Good Lord. He seems to think that because it allegedly occurred over their clothing that it somehow lessens the gravity of the situation. It doesn’t. He spoke about “safeguards” that we’re put in place to prevent his creepy son from entering the girl’s bedrooms any further. What “safeguards”? Does he mean locks were put on their doors? If you have to put locks on your daughter’s bedroom doors to prevent your son from lurking into them in the middle of the night there’s a problem. A BIG f***ing problem. And then oh there was just another little incident of him reaching over the couch again supposedly while they were sleeping and touching them. That shows pretty clearly he was a predator who was hell bent on doing what he wanted. And all the while Daddy dearest just talks like he’s explaining away some minor infraction. I personally think Jim Bob has some skeletons of his own hiding and he is desperate to make this seem like it’s nothing, and it’ll just go away and their lives can go back to “normal”. That’s as far as I got, couldn’t watch anymore. But those girls should come out swinging, and become advocates for victims of such a crime. Let’s not forget the other word that I don’t really see being attached to this and that’s incest. This had to have left deep scars but they have been trained and brainwashed so much that I don’t think they themselves realize how bad this is. He needs to be locked up and those girls need help.
Plus they don’t really know what happened …Josh told them the times he did (and yeah, for every rat you see…), but I’ll bet Josh minimized it to his parents, and frankly they don’t seem to really want to know. They are in denial bigtime and want to believe it was some minor thing …just a boy being curious, no biggie. Except he kept doing it. If it was a one time thing, then maybe, but he kept doing it and molested a 5 year old and not while she was sleeping. Plus it wasn’t just over the clothes..please! They are so invested in their own denial they don’t really want to know the truth and I’m sure the victims got that message loud and clear. It’s over and he’s sorry so God wants you to forgive and move on. One big happy family.
I also read some research on adolescents who molest children and apparently there is a very high correlation between prior abuse of the molester by adults or other children, so it does make you wonder about Josh and if he was molested when he was younger by someone… not that that would in any way make what he did okay, but it sure as hell does not. I’m just sick with the way the Duggars treated this whole situation and how they view it now. This interview only reinforces the old way of parents virtually ignoring victims and the consequences they have to deal with their whole lives afterwards. Even people who think they aren’t affected usually find that the hurt and pain of betrayal and trust and the lack of self worth comes out in some way… behaviour, addition, weight issues, trust issues, feeling not good enough to pursue dreams, etc. They could have been people who brought this out into the open and discussed it in an intelligent and helpful way, educating people about how harmful this is and the facts about it, what to do (really do, as in good knowledgeable therapists who deal with this and know their stuff) to help everyone get over it and deal with it. Instead they just minimized and defended, throwing outrage at everyone else who is outraged, because they are just out to persecute good Christian people like Josh! He said he was sorry! Sheesh, what else do you want from him?!
Oh and Jim Bob saying: We have nothing to hide. Really? Is that why you tried to lawyer up when the police started investigating after the Oprah tip? Is that why they refused to let Josh be interviewed? Is that why they waited until the Statute of Limitations had run out?!
I turned it on and literally could not stomach more than 5 minutes. In addition to completely minimizing what happened to the victims, Jim Bob was more outraged that the police report was released and said THAT was what media should be covering because the police releasing what should have been a sealed juvenile record was WORSE than what Josh did. Uh…no it isn’t. Plus Josh was never arrested or charged; never went through the court system so has no sealed juvenile record. It’s just a police report and from what I understand, it is legal to release that when requested through a FOIA, which is what happened, with juvenile names redacted, which they did. But oh no, that was the real crime…that police chief and that media had an agenda to persecute Christians! Please! It was all about how they are the victims and Josh is the victim and the real victims…they probably didn’t even remember being molested until the media came out with this, so the media is really the one who victimized them! Seriously?!
These people could not have come off more arrogant and defensive and self-pitying. It was disgusting! And I too would have liked more investigation into the “Christian counselling” Josh received! I also would have liked her to have gone into more of the ATI/IBLP belief stuff on how to handle sexual misconduct in the home and that it’s all about how girls tempt men to “stumble” and that being molested or raped is their fault too through their immodesty and that if this happens to them it’s a gift because God gives them more Spirit and they should be happy because if you have a choice between it not having happened and God giving you more Spirit, you should pick the latter. It’s so F**ked up! I would like to have heard them explain that in their own words in public.
Fox News hit a new low,. Who knew this was even possible?
I didn’t think they could any lower after the George Zimmerman interview but they did.
Give em a few months….they will top themselves :(.
Maybe Zimmerman and Michelle will meet in a road rage incident, pair up, and give the exclusive interview of their love to Fox News
I stumbled across the show 1 time years ago when it first started. Haven’t watched since, but I will tell you, from the get-go, Michelle and Jim Bob have always creeped me out. Freaks. I can’t wait until one of the kids goes off the reservation – and trust me – it WILL happen. Then we will get to (some) of the twisted truth Michelle is hiding behind those wide Stepford eyes and Jesus, Jesus, Jesus rhetoric. Gak.
All of it. Disgusting!
And Michelle’s BABY voice? I have NEVER hear her speak until today. Holy crap….she’s a brainwashed nutjob!
Baby voice that rivals KatFace.
This explains sooooooo much!
I’ve said it before on these threads, but……this entire “life-style” needs to be called out for what it is. It’s completely based on the subjugation and exploitation of women of children.
Yeah, let’s do stop letting a damn sex cult masquerade as just old-fashioned conservative values. All this no-sex before marriage smoke distracts from the fact that as a Quiverfull female, you’re only purpose is to GET married, please your man and get dem babies up in ya, as soon and as often as possible. Female subservience, teaching young children to view their own bodies and feelings as taboo/sinful, fetishization of fertility and reproduction, Daddy knows all (and when he’s not there, mind your brothers)…. If these nutjobs dressed better, they’d be hardly different than the horny alpha-wannabes playing “Gorean Slave Sluts” in chatrooms.
Sweet gig, Jim Bob. Just don’t ask me to believe that’s a Bible in your pocket.
Not to excuse Josh in any way, but he was so young when this behavior started that I have to think he himself was also victimized at some point. Is Jim-Bob a molester? Maybe someone else close to the family? These behaviors are often cyclical.
Came in kind of to say this – his actions were disgusting and at 15 he would have known they were wrong. However, I think it says a LOT for how this family operates that a 15-year-old would express his sexuality in this way, and I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that there was or had been other abuse going on. Particularly as the Quiverful movement has a long and storied history of covering up abuse and ostracising victims who won’t publicly forgive their abusers. The abusers don’t get ostracised of course, that would be unChristian.
I absolutely believe it’s learned behavior.
never watched the show but another poster recounted an scene where Dim Bulb sent one of his daughters (a five year old, I believe) back to change because he thought her dress and leggings were too revealing.
what kind of f-ed up brain do you have to have to think that a five year old in a dress and leggings (leggings! not even tights or stockings!) is “inappropriate” or too revealing?! you see your own daughter, at FIVE!, as a sexual being?!
so, so gross.
It did occur to me that there might be a different reason for the leggings…as horrible as it is to imagine the **need** for a barrier. Now I need to go dip my brain in Clorox
These two are in denial about their son. He is a child molester and it doesn’t matter if he touched them with those children with their clothes still on or not. He still touched them in appropriately. This guy is struggling with his demons and I hope that he will get some help to overcome his evil desires. Too bad he won’t be serving jail time. Maybe that’ll help him quick!
I don’t get the sense that he is struggling at all. More like he is angry he was found out and some are holding him accountable
As human beings, and as parents these two people are disgusting. And that picture of them at the top trying to look so cutesy, is sickening.
That picture makes me want to scream obscenities at them
Another comment to add. At any point during these events did Jim-Bob and Michelle think, maybe we should stop having so many kids and try to focus on the ones we have, when 1 is an abuser and 4 are victims of this abuse?
Nope they decided to have five more kids ensuring that they would have less to time and energy to monitor their kids.I believe if Josh had admitted to molesting some of the brothers ,he would have been removed from the house immediately.
That’s what I said. Like she could keep watch as she grew the family up to 19 kids. Her oldest girls were the ones being mothers also.
While I hope this is the end, I don’t think so. A molester who hasn’t gotten any real help doesn’t stop. I don’t think he’s changed and whether it’s now or later, there will be more and it will be bad.
I want CPS to investigate and remove his children to protect them!
I am pretty sure they have TLC producers who are telling these two what to say and how to say. I doubt that Josh stopped at three times only, I would bet that he abused more people. Where is cousin Amy maybe she would tell the truth because Jim Bob and Michelle are not.
It wasn’t three. It was four sisters and a babysitter. And it was a few times with a couple of the sisters, not just once. So even more than five total incidents.
Oppressive, fringe cult followers behaving like oppressive, fringe cult followers. Can’t say I’m shocked.
Luckily i brought my own barfbag for this update. These people are pure evil.
This is so wrong on so many levels….. I don’t even know where to start.
Too bad Megyn Kelly was the interviewer and not Nancy Grace. She would not only have eaten their lunch, she would have eaten them FOR lunch.
Yep and that’s exactly why they would never go with Grace.
Wow.
Jim Bob’s initial comments probably were: Well, hey, Michelle, let’s look on the bright side. At least, our son isn’t gay.
Michelle: Oh, Jim Bob, you’re so right. Praise Jesus.
Jim Bob: Let’s go make another baby.
Michelle: Girls, take care of the kids and cook dinner and wash a few loads of laundry while you’re at it. Mommy and Daddy are making another blessed baby to add to the Duggar family. Woo-hoo.
DISGUSTING!!!!!!!!!!!! I could only watch 5 mins before I got too rage-y and had to stop. Michelle’s baby voice, fake tears and Jim Bob’s backtracking bullshit and his justifications of it all were too much. These people are VILE and an insult to true Christianity. Josh’s victims never stood a chance of getting the proper counseling,not with those cult freaks in charge. They make me so sick!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Can anyone share how did the news about what happened to the girls brake out? I didn’t follow this from the beginning.
I just watched the interview, they are completely and utterly disgusting.
The abuse occurred in 2002 and 2003 according to the Duggars.In 2006 the Oprah show flew the entire family to Chicago to appear on show.A day before the show ,Oprah’s producers got an email that Josh had molested several girls.Oprah cancelled the show ,flew them all back home and called the child abuse hotline in their area.An investigation was started,the police contacted Jim Bob,he contacted lawyers…I believe the lawyers told him the statue of limitations had expired because he let the girls talk to the police.Josh didn’t talk to police.If you read police report all the incidents are reported as Josh told James(Jim Bob).I forgot to mention in 2003 Jim Bob had a state trooper give Josh a stern talk .
Thanks Colette!
A child porn state trooper gave him the stern talk.
I had read the trooper was a “friend of the family,” but in the linked list of excuses that were given, they said they didn’t know him. More lies.
lets not forget that pedophiles are made.. meaning someone touched josh when he was younger… we need to look at this creepy dad a little more closely.
Both parents are suspect and equality creepy
I agree I hope someone keeps digging and I thank whomever made this public. (not for the victims, they deserve privacy)
Research states that not all are made. Some have never been raped or molested. Also please do not skip over the fact that mothers also sexually abuse/rape their chidden (male or female).
It is documented.
This young man has a child/children has the state been to his house yet?
I never watched the show and the fact that I read from the comments TLC still made no decision on the Tv show.
I am deeply disturbed by all of this
They say that their son isn’t a pedophile when he was doing this at 14-15. How do you explain him molesting a five year old!!
I am completely blown away by the fact that personal responsibility and accountability just don’t seem to be part of their – life concept? cult layout? what to call it?
I apologized, whether I meant it or not doesn’t matter, because I said the right words, so now I decide that God had forgiven me, get over it, if you can’t, that’s your problem, next? This is narcissism to the max, masked as a religion. Mind-blowing.
I am still blown away by the indisputable fact that In Touch Weekly, of all the disreputable tabloids out there, actually broke this story and got it right. Props to them.
Freedom of Information Acts are great laws for shining some sunlight into the shadows.
Just in case you had the barest modicum of belief that these assholes extended any value to the lives of women, here they are to remind us yet again that they do not.
I find it interesting how the media picks who they let slide and who is their example. Case in point..lena dunham (the liberal darling) admitted she acted as a pedafile and touched her younger sister inappropriately and all you hear is crickets! Its essentially the same thing….
No, on this site, there was a lot of anger directed at Dunham. A lot.
I saw it picked up a lot of places. She took a lot of heat for it.
First of all, I’m a liberal and she is not my “darling” nor is she the “darling” of many other liberals. I didn’t read her comments but if it is similar then shame on the media BUT from what I read on another site I thought that the facts were different (i.e. a 14/15 year old molesting children as young as 5 years old).
Wow bree..great point! I just looked it up and dunham said some reallyyyyy disturbing things
Years ago, when I first heard about this show, about people who pump children out like puppies in the name of Jesus, I thought to myself, “amoral imbeciles with no understanding”. I’m not buying any of this either. Decades of longitudinal studies show that child molesters never lose their appetite for children, let alone without lifelong therapy. Studies of the victims show that sexual problems are generally lifelong, which seems to be supported by the dozens of friends I have who suffered similar and worse, and as adults, still feel pain. There might be forgiveness and moving on for the victims, but there isn’t forgetting. I’m sure it is very confusing and hurtful to the women to find out their parents’ spin negating their victimization is not accepted by the world at large. If faith and prayer have wrought the miracles these people claim have occurred, then they need to share their technique….kidding, they’re liars. These people’s mental state, standard of living, viewpoints, and pretty much everything about them is unhealthy, and where there’s smoke, there is fire; I’ll bet there is much more ugliness here. I couldn’t watch the “interview” because I figured if they had mentioned Jesus once, I’d have broken my new television, because Christians they might be, but followers they are not.
Can we just bring back the public stocks and vegetable throwing for obnoxious people like the Duggars – Ma, Pa and Josh? Heck, let’s leave a slot open for Ted Cruz too. Seriously, can we? Or can we hire some clowns to ambush these guys with some well-laden pies?
And have members of the LGBT community throw the pies! Sweet justice.
Touching
Little
Children
Saw this posed somewhere and it struck a note!
Alternately, I like
Terrible
Life
Choices