Wow, I feel they keep diminishing what happened to the girls but keep going back to “but Josh told us what happened - he owned up”.
You know I’m half way through the interview - I don’t deny their feelings as parents - the heartbreak, the unbelief, the disappointment, the guilt perhaps. But I cannot get past the fact that they have moved past this incident and continued to judge/judge/judge other people for sexuality, values, etc. and that they have portrayed something - for LOTS of money - under circumstances that just are hidden.
And this: that after Josh’s incidents, the girls are taught they can’t sit on any male’s lap - except for daddy’s.
@jonri …“Thanks. Just to clarify, I didn’t watch tonight. I just based my comment on the police reports.”
It’s a shame YOU didn’t do the interview. Your B.S. detector is finely tuned. Jim Bob’s statement in the interview was that he had a friend who was in law enforcement give the kid a strong talking to. In the police statement he did not say it was whatever officer was on duty.
They are whipping themselves into a tizzy over the release of the interview. The fact that the police chief they are now after is a female must really rankle Jim Bob. She sought the legal opinion of the city attorney before she responded to the FOIA request. She will be cleared. They might know that if they had any education beyond high school. Too bad they’ve denied their children even that.
What was the most striking element tonight was their ability to flip the whole situation and present their family as victims of a police chief nearing retirement with a vendetta against them and of tabloid media.
They completely miss the point that Josh coming to them multiple times to confess touching his sisters and this family friend was a cry for help that they initially ignored.
I was appalled by Jim Bob stating at least 3 times that worse things have happened in other families.
One thing that he made sure and said was that Josh had “just” turned 14 and then “just” turned 15 and in the eyes of the law you aren’t a child molester unless you are 16. Plus he also made sure to say that parents aren’t legally required to report things to police that their kids do. Also it bugs me is that normally Kelly is hard on people and in this case it’s almost as if someone else who looks like her is doing the interview.
If they all received the “professional counseling” that the parents claim they did, due to mandatory reporting requirements it was after 2006 when Oprah called the authorities. And conveniently AFTER the statute of limitations had run. They had already hauled Josh down to the police station to talk to the officer who was arrested for child porn and reported it themselves. Of course, all of this taking place once he could not longer be charged with a crime because of the statute of limitations. And the coincidence of an officer with these proclivities taking the report and conveniently doing nothing just doesn’t pass the smell test for me.
I would like to understand their definition of “professional counseling” and I am sure the media will dredge up more details in the days to come. And Megyn kept referring to the 3 month exile to a friend of the Duggars as a “treatment center.” Michelle has already admitted it was not a formal treatment center but a friend who was building some sort of Christian Center which Josh helped with for 3 months.
What really gets me is that they are trotting the girls out to say it was no big deal. But at the same time saying the girls had no idea what transpired because they were asleep in some instances and in others were too young/ naive to understand what had happened. If that is the case then how can they now opine that it was no big deal?
I’m neutral on the interview, Kelly. Don’t really have too much problem with how she handled the interview.
So Michelle knocks the media (and the police) for sharing all this information…but yet don’t deny that they wouldn’t be back in front of the tv camera making moola if given the chance!!!
And now, OMG, we get installment TWO Friday night - it’s a mini - series!!! (so sad to hear it’s any of the sisters, but now interesting the two are the two that are married).
Can’t wait to go back and read all your comments now!
The Duggar family was told that the records would be sealed. Juveniles were involved so they were to be sealed. The family report this to the police (NOT to a “friend”); the victims got counseling as did Josh.
at the end of the Megan Kelly thing tonight, she talked about child abuse and child abusers who are under age. And about the statistics that indicate that (I think she said) 85-90 percent of underage offenders DO NOT go on to re-offend.
Is it not possible that Josh learned from his mistakes and has moved on? Is it not possible that this family learned form this incident and moved on? NONE of the girls involved indicate that there was ever any repeat issue. They are being victimized more by the press and all the “talk” about their family and about their past.
Someone above said the Duggars were "dodging " the hypocrisy charge…they addressed it by saying that what Michelle said on the robocall was an effort to keep males out of locker rooms and rest rooms for females…with the potential that a “child predator” could do enter one (easy enough to dress as a trans person, right? did she ever actually say that Transgender people ARE pedophiles??). And, in their words, Josh was not a child predator. he was himself a child…the legal definition is 16 years old and up.
Someone above said the parents accepted no blame…that is not true. They realized they needed to stop putting older boys in charge of younger siblings, etc. Again, they DID get counseling for the victims.
I feel sorry for 14-year-old Josh. He has this compulsion to touch his sisters - he knows it is wrong - he confesses - crying to his parents - and they basically do nothing. It gets worse - goes from over clothes to under clothes - bot nothing really happens until he touches the 5-year-old inside of her underwear. Can you imagine the guilt and shame and disgust he must have felt? Michelle repeatedly refered to it as Josh making “bad choices” - she still does not grasp it was most likely a compulsion he was unable to control and that he desperately needed mental health intervention.
AFTER the statute of limitations had run. Which means at least 3 or more years later. And that’s giving them the benefit of the doubt on their definition of professional counseling.
Entirely possible that Josh Duggar might not continue a life as a sexual offender, but I sure wouldn’t want to have other girls left in his control.
If he had ONE incident, even with multiple victims, after which there was never another, I’d probably feel differently about it. Instead, he was a serial predator and his parents failed to protect their daughters and the young woman who visited their home. Rather, they kept cranking out more kids while at the same time demonstrating a lack of parental concern that is frightening.
He didn’t get intensive, serious, professional counseling – and the extended abuse over a two year period in certainly an indication that he desperately needed it.
And his sisters did not get the immediate and secure protection they deserved. My guess is that they didn’t really get effective counseling either.
And for Michelle Duggar to openly campaign against the child molestation threat from transexuals when her son was poking his finger into his sister’s vagina? Jim-Bob’s campaign position that incest should be a capital crime while at the same time hiding the incest in his own family? Well, in my mind, if that’s not the definition of hypocritical, I don’t know what is.
Jim-Bob and Michelle are a boil on the butt of humanity.
I’m getting a kick out of the NSFW comments on the Free Jinger website; it’s a forum for those who grew up in fundamental homes. 25 pages on the interview. Some bad language as can be expected:
"If anyone here truly wants to hear the Duggar’s side of things, you should watch the interview. "
I came, I saw, I listened, I’m even more convinced that I could NEVER buy into their style of “values” and “protection” for their children. More convinced that they are quick to judge but cry wolf when they are judged.
I’ve watched the show a lot over the years, read the recent articles, watched the interview. I know what I have seen, heard, watched, read, observed. And MY heart speaks to me and says, “this is a bunch of bull” from Mama and Papa Duggar.
I was bothered by the fact that she kept saying they put safeguards like not allowing any of the boys to babysit or have their sisters sit on their laps. So, none of the other siblings can have normal sibling relationships because of what Josh has done? They can’t trust any of the boys with any of the girls? That seems extreme, and sad.
And they then attempt to turn the tables and change the conversation to the release of the police reports and what an invasion of privacy it was. It traumatized the girls to have this brought out into the public domain. And then they proceed to trot the girls out in front of the cameras to do the very thing they are complaining of.
These people hugely underestimate the intelligence of the public at large. They are kidding no one but themselves.
Moveme- yeah, I thought that was the craziest thing too. The message seemed to be, this happens in a lot of families and the only way to prevent it is to avoid all interactions between males and females, and pretty much act like every person and action is suspect. This is a pretty awful way to look at things, and consistent with “impurity will happen if girls don’t wear long dresses…” Honestly, I’ve never been in or known a family where interfamily molestation has occurred (though of course it does sometimes). To normalize it, and take ridiculous preventive actions seems like the saddest thing. A lot of this belief system resolves around protecting perverts (who are sometimes the leaders…).
I also know this is sort of totally off topic, but it was brought up in the interview. How that they feel it is best to avoid all sexual exchange except for holding hands - for the wedding day. Pardon me I really don’t mean to be inappropriate but I’m thinking how overwhelming for a young lady or man to go from “look, but don’t touch” to EVERYTHING. Almost frightening!