ABC news just said that the response toy the Duggar interview last night was overwhelmingly negative, with something like a 77% negative response on social media, with many calling the Duggars “out of touch”. Bad pun??
Evidently the Duaggar’s endorsements of Huckabee have disappeared from his website. They used to get top billing.
I’ve been puzzled by their repeated assertions that the police reports were illegally released - and suggesting it was a deliberate event to hurt their family. But, nothing illegal has taken place from what I have read -primarily because the police report is from 2006 - when Josh was 18 and NOT a minor.
My dictionary says any sexual activity between people closely related is incest.
Getting sexual pleasure from touching a sibling seems to meet that criteria, but what would you call it?
"I do wonder if, like Gov. Huckabee (who could not possibly have expected the backlash he received from his own supporters when he made the decision to very publicly defend Josh Duggar), Fox News may have underestimated how their average viewer would respond to that interview. "
Huckabee is apparently unrepentant and saw fit to double-down by mocking transgender issues in a speech. Although he didn’t mention Caitlin Jenner directly, his joke was obviously based on her recent publicity.
Back to the Duggars, I remember reading an article a few years ago on the “script” that public religious figures follow that always results in them being forgiven by their followers. It went something like, admit you sinned, say that it’s brought you closer to God, beg forgiveness. Worked for all those mega preachers who were getting caught cheating, embezzling, having affairs with men, etc.
Not a Huckabee supporter by a long shot, but I believe he made that joke in February before Jenner was all over the news. Still a horrible joke.
Megyn Kelly is on Fox right now with hand-chosen experts redirecting the viewers attention to where Fox seems to want it to be. Apparently public opinion didn’t quite land where they wanted it to last night.
@churchmusicmom, I owe you an apology. In my original post I noted that many victims of child sexual assault feel tremendous pressure to excuse or defend thos who abuse. If that is the basis of your statements about the relative triviality of Josh’s actions you have my sincere sympathy.
Regarding your suggestion that my experiences were surely more traumatic (and I’m not sure why you would need to put the word in quotes), causing me to overreact, please don’t go there. My story, and that of the Duggar girls, and perhaps your own, each is a unique product of the context, actions, strengths and vulnerabilities of those involved It’s not a contest.
As for Josh’s purported repentance, he took a highly visible, well paying job as a spokesperson for the dangers of moral impurity while failing to acknowledge his own behavior. He let the sisters he violated go on national TV to defend his actions, and his pregnant wife issue a public statement on his behalf. These are not the actions of a man with insight, integrity, or courage. I truly hope DCF is keeping a close eye on his 5 year old daughter.
More on the police report release:
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/josh-duggar-scandal-city-defends-release-record-n370171
^^^Was just coming to post that same story. I wonder if Megyn Kelly will give the Duggars a chance to respond to the city’s vigorous defense of its decision to release the records.
Here is another recent article.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/duggars-put-daughters-in-jeopardy-to-protect-son-experts-say/ar-BBkHqu2?ocid=mailsignout
Very well said @3Trees . You seem like an exceptionally strong person and advocate for abuse victims. This world needs more like you and a whole lot less of the justifying and excusing the molesters.
I am far more upset by the actions of the parents than by the actions of Josh. They did nothing to protect the girls, and chose to protect their son instead. Josh was never held accountable for his actions; and at some point the parents actually seem to hold the girls responsible for what happened to them (the immodesty defense).
I could probably have come though my childhood rape less psychologically scarred if I’d felt that I could have told my parents about it and preventing it from happening, or seen my abuser sent off for help.
I’ve come to a point where I’ve forgiven the abuser, but not my mother. She continues to have a close relationship with the abuser (I finally told her about it as an adult), and banned me from my aunt’s (his mother) funeral for fear that my presence might upset him. I admire the Duggar girls for being able to put it all behind them and having such a close relationship with their brother and parents.
I hadn’t been aware they used babysitters other than the sisters, Grandma and maybe Amy.
EK and KKmama, I think that’s what bugs most of us- the upset isn’t anti-Christian or anti-sect. It’s that multiple incidents against multiple victims were incompletely handled. And by people purporting to be moral, loving, and so family oriented. And 4 of the 5 were their own daughters. It does seem they detached form the girls too easily.
Having two of the girls now pop and say, it’s ok because he was contrite, repented and asked for forgiveness- and asserting we (or Jesus) did forgive him- doesn’t make it ok.
I think I would have found it impossible to turn my adolescent son into authorities had he confessed something like that to me. But I would certainly would have found him help and protected my daughters and others. What astounds me is that he confessed THREE times to his parents and they still did nothing. Three times and they still left him unsupervised around young girls? Those parents are delusional and should have faced criminal charges.
@KKmama, my condolences. That’s rough.
Good point I read elsewhere:
If Michelle and JB felt like “a failure as parents” - why did they proceed to then have 6 more children?
^^^Well, you really have to wonder how much oversight they have been able to provide to any of their children when they have that many. Whether it’s 14 or 19, how exactly is that done without trusting the other children to take some of that responsibility?
Wondering if the parents would have been so forgiving if it was an outsider that molested the girls?
The problem with getting counseling for the abusing son is that counselors are mandated reporters. We pastors fall into a weird category: mandated if we know about it through any source except for a confession by the abuser, which falls into “protection of the confessional” (we can lose our authorization as pastors for violating confidentiality and keeping confidentiality is a vow that we take when ordained) - which is why the Duggars were careful to keep it within the church/pastor setting. The pastor COULD NOT report it, a secular therapist would HAVE to report it.
However, many family court judges are compassionate and the aim of social services is to keep families intact if at all possible. So if the Duggars had gone through the court system, it is very possible that Josh could have been adjudicated to a therapeutic setting and then put into foster care away from minor girls, and his record expunged. Ironically, that would have protected his privacy far better than the route they chose! By waiting several years until he turned 18, they set themselves up for losing all expectation of privacy.
As for the girls NOW becoming victims (their words), that is not true in my humble opinion. Being the victim/survivor of childhood rape or sexual abuse is nothing to be ashamed of. I’ve always been public about my history and work it casually into a sermon soon after beginning to serve a new congregation (usually when preaching on forgiveness or putting the past behind us) so that members of that church know that they can confide in me about their own past abuse - which has happened in every congregation I’ve served.