Anyone who knows me knows my fascination with this family. They had to have known a blog post was coming... and now that I'm home from our mini-vacation and have had time to sort my thoughts through, I present you with...
1. What
Josh did is despicable, disgusting, and illegal. He was old enough to know
better… if he came from a family that talked openly about abuse.
2. That
said, the Duggars don’t provide sex education to their home-schooled children,
and while it’s easy for us average, everyday people to agree that we would know
better… if we literally had never heard anything about it, would we? Maybe,
maybe not.
3. To be
a pedophile, one must be 16 years old or older and have sexual contact with
children. Josh was 14 / 15 at the time, and while we can all agree that most
people would know better at that age, see point number 2.
4. Jim
Bob is more to blame than anyone, in my opinion. He knew about the incidences
after Josh told him, and he didn’t report it to police for a LONG time (over a
year).
5. Maybe
Jim Bob didn’t report the assault because he thought it was a family issue that
could be resolved without getting authorities involved. I don’t know.
6. I hope
the girls who were assaulted (who are presumably Jana, Jill, Jessa, and Jinger,
though they obviously haven’t been identified) received professional
help/counseling when this took place several years ago.
7. I also
hope those girls weren’t shamed for being impure, because let’s face it, sexual
contact before marriage is a huge no-no for the Duggars… and I can only hope
that Jim Bob and Michelle realized they did nothing wrong, and they were
attacked, not vice versa.
8. I
wonder why the police officer who did learn about the case from Jim Bob did
nothing about it. Is it because he’s a family friend? Or does he actually think
Josh did nothing wrong?
9. I’m
not sure if I would have been able to marry a man and have children with him
knowing what he did, but Anna and her family were both aware of Josh’s past
before she agreed to marry him… and that’s totally her prerogative and not my
situation to judge.
10. I
honestly can’t believe it took so long for this scandal to leak out.
Considering how big the Duggar family is and how many people they know and work
with on a daily basis… it astounds me.
11. That
said, I’m not surprised at all that something *huge* happened at some point. With 19 children, shenanigans are
bound to happen.
12.
Seeing Mike Huckabee getting attacked and losing backers right before the
presidential campaign goes full swing is kind of funny to me. I don’t like him
(at all), so it amuses me despite the fact that I sort of agree with him that
everyone makes mistakes, especially when they’re young.
13. I
don’t like how this scandal was hidden for so long… but when it happened, the
Duggars weren’t even famous, so it wouldn’t have even made headlines anyway.
Now that they’ve been on TV consistently for several years, they’re well known…
but when Josh was 14/15, they certainly weren’t.
14. I am
glad that Josh was ready to admit it and talk about it when it did come up. He
could have easily denied it, but he chose to take the higher road. While his
actions were horrific, at least he can admit it when need be.
15. I
feel the need to go back and watch all of the episodes of their show now and
re-read their books just because. I wonder if there’s ever a moment that could
give this away. I’m guessing no, but you never know.
16. I
feel really bad for the girls who were molested, especially now. With it being
more than ten years ago, those girls have grown significantly, matured in their
beliefs, and presumably moved on. But now? Now, they have to re-live everything
because they’re all over the Internet. They have to deal with the questions,
the accusations, and the personal attacks on their family. I can’t even
imagine.
17. It is
peculiar to me that none of the Duggar kids with social media have posted
anything on Instagram or Facebook since this came out last Thursday. Really
weird.
18. While
I do think it would be appropriate for TLC to cancel 19 Kids and Counting… I
selfishly hope they don’t. I am fascinated by that family and love watching the
girls go through their major life events, like weddings and babies! I may not
agree with their politics or extreme views on religion, but I do think they are
good, kind-hearted people.
19. Seriously,
I am not here to judge anyone, let alone the entire family. The entire family
did not commit a crime. The entire family is not full of bad people. They may
be extreme Christians, and that may make some people (including myself at
times) feel uneasy. But they aren’t all bad all the time. And the kids have no outside
experience with a lot of social issues that most people get upset about (like
how they are so anti-LGBT, which does make me mad too)… and they do good around
them. They’re not perfect, just like you’re not. They have quirks, just like we
all do.
(and
counting) - Last but not least, I had NO IDEA so many of my friends knew so
much about he Duggars and cared about their personal lives… but I’ve seen so
many people either sticking up for them ferociously (when they never admitted
to liking them before) or dogging them with what seems like threats (again,
when they probably didn’t know who they were before). Weird.
Are you a Duggar fan?
Or are you fascinated by them at least?
Do you have a strong opinion either way about this issue?
