This morning I turned on the computer and the first thing I saw on my homepage was: Josh Duggar Responds to What He Calls ‘Inexcusable’ Actions as a Teenager
I read the article.
And then I kind of went off on the blog Facebook page.
This is fucked up. And TLC is fucked up, too. If one of your kids is molesting your kids, STOP HAVING MORE KIDS.
The “likes” and the comments came pouring in.
The comments were all in agreement with my sentiments.
But then I read this comment:
Wow. So much judgment. That’s the price you pay for being on a reality show. I suppose. But for all of us to like this page because it points out how parents aren’t perfect and we all fuck up sometimes, it’s interesting to see how many are slamming them for the way they handled it. Because we all know how we’d perfectly handle the problems of other families right? We’ll “confess” about how we yelled at the kids in the car, but when something so ugly and heartbreaking as this happens (and it happens A LOT) we’re all the sudden high and mighty.
I got immediately defensive.
I didn’t say anything, but as far as I’m concerned, admitting to yelling at my kids in the car is much different than admitting to covering up the fact that your teenager molested his sisters. And the cover up aspect of it is what really bothered me.
But I still had that not-so-good feeling in the pit of my stomach.
Maybe this reader was right.
And then I read this comment:
I feel so awful for those girls. The media is so intent on getting this story out there that no one seems to be thinking about what those girls (THE VICTIMS) might want some privacy. Putting their trauma all over the headlines is just violating those poor girls all over again.
That one really got me.
I hadn’t thought about that at all, to be honest.
So I did some thinking.
Nobody really knows all the details of the situation except the Duggars themselves.
And who am I to say anything? Does it really matter anyway?
The Duggars will never affect my family.
Then I did some more thinking. Why did I have such a strong reaction to this story?
It didn’t take long for me to realize something.
It’s not the Duggars who pissed me off.
It’s TLC. And all the other networks who feature these “reality” shows.
TLC and BRAVO and A&E and whoever else, target fucked up families and either portray them as perfect, or completely exploit them.
And we watch this stuff on TV and believe it is an accurate portrayal of these families’ lives.
We feel like we are better than the fuck ups or we feel like we are failures because we are nowhere near as good as the seemingly perfect families.
Neither case is really true.
In either case, it’s not hard to dig this stuff up.
TLC must know that. They must know that at some point, the secrets will come out.
After Honey Boo Boo, and John and Kate Plus Eight and The Duggars, well, I think TLC might be counting on that.
TLC doesn’t care about these families or the children in them.
Because if they did, they wouldn’t put them on TV in the first place.
And maybe it’s time that we don’t put them on ours, either.
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duane says
He did not molest his sisters. He molested young girls, but after watching two news reports, there is no mention of these girls being his sisters. Upsetting nevertheless.
anon says
Yes, he molested his sisters. Read the policy report. It redacts their names, but states that their parents are Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar.