This story just gets sicker and sicker. Not only did the elder Duggars show up for the interview, they dragged along a couple of Josh's victims for the parade, too.
Asked why they didn’t turn their son in, Jim Bob explained that he was told by a friend that “government programs” were notoriously unsuccessful with dealing with juvenile offenders, so they turned to friends who shared their faith for his rehabilitation.
It was then that they sent Josh away for his rehabilitation.
Asked why they directed their attentions to Josh, at the expense of his sisters, the Duggars described their son as a “sheep had gone astray.”
Kelly then turned the focus on the juvenile record the Duggars believed had been sealed, with Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar blaming the police chief who released it, saying he had “an agenda” or was “possibly bribed” and “showed no consideration” for the victims.
They indicated they are considering a lawsuit against the city, while adding that the bigger story was how the information got released.
More concerned about their own bad selves than the well-being of their children. What nice people they aren't.
Jim Bob made a point that the family doesn’t consider Josh a pedophile, relying on the legal definition.
Appearing with their parents — and to be broadcast Friday night — Jill and Jessa Duggar admitted they were the ones who had been groped, with Jill defending her brother.
“I do want to speak up in his defense against people who are calling him a child molester or a pedophile or a rapist, some people are saying,” Jessa told Kelly. “I’m like, ‘That is so overboard and a lie really.’ I mean people get mad at me for saying that, but I can say this because I was one of the victims.”
A tearful Jessa Duggar, blamed the media for the reporting on her molestation by her brother, saying, “We’re victims, they can’t do this to us”
Asked by Kelly, if they felt that the “backlash” against them was because of “who you are and what you stand for,” the Christian couple looked at each other before Michelle Duggar said, “I think somehow they do.”
No media ever brought the names of his victims to light, but Junior Duggars will whine. They need to talk to their big daddy about that one, because he just revictimized them by allowing them to stand there and defend their brother instead of staying in the shadows where it was safer.
I read the latest release of the police report with Josh's "confession" and it made me sick. The part that made me sick was the assumption that if they had put Josh into the kind of rehabilitation program he should have had -- one with accountability and consequences -- he might have actually had some remorse.
As it is, these girls have now been socialized to believe themselves failures because, though no fault of their own, their brother "tainted" them with sexual activity. That kind of message doesn't disappear over the years, it just gets louder.
Shame on TLC, Fox News, and the Duggars themselves for their shameless hyping of a sad and sick situation.
I really hope those girls can get some help from someone other than the sick jerks who raised them.
