Josh Duggar: 12 year old Molestation charges Surface

[Nate4]

LMAO @ Jim Bob trying to say other families have this probably. Oh no honey, just your fucked up family does.

[slick jones]

Preach!!!!!!!

[DRW50]

I saw that he said it was just "a few seconds," as that makes it fine.

I'm sick to my stomach.

It sounds like the laundry list of rationalizations and dismissals for sexual abuse.

[Vee]

They also said "other people had it worse". There's so many horrific takeaways from that interview - too many for them to survive, IMO.

[Nate4]

God I hate Michelle.

Wait.. I thought the show already got cancelled?

PS - Why isn't Josh doing this interview? He is an adult w/ two children

[DRW50]

TLC pulled the show. They haven't canceled it. They make too much money off of it. They're just waiting.

Did that woman really say the records were released because of a lesbian agenda?

[Vee]

They're waiting to see how this plays. So far: Not well.

[DRW50]

This article pretty much sums it up, other than framing their views as "traditional" rather than reprehensible and despicable. Essentially, it says this family has a big audience who will lap up anything they say, and Fox News knows it helps them make money. I tend to agree, which is why I think this will be used by the media to help them out. Even hipper-than-thou EW is mostly just reporting the interview factually and not being critical.

http://time.com/3908260/duggars-fox-news-interview-jim-bob-joshua-michelle-molestation/

[DRW50]

Variety takes the same tack, only pausing to give Megyn Kelly a wet kiss.

http://variety.com/2015/tv/columns/duggars-megyn-kelly-josh-duggar-molestation-19-kids-1201512012/

What a sad country we live in when covering up sexual abuse is still filtered through the same old "both sides" defense that is used by the media to allow the most vile, dangerous views imaginable get a free pass on TV day after day.

[Vee]

I think you can frame some of those articles as pretty middle of the road. What you can't do is say the public reaction has been anything but utter disgust and outrage. And there are plenty of articles ripping the whole thing apart.

There's certainly a case to be made for how toxic our pop culture is, but if TLC sticks with the Duggars it won't be because the general public didn't make its voice heard here; it's because they decided to dig in with their entrenched (and limited in size) evangelical base. I personally doubt they will.

[DRW50]

The public reaction I've seen on this has always been mixed - many feel that he should be forgiven, that this is typical of a child or a teenager, that liberals or gays or feminists or Hollywood is out to get them. Any comments section or social media page is full of desperate defenses. To many people, they are the ideal - Christian, white, women in their place, Southern, and they hate the right people. They are also professional victims, and victimization is what keeps the far right going.

It's one of the reasons I'm not surprised to see the media response - a lot of people in power make a lot of money off of this family - but it's still disheartening to see. These girls were molested and much of the press happily goes along with ignoring them and crying blood tears for their abuser and the parents that enabled and encouraged his abuse and go on national TV to talk about how they're the victims and it's all a conspiracy.

I hope it turns out the way you say though.

[Vee]

A lot of the media response is outrage and disgust, though. You can't accurately take a read of it unless you account for that.

[DRW50]

I've seen that on the sites that always lean a certain way, like Gawker or Daily Beast, but the "mainstream" sites, like EW or Time, and of course People, which survives based on these monsters, have always been neutral. The only real surprise I've had has been Daily Mail being so critical.

[Vee]

Huckabee has dumped the Duggars.

The Talk, to its credit, also shredded them today on CBS.

[Cheap21]