TLC Drops 19 Kids And Counting, Josh Duggar Admits To Molestation
In the past 48 hours, some serious shit has hit the fan.
In Touch magazine broke the story - in 2002 and 2003, Josh Duggar molested at least five young women by fondling their breasts and vaginal area while they slept. There were also incidents mentioned where he touched someone while he was reading to them and touched another person under their dress in the laundry room of the family home. The full report from 2006, which includes 33 documents (with names redacted) can be found HERE.
In 2006, someone with details of the incidents reported the Duggar family to the Arkansas State Police Child Abuse Hotline and that's what started the investigation. The report states that Jim Bob & Michelle tried at first just to discipline Josh on their own. That wasn't enough and other incidents followed. Then Jim Bob spoke to elders at his church who encouraged him to get Josh into a counseling program. They did, from March until July 2003. After Josh returned home from the program, Jim Bob and one of the church elders took Josh to Cpl. Hutchens with the Arkansas State Police. Josh confessed what he did. At this point, Josh should have gone to court and been thrown in jail for what he did. Instead, Hutchens gave Josh a "stern talk" (words directly from the report) and said there was nothing else the Duggars needed to do. Hutchens himself was later arrested on child pornography charges and is now serving a 56 year prison sentence.
Yesterday, Josh Duggar confessed that the allegations were true and resigned from his post as executive director of FRC Action, the fundraising arm of the Family Research Council. The Family Research Council is a conservative lobby group that deems itself pro-life and pro-marriage. In other words, absolutely no abortions and absolutely no gay marriage. Even through this scandal, the Duggar family is still getting support from the political right, especially from 2016 Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee.
Because of the attitudes displayed by the Duggar family over the years over their disdain for the LGBTQIA community and the gay marriage cause, many on the political left immediately attacked the Duggar family as a whole, not just Josh for his actions. The sad part is that people forget that four of the Duggar daughters were Josh's victims. I imagine they were probably vulnerable and scared. The fact that the parents, other members of the family, the church elders, members of the church who were aware, Arkansas State Police, and TLC aided in this cover-up is shocking and disturbing. There's no way TLC wasn't aware of this considering that it was a member of Oprah Winfrey's staff who was alerted to this when the Duggar family was about to be on her show. The Duggars had their first special on TLC in 2005.
TLC has decided to pull 19 Kids and Counting from their network...for now. They haven't made a final decision as to the future of the program yet. Mama June from Here Comes Honey Boo Boo has threatened to sue the network if they don't cancel 19 Kids and Counting. I don't blame her. TLC didn't hesitate to cancel her program when it was just rumored that she was associating with a convicted child molester.
The irony of Leftist attacks against the Duggar family now is how quickly the political left embraced Lena Dunham's confessions of molesting her sister just a sad case of child sexual curiosity. The actions of both Duggar and Dunham are disgusting and they should face REAL punishment.
Sadly, New York and Arkansas both have statute of limitation laws, and so Lena and Josh will never see the inside of a jail cell for crimes they've already admitted committing. However, I hope that child agencies consider looking into Josh's children to make sure they aren't being molested.
Statute of limitation rules should not apply when a criminal admits to a crime. They exist under normal circumstances to make sure evidence can be assessed and processed properly and in a timely fashion. However, if the criminal admits to what they've done and there's nothing to corroborate their claims, why shouldn't they be punished.
Furthermore, it's even more disturbing that there are people on the political right, not just politicians, defending what Josh Duggar did. Checking the TLC Facebook page, there are numerous posts from people stating they're going to stop watching TLC until the put the Duggars back on the channel.
Reading that, I'm at a loss for words. The number of people saying the problem was already taken care of clearly don't realize that child abuse, even among other children, is a serious issue. 36% of sex offenders are juveniles. This is something that obviously needs to be addressed, and silence doesn't help the situation.
If you or someone you know has been affected by child sexual abuse, please call Darkness to Light (through the National Child Sex Abuse Hotline). Anyone can call, whether they're a child or an adult. 1-866-FOR-LIGHT
UPDATE: How fucked up is it that LJ's most popular community Oh No They Didn't! is gloating over the end of the Duggar's show at the expense of the sexual assault of 5 young women? Pretty fucked up. For a community of wannabe Social Justice Warriors, they really are assholes.
In Touch magazine broke the story - in 2002 and 2003, Josh Duggar molested at least five young women by fondling their breasts and vaginal area while they slept. There were also incidents mentioned where he touched someone while he was reading to them and touched another person under their dress in the laundry room of the family home. The full report from 2006, which includes 33 documents (with names redacted) can be found HERE.
In 2006, someone with details of the incidents reported the Duggar family to the Arkansas State Police Child Abuse Hotline and that's what started the investigation. The report states that Jim Bob & Michelle tried at first just to discipline Josh on their own. That wasn't enough and other incidents followed. Then Jim Bob spoke to elders at his church who encouraged him to get Josh into a counseling program. They did, from March until July 2003. After Josh returned home from the program, Jim Bob and one of the church elders took Josh to Cpl. Hutchens with the Arkansas State Police. Josh confessed what he did. At this point, Josh should have gone to court and been thrown in jail for what he did. Instead, Hutchens gave Josh a "stern talk" (words directly from the report) and said there was nothing else the Duggars needed to do. Hutchens himself was later arrested on child pornography charges and is now serving a 56 year prison sentence.
Yesterday, Josh Duggar confessed that the allegations were true and resigned from his post as executive director of FRC Action, the fundraising arm of the Family Research Council. The Family Research Council is a conservative lobby group that deems itself pro-life and pro-marriage. In other words, absolutely no abortions and absolutely no gay marriage. Even through this scandal, the Duggar family is still getting support from the political right, especially from 2016 Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee.
Because of the attitudes displayed by the Duggar family over the years over their disdain for the LGBTQIA community and the gay marriage cause, many on the political left immediately attacked the Duggar family as a whole, not just Josh for his actions. The sad part is that people forget that four of the Duggar daughters were Josh's victims. I imagine they were probably vulnerable and scared. The fact that the parents, other members of the family, the church elders, members of the church who were aware, Arkansas State Police, and TLC aided in this cover-up is shocking and disturbing. There's no way TLC wasn't aware of this considering that it was a member of Oprah Winfrey's staff who was alerted to this when the Duggar family was about to be on her show. The Duggars had their first special on TLC in 2005.
TLC has decided to pull 19 Kids and Counting from their network...for now. They haven't made a final decision as to the future of the program yet. Mama June from Here Comes Honey Boo Boo has threatened to sue the network if they don't cancel 19 Kids and Counting. I don't blame her. TLC didn't hesitate to cancel her program when it was just rumored that she was associating with a convicted child molester.
The irony of Leftist attacks against the Duggar family now is how quickly the political left embraced Lena Dunham's confessions of molesting her sister just a sad case of child sexual curiosity. The actions of both Duggar and Dunham are disgusting and they should face REAL punishment.
Sadly, New York and Arkansas both have statute of limitation laws, and so Lena and Josh will never see the inside of a jail cell for crimes they've already admitted committing. However, I hope that child agencies consider looking into Josh's children to make sure they aren't being molested.
Statute of limitation rules should not apply when a criminal admits to a crime. They exist under normal circumstances to make sure evidence can be assessed and processed properly and in a timely fashion. However, if the criminal admits to what they've done and there's nothing to corroborate their claims, why shouldn't they be punished.
Furthermore, it's even more disturbing that there are people on the political right, not just politicians, defending what Josh Duggar did. Checking the TLC Facebook page, there are numerous posts from people stating they're going to stop watching TLC until the put the Duggars back on the channel.
Reading that, I'm at a loss for words. The number of people saying the problem was already taken care of clearly don't realize that child abuse, even among other children, is a serious issue. 36% of sex offenders are juveniles. This is something that obviously needs to be addressed, and silence doesn't help the situation.
If you or someone you know has been affected by child sexual abuse, please call Darkness to Light (through the National Child Sex Abuse Hotline). Anyone can call, whether they're a child or an adult. 1-866-FOR-LIGHT
UPDATE: How fucked up is it that LJ's most popular community Oh No They Didn't! is gloating over the end of the Duggar's show at the expense of the sexual assault of 5 young women? Pretty fucked up. For a community of wannabe Social Justice Warriors, they really are assholes.