HumblePi

I believe in my heart that the rigid sexual control of their children after the incidents with Josh all stemmed directly from those molestations. They went into such a severe and rigid non-sexual preaching and standards for their other children that it's just absolutely contrary to the normal course of nature. They dressed their girls in longer dresses and higher necklines. The boys had to lower their eyes if they were out in public and some woman walked by that looked too sexy. The modesty regulations went to such an extreme that it became unnatural and unrealistic. No parent should try to keep their children ignorant about sex, that's exactly what makes them more curious and want to explore. Preaching about moral values really isn't the same as educating children about sex. One are strict rules with dire consequences, the other is knowledge and as we all know, knowledge is power and understanding what sex is to a kid at any age and talking about them about sex is so important to have a child grow to become emotionally mature about sex and to understand it's natural and not evil.

This is really something to chew on. Both Jessa and Jill will vehemently defend Josh through sobs and tears, even after admitting they were 'victims' but now claim to be victims once again, victims of the media. This quote is from Jill in the Megyn Kelly interview: “We’re victims. They can’t do this to us,” a teary-eyed Dillard says of the media attention that has surrounded their story. Jessa says: "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,” she 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.”I I think that both Jessa and Jill are too close to the situation to really be able to view the bigger picture. Yes, Josh did what he did to them. Yes, Josh was contrite, admitted his molestations to his parents and Yes, everyone forgave him. But, had they ever considered that their parents put their younger siblings at risk by not removing Joshua from the home immediately? Did they ever think that one of the other girls that were molested might not come out as unemotionally scarred or forgiving as they? Another thing to think about, the charge that was brought on Josh was officially 'forcible fondling' in 2002 and 2003. To me that means he had to force himself on his siblings and it doesn't mean that the children 'didn't notice' or never woke up from sleep during the molestations. I think that most people would have felt a little bit of gratification if either Michelle or Jim Bob had told Megyn Kelly that they were angry, they screamed at him, were outraged. But they said they responded 'there was so much grief in our hearts, I think as parents we felt we were failures". Now listen, if my kid did something really bad when he was young, I didn't say to him 'oh I feel so much grief in my heart because of what you did". I would scream and spank him and let him know in no uncertain terms this was not acceptable and better never happen again.

This would be a regular spinoff series. This is from People's magazine. "While the network has yet to announce whether or not 19 Kids and Counting is officially canceled – and full episodes of the show as well as promotional materials remain on the network's website – a source close to the Duggars says a new plan may shift focus away from the large brood headed up by Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, and instead focus on newlyweds Jill and Derick Dillard, and Jessa and Ben Seewald. "The show had begun to focus more and more on the next generation of Duggars, anyway – mainly Jill and Jessa and their marriages and babies," says the source. "That's when the show got its highest ratings."

Don't forget that TLC already had plans in the work for a show dedicated to one of them, not sure if it was Jessa or Jill. But hopefully, we've all been saved from that now.

The thing is, it's precisely the 5th 'woman' who would really be of most importance since she was there to babysit. Right away that tells me that the older sister-mommies were not in the home. It also tells me she wasn't soundly asleep in a bed in the girl's room and she sure was not a minor. This takes the sexual molestation to a different level. It's not sexually molesting a defenseless little girl, it's molestation of an older girl maybe even adult age that could resist and cause real trouble if she went to the police. Because she didn't go right to the police or blow the whistle to Jim Bob (or maybe she did) convinces me of who the 5th girl was, and that she was closely related to the family.

Well I think he's over there in OZ with the wizard hiding behind both the curtain and mommies long skirt.

Erin Merryn was sexually molested when she was a child. She's written a book called Stolen Innocence, Living For Today, & An Unimaginable Act. She's responsible for the legislation being passed in 23 States called 'Erin's Law' that requires sexual abuse prevention taught in schools. Jim Bob and Michelle 'just happened to be' attending a lecture she was giving to a group on Arkansas. They stayed late until after she finished her lecture to approach her and ask if she would please come to their home to speak to all their children about sexual abuse. That was just last year, so I guess it's better late than never that Jim Bob and Michelle did something proactively.

I think that Megyn Kelly was clever in her interview. She asked the tough questions but she also gave them enough opportunities to destroy their credibility. People would have to be blind not to see the transparency of the manner in which they defended Josh and made the victims a lesser concern to them. Megyn Kelly really accomplished two things. She came out of the interview as a professional who really didn't pander to their idealizations of what happened and she was able to basically let both Michelle and Jim Bob show how desperate they are to minimize a very serious moral offense. *edited because of the frequent repetitions of the idiom 'enough rope to hang themselves' LOL!

Jim Bob said one single honest truth at the very beginning of this interview. He said "Twelve years ago we went through one of the most darkest times that our family has ever gone through." That's it. After that first statement everything either he or Michelle described as far as what happened, when it happened, how many times it happened, and what they did about it was all smoke and mirrors. Michelle's low-tone almost kindergarten-teacher sounding voice just made everything worse because it didn't work to desensitize the whole molestation occurrences. The dabbing of her dry eyes and cracking voice didn't pull a smidgeon of sympathy out of me. When Jim Bob said "nothing like that ever happened like that again, in the girls bedroom. We had safeguards for that." What safeguards Jim Bob? Did you make sure that the girls dead-bolted their bedroom door at night? Did you padlock the door from the outside? Did you put an alarm on Josh's pajamas that goes off once he tries to get out of bed? Tell us what those safeguards were. I'm already cringing just thinking about the interview coming up tomorrow with Jessa and Jill. They're going to say that the public is being unreasonable and they feeling persecuted and judged by popular opinion in a very public way. They can't understand why people can't forgive and forget what Josh did to them because they have. They will vehemently support their brother and parents and not view their sexual abuse as it should be seen. There are families that are going through, or will go through, this same situation with their children. Demonstrating to those families that hiding and covering up for the perpetrator just to shield the victims is not going to help resolve a very serious problem. They can't see that. They only see how they're being held up in front of the public eye in a negative way and they're feeling that intense pressure and negative scrutiny. This family is accustomed to being idealized and venerated for their wholesomeness, not publicly shamed and criticized.

That may be the case, but that makes FOX a perpetrator of re-victimizing those two women.

Having the two girls sit through an interview about how they were molested, whether or not they've forgiven and moved on, is only reintroducing trauma again and re-victimizing them. It was a mistake for FOX to interview Jessa and Jill.

Josh Duggar and Anna watched the interview of course. Why wasn't Josh there with Megyn Kelly instead of his parents. He's a grown up, he can speak for himself. If Megyn wanted to get the real story, Josh is the only one who could really give a true account of it.

The whole interview was creepy the way they nervously defended Josh. They tried to make it sound as though Josh cried and repented and was sorry and so on. BUT they also said that they didn't do a single thing except pray with him, to protect those other girls. It wasn't until he came to them for a THIRD time that they sought some advice from others in their church. They tried to make it sound as though the only times that Josh molested those sisters was the times he came to confess to them. What about the other times he never came to them? Jim Bob says that the girls usually didn't even realize that something wrong was done. That's bullshit. I had to edit to add one more thought. This whole thing and the lengths to which the Duggars tried to protect Josh, and to help him repent, and to "soften his heart" all reflects back to their rigid ultra-fundamentalist mindset about males in families being groomed to be patriarchs and leaders in their church. Their religion protects and defends males. They have more value of males. Females again.....are lesser beings and treated as such. The concerns, the tears and the hiding of the facts all prove this. Where were Michelle's tears for her four daughters and the babysitter having been sexually molested? Did she cry for them too or only for precious male-child Josh and their own reputations as God loving Christians? Oh sorry, another edit. Someone here had posted a comment about how this report should never have been made public at all because the case was closed and documents sealed. But in reality, it was a whispered about secret for a very long time. There had been insinuations and rumors abounding because by 2006 there were many people who knew of this including several of their church members. So, to have the report become public knowledge brought a firestorm for sure, but it also brought the public's awareness of exactly to what lengths the Duggar's will go to protect their son and their own interests. People really need to be aware that this is a potential problem for everyone, not only the Duggar family. The awareness this case brings may just save a lot of little kids from being sexually molested through education.

As a matter of fact, a criminal justice lawyer was on television talking about this and said that not only Josh was guilty of a crime but that the Duggars themselves and the other church members that they talked with also have committed a crime by not reporting this abuse immediately.

As suspected, Jim Bob and Michelle downplayed everything. "Josh did this a couple of times for a few seconds and it was over clothes. Then a year or so later under clothing." They continually attempted to minimize the effect it had on the girls. "Some of them didn't even know what happened." CNN, Don Lemon followed up with a panel of people, there was a therapist on the panel. One said "Josh Duggar is an adult, why isn't he doing this interview, not his parents?!" The therapist had misgivings about Jill and Jessa doing their own interview since the clips of the interview showed that Jill was clearly distressed and crying. Jessa wasn't crying but she spoke with a shaking voice. The expert said that putting them out on display right now could re-traumatize them and cause even deeper damage. The expert on child molestation also said that even young boys that commit this type of crime is very often removed from the home and placed in a facility where they are staffed by licensed professionals skilled in treating children that show pedophile traits. And, that child is usually held there for up to a year and a half. A couple of them also said that children that are the victims usually do NOT report the abuse out of fear or shame. One woman on the panel was angry at how Michelle downplayed the seriousness of sexual abuse, she said 'Obviously the Duggar's have absolutely no knowledge of the seriousness of sexual molestation in the home." Oh yeah, my last comment is nothing more than a snark. Michelle had way too much rouge on her face and her hair was so out of control that I wished I was invisible and standing in back of her with a big pair of scissors to cut that crap off.

I like Dorinda and her Berkshire estate is just beautiful, from the outside. The inside however, looked to me like a combination of Downton Abbey and The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. Hated the decor and colors.

They're trying to save their own spin-off shows that TLC want's to produce for our entertainment.

I would venture a guess and say that they are certainly being compensated financially for this interview, and I would also guess that it's a very healthy compensation. I just feel cheated already by expecting this interview would have taken place on 'neutral ground' and not in the comfortable surroundings of their own home with all their children present in the background somewhere or peering over the railing from upstairs. This interview hasn't aired yet and already I'm getting very negative vibes just from the fact that Megyn Kelly appears to be very at ease in the environment. This is not neutral reporting by any stretch of the imagination. Okay FOX, you win this round. You bought it, own it now.

I have a feeling that I'm going to want to throw something at my TV at some point during the interview, so I'm making sure my slippers are nearby, they're softer. I wonder if Josh and Anna and the kids will be watching something entirely different to get it off their minds?

That video sure looks like they recorded the interview right there in the Duggar kitchen and I had read that it wasn't going to be right in the Duggar home, but at another location outside the Duggar property. If that's where the interview was conducted, I'm already suspicious of the outcome.

Putting aside the anger that either of the married girls may have, I have wondered how the husbands feel about their virgin wives being sexually molested for over a year? They both vowed to wait until marriage to kiss. Knowing that their brother in law touched them before they did must work on their minds. I wonder if it changed the dynamic between them and Josh.

I hadn't heard that the reporter believed that this was "the worst-kept secret in NW Arkansas". I assume the reporter either took the report, made a copy of the report, or copied down the case file once he had read the report that was left on a desk. The tip-off to Oprah's people at Harpo came directly from someone who knows the Duggar family personally and may even be one of their own home-church people. The reporter that gave the information to InTouch who then obtained the report through the Freedom of Information Act was probably paid a hefty sum of money for disclosure of this information to In Touch. It's all speculation however, and all the 'where-whens-and hows' are really of no further pertinence. The information that IS pertinent is how and why the Duggars chose to handle the whole situation from the very start, and not even reporting it at first.

That would depend on who is doing the choosing. Considering what other reporters might do with a Duggar interview, Megyn Kelly is definitely the safest bet for a softer questioning of the Duggar family. Megyn Kelly has admitted to having had very little knowledge or exposure to their TV series. If I was the Duggar's and had to open up and be vulnerable to the public in an interview, FOX would definitely be the network I'd offer my interview to. *addendum to my post. Will there be a forum to discuss the new format of PreviouslyTV? I'll might be the first to snark in my own opinion. I don't like it.

In 2007, a reporter for the Northwest Arkansas Times, who now works for the Democrat-Gazette, finds a court document for a case titled Josh Duggar vs. the Arkansas Department of Human Services. The Democrat-Gazette reports: A trial in that case took place Aug. 6, 2007, according to notes attached to the file. Sealed cases aren’t supposed to be left in public view, but the Duggar case file had been left in a stack of routine court filings at the circuit clerk’s office. The reporter saw no other information on the case at the time. May 21: In Touch Weekly publishes a follow-up to its original article, this time with a police report online that, it says, details the allegations against Josh Duggar. In Touch reports that it obtained the police report through a Freedom of Information request. The Democrat-Gazette is also able to obtain the document through an FOI request, but a Thursday FOI request from The Washington Post was answered on the same day with a court order, dated May 21, ordering that the police report in question be destroyed. The order was a result of a “motion to expunge” from one of the alleged victims.