Good morning, y’all. I’m happy to report that the Right Reverend Dale E. Bread was back in the pulpit yesterday of The Full Gospel Original Church of God. His duties were limited, I am told, and a traveling preacher was brought in to handle the entertainment portion of the show.
While talking with Mulva about the nature of sin and in particular this, “week in perversity”, she brought up an interesting point. What if I’ve let my misogynistic views falsely accuse Jim Bob of being the one who didn’t know when to call ’nuff? The Duggars relate their “meet cute” story as Jim Bob and a friend met Michelle on an outreach mission to her house. The story is that Michelle was known to have “wandered from the path” and Jim Bob and friend were sent to proselytize for their church. Now, I bet every male reader out there has at some time gone on a mission with a friend to a girl’s house that was rumored to have wandered from the path. Fortunately for the world food supplies, not all of those missions resulted in nineteen mouths to feed. In the interest of fair play, and keeping family peace, I’m willing to say that Michelle might be the “horn dog” of the relationship, but my money is still on Jim Bob.
What we do know about Michelle is that there was no way that the children were getting anywhere near the amount of motherly attention they required or deserved. As a means of survival, the older brothers and sisters were incorporated as surrogate parents for their younger siblings, we now know how that worked out. Other family members were drawn in, as well as church members. All pitched in to help this family promote their family and beliefs on national television, at the same time ignoring the rot at the core of the family. All of this effort so that Michelle could act as a human pez dispenser, popping out babies as fast as she could. I know my brain works funny, but, the thought of one cold with nineteen runny noses to wipe freaks me out. The idea that you might have a family with a stomach issue trying to all use the bathroom at the same time is mind boggling. I guess the good news for the males is that the boys have first dibs on everything, which I expect would include the toilet.
How much collusion the “Touching Little Children” network has in Duggar behavior is speculative, but, who would have watched a show called “17 Kids And Quitting”? It seems to me that the orchestration of births, weddings and more births, should not be something that a “reality TV” should be involved in. Is it moral, who can say? All we can do is look at the fallout from having the families secrets publicly disclosed and wonder if the Duggars wouldn’t have been better off left undisturbed in the wilds of Arkansas. Do the sisters who were duggared feel any better about their lives now that the whole world knows what happened? Do the husbands of the married duggared sisters feel cheated? Should there be a reduction in dowery? Will the duggared unmarried sisters be able to attract mates, and if so, of the high moral order that Jim Bob requires? Will the molested babysitter be compensated by the courts for her duggaring and will she be known as damaged goods to the holier than thou community? Will the older sister ever be allowed to marry and leave to lead her own life, or will she be forever kept in the compound as the spinster caretaker? Will any of the children be given the opportunity to attend an accredited college and given the chance to better their lot? Will Josh’s wife have the courage to divorce Josh and refuse visitation of the children?
So many questions, and only one answer so far, TLC, leave the production of shows about families to someone else, your record is tainted. My stepdad George used to say, “we’re all sinners, but there’s just two kinds of us, the caught and the uncaught”. My worldview is not that cynical. I certainly don’t think that the children should be made to pay for the sins of their father, and as Mulva points out, possibly their mother. TLC definitely needs to be held accountable, though, and I hope everyone boycotts their shows.
Well, it’s late and this “week in perversity” has thankfully come to an end. There’s nothing worse than hurting children and I had a lot of energy built up that needed releasing. I’m a little better now.