And like Osama Bin Laden, we may never know the whole story about
the Duggar Family.
One family had 19 children, the other had 20. Both were extremely religious.
Both had loving, doting parents. One parent was a professional father, showing
America how one large Christian family copes. The other was a professional
terrorist, showing the world how Al Queda copes.
(CNN) In his final years hiding in a compound in Pakistan, Osama bin Laden was a man who at once showed great love and interest in his own family while he coldly drew up quixotic plans for mass casualty attacks on Americans, according to documents seized by Navy SEALs the night he was killed.
(ReligionNews)The Duggars, the reality TV family famous for its progeny (19 Kids and Counting) and its conservatism, is reeling now that oldest son, Josh, has been forced to acknowledge he was investigated for molesting underage girls when he was a teenager in Arkansas.
The week of May 18th was a week frought with family values disclosures - going
in opposition directions: Osama Bin Laden's image got a slight re-adjustment
while the Duggar family's image got trashed. And while not in the terrorist
league, the Duggar family is suffering a fall from the Righteous Right pedestal
that would certainly amuse Bin Laden.
And while Osama Bin Laden's family values were given short shrift by the media,
it was Josh Duggars past exploits that dominated the headlines. It was as if
the fall of the Christian Right's poster family was more important to America
than the analysis of Bin Laden. Such are the ways of America and its hunger for
scandal.
Josh Duggar, Rhetorical Terrorist
Everyone jumped into the fray, from Montel Williams, who called Duggar a
"scumbag" and a rhetorical
terrorist" to Mike Huckabee who came to the Duggars' defense. Analysis
of Duggar values and ideologies came to the fore:
Sarah Posner (Religion Dispatches):
This week, a recap of their television show on their blog discussed how Jim Bob and Michelle "encourage their kids to take a chaperone along on all their dates so they have someone to keep them accountable and ensure that they stick to their courtship standards." In their family, they police sex outside of marriage. In politics they police sex between consenting adults, sex between people of the same sex; they are "pure" and "godly" because they police and condemn other people's sexual lives. But now the public knows that this family which enforces "purity" has covered up the sexual predations--against children, even their own children-- of their star son.
Posner points out that
the "Purity" of the Duggar family never really existed, something
that die hard supporters like Mike Huckabee find hard to believe.
In Stumbles Huckabee
The fallout from the scandal is incredibly far-reaching: not only has TLC
pulled 19 and Counting, but Mike Huckbee's support of the Duggars has enraged
his most ardent fans:
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