Written By: Anton Sawyer
Warning: The article which you are about to read has Josh Duggar and his legal woes as its subject. If you are already familiar with Josh Duggar, then you know what you’re getting into. If not, then be aware that this piece today is going to openly discuss topics such as child abuse, sexual molestation, and infant torture. If these items are offensive or triggering to you, then please go elsewhere.
The Duggar Family Is Supporting Child Abuse Through Their Inactions Relating To Josh
Having to testify in a court of law against a family member who molested a child in your care is one of the most emotionally conflicting, and difficult, things to do. I know these feelings well as they were the ones I felt when I had to testify against my 15-year-old nephew who had molested my 6-year-old stepdaughter. I was the only person she disclosed to, so I had to stand alone. Having first-hand knowledge of the intensity along with how an entire family dynamic gets upended in horrific ways, I can say with complete certainty that after watching all the facts trickle into the general public during the Josh Duggar trial, both Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar are cowards of the worst kind.
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I know this piece isn’t about me specifically. But between what happened with her disclosure and my testimony (all while looking at every family member attending court that day), along with the fact that certain family members were adamant that my nephew could not do such a thing (namely my stepmom and my brother—who was the father of my nephew), I couldn’t sit idly by. The levels of anger, sorrow, and finger-pointing I experienced were incredibly similar to the situation of the Duggar family.
It’s with this experience that I knew I had to comment on the Josh Duggar case once the verdict was reached. It was reached (he’s guilty), and here I am.
If you are unfamiliar with who Josh Duggar is or want a more thorough overview of the complete series of events, they are everywhere online, and I recommend hitting them up for such a historical view. Off-topic, but if you truly don’t know what I’m talking about, I have to respect your ability to avoid almost any and all pop culture throughout a majority of the 21st century—kudos.
At the end of the day, in December of 2021, Josh Duggar was found guilty in Fayetteville, Arkansas—about 140 miles northwest of Little Rock—on one count each of receiving and possessing child pornography. He faces up to 20 years in prison and fines up to $250,000 for each count when he’s sentenced. Federal authorities said they began investigating after a Little Rock police detective found child porn files were being shared by a computer traced to Duggar. A federal agent testified that images depicting the sexual abuse of children, including toddlers, were downloaded in 2019 onto a computer at a car dealership Duggar owned.
These are the facts that have hit every major news outlet and headline since the verdict was announced. The thing I find most ghoulish about everything else orbiting the sphere of this disgusting display of humanity has been in some of the responses—namely those of the cowards in charge, Patriarch Jim Bob and Broodmare Michelle Duggar, the parents. This was their exact quote when the verdict was announced.
“This entire ordeal has been very grievous. Today, God’s grace, through the love and prayers of so many, has sustained us. Our hearts and prayers are with anyone who has ever been harmed through CSAM (Child Sexual Abuse Material). In the days ahead, we will do all we can to surround our daughter-in-law Anna and their children with love and support. As parents, we will never stop praying for Joshua, and loving him, as we do all of our children. In each of life’s circumstances, we place our trust in God. He is our source of strength and refuge. Thank you for your prayers.”
If it were not for the fact that at the time of the verdict, Jim Bob was running for an Arkansas State Senate seat in a special election and HAD to make some kind of bland, politically devoid non-statement, along with their egregious history when it comes to human sexual predatory behaviors—namely those of their son Josh—I might buy what they are trying to sell. Let’s look at that last sentiment a little more closely.
To give you an idea of how little Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar invest themselves in reality, their responses to Megyn Kelly in a 2015 Fox News interview—after it was found out nationally that Josh had molested his sisters and the parents knew about it and only sent him to Jesus Camp—are the perfect example.
When asked about the anti-LGBTQ+ robocalls she had commissioned to help prevent LGBTQ+ rights from being expanded in Arkansas, Michelle first doubled down. On those robocalls that were made in 2014 to fight against the upcoming ordinance, Michelle told Kelly that it was “Protecting young girls and not allowing young men and men, in general, to go into a girls’ locker room is just common sense.” Jim Bob insisted to Kelly during the interview that Michelle was not comparing trans people to “child molesters” in the robocalls. “I think you actually said pedophile in that,” Jim Bob told Kelly, referring to her question about the specifics of the robocall. “A pedophile is an adult that preys on children. Joshua was actually 14 and just turned 15 when he did what he did. And I think the legal definition is 16 and up for being an adult preying on a child. So, he was a child preying on a child.”
I have seen first-hand what it’s like when someone doesn’t want to face the realities of their own flesh and blood being able to perpetrate such an inhuman act. I know that any and every defense mechanism can come into play, and those defenses can cloud the reasoning capabilities of anyone. The venom that infects the entire family unit leaves no emotional stone unturned. To be honest, the only emotion the Duggars haven’t displayed through this entire ordeal is one that oftentimes accompanies such a tragic situation, wrath.
Reading the defenses that the Duggars have raised when it comes to the sins of Josh is one thing. It’s something entirely different when you get into the nitty-gritty of the court testimony to see what he was locating or attempting to locate.
During the events of the investigation, federal investigators came upon to file names that were of interest: “DD” and “DD1.” Though investigators didn’t find the video itself, as they burrowed deep into Duggar’s seized HP device, they uncovered two telltale “torrent files” marked DD and DD1. When James Fottrell, Director of the FBI’s High Technology Investigative Unit, punched the same file names into a government database of known child pornography his worst suspicions were confirmed. “DD is associated with ‘Daisy’s Destruction.’ It’s one of the most offensive video series that I’m familiar with throughout my career,” Fottrell told jurors at the federal courthouse in Fayetteville. Daisy’s Destruction, he went on, depicted various depraved scenes including a distressed 18-month-old girl child being tied upside down, beaten on the hands and feet, and doused in hot wax—basically, she’s being tortured throughout the clip.
This is so beyond the pale that I’m having an incredibly difficult time digesting how the responses to this entire situation are being handled by the family. I understand that when it comes to politics, faith, family, these are all binds with incredibly strong ties—oftentimes ties that are impossible to break without doing significant psychological damage if broken. But for both Jim Bob and Michelle to come out and look the other way in the face of all this has to beg the question “when is enough?”
Is there a limit to what a human being can do to another human being that God CAN’T forgive?
Is there some level of depravity where even Jesus gives a stink-eye and says, “that’s a little excessive?”
Or is every situation set up to where as long as anyone says, “I believe, I repent,” then the King of Kings just lets it all slide—no matter how horrific the transgression?
I truly don’t think there is just one specific element that I’ve written about which has allowed the entire Duggar clan to support Josh through these ordeals. As with everything else in life, family emotional dynamics aren’t that easy to pin down to one single component, and defense mechanisms often latch on to two or three different facets of deception to work. Sadly, all are in full display with the immediate family responses.
I just feel, in the marrow of my bones, that it would be so refreshing for even one or two of the family members to step out from behind Jim Bob’s shadow and say, “I’m sorry, but God wouldn’t condone this.”
Maybe that revelation would manifest if I prayed along …
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