My Response to "Are the Duggars Good Role Models?"

You can read Georgia's post in its entirety, and I suggest you do, but here is my response to what she wrote about the Duggar family from TLC's 19 Kids and Counting:

Well, I'm glad my post could inspire another. Interesting because when I was thinking about Ned and the gang, I tried to think of other families on television that might also be ripe for criticism. The Duggars were not one of them, if only because I do not watch their program.

While we can argue whether the Duggars are role models for young people – the show is on TLC after all, not exactly a known hotbed for young viewership – the fact still remains that they have a platform to espouse their beliefs. On top of which, TLC, by airing their show, bares some responsibility for what information the Duggars present to their audience. It is a slippery slope to air a television program that would have these anti-birth control beliefs as its premise, which is exactly what this show is based around, or at least conceived (pardon the pun) around. This show would not exist had the Duggar parents not been anti-birth control. There would be no 19 kids, there would be no television cameras, and there would be no fame. Like you said, the Duggars created their own fame. This is just as dangerous as what Paris Hilton did. I do not mean to offend anyone by comparing the Duggars to Paris Hilton, but their respective rises to fame are not all that dissimilar.

The other area that I am equally as uncomfortable with is the idea of the “buddy system.” These children did not choose to be in this family, yet they bear the responsibility of raising their brothers and sisters? Something about that just doesn’t seem right to me. Thrusting child rearing on them does not seem like the right way to go about teaching your children about responsibility. Besides, what kind of example are the parents setting by basically saying, “Have as many kids as you want. You can just get the older ones to raise them.” Not a good one, in my opinion.

Very thought provoking post.