Thousands are backing a petition calling for the cancellation of the TLC series “19 Kids and Counting” over the stars’ discriminatory sentiments against the LGBT community. A petition on Change.org launched by Jim Wissick of San Jose, California, states that “19 Kids and Counting,” starring conservative Baptists Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar and their children, should be axed because of the LGBT fearmongering promoted by the family…. “The Duggars have been using their fame to promote discrimination, hate, and fear-mongering against gays and transgendered people,” Wissick wrote in a letter to TLC which was posted on the Change.org petition page. “You need to take a stand on the side of justice and cancel their show.”
I could care less about Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar and whatever suburb of Deliverance they may have crawled out of. My disdain for reality television (what’s “real” about it?) is well-chronicled and hardly needs to be revisited here. That said, I do understand that millions of Americans enjoy watching amateurs in contrived situations while cameras record the conflict and resulting hilarity. Somehow, the Duggars managed to achieve a measure of fame for bringing 19 children into the world (which is a birth control marketing campaign looking for a place to happen)…and not much else. Outside of raising a platoon and doing it in front of TV cameras, what do they have to offer? You mean beyond a hyper-religious intolerant brand of uber-Jesus-y homophobia and 15th century values?
There’s certainly nothing wrong with being conservative Baptists. Even with the broad pulpit of a reality TV show, not everyone in the audience will appreciate, or even be willing to condone, hatred, disrespect, and discrimination directed at a specific class of people, in this case the LGBT community. I know, huh? Go figure; conservative Baptists spouting homophobia and discrimination. Who could have seen that coming? Evidently the Duggar’s preachy intolerance and homophobia is not being well received by a good portion of TLC’s audience. The petition calling for the cancellation of “19 Kids and Counting” seems like a case of the Duggars deservedly reaping what they’ve sown.
From where I sit, I don’t know that I support the idea of petitioning TLC to cancel “19 Kids and Counting.” It smacks of censorship, which I find hard to defend, especially coming from a group demanding that their views be heard and respected. If those who oppose the Duggar’s homophobia want the series off the air, they’d probably be better served to convince people to stop watching it. When viewership drops and advertisers begin jumping ship, then it will hit TLC and the Duggars where they live- right smack in their bottom line. TLC will stop airing hate speech when they figure out that their audience won’t watch it…and the only language businesses speak fluently is money. Impact their bottom line in the easiest way possible- just stop watching “19 Kids and Counting”- and talk to everyone you know about doing the same. Eventually TLC will get the message and the Duggars will go crawling back to Buttcrack, Arkansas.
Good riddance.
