There is a fable from my distant memory. It may have come from a Sunday School story, but I kind of doubt it and, either way, though the details are hazy, the moral is not.
In the fable, a saint and a sinner are in the holding area waiting to be interviewed by St. Peter for their ultimate admission to Heaven, or condemnation to the other place. First, the saint is brought forward; he led an exemplary life, helped others, believed in the Word and acted accordingly, a deserving candidate for Paradise in the view of St. Peter.
Then, up steps an ant to the witness area. "Wait", the ant says. "I don't know what he may have done the rest of his life, but I lived in his house and he stepped on me and crushed me to death." St. Peter contemplated this additional testimony. "Hmmmm .... I'll have to think about that", he announced. "Take him back to the holding area."
Up next steps the sinner, and St. Peter starts reading off his record of sins, a long and very un-heavenly rap sheet. But as he finishes and is ready to send the sinner to the hot place, an old woman raises her voice. "Wait", she says. "I don't know what terrible sins this man may have committed to others, but I was walking home once in the rain and he put his coat on me to keep me dry, and walked with me to make sure I was safe." St, Peter contemplates this additional testimony, and orders the sinner brought back to the holding area.
"There they sat", went the fable, "saint and sinner, awaiting their fate together." The one leading an exemplary life put on hold for once stepping on an ant; the one living an execrable life on hold for a single act of kindness.
The moral of all that should be evident. It is related to the 21st-Century form, "Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the very good" that we in the proposal-writing profession know all too well.
And from that, we come to the situation given us by the Duggar family of Arkansas.
We all know the Duggars from their reality TV show "19 Kids and Counting" which my better half watches although I really don't (I have a couple times). Surely I can't tell you anything you don't already know; they're conservative, fundamentalist Christians with 19 children, whose family has had cameras in their house for several years.
And -- we also know that the eldest son, Josh, who is now in his late 20s, was just reported to have, while about 14, inappropriately touched several of his younger sisters and a baby-sitter, mostly while they slept. We know that there is a brewing scandal over the release of what should have been sealed juvenile records.
We're also aware that the left is willing to blow up the American college fraternity system over allegations of rape that were shown to be completely made up and still won't publish the name of the lying female student (it was Jacqueline Coakley, now McGovern, by the way) -- but the same left has not issued a peep about the fact that the release of the juvenile records caused the identification of two of the sisters who were victims. "Who cares", the left is clearly saying, "they're just the Duggars."
But others will fight that battle and I wish them well.
I'm simply asking why the TV show of their lives, produced by the TLC network, is now under suspension and may possibly be cancelled. As I write this, no decision has been made, but "19 Kids" is off the air for the moment.
Saints and sinners, I have to think.
"19 Kids" -- which I note again, I don't watch -- is about a religious and very large family and the things they do. Their oldest kids are in their 20s now, so there are a lot of shows where weddings and pregnancy and grandchildren are the predominant topic. Another theme which is prominent, given weddings, pregnancy and children, is that the Duggar children are expected to be abstinent before they're married, no kissing until the altar, "side-hugging" only being permitted before marriage, no hand-holding until engagement, that sort of thing.
Saints? No, not hardly. Nor, it should be noted, do they claim to be. Christians, as they say, or at least portray, are not perfect but, rather, are forgiven. Sinners? Certainly, in the sense of us all being imperfect. I don't think I'd be too upset if they moved next door, except for maybe all those kids. At the very least, I'd not be afraid of them, and I figure they'd be right there to help me if my family had an emergency.
But TLC has suspended the show, and is presumably considering cancelling it. That would be based solely on the actions -- wrong though they were -- of one of the 19 children before turning 16, for which he has certainly apologized, seemingly has been reformed years and years earlier, has had no recurrence since, and for which the family has years earlier forgiven him and essentially forgotten as old news -- including the sisters.
While that is going on, let's see what actually is on reality television, with no one clamoring for its immediate removal. We can start with, oh, Keeping up with the Kardashians, featuring, well, I really don't watch that one either, but it is all over the supermarket tabloids -- and I do shop. Between the surgically amplified derrieres, the patriarch of the family becoming the matriarch, and, well, however you want to explain the existence of Kanye West, there appears to be plenty for Americans who watch the Duggars and "19 Kids" to shake their heads about.
But no one seems to be complaining that the Kardashians are on the air.
Also on reality TV are the Bravo series, the "Real Housewives of ... ", featuring a half a dozen ladies in each of several locations -- New Jersey, New York, Atlanta, LA and the like. Now, I actually have watched a couple of these regularly. So I can tell you that I once enjoyed the New York version, at least until the lewd behavior, the skinny-dipping by people who shouldn't, and the censored (but easily discernable) language finally got to be too much and we turned it off for good. These are not, let's say, the greatest role models.
The New Jersey version has generally centered around the Giudice family, a loving Italian-American clan with four young daughters. The daughters are now single-parented, and will be for five years. That would be because the loving parents, Joe and Teresa, are serving consecutive terms in Federal prison, Teresa first, then Joe. They are going to prison because they pleaded guilty to multiple charges including wire fraud, mortgage fraud, bankruptcy fraud and I'm not sure what else.
Those "sins" for which they were sent to the hoosegow occurred not in their teens, but as adults. But you will see a new, happy season of "Real Housewives of New Jersey" coming to your local TV screen soon. I don't know how much we'll see of any of the unincarcerated Giudices, but the show will be there.
Sinners aplenty will "grace" reality shows aplenty, and no one will offer a peep of protest. Nor should they -- if there are enough viewers to warrant advertisers paying for it, then put it on TV and whoever is willing to watch will do so.
But it is immensely, amazingly hypocritical of TV in general and TLC in particular, to suspend "19 Kids" for a action of one of 21 regular cast members, a dozen years back and in his early teens. Because if we are keeping the sinners, as it were, on TV, we have completely forfeited our role in deciding how much sin is or is not OK. The relative "saints" are suspended for one sin, while the unapologetic sinners just go blithely on.
If we are dumping shows for the sinful behavior of its stars, we'll only need about two channels.
Copyright 2015 by Robert Sutton
Like what you read here? There's a new post from Bob at www.uberthoughtsUSA.com at 10am Eastern time, every weekday, giving new meaning to "prolific essayist."
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