The recent announcement by reality TV stars Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar that they are expecting their 20th child has proven yet another opportunity for journalists to snark about the Arkansas couple's choice to have a large family.
Take celebrity gossip writer Sonia Mansfield, who wrote a feature for The Examiner newspapers today.
"Maybe the Duggars are strong believers in No Egg Left Behind," Mansfield snarked in her November 10 piece, adding in the next paragraph that the (emphases below mine):
"19 Kids and Counting" stars Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar are answering critics who question their choice to add a 20th child to their ever-expanding herd.
"We are a pro-choice country, and if Michelle Duggar wants to treat her uterus like a clown car that’s her right," Mansfield snarked in her closing paragraph. "And to the people who are asking how the couple will be able to make ends meet if their reality show is ever canceled, don’t fret: A couple with 20 children would make a fascinating episode of 'Hoarders.'"
Mansfield's loaded rhetoric -- "herd," "clown car," "Hoarders" -- serves only to dehumanize and caricature the Duggars to a secular newspaper audience.
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Update: Upon a subsequent Web search, I found Mansfield's article from the day prior, November 9, is even more loaded with harsh and derogatory language:
The Duggar family is famous for overpopulating the planet and basically being a living, breathing birth control ad with their TLC reality show, "19 Kids and Counting" — or, as it is soon to be called, "20 Kids and Counting." Yep, Michelle Duggar, 45, is expecting another little bundle of ratings.
If you watch the show (really?), then you probably know that the last baby born to the Duggar clan was premature at just 25 weeks. I suspect that's because the babies just fall out of Michelle's uterus at this point. It's like a Slip-n-Slide.
There's more, but you get the point.
