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Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar surprised the world when they took to Instagram to wish their son-in-law, Derick Dillard, a happy birthday. The message likely seemed sweet for people who weren’t aware that Derick, along with his wife Jill Duggar, has been all but excommunicated from the family. While some fans believe the families have put their troubles behind them, critics think the message was calculated, and they are not okay with it.

Are Jim Bob and Michelle reading internet comments?

After the message went live, family followers were a little bit surprised. After all, Jim Bob and Michelle are clearly in the middle of a pretty public battle with their son-in-law, even if the public feud appears a bit one-sided. Family critics surmise that Jim Bob and Michelle are reading internet comments, and their birthday message was a direct reply to what everyone has been talking about for months.

If you think about it, the birthday message is pretty out of place. The family hasn’t offered up a birthday shoutout to any of the other in-laws who have joined the family. It’s also the first time that they’ve publicly acknowledged Derick in years. The transparent motivation behind the birthday message did not sit well with critics, to say the least.

Extending Jill an invitation to a family event seems pretty calculated now, too

The Duggars are busy trying to fix their public image it would seem. The birthday message to Derick also coincided with Jill finally being invited to a family event. After fans noticed she hadn’t been acknowledged by her family in more than two years, suddenly, she showed up on the family Instagram page. To be fair, we don’t know if she’s simply not pictured at events, or not invited at all.

Counting On fans, once again, found the timing pretty suspect. After all, Jill hadn’t shown up in a single family image since 2017, but within weeks of followers talking about it, suddenly, Jill was front and center. The timing simple seemed too coincidental, and several followers have suggested the family is attempting to minimize the damage done by Derick’s public Instagram admissions.

Is the recent Instagram activity doing more harm than good?

While the Duggar family likely believed sharing a little love online would help to calm the chatter about familial strife, it’s seemingly done the opposite. In fact, fans have been discussing the odd timing of both Jill’s sudden family involvement and the birthday message to Derick ever since they went live, and few people have anything good to say about it.

In fact, they may have done more harm to their image than good. The message seems pretty calculated, and also lends credence to the theory that the Duggar family has almost nothing to do with the Dillards. The message was so generic that it seems pretty evident that Jim Bob and Michelle know very little about Derick. Although, the words they offer to their own children on their birthdays are pretty generic, too.

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