Monday, November 3, 2014

Who really loves Honey Boo Boo?

I guess you would have to be living under a rock to not have heard the ruckus caused by the rumor that the  mother of Honey Boo(reality TV show Here comes Honey Boo-Boo) might be dating a sex offender. According to what I have read in the news TLC has cancelled the show to protect the children.  They are "worried about the well being of the minors of the show"  Some how by cancelling the show they have taken the moral high ground and are looking out for the welfare of this child and her sisters?
 Somehow by dating a sex offender Honey Boo Boos mother is unethical and immoral?  This is their reasoning on why they won't fully compensate " Mama June" for the work she has done on the show.

Tell me how does this protect the child?  I think it's more about TLC trying to protect their bottom line by not being associated with anything that has the social stigma of "sex offender".  Heaven forbid a reality show, actually show the truth when it's not socially acceptable or the truth that unpopular. At least be honest about it, Your concern is not about the child or her sisters but about public opinion.  You are entitled as a company to do what you feel is in the best interest of your investors and financial base, but please don't hide the truth with the thinly veiled cloak that you are protecting this minor.  Face it, you want to distance TLC from this PR disaster as fast as you can.
If the reporter who first heard about the possibility that Mama June was dating an unsavory character, really wanted to protect Honey Boo-Boo, instead of releasing this news to a company like TMZ,  you may have just voiced your concerns to the sex offenders probation/parole officer.  Maybe you would have contacted their local CPS and said Hey, I have concerns that a sex offender may have had contact with this minor.  That in itself would have been enough to initiate an investigation by the powers that be.  Then it would be up to the law to investigate and determine what was going on and whether any laws were being broken.  Did you really need to put this into a media maelstrom?  I understand they are celebrities, but still I think in matters like this knowing how the public reacts with knee jerk reaction that it could have been handled more discreetly.  That would have been putting the children first.
How does submitting this young child to the media scrutiny of such an issue as this help her?  How does taking away her income or the income of her mother help her?
I am pretty sure that this man's probation or parole officer is capable of determining if this man has violated the conditions of his parole or probation.  If he hasn't, then is it our business who "Mama June" dates?  If she dates him and doesn't have him hanging out with her children, then is it immoral still?  Just because she is dating someone does that automatically mean they consent to be on the reality TV show?   Do you think this man who hasn't even been out of jail for a year was like "Yep, I want to go back to jail by hanging out with someone and their kids."  I bet there are more sex offenders who feel like running the other way when they consider getting involved with someone who has children because they know that violating their parole or probation this way is a pretty much automatic back to jail card.

If you ask me, if people really wanted to "protect the children", they would be concerned about the family unit.  How does tearing down the family by the media help protect this child?  How does the threat "CPS is going to take your children away from you, really help the children?  Do you think that separating child from a parent or parents who  love that child really helps?  I can see separating children from parents who are actively abusing their children as a good reason for separation with the goal of getting help and then reunifying the family once it is safe, under the guidance of a well qualified counselor.
Uncle Poodle is also simply just looking out for Honey Boo-Boo by taking to FaceBook to air his complaints against her mother.  Yep, that shows love.  Yes, he loves his niece so much that he thinks the best thing for her is to live with him instead of her living with her sister and her mother.  Is that seriously what you think is the best interest for these children?
As a parent I thought stability and unconditional love were some of  the cornerstones of doing your  best for your children.  If my children were taken from me or if I died I would want  my two daughters kept together until they were of the legal age where they could make their own decisions.
Now if I was TLC and I wanted to be a forward thinking reality show producer that pushed the envelope, I would make a reality TV show chronicling the lives of sex offenders and their families.  Let society really get to know them.  Are they really the big bad monsters of this day and age or are they regular people like you?
Ah, that is the scary part, when you realize there really is no difference between a sex offender and yourself.  Humans, we are capable of all sorts of evil, each and every one of us.  That is a belief that most of us would rather stay blind too.
The sex offender, he did his time.  He paid his price to society.  I know for many people they don't think that doing prison time is enough of a punishment,.  They would rather just see sex offenders killed and tortured because somehow that makes up for what happened?  They think that social isolation and stigmatization some how makes society a safer place to be?  They think separating families makes society a safer and better place?  They think that by making children of sex offenders feel shame about their families helps in some way.  This thinking...I don't get.
I keep coming back to the thought that sexual abuse is more wide spread than what we want to believe.  If you could just magically kill everyone who sexually abused someone in some way, most of the worlds population might just disappear. Where would we be then?  What if that left society with mostly just woman and children and a few men?   I honestly believe that there is an answer out there to help change the outcome of sexual abuse for the abuser and the abused and it doesn't involve hatred and killing.  If anything if involves encouraging people to constant seek to improve their own lives.  It involves striving for ultimate health and balance in all areas of our lives.  It's about building people up rather than tearing them down.

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