Stupid Is as Stupid Does

My father just posted a rant to one of his blogs. My father is a very good ranter. (Is that a real noun?) He gets to the heart of the issue, with just enough complaining, a dash or two of sarcasm, and a final grumble to wrap it all up. Having been under his tutelage for nearly 42 years, I think I am a fair ranter myself. Dad's last blog was about the absurdity of things such as able-bodied people receiving welfare for no work, government bailouts, and the like. This is somewhat of a follow-up. My complaint: People who are rewarded for simply being victims of their own stupidity.


My daughter, who is 6, likes to watch this terrible show about a family who has 8 children. I am unsure why she likes this program; I think perhaps she finds some humor in the chaos. Every few days she asks me to watch it with her, and it is truly painful. The story behind this TV show is that the couple couldn't have children naturally, so they had in-vitro fertilization and had 2 healthy twin girls. Excellent. Most people would be happy with that. However, the mother is a perfectionist shrew and just "wanted to have one more." Well, they did in-vitro again and ended up with sextuplets (three boys and three girls). Mother Nature has a sense of humor and will f^#$@ you every time.


Somehow, in our society, these people have become celebrities. For doing what, I'm not sure. Oh wait...it's for doing what something risky and unnecessary! They weren't happy with the healthy children they had; they just had to have that third one to complete the "perfect" family and now they are screwed because they have 8 kids. I am not sure which is the dumber of the two, the husband or the wife. The husband is this laid-back dude, who seems to be in a constant state of shock that he has ended up where he is. He is also useless with anything. And the wife is always nagging a him to do this and that, and just can't rest if everything is not perfect. I have news for her: nothing will ever be perfect when you have 8 kids. In any event, this bubble head woman has written some book that is flying off the shelves. And they have a TV show that "follows their lives." They go on all these vacations (likely paid for by the network) and have a TV camera documenting every facet of their lives. In the clip I just caught, the wife and all the girls were having pedicures (why do 5- and 3-year-old girls need pedicures?) and the father was doing some masculine activity with the 3 boys.


So, basically, these people made a decision to have have more children and ended up with 8. They are always moaning and groaning about how hard their lives are; well, they made their own beds (all 10 of them), as far as I'm concerned. And what do they get? Fame, fortune, and constant adulation about how wonderful they are. They are some sort of heroes because they are raising 8 children. Well, my grandfather was one of 11, and I know for sure that no one ever gave my great-grandmother her own show or any perks because of choices she made. I also know that many families had large numbers of children because birth control was not nearly as readily available. That is just the way things were; no one hovered over them, praising their every move and marveling at how they can raise so many kids.


I commend them for their commitment to raise all the children and to not abort any of them. What I do not commend them for is exposing not only every second of their own lives, but every second of their children's lives, to public scrutiny. They are adults and can make choices; their children are simply the victims of their parents' desire for money and 15 seconds of fame.

There is also another show (which thankfully my daughter has not found) about a family who has 18 kids and just keeps having more. We are all entitled to our own choices, but really now, are 18 children really necessary? And once again, people go running to the TV to watch these fools juggle their everyday lives. More money for them, more crap on TV for us. I guess I just don't get it. Life is hard enough....why would you want a TV camera in your house day and night, and more importantly, why would anyone watch what goes on in these people's homes?

Well that's my whiny opinion. I know I am in the minority on this. So I guess I'll sit back, relax, and watch the latest episode of "The Real Midgets of Middlesex County."