16th
Jon + Kate Conflicted
Dear Metal Gods,
Recently, I have been experiencing a crisis of conscience regarding my fandom of the television reality series Jon and Kate + 8. It is sort of the embodiment of all of my worst fears (imagine having 6 babies growing inside you and then having to take care of them for the rest of your life!?) but also, I’m kind of attached to the children as I feel like I’ve known them since they were 2 (they are 5 now).
When I first started watching the show I really loved it as it was interesting to watch people who were experiencing a totally different life from me navigate through their daily trials. Also, the kids were super cute and it’s been fascinating to watch their personalities evolve.
However, recently, it has become clear to be that the children are being exploited (though perhaps not intentionally so) and I worry that this much of their private lives (such as potty training) being made public will come back to haunt them later in life.
Also, it seems to me like Jon and Kate, who originally started with the best of intentions, have actually made a deal with the devil and in exchange for fame and fortune for themselves and their children they are unknowingly sacrificing their marriage and jeopardizing their future relationships with their children, as well as their children’s mental and physical health.
I worry that watching this show makes me a hypocrite as I am not a fan of exploitation of children or adults, and I feel that by giving them my time and I attention I am only fattening their pocketbook and thereby contributing to what will clearly end only in tears for all concerned.
The whole thing feels so biblical or Greek to me; doesn’t anyone recognize that this is clearly a morality tale, a warning to be careful what you wish for? And more importantly, do I have a moral obligation to stop watching the show? What should I do?
Sincerely,
Conflicted
Dear Conflicted,
Oh, what must it be like adrift in the dark stormy seas of your mind? How must it feel to be tossed and thrown about like a worn out rag doll by every fleeting thought and manic delusion? Good Metal God woman just how do you keep your head above the rising tide of your own neurotic manifestations? The Metal Gods read your question and worry not about these plus eight people but about you!
What should I do, about people on the TV?…That is what you ask The Metal Gods?!
The question is not what TO do but what NOT to do and not about the TV people but about you!
Don’t you realize you’re slipping off a thinning tight rope of sanity! Don’t you see the dark chasm of despair waiting for you below?
You must learn to control your undisciplined mind! You must tame that meddling genie and put it back in its bottle!
There is only one road of hope for you, only one course of action. You must starve that raging beast that is your mind into submission.
Thus, from now on: No more plus eight people, no more celebrity blah blah blah reality TV show, no more “My dad is a female transgender one armed priest midget prostitute,” and most importantly no more expending time and energy on people you meet on the TV!!!! The Metal Gods repeat: NO MORE EXPENDING TIME AND ENERGY ON PEOPLE YOU MEET ON THE TV!!!!!
Only if you break your addiction to shinny, loud, distracting, and empty things will you ever have even a remote chance for sanity.
In the words of the great Metal God Ronnie James Dio from the song “Don’t talk to Strangers”:
“Don’t dance in darkness you may stumble and you’re sure to fall”
WWMGD
