Today's Hot Topic (6/23): Children used for entertainment?
Have you heard about the Dionne quintuplets?
From the CNN website:
Born May 28, 1934, to poor, French-speaking, Catholic parents, the Dionne quints were at least two months premature, and together they weighed less than 14 pounds. Each of the babies could be held in an adult palm.
They were put by an open stove to keep warm, and mothers from surrounding villages brought breast milk for them. Against all expectations, they survived their first weeks.
To protect the infants from germs, kidnappers and a father known to have considered exhibiting them for money, they were taken from their family and placed under the government's guardianship. A hospital was built across the road from their family's farmhouse for their exclusive use.
The hospital became "Quintland" and the sisters' home for years after. Their parents, made unwelcome, became irregular visitors.
Film footage of the young quintuplets shows five pretty girls with dark hair and dark eyes -- and a crush of tourists waiting in line to see them.
"It wasn't human," Cecile Dionne told The (London) Independent in a 1995 interview. "It was a circus."
In the early days, nurses would take the quints to a nursery balcony and show them, one at a time, to the crowds below. Later, they were viewed three times a day from a gauze-covered corridor. "We saw moving. We heard sounds," said Cecile.
* * *
Do you think there is any comparison between the exploitation of the Dionne quintuplets and the experience of children featured on reality shows?
What are your thoughts?
Anyone who watches these shows should be ashamed of themselves. Who care, really why should you care about these families, worry about your own family.
Why not join the circus same life this is not what children are for. dispicapable.
I don't think the show had anything to do with them splitting up.
Sorry..I don't.
Look at the personalities. I think that had everything to do with it.
I see that the show at least provided for them...and see nothing wrong with it in the infancy/toddler stages...but man....now? End it. Those kids need to be allowed to grow up in peace.
The Dionnes? They were effectively taken from their parents...there is a large difference there. It was like a gov't sanctioned kidnapping. It was crazy.
If you watch the Duggars...I don't see any harm coming to them, they are a stable family and I don't see film crews disrupting that. I also feel that if they felt that filming was disrupting their life at all, it would be ended in a heartbeat, as NOTHING would be more important than their families.
Do we judge any of the other famous reality shows? Denise Richards? Gene Simmons? Ozzy and fam? If you have a sable family going into a show, nothing will harm you. If you're messed up to begin with, well....what do you expect?
Quoting PamR:When you look at a show like Jon & Kate, and what the effect has been on the family - to split it up - you have to feel like the children would be better off if they hadn't become famous.
I would never want to put my family on national tv and live our lives for everyone to see. We don't live life by a script. Things pop up instantly and what if that isn't what the script says to follow. I'm sure that Kate doesn't look perfect everyday. Or the kids. And I'm sure that when the kids have problems with their daily life do they want it shone on tv. Will one day they watch these shows and see where the world found out they didn't potty train too well. I wonder if the kids are a victim of the show, since Jon and Kate are split. Would they have split if they didn't have the pressure of 8 kids AND the show? I wnder about the repercussions of all these reality show. The conjoined girls Abby and Brittany, the little girl born "without a face". Are all these oddities or in vitro kids put on tv to make money only? What about the Duggers? In the beginning they didn't have tv or computers and they all dressed alike. Now they have those things, drees as they like, built a huge house and you know they are making money hand over fist by exploiting their lives on tv.
The one and only thing that is not wholly government run is our private lives. It's the only thing that we have left that is truly OURS.
They do it for greed purposes thats it. John & Kate needed money now they get like 75,000 per episode. 8 episodes paid for all those kids college, moms breast implants and tummy tuck etc. Its all about the money. Greed! Now the couple are divorcing... serves them right.
18 kids and counting... that show disgusts me. That couple has to many children and the mom and dad aren't caring for them.. the brother and sister are. Its messed up
ANYTHING FOR MONEY I GUESS
My Body My Choice
You clearly don't watch..you just judge.
The Duggars actually do care for their own children, yes, the siblings help, but that just creates a closer sense of family.
Quoting dereksmommy1227:They do it for greed purposes thats it. John & Kate needed money now they get like 75,000 per episode. 8 episodes paid for all those kids college, moms breast implants and tummy tuck etc. Its all about the money. Greed! Now the couple are divorcing... serves them right.
18 kids and counting... that show disgusts me. That couple has to many children and the mom and dad aren't caring for them.. the brother and sister are. Its messed up
ANYTHING FOR MONEY I GUESS
The Gosselins marriage may have ended anyway, it's true. It's just unfortunate that it is being played out in front of the country, and that it has lead to a lot of unwanted attention from the tabloid media. But if you choose to turn your children into a money-making commodity, you can't complain when all the attention isn't positive.
The kids are cute, but they're growing up and people won't want to watch them go through their annoying adolescense in front of a camera. It's not cute. We like to watch cute toddlers and pre-schoolers. Hopefully, their parents will manage the money they are making now wisely, so that it can actually benefit the children down the road.
I think TLC is a horrible channel! They recruit families with multiple children... Jon and Kate, 18 and Counting, etc. those are all shows that exploit their children. It's sick.
As for Jon and Kate... they would have divroced anyway... Kate is a BI*CH! I don't blame Jon for sprinting away.
Then the Duggers... I have actually met them in person. Their kids are well behaved and truly love their parents. And the parents care for their children (they do use the older siblings to help but who here doesn't have their kids help out with the younger ones?)
Jess & Tom Riley Ami
12/28/04 06/05/07 05/11/09
Totally agree.
Quoting fiddleannecat:
I would never want to put my family on national tv and live our lives for everyone to see. We don't live life by a script. Things pop up instantly and what if that isn't what the script says to follow. I'm sure that Kate doesn't look perfect everyday. Or the kids. And I'm sure that when the kids have problems with their daily life do they want it shone on tv. Will one day they watch these shows and see where the world found out they didn't potty train too well. I wonder if the kids are a victim of the show, since Jon and Kate are split. Would they have split if they didn't have the pressure of 8 kids AND the show? I wnder about the repercussions of all these reality show. The conjoined girls Abby and Brittany, the little girl born "without a face". Are all these oddities or in vitro kids put on tv to make money only? What about the Duggers? In the beginning they didn't have tv or computers and they all dressed alike. Now they have those things, drees as they like, built a huge house and you know they are making money hand over fist by exploiting their lives on tv.
The one and only thing that is not wholly government run is our private lives. It's the only thing that we have left that is truly OURS.
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on Jun. 23, 2009 at 1:13 AM