Angry Rant #17: Make it stop!!!!

On News Year's Day, I watched one of the most sickening things that I have ever witnessed - heightened more by the fact that it was advertised on pay TV as "entertainment".

The show in question, Toddlers and Tiaras delves into the world of child pageants and shows the children and how they and their families prepare for them. I have been trying to decide whether or not to write about something like this, due to the fact that the very thought of this infuriates me and I wasn't entirely sure that what I would write wouldn't just be a whole lot of swearing, and also because most people would despise any show where parents use their children as currency to fuel their own selfish needs. But if you're reading this, I've obviously decided to write it.

....is how I felt. 

I've been trying to understand how a adult, a parent, could put their own child through something as bad this. I'm also thinking this comes down to one of two things:

1. The parents genuinely believe that their child is the most beautiful thing on this planet, and ultimately believe that looks and nothing else will get them to wherever it is they want to be in life.
2. The parents are a bunch of selfish, money-grubbing assholes who use their own children to make fast cash, and nothing more.

If you were to talk to any of the parents, I can assure you they would all say something similar to the first point - no person would openly admit that they use their child as currency, but that doesn't mean they don't. The episode that I was watching had a parent who openly described his child losing in the pageant like a large company dismissing a "product". How could this possibly been seen as entertainment? I can question the integrity of the parents, but this falls back on the producers of the show as well. You have to ask the question "how" in a situation like this. What has forced these parents to sell their children out? 

Bam.

The child's well being is being put last. They are being thrown into a world we're they are led to believe that looks mean everything. The children, especially the girls, are portrayed as objects that are overtly-sexualised to make them seem more appealing. Cases in point? A 2-year-old wearing Madonna's cone bra outfit and another girl loaded on Pixie Sticks because she was tired, in what I saw as an obvious attempt to mimic a drug user with cocaine. These children are brought up in a culture that emphasises the need for women to use their bodies as sexual objects as a way of progressing in life.

Can you fix this problem? Can you fix a culture? 

You just know that God doesn't exist when this is classified as entertainment, when Jersey Shore has it's own news show and when Justin Beiber is still alive.

This one has me stumped. 

Don't Believe the Lies and Spin.