When I notice a persistent media buzz about something or someone, I occasionally feel the need to see for myself what all the brouhaha is about. More often than not, I’m sorry I did.
Like the day I decided to watch a couple of episodes of “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo.”
I’d been reading and hearing about this reality TV show, so I became curious. After all, I reasoned, I probably shouldn’t live with my head completely in the sand.
I found “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” on The Learning Channel lineup, recorded a few episodes, and sat down to check it out.
I tell you what, after about 45 minutes with this child and her family, I felt rather desperate to find some sand in which to replant my head.
I discovered more than I ever need to know about Honey Boo Boo, a seven-year-old serial beauty-pageant contestant, and her family—“Mama June,” “Sugar Bear,” “Pumpkin,” “Chubbs,” and “Chickadee.” There’s even gay “Uncle Poodle” around to keep things politically correct.
There are so many lowlights in this show that it’s hard to know which to share, but I’ll try.
For starters, there’s the whole child beauty-pageant circuit, which seems like a strange universe to me. I just feel icky inside when I see a bunch of six-year-olds with big hair striking poses and wearing more makeup than a … well, way too much makeup.
It’s okay if you disagree with me on this. I admit my opinion is probably skewed by my extremely tomboyish childhood.
After all, I was the weird little girl who begged for toy guns and sports equipment at Christmas and who was positively mortified, nigh unto death, when my mother made me wear a foofy hat to church one Easter.
I was obviously never cut out for the world of beauty pageants, but I’d venture to say that neither are Honey Boo Boo and her redneck clan.
If you want to see for yourself, go to www.youtube.com and type “Honey Boo Boo pageants” in the search box. Click on one of the clips that come up. I double-dog dare you.
The Wikipedia entry for “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” reveals even more unsettling weirdness.
I learned, for example, that Mama June fixes a special drink for Honey Boo Boo right before each pageant called “go go juice.” A mixture of Red Bull energy drink and Mountain Dew, the concoction is intended to get the child turbocharged to perform for the judges.
Mama June explains, “There are far worse things … I could be giving her alcohol.”
Sometimes I feel like the world is truly going nuts.
Judging by comments I read while researching this show, I’m not the only one who thinks Honey Boo Boo and her family are a bit disturbing. And yet the program is heading into its third season, which means plenty of people are watching it.
If a culture can be judged by what it considers to be popular and entertaining, we might be in trouble. The bar appears to be set rather low.
That’s why I think the next time I hear a buzz about some trendy show or celebrity, I may just let it buzz right on by me.
There are worse places for one’s head to be than in the sand. Ignorance about some things can indeed be, as the saying goes, bliss.
Just ask Adam and Eve. They listened to Satan’s “buzz” about the one fruit in the garden they were supposed to ignore and look where it got them—banished from Paradise to a world of thistles, thorns, pain and death.
Curiosity about the wrong things never ultimately leads us anyplace we really want to be.