Honey Boo Boo, all that bad?

As a current TV advert states Here Comes Honey Boo Boo is the “show that has divided America” (and the world let’s be honest). And it sure has! People are raging about how common, redneck, lowdown and disgusting the family are. And others are raving about how much they love the show, although I've noticed that not many people say why they love the show.

My opinion: I think Here Comes Honey Boo Boo is a fantastic show, I love it, and here’s why.

Here is a family of people who do not care one little bit about what others think about them. How amazing must it be to love yourself so much that you don’t care about how others perceive you? Should we not all strive towards such self-love? June or Mama, the mother of the family, weighs over 300 pounds and yet she thinks she is beautiful. But according to society’s definition of what is beautiful or desirable, she is not. I think it is amazing that she is so confident in herself and that she thinks she is beautiful no matter what.

Here is a family that is so close that they are comfortable being themselves around one another, to the point where they fart in front of one another, pick their noses, burp etc. Their display of this supposed socially unacceptable behavior around one another just shows how accepting they are of one another. Should we not all want to have relationships that close and that comfortable with our family members?

What I think is most successful about the show is how it highlights a huge problem in the way that we think. Yes, their behavior can be considered as common and lowdown, but according to whom? Yes, their accent is so southern that it is almost impossible to understand, but why do we think that that’s a problem? Yes, it’s gross that they fart, burp and pick their noses on camera, but gross according to whom?

I think what the show highlights most obviously is that we have this belief that our culture is what is right and acceptable, nothing else is. To them they don’t have an accent. That is our perception of them. And just because they don’t talk like we do doesn't make them any less common than the Geordies of Newcastle whose accent we don’t understand either.

Their behavior is perceived as socially unacceptable. But it’s unacceptable according to our culture, to them it’s perfectly normal. We think being that fat is ugly, we think behaving that way is unladylike and rude, we think what they are doing is wrong. We are so quick to make judgement based on the fact that we believe that what we do in our culture is right, and everyone else who doesn't do it our way is wrong, disgusting, controversial.