I disagree.

Sort of.

I think it's insane that we have devolved to a point where this represents 'pop culture' stuff to our world. Insane. Trashy. Small. Shallow.

I've watched the show a small handful of times, mostly when my kids had been channel-surfing and landed on their show, and it was easy to get sucked into watching how it worked having soooo many little kids. When *that* was what the show was about, it didn't seem so much like tabloid tv, and I think a segment of Americans developed sort of an emotional attachment to those strangers on tv. When you've watched them through the initial struggles associated with juggling those babies, and seen them sometimes be great together and sometimes snap at each other - just like you'd assume any normal couple would do in that sort of a situation - well, I think for some viewers what began as 'interest' evolved into 'connectedness' with that family, if only in their minds.

I think we have to remember that this didn't start out as a show about a family in shambles. For those who have followed them the whole way through, it's no wonder there is a high level of interest. We're all about sequels... from seeing how Harry Potter plays out to soap operas, even when it ISN'T a real live family, we always wait with baited breath for the next chapter in the story.

But this is way different. I think many people have started to tune in BECAUSE of the tabloid feel of it all - people who never gave a whit before.

The part I disagree with - the part about us not really KNOWING what the truth is - well, here's how I see it:

They're all stupid people. We don't need to know the details of exactly how all of this has gone down to know that BOTH of them are individuals with very, very poor judgment. BOTH of them are individuals who aren't putting the best interests of the kids first. Regardless of who is sleeping with whom and when it began, regardless of whether she was really controlling ALL the time or ONLY in the parts that made it to tv (and the other 23.8 hours of her day when she was the perfect mother are on the cutting room floor)... the bottom line is that they had the power to stand up and say, "Wait. Hold on. This is our life and we don't like the way it's being portrayed and we don't like the fact that it's become and invasion and we don't like that our private moments are turned into public fodder. It's not normal and it's not healthy for our kids and after this season... it stops."

Nope.

Neither of them had what it took to say that. When there were choices to be made, they chose to continue down the path of the public eye. I am sure it's expensive to raise that many kids, but for the amount of money they made from just the first season or two plus the income he USED to have, they could have made it. People make it on less than they would have had at their disposal all the time, even prorated out per family member.

But THEY chose the path. HE chose it. SHE chose it. Their kids, by default, had no choice, but had to LIVE it.

So regardless of the he said, she said details, which ones are true and which ones are not, what we KNOW to be true is that they have been the makers of this destiny... and it's not a destiny I find very impressive at all.