CORRECTION: In a previous version of this article, the amount of viewers who watched Honey Boo Boo compared to the Democratic National Convention was misstated. The number of Honey Boo Boo viewers was equal to CNN’s broadcast of the DNC. The Daily Orange regrets this error. 

The number of viewers watching toddler Honey Boo Boo last week was equal to the number of people tuning into CNN’s coverage of a former president’s speech at the Democratic National Convention.

For those of you who aren’t aware, Honey Boo Boo is the nickname of Alana Thompson, a six-year-old beauty pageant contestant who specializes in, well, being a six-year-old who takes part in beauty pageants, I guess. And she’s a sensation. On the night Bill Clinton addressed the DNC, the number of people who watched her latest adventure was equal to the number of people who tuned in to watch a former president of the United States.

This incredible ratings upset was widely reported by the media and then forgotten. Where was the outrage? Where was the embarrassment? There wasn’t any.

Hang on while I go silently weep for society. One sec.

And we’re back.

This weekend, I was at a bar in Los Angeles watching the University of Southern California play Syracuse University. As I slowly eased into a college-football coma, a cheer rose in the crowd when ESPN reported the Penn State kicker had gone 1-for-5 on field goal attempts, and the Nittany Lions lost to Virginia, falling to 0-2 on the year. The inebriated bar patrons were thrilled.

Penn State’s heinous child-sexual-abuse scandal and subsequent cover-up are fresh in the minds of many — myself included — who still gleefully root against Penn State. Even though PSU was tagged with unprecedented sanctions and lost its head coach, hundreds of wins and a whole boatload of integrity, it’s not enough for us.

That’s because in the court of public opinion, child exploitation is just on a different level. Any kind of abuse enacted on a defenseless child is almost impossible to fathom for most, and oftentimes leads us to leap to conclusions. There have been myriad child-exploitation scandals in recent memory, and all have caused a furor among the public (and rightfully so): Catholic priests, Michael Jackson, coaches Fine and Sandusky. Even Alec Baldwin’s angry message to his young daughter Ireland set the media pundits ablaze.

With that in mind, I ask again: Where’s the outrage with Honey Boo Boo?

There’s a new trend in reality television: the rise of the look-how-awful-and-abusive-these-parents-are-to-their-kids genre. The genre includes hits such as “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo,” “Toddlers & Tiaras,” “Teen Mom” and “Dance Moms.”

The verbal and physical abuse some of the kids on these shows endure should be unconscionable to our overreaction-happy, 24-hour news cycle of today. The one episode of “Dance Moms” I sat through featured all the mothers going out and getting hammered, and then one of them ended up burning her daughter with a curling iron pretty severely.

That’s entertainment!

But some would call that parental neglect. Actually, everyone on this side of Joe Jackson would call it parental neglect. Personally, I’d say agreeing to put your child on a reality show at all for a pathetic fame grab qualifies as parental neglect. Yet where’s the indignant outcry for these shows to be pulled from the air? If the Nielsen ratings are any indication, people seem to really eat this stuff up.

Now of course I’m not saying what’s happening on these shows is as awful and disgusting as the Sandusky scandal. Yet, it’s oddly hypocritical that we now celebrate every Penn State loss on Saturday, then flip the channel to TLC and find ourselves enamored by children dolling themselves up and dancing around in twisted beauty pageants.

Think it’s harmless? Just ask Lindsay Lohan or Macaulay Culkin how parents shoving them into the limelight too soon worked out.

Hint: It didn’t work out.

So, maybe next time, let’s watch Clinton instead. It was a pretty cool speech and, as far as I know, there were no children exploited in the process.

Kevin Slack is a senior television, radio and film major. His column appears weekly. He can be reached at khslack@syr.edu.

Published on September 11, 2012 at 1:00 am