By Jennie

Some things in life are unavoidable. For instance: death, taxes, and the regular reappearance of everyone’s favorite bitter busybody in-law-of-a-Gosselin-in-law: Julie! (Briefly referred to on a certain INSANE blog as “Aunt Julie”, presumably before the mods realized that while Julie may be someone’s aunt, she isn’t the Gosselin kids’, or presumably their own.)

Julie was able to carve out time from all of her important Julie-business (which I would imagine, based on what I know of her, is comprised entirely of sticking her nose where it doesn’t belong and vouching for internet frauds) to favor her adoring masses with another blog post. Let’s see what Julie has to say today, shall we?

“More attention needs to be brought to the fact that Reality TV can be very harmful, especially when there are children involved. It’s been almost 2 years now that I was made aware of issues surrounding the filming of Jon and Kate plus 8, and the intense stress the children were under.”

Hmm, almost two years, you say? That’s strange. It’s been about a year and half since you started flapping your jaws about it. It was right around…I know! It was right around the time that Kevin and Jodi stopped appearing on the show, wasn’t it? And thus stopped getting paid for not being aware of the “intense stress” the children were under. (Speaking of children, Julie, don’t you have your own to worry about? How do they feel about you spending so much time “advocating” for children you barely know?)

“Those who state that the children are just “playing” and are not affected by the stresses of being part of a TV show are lying.”

Because, of course, you know better than the people who are actually with the Gosselin kids day in and day out. I doubt Alexis could pick you out of a line-up, Julie, but you know what’s going on in Alexis’ mind and how stressed she is. Hey, in addition to being a busybody, are you a clairvoyant?

“Since then, more and more shows have popped up. We’ve also had the controversy earlier this year surrounding Nadya Suleman and now the Heene family.”

Ah, now we get to the reason that you took time out of your busy schedule of peeking out the windows of your house with your fingers hovering over the 9 and 1 buttons, just in case a litterbug strolls by. You want a slice of that Heene publicity pie!

Except…much like the comparisons between the Gosselins and Nadya Suleman were ridiculous to anyone with even rudimentary critical thinking skills, comparisons to the Heenes hold no water. Richard Heene obviously has a screw loose, and he used his kids in a reprehensible publicity stunt. The only similarity between the Heenes and the Gosselins is that the Heenes have kids, and apparently wanted a reality show. The Gosselins have kids, and a reality show. As do the Duggars. The Roloffs. The Masches. Those Table for Twelvepeople. All parents, all with reality shows. Why don’t I hear about your tireless efforts to free Jedediah, Jinger, Molly, Savannah and all the rest from the yoke of reality TV oppression? Oh, right, there’s no personal grudge there, and no money in it for your sister (and you?) when those other families get attention.

“A few excerpts from The Wrap:”

Wait, what’s The Wrap? Can I have a little context here, Julie? Okay, I guess I’ll have to Google it myself…turns out it’s “a unique primary news source focused on the business of entertainment and media”. Hmm. Looks kind of like a entertainment news site, which isn’t “unique” in my book, but whatever.

“You can read the entire article HERE. This article is only referring to the stresses that adults have experienced as a result of Reality TV. These adults gave their consent and understood, to some extent, what they were signing up for. Imagine how devastating Reality TV can be for children who are unable to give consent and are forced to participate because their parents are in complete control.”

The article starts by mentioning:

* Ryan Jenkins, the guy who was on the sleazy VHI reality show “Megan Wants a Millionaire” and killed his wife and then himself a few months ago;

* Susan Boyle, whose stressful appearance on “Britain’s Got Talent” was widely documented in the media;

* Paula Godspeed, an obsessed fan of Paula Abdul’s and failed American Idol contestant who committed suicide last year.

The article goes on to acknowledge, “many of these people had pre-existing problems” – ya think? If this is the lead on your big expose of how reality TV drives people to suicide, so far, I’m unconvinced. The article goes on to list “eleven” reality show contestants who supposedly committed suicide, but I confess I stopped reading after the first six, because while three of them were reality show contestants who did commit suicide, the other three included a contestant’s sister, a reality show producer, and Danny Bonaduce, who is, as far as I know, not dead.

I dislike being manipulated, and the sensationalism of the headline combined with the stretching that the story had to do to try to justify the sensational headline turns me off. Furthermore, the article places these suicides in no context – it’s not clear if the suicide rate of reality show participants is higher than that of the general population, and of course there’s the issue of those pesky “pre-existing problems” – a bone being thrown to the notion that “correlation does not equal causation”, which may be a concept over Julie’s head. (I’m pretty sure Julie is a relatively black-and-white thinker; nuances make being hyper-judgmental so much harder!)

Julie quotes…someone (possibly Paul Petersen?)…it’s not clear who exactly as it’s written. Julie is less coherent in this latest missive. Must be all that child advocacy tiring her out!:

“Children can’t give informed consent by definition, only the parents can do that — and reality shows generally don’t cast adults who have the highest level of mental health. They are severe narcissists who are obsessed with celebrity.”

So, the Duggars are severe narcissists? I confess, I never really saw Michelle that way. But Julie knows best!

“Down the line, once the show is over and the cameras have gone,” he asserts, “there will likely be no help for them from predators and others seeking to take advantage of them.”

They’re doomed! Doomed I tell you!

“I was a little surprised at the huge backlash against Nadya Suleman earlier this year, when the same media outlets seem to ignore the fact that Kate is using her children in the very same way. She has been successful, and now it seems like more people want to follow in her footsteps and use their children to achieve fame and fortune.”

Sigh. Julie, Julie, Julie. What am I going to do with you? I don’t think you’re stupid. I don’t think you’re a genius or anything, though I do think you have pretensions to intellectualism given the Blake and Schopenhauer quotes you like to plaster all over your blog. But I don’t think you’re stupid. As I said above, though, you are not big on nuance, are you? Not that a lot of nuance is required to see the differences (numerous and huge differences) between Suleman and Kate Gosselin. But I guess it doesn’t suit your purposes (or your vendetta) to acknowledge those differences, eh?

Funny that you mention Kate using her children “the same way” – besides the fact that you have nothing to say about the Duggars, Roloffs, Masches, et al., you seem to be silent on Jon. Wasn’t it Jon that you accused of harrassing you? I guess that you, like your groupies, no longer consider Jon persona non grata, by virtue of being an enemy of Kate’s in your eyes. You do take to heart the maxim, “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”, don’t you?

“Just look at the recent actions of the Heene family, and their history of appearing in a Reality Show and their pursuit for their own show.”

Okay, I’ve looked at them. Now what?

“An excerpt from denverpost.com: Viral videos, reality-TV shows and any other mass-media exposure disrupt normal family dynamics, said Miami psychologist Jamie Huysman, whose practice has treated more than 800 “victims” of reality shows.”

Eight hundred? I’m going to have to call bullshit on that, right there.

“Abusewatch.net has posted their position on the use of children in Reality TV shows. You can read the entire article HERE.”

Oh, jeez, do I have to? This is starting to feel like homework.

“It’s obvious that some people will go to extreme measures, even using their young children, in order to gain the fame and fortune that Reality TV shows provide. Unfortunately, these shows are successful, and controversy sells. It’s time to get laws in place to protect ALL children involved in these Reality TV shows. I personally don’t believe any child should participate in Reality TV. Although I know there will never be laws to prevent parents from forcing their children to appear on TV, at the very least, these children deserve the same laws that protect child actors.”

Do you think there should be laws preventing people from exploiting the same children they claim to care for? Like, for instance, uncles and aunts who are paid by tabloids for selling out their families and repeating baseless rumors? Or is that a-okay?

What was your cut of the Radar Online money, Julie? I hope you got something, considering the amount of time you’ve spent over the past year-plus exploiting, I mean advocating, for the Gosselin children.

“As I said recently, timing is everything! The Heene family balloon saga is just another incident that should bring to light the fact that some parents will use their children for their own agenda. We can’t trust parents to make the right decisions when their judgment is being clouded by hopes of fame and fortune. With all of the recent media coverage, I continue to hope that the right people will step up and that change will happen very soon!”

I continue to hope that you learn to mind your own business very soon! And get a life! I continue to hope that Kevin apologizes to his sister for selling her out to the tabloids for money. And that he and Kate reestablish their relationship, one that doesn’t include Jodi, because we all know she’ll just gossip to you and you’ll gossip to your groupies on the internet. I have no idea what you get out of this, Julie – whether it is money or just the tongue-bath your faithful followers provide you with – but I know one thing for sure – you could not care less about the Gosselin children and their well-being.

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