"The Greatest Show On Earth"

P.T. Barnum would be proud. Hell, he could have learned a thing or two in today's society. With the world's ability to deliver instant gratification, and to use the latest technology to beam what would have been tomorrow's story to the masses five seconds ago, he would have become far richer as a tabloid owner than a circus man. Take for example Jon and Kate:

It was announced early last week that TLC was changing the name of their show 'Jon and Kate Plus Eight' to 'Kate Plus Eight', primarily to reflect the way that Jon has not been present this season of the show. Since then, Jon has gone apeshit. He has gone on 'Larry King', saying that the show, now in it's 5th season, is harmful and exploitative to the children. He has posted a no trespassing and no filming notice to the TLC crew on the gates of the family property. And, just in the last 24-48 hours, he has withdrawn (or transferred out) roughly $235,000 of the family's expense account, leaving Kate with roughly $1000 to pay bills, get groceries, etc.

What bothers me about this situation is that, as a country, WE TRULY CARE. Instead of just a passing, "Wow, that's a shame", we're buying the nine different magazines at the checkout counter, each with a different perspective of what is going on. When I turned on my computer this morning, the whole "Jon and Kate" thing was the main story on Yahoo. We have a 9.8% unemployment rate in the country. 14.9 million Americans can't find a job. That is the worst it has been since 1980. But Jon and Kate is somehow more important? Why?

Jon was on 'Larry King' last Thursday. Kate was on the 'Today Show' today. They get paid every time they make an appearance on one of those talk shows. They get paid every time they "tell their side of the story" in 'People' magazine or 'Star' magazine. They both talk about how much they love their children. But if they're bouncing around the country going on any TV show that will book them to bitch and whine about which parent is worse, who is with the children? It's like having Mick Jagger or Rod Stewart as a mom or a dad. And now there is a rumor that Kate is shopping around for her own daily talk show? REALLY?!?!?

My point is, there are tens of thousands of asshole dads out there that pull dick moves like this all the time. Is it right? Absolutely, 100% not. Jon and Kate Gosselin are not celebrities. You are not a celebrity because you are the mother or the father of eight children. They fucked up. They both did. They both made some very bad decisions. I'm sure at the beginning, they were level headed and thought they had things figured out. But when the world gives them that celebrity status for doing nothing....like the "Octomom", or Paris Hilton, or a Kardashian, it changes a person.

You go from "Jon and Kate Plus Eight" to "Douchebag Attention Whore and Whiny Drama Queen Attention Whore Plus Eight Confused Innocent Children Who Miss Their Mommy and Daddy". STOP.....JUST MAKE IT STOP.......