Obesity and glorifying it on TV: Honey Boo Boo

I recently actually watched this show for the first time. I was stuck in the hospital waiting to have my gallbladder out and there was a marathon on, nothing else. So, I watched it. Yes, the editing and production makes these people look extremely ignorant and uneducated. Yes, they eat poorly. Yes, they can be crass and sometimes disgusting. However, the love those people have for each other and the support they give each other is amazing. They truly love & support each other no matter what. They have fun together, they struggle together and they stick together. I can tell you as a child from a very disturbed and broken home I would have killed to have a family that loved each other as much as they do. 

I love Honey Boo  Boo!  Yup.  I said it.  It's been said by previous posters that the family is fat.  Yup.  They are.  So are--or were--all of us.  I was a chunky kid growing up with a skinny mother and father and brothers.  I would have so enjoyed just one day or one member of my family loving me for who I was at that time instead of "You'd be so pretty if you just lost weight." 

I enjoyed, and sympathized with an episode about losing weight.  They know they are fat, yet they love each other, and are trying, albeit poorly, to lose weight.  I bet all of us could have lived that part of the episode.

A very well educated professional with whom I work summed it up: "They love each other; they are kind to everyone.  What's not to like?"

You make an excellent point about their love for each other.  I didn't see that at first.  Thanks for pointing it out.  This is what makes a difference of opinion so enlightening.  I am learning more than I knew at first.  Thanks!

I love Honey Boo Boo.. I think the original post is offensive.

I live in WV, another place where people are quite often portrayed as unintelligent rednecks. You would not know that by my posts on here, though because you cannot hear me talk. I have a very redneck accent. If you heard me talk, you would probably laugh at me. It's just the way I talk.. I can't help it because everybody in my area talks this way. I guess I could go to classes and learn to lose my accent but then I would stand out in my town and everybody would wonder why I sound different. Just because someone has an accent that makes them sound dumb, doesn't mean they ARE dumb.  I am an intelligent person and am raising intelligent children who also talk like I do.

I think that if I lived near that family, I would be friends with them. They are not trash. I know what redneck trash looks like and they are not it. Sugar Bear has a JOB... redneck trash lives on welfare and is proud of it. They own their own house and it is clean.. Redneck trash rents a trailer that still has wheels attached and its nasty.. OR they live in an old bus on the side of the road.  The Honey Boo Boo family ARE rednecks but they aren't trash. They aren't rich, but they aren't trash..  I'm not rich and I'm not trash either.  I live in a double wide mobile home on 3 acres of land in a rural area of WV and I talk a lot like that family... so be careful what you say because you might offend someone. 

I am fat too..  I have struggled with feeding my family the right things. I have 4 kids. I hope to make choices that will be good for the whole family.  June seems to be doing a pretty damn good job in most situations. She does a lot better than I do at managing money. In the beginning of the show, they all went on a diet and actually lost some weight... but I think they really don't know what to do, you know? I think they could be more successful if people didn't make fun of them all the time. There has been so much hatred for this family, but I really think it is jealousy that a "dumb" redneck family could get a TV show. 

Everybody loves to make fun of June, but while you are laughing at her for being fat and "dumb" she is laughing all the way to the bank... she is not as dumb as TLC wants you to think.

I think TLC creates a lot of drama and content for that show... I think that a LOT of the things that happened on that show, like them getting a pet pig, were ONLY for the show.. I think the show would be pretty boring if they just filmed the family doing what they actually do all the time... which is probably not much different than what most of us do. I do think they go 4 wheeler riding a lot though... that is a very big thing around here too and its pretty damn fun.

Thanks...

My intent was not to offend, I live in KY...fair share of "rednecks" here too...Offtopic, but OMG, have you seen the Wild Wonderful Whites of West Virginia?  They are in Boone County.  Interesting documentary.  Co-Produced my Johnny Knoxville of all peeps. 

WOW!!  We got a lot of Honey Boo Boo lovers out there.  Okay, good to see others views.  That's what I asked for, after all.  That's the beauty of opinions, everyone has one.  If we all thought the same, it'd be an awfully boring place. 

As far as those who said they were offended, well, that's the beauty of living in America.  You can be as offended as you wish!  Ain't freedom grand?  Just remember, the 1st amendment still exists.  Just because you want to be all offended with every thought that doesn't exactly mirror your own, doesn't mean you get to silence them. 

I've never seen it. I don't care to watch reality TV. I stopped that back in the day when Real World and Road Rules ended on MTV. The only thing I know about it is what I have seen on other shows, the news, or previews. Of course those only show the worst of the worst. Basically all I know is she is very difficult to understand and she drinks a lot of "go go juice". Is that an accurate portrayal of who these people really are? Probably not (though I coudn't imaging giving my children Mt Dew). I don't think they are glorifying obesity. I'm sure if the exact same people were much smaller it would be no different. I just wish people cared more about the actual world, people, animals, politics, environment or a number of other things half as much as they care about these reality shows.

The "go go juice" thing.. yes, in an episode of Toddlers in Tiaras, June did give Alana "go go juice" but she was reported to social services for that and stopped doing it...  What a lot of people don't understand is that she wasn't the only one.. That is not a "redneck" thing to do, it is a pageant thing to do. A LOT of pageant moms do it.  I don't do the pageant thing, but I know a lot of pageant people, and I've seen several other moms on Toddlers in Tiaras give their kids similar drinks and candy to get them excited or whatever.  (Not saying that I agree with that though.)

See, the news and other outlets only show the worst parts. I can't make an honest comment on how bad it is because I have never watched it.  I don't think it's a redneck thing (I'm pretty country myself). I am curious how many people above who said how bad it was have actually seen it.