Something wicked this way comes… across the pageant stage, wearing a tiny bejeweled $2000 dress, hairspray-lacquered locks, a spray tan and fake teeth (yes, fake teeth).
Okay. In all fairness, what came across the stage isn’t wicked. Her parents, however… another story. A somewhat malevolent story. So what better time than this Halloween season to turn our minds to the dark… the hellish… the evil. Yes, I’m talking about Toddlers & Tiaras, that reality show ode to child beauty pageants from the folks at cable channel TLC. TLC, by the way, stands for The Learning Channel. But with programming like Sister Wives (reality show about polygamy), LA Ink and NY Ink (reality shows about people who tattoo pretty much every square inch of skin), and I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant (reality show about morons), they really ought to change the name to TFC – The Freak Channel.
Amidst this video onslaught against all that is right and good, Toddlers & Tiaras should seem relatively innocent. After all, you may well ask, what could be so wrong about a bunch of little girls playing at Miss America?
Oh, dear reader. There are so many ways it is wrong – dreadfully, revoltingly wrong. Allow me to enumerate. But I caution you – this journey is not for the faint of heart, nor weak of stomach. And if you make it through this, an even more chilling fate is in store at the end, where a commercial-free 45 minutes of Toddlers & Tiaras – the Halloween Bash pageant edition, awaits you. Menacingly.
You have been warned. Here then, ten reasons why Toddlers & Tiaras is yet another ominous omen of the end of civilization as we know it. Let the horror be unleashed:
Categories: Children, Television
Tags: Apocalypse, Bad Parenting, Child Beauty Pageants, Halloween, News, Pedophilia, Politics, TLC, Toddlers & Tiaras
It’s like a PG version of an R. Crumb comic from the 60s; in other words if Sat. Night Live did a satirical sketch of this weirdness, they’d only have to exactly duplicate what the people actually do.
TLC, by the way, stands for The Learning Channel
It may have, once, decades ago, but they changed it after market research revealed the word “Learning” was a turn-off to most cable viewers.
Yeah. I remember back when TLC aired shows like James Burke’s Connections series. But then The History Channel used to not be a collection of shows about working stiffs going to semi-exotic jobs.
The Dwarf Channel.
Cue the intellectually superior with their famous line: “If you don’t like it, change the channel.” Because we all know that if your society is collapsing you can just ignore the problems and they cease to exist… right?
Doesn’t this stuff qualify as child pornography?
That was precisely my thought when I accidentally came across a T&T show some months ago, while flipping around channels. I watched incredulously for a little while. On that show there were several fathers present. All I could think was with men like that this country will definitely never win another war. Why isn’t child protective service involved in this racket? This really qualifies for emotional and physical child abuse. The latter due to the lack of nutritional value, the eye brow treatments, the hair dye etc. CPS can take a child away from loving, sane parents because they choose to treat a sick child with alternative medicine, but parents can abuse their toddlers with this dreck and get away with it? The US is in decline and T&T and other children beauty pageants add to the decline. Remember JonBenet Ramsey?
Thanks for your detailed analysis. Add to it the fact that people can watch this show and feel morally superior, can watch it with a sneer on their face.
Being morally superior to this freak show is hardly high enough to see over a worm, but most of the people I know who admit to watching it seem to enjoy the warmth of their self-congratulation.
Good God:
This stuff is not safe for work.
Over and out.
I only got to page 3 before I gave up. Truly pathetic. Only here is it appropriate for grown men to look at little girls like this. Everytime I consider signing up for cable/DishNetwork/DirectTV I see this crap.
If you offended by this show, then consider this. When you pay your cable bill you are supporting it and others like it (MTV, VH1, etc) – even if you are not watching it.
This is how that addle-brained Gretchen Carlson (Fox & Friends) started out. A couple of weeks ago a guest pulled out his pocket-sized version of The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States of America, which many of us also carry with us or at least own. Gretchen squealed, “Oh, isn’t that cute! Can I see it?” She examined it wide-eyed. What a glaring idiot.
I’ve given up on FOX.
P.S… In these days of “uncomfortable” females sensing harrassment 24/7, can FOX please make the women dress as conservatively as the men? What woman would go to a serious job interview dressed as the FOX “chicks”. Yeah, they’re pretty, but it’s just like affirmative action. We know you are an idiot, a quota/beauty hire.
Fox is not a conservative network at all. Nor is it “fair and balanced.” Not that I want “fair and balanced”; there is no middle ground between right and wrong. I insist on the whole truth and nothing but, thankyouverymuch.
That’s why I blog.
Oh, and by the way, the women on Fox are astoundingly stupid, almost without exception. If you want a pretty face with no mind, buy yourself an expensive rubber doll. But spare the rest of us the agony, and keep it off the television cameras.
If I owned Fox (and I’m a woman), I would hire only men for on-camera talent, consequences be damned. If that meant I had to move the offices overseas, that’s what I’d do. It’d be worth it just to get rid of those monstrously stupid women. And you can’t tell me that I’m the only person out there who is sick of them. The growth in viewership from seeing them gone would more than pay for any fines, lawsuits, and whatever the heck else from the affirmative action libtards.
at first glance i thought the answer to “the most evil show on television…” was calliou but toddlers in tiaras is right up at the top as well
only seen this show as i channel surf around and can only tolerate a maximum of 5 or 6 seconds of exposure before my sympathetic nervous system kicks in
Can’t you tell that we are in the last days of Earth? They lying politicans, the immoral, the lust for money and power (at any cost), the debauchery made “main stream” and “normal”. I just don’t watch regular t.v. anymore.
I find T & T revolting.
…”lying politicans, the immoral, the lust for money and power (at any cost), the debauchery made “main stream” and “normal””
Roman empire, Ottoman empire, the courts of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, pre-revolutionary France, Regency England, the “Roaring 20s” – the behavior you describe is not symptomatic of the End Times. It’s absolutely typical of what we call Western Civilization. No, it doesn’t describe ALL Western Civilization at ALL times. But you gotta take the bad with the good. The heights of civilization seem to be matched by its depths. We must be pretty damn civilized, cause it doesn’t get much lower than Toddlers & Tiaras.
It DOES get lower than toddlers and tiaras. (I submitted a link here to a story of a sexual assault on MTV’s “Real World,” but someone at PJMedia apparently considered it “off-topic” or something. Whatever.)
I get pretty weary of the people who say “We’ve always had debauchery; nothing to worry about.” Well, a meth-head can have some sober periods, but the drug will get him in the end.
When a society collapses it’s not because of anything new. It’s “something we’ve always done” but finally done to a ghastly excess, and promoted by people gleefully repeating, “It’s something we’ve always done.” We can see it now with people who equate a kid finding 3-billion pictures by googling the words “torture porn” with a kid finding a Playboy magazine in his dad’s garage.
“When a society collapses it’s not because of anything new. It’s ‘something we’ve always done’ but finally done to a ghastly excess, and promoted by people gleefully repeating, ‘It’s something we’ve always done.’”
Very well said, RKae.
Very well said indeed.
Never said I approved. I didn’t mean that we shouldn’t worry about bad things because they’ve happened before. I was commenting on the notion that our era is *uniquely* evil, perverse, destructive, and dysfunctional. History tells us that Western Civ has been through much worse in the past. The only thing that distinguishes our “End Times” worse than those of our ancestors is that we’re living through them.
Human nature never changes. However, in the words of Rose Sayer, “Nature, Mr. Allnut, is what we were put on this earth to rise above.” I think that one little saying holds the secret to a successful civilization.
I’m assuming you’re a fan of chattel slavery, drawing and quartering and gladitorial combat.
I watched the show a couple of times knowing that the police would be storming in an arresting everyone but it never happened. Where is child services????
This is little more than child-porn lite, a literal hell-on-Earth for these little kids. These parents don’t deserve to be such.
Yes, TLC once stood for “The Learning Channel.” And The History Channel used to show history. Now it’s idiotic pawn shops run by lowbrows (for four or five hours at a crack!) and shows about alleged doomsday climate disasters… which, correct me if I’m wrong here, isn’t “history.”
Then we come to MTV, which used to show music videos. Now it’s “reality” shows where smug youths get indignant with each other… and worse!
And just to show you that (pay attention, libertarians!) even if you change the channel this stuff still goes on and the culture still sinks…
http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/10/31/41048.htm
Woman is raped on “Real World” and producers encouraged it.
Hey I am related to that idiotic pawnbroker in Las Vegas. He worked like a dog for years. I can remeber when Rick would work literally 24 hour shifts.
I worked there weekends during college. It is not an easy job and you have to know your stuff.
I cannot say that the show has been a totally good thing for Rick or Corey, but they are not idiots. We all felt the History Channel was a bit odd for his show but hey they bought it. I do not feel that Pawn Stars is as bad as these shows.
It’s hard to believe these parents love their children. I have a 4 year old, the idea of putting her through anything even vaguely resembling this makes me feel sad.
I found T/T by accident one weekend afternoon whilst channel surfing, something I *rarely* do. I caught it a minute or so before a commercial break. Thinking of Jonbenet Ramsey (I live in Denver, Boulder’s just up the road), I decided I’d give the show until the next break, and see just how weird toddler pageants are.
O … M … G I mean that literally, and in thee most prayerful manner. Nauseating, revolting and perverted don’t even come close to describing this action. I watched until the end — it was almost like rubbernecking at a grusome accident scene, and I don’t do that, but this time I did. My husband was on his computer, but slowed down and finally stopped to watch with me. We just sat there open-mouthed, and throwing each other horrified glances from time-to-time. When it was finally finished, there were a few minutes of silence before my darlin’ said (in a voice heavy with both irony and awe that anyone would knowingly so endanger their soul), “There is a special place in hell for ALL those people — those involved in putting on the pageants to begin with, the crazy parents of those poor little girls, and especially for those who decided it would be a fine idea to further glamorize and spread this sickness.”
I couldn’t agree more with his assessment, and frankly I DO think it’s kiddie porn. Why it should be allowed to take place AT ALL, let alone being produced for TV, is an abomination.
Anyone remember the Jonbenet Ramsey case? These ugly pageants haven’t lost their luster. What it really amounts to is a mother trying to live vicariously through her daughter at a ridiculously young age.
We often see this disease in parents: Pushing their kids really hard, even if they’re not inclined to pursue the endeavor. Every parent tries this to some extent. However most of us know when to stop.
Except for these women (women, not ladies).
I do not watch this stuff, nor does anyone in my family. It is good to speak out against it so that the people involved feel ostracized. It may not be illegal, but it is definitely immoral in my book.
I always suspected the mother in that case just because she was an evil, manipulative narcissist. And let’s not forget the Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Cheerleader Murdering Mom. Narcissism is as big a motive for murder as psychopathy.
Yuck! Turn off the television, give your kids Bill Bennett’s book.
Earlier this year, there was a big fuss in the news media about a dance troupe of young (7- and 8-year-old) girls. They are indeed excellent dancers. But the kind of material their parents are having them perform, and the costumes the parents are having them wear, aren’t what you would expect for 8 year old girls:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ir8BO4-7DkM
as an anti-islam type of father of a daughter who does dance, I would rather that than a sliced off ….
that’s just me.. but that’s how I can look at that and not be disturbed.. at least it’s athletic, skilled and practiced..
Pageants are pseudo-livestock actions that train girls to be commodities for men who want animated dolls..
I just hope the girls dancing really wanted to be there.. being part of a troupe makes that possibility more likely.. such is the way of being part of a team with camaraderie and mutual support built in..
SUMMON THE METEORS!!!
Well, I have been saying the same thing for years about football, but since boys are disposable, none of these concerned ‘child protectors’ seem to care.
Diane, you have thicker skin than I do. Thank you for the research and for writing this article, but I could not finish reading it. I literally have goosebumps. This is incredibly revolting and creepy.
I do not watch television at all because of programming that pales in comparison to this. I had no idea this was in existence. Why are these people breathing free air? I generally dont condone violence, but those ‘parents’ need a trip to the woodshed and if I were in arms-reach of them now, I would be happy to take them.
Rkae, PattyMor, dont give up on our civilization just yet.
My children learned young that character and ethics count and looks mean squat. By ten they could all find their way out of the woods, scuba dive, camp, fish and hunt. They are well mannered and well read. They can all do carpentry, work a black and white dark room, and repair their own cars. They can load their own ammunition, raise livestock, garden and cook gourmet meals. They all have college degrees except for one who is about to graduate from LSU. None of them have ever been arrested or divorced. I have a close and friendly relationship with all of them. That is how you raise children; to be confident and self-reliant, to be ethical; to be credits to the society that produced them.
Lol,dad is that you?
My parents had a rule if a boy can do it,a girl can. I grumbled through oil changes,tromping through the woods mushroom hunting,cutting down trees to make knife handles and reloading bullets,while my brother bemoaned quilting,gourmet cooking classes,ballroom dancing and gymnastics .
Idk if it made us “better” than others but it kept us from becoming victims,criminals,drug addicts,sex workers,government dependents,greedy,obese,selfish,jealous,pretentious,angry adults like these children will become if they aren’t molested,murdered or commit suicide first.
The frightening part is a television channel that promotes this as acceptable entertainment .Child exploitation and supporting parental mental illness is only a step above a program supporting NABLA and child rape.
I don’t want to condone what these women are doing to these poor children. More than likely the parents are ruining their child for life, but when the writer writes about: “Where are the men?”
It made me think. It reminds me of many fathers who try to make their son the next Peyton Manning or Albert Pujols. They will enroll them in camps, take them to workshops, etc. Basically, the fathers are, just like the women in the show, attempting to relive their lives through their children. NOT a good thing to do.
Amen to that! Still, at least what sports dads put their luckless kids through lacks the creepy, paedophilic edge of the pageant moms’ depredations. (How’s that for damning with faint praise?)
A few years back I watched a show called “Extreme Makeover.” I was vaguely aware of it but I thought that they gave the gals new hairstyles and a new wardrobe, makeup tips, maybe a physical program. I was astonished and appalled that it turns out to be mostly about plastic surgery. And the subject of the episode I saw seemed pretty nifty–looked fine, OK, maybe didn’t wear the biggest bra size; she’d just gotten out of the Army, skydived, really seemed a neat young woman.
I thought that show was pretty bad but I’ll grant this one takes the cake. Friend of mine, though, loves it–she’s a psychologist and figures the more kids like this out there, but bigger the market for her services in the future.
Reason 8:
” It make me want to smack dad upside the head and tell him to grow a pair.”
Only if it’s with a kiln dried 2X4 applied several times.
When I think beauty pageants for kids, I think of lots of girls dressed in frilly princess dresses acting adorable, not parents dressing girls in risque costumes that would be over the top on a grown woman.
While I agree that Toddlers is probably one of the worst shows on TV, it has lots of company. I could fill this post with the trash, the filth, the vapidity, and the out and out moronic dreck that passes for entertainment today. From bloody gore (whether thru violent or “true to life” morgue scenes to sex and back to violence) todays “dramas” serve up much for the voyeurs who religiously tune in. They don’t however provide coherent story lines or acting to pull in those who aren’t fascinated with the gore of the operating table.
Not to mention ” reality show” which are nothing but. They manipulate the viewer into a state of emotional intimacy which is in direct opposition to the facts of the show. They are not “real” they are “scripted”. They do not portray “real emotions” due in large part to the fact that sticking a camera in someone’s face no matter what the event does not constitutes “real” life. Anyone would act differently once the director says “Roll It”. It’s just human nature.
I guess what I’m saying is that if one gives a pass to the rest of the garbage it’s hard to pass judgement on Tiaras. Polish a rock, it’s still a rock, no matter which rock it is. Better, I think, to dismiss what passes for entertainment as uninteresting, stupefying, mindless offal. It simplifies matters immensely.
BINGO! I feel exactly the same way. These “reality” shows are about as real as a soap opera. That goes for all of them, regardless of the subject matter. I do not for one moment consider “Ice Road Truckers” or “Deadliest Catch” to be real. I think they are staged and scripted, from beginning to end. Granted, I may not be the best person to comment on this, as I have developed a very cynical attitude about all non-sports TV programming.
As disgusting as I consider the premise of T/T to be (I have never watched it, don’t intend to, but it isn’t hard to discern the show’s theme), I have my own nomination for Worst Show – “Hillbilly Handfishin’”. How much entertainment can be derived from a program about people who wade into waist-deep muddy water to catch catfish by hand? And of course, it includes the standard derogatory swipe at Southerners (I am Southern and proud of it).
How low can television get?
This kind of civilizational degeneracy is why Islam will never run out of suicide bombers.These shows are the best recruiting tool Al Qaeda could have.
I call this show: Brats with Hats.
good grief! watching about two minutes of this show once was all i could stand. what is this, “basic training for strippers”? no thanks, i prefer grown up women. leave little girls to grow up as little girls. adult womanhood will arrive soon enough
I watched one episode one time so no one could ever tell me that I couldn’t accurately comment about something I’d never seen.
Disgusted would be the blandest understatement for what I was. Absolutely disgusted. It was sickening to watch these children treated like painted and sprayed cattle. How it’s not considered child abuse is way beyond my comprehension.
As for the dance troupe a commenter referenced, I watched that a long while back. The only thing more sickening than the prepubescent gyrations of those tarted up children were the comments by either pedophiles or people intending to shock the rest of us horrified onlookers.
Will these little girls grow up to be pole dancers and strippers? Who gets to break them in—to prostitution?
Why do I believe some Hollywood child pervert is a big part of this production company??
Uggghhh! When I saw the title to this I thought “Well here’s a piece of over-reaction to a minor cultural phenomenon.” After reading it I am now perfectly willing to join those with pitchforks and torches and move on the adults who produce and participate in this awful dreck. I feel that I need a shower after reading the article.
Clearly these parents are hoping that these awful tiny-tot exhibitions will lead to their child catching the eye of a show-biz “talent scout.” From there it will be on to “Olson Twins Heaven.” And for a few it might actually work out but how many lives will be irreparably damaged in the process?
Moral panic alert…
How absolutely sickening!
I’d heard the title of this show, but stayed away from learning much about it. How I wish I had stuck with that and not read this.
What types of sick, twisted people create and then watch this dreck? This country has gone absolutely insane.
I have watched a few minutes here and there of this show and every time, I come away horrified. This is a pedophile’s “w*t dream” and the parents? Well, they should have never had kids but what I couldn’t help notice about them is that “most” (not all, now) are obese. Did anyone else catch that? Are they living vicariously through their toddlers? I don’t know but this is just so wrong on so many levels that I don’t know where to start. It IS child abuse…not only the makeup, chemicals, costumes (fake teeth and boobs? come on!!), etc. but allowing these little prima donnas to be so bratty is abuse too. What are they going to be like as pre-teens or teenagers? Worse, what kind of adults will these girls be? Anorexic? Prostitutes? Drug abusers? I see no good come of this at all on any level for these children. Notice that they are not talented either? There is no dancing or singing only flaunting the body. (NOTE: I am sure there are some out there that are about talent) SICK!