How people in the south react to our poster family of rednecks.
I live in a rural town in Middle TN where country is as country does. Recently, the big topic among the whole hospital is the TV show
Here Comes Honey Boo Boo. I’ll be the first to admit that I, too, got curious and watched an episode. That one episode soon turned into every episode so far. The show itself is almost like a bad train wreck: you want to look away, but you can’t.
For those of you who do not know who Honey Boo Boo is, she’s a pageant contestant from McIntyre, GA who was featured on Toddlers & Tiaras. Apparently the viewers and TLC thought she was a big hit. Personally, I couldn’t get past the hyperactive behavior and the fact that I could not understand a word she was saying for her whole segment, but I don’t get paid the big bucks to make reality TV. Little did anyone know, her whole family is just as bad.
The Thompson family fits every stereotype of anyone in the south: unsophisticated, loud, overweight, dense, and obnoxious. Once I started the first episode, I was amazed at just how ill-mannered and ridiculous the show was. I remember thinking to myself, “Who in their right mind put these people on TV?” Before I knew it, I was on my third episode.
There’s definitely no doubt about the fact that
Here Comes Honey Boo Boo is entertaining, but only because to an educated person the whole family is not one you can take seriously. Never before have I seen a show that has to use subtitles to explain what an English speaking individual is saying. I have one of the thickest Tennessee southern drawls that anyone I know has ever heard, and even I caught the deer in the headlights look trying to figure out what they were saying. Apart from that, their complete lack of manners is disgusting. In one episode, you will witness more gas passing than you would encounter at any family reunion with four times as many people there than in their family.
My only real concern with the show is the negative attention that it brings to people in the south as a whole. We all know that people associate southerners with backwoods and banjos; this show didn’t help that image at all. This stereotypical family has made the people of the south look as ridiculous as the rest of the world thought we were. So this is a real southern belle setting the record straight. No, we’re not all like that. Believe it or not, some of us have some wits and sense about us…and I personally will never makeshift my own slip ‘n slide out of a tarp, water hose, baby oil, and dishwashing liquid. Nor will I ever consider dumpster diving a trip to the “General Store.” Watch the show for the entertainment alone (you won’t be disappointed), but please don’t think ill of the rest of us. We’re all pretty normal.
,