Late Saturday night (or very early Sunday morning if you are a time junkie) I was surfing online while talking to friends having Entertainment Tonight buzzing in the background. They were talking about the Gosselins (John and Kate Plus 8) and the perils of their lives…infidelity, neglect, exploitation and the like…
Entertainment Tonight had a Child Development Psychologist on and though I forget her name she had poignant observations. She understood why the reason of the show’s popularity and noted that the show was a “legalized freak show”.
My ears perked up at those words, my brain clicked and I made the connection immediately… The Dionne Quintuplets!
How different is John and Kate Plus 8 than what happened to the Dionne Quintuplets? The answer… Not much.
Essentially in both cases the children were/are being put on display solely for entertainment and financial purposes. The children were/are being exploited.
However there are slight differences…
For those of you who are unaware the difference is that Oliva and Elzire Dionne had their children declared wards of the King and had them taken away by the government. The Dionnes were targeted as unfit parents. The Dionne Quintuplet’s Guardianship Act, 1935 kept them in the government’s care for 9 years. It was realised that there was a profit to be made by marketing them as a tourist attraction. They were moved into a nursery across the street from their parents’ house that was complete with an outdoor playground and public observation area. I am sure if television and TLC existed back then they would have at a show called “Oliva and Elzire Plus 10” (Since the Dionnes also had 5 other children that were NOT taken away from them, just the quints)
The Dionne quintuplets were conceived NATURALLY from one single celled egg.
Jon and Kate decided to exploit their children by their own means, the government was never involved.
Also Jon and Kate’s brood were conceived by fertility treatments therefore ‘tis no miracle when they shove 20 ovums up your vag, in hopes that one or two will stick. In their case, 6 decided to lease her uterus for 9 months. Wow! What a medically induced miracle, just the kind to make the execs at TLC salivate with dollar signs in their eyes. Think of the possibilities! Think of the ratings! Think on the children… oh wait, they didn’t.
As stated before both groups of children are being exploited for financial gain, one in a completely horrendous way (Government taking children and turning them into a side-show) and another in a heinous way … Parents seeing their children and mini-bank machines.
Well perhaps their marital problems are due to greedy decisions.
Karma anyone?
To read more about The Dionne Quintuplets, check out their wikipedia page at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dionne_quintuplets
Jon and Kate Plus 8: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_and_Kate_Plus_8
Dionne Quintuplets Image from : http://www65.statcan.gc.ca/acyb05/acyb05-04/img/acyb05-04_0016.jpg
Jon and Kate Plus 8 Image from: http://popculturepredictions.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/jonkate8_s12.jpg
