Jon plus Kate equals Hate

Everyone happy now? We just got to see a marriage disintegrate on national television.

Obviously, it was something that was going to happen in the long run. When you marry young and mature, you change, as these two certainly had. And having the kids only served to delay what was going to inevitably happen.

Jon got tired of being bossed around by the hot blond who said yes to him. And then there were the kids and then there was the commitments and the ... One day, he had to wake up and wonder where all those great years of partying he was supposed to do went.

And Kate, always with her bossing him around. Always putting him down. He looked like the little kid who was constantly being talked down to by his mom. This was going to happen to these two people ... eventually. He needed to grow up and she needed to ease up. And neither one of them wanted to give the other the satisfaction of making those changes.

But, there we were, in our tabloid world, pushing it along. Making it happen. He's out at some bar. She's in New York getting a haircut. He's sneaking out with some women. She's dating a bodyguard.

We were intruding into their private lives to the point that they became more infamous than Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears or Paris Hilton.

I know, what private lives? How can they have a private life when they were the ones who signed up for the TV series? But it's one thing to sign away your privacy, it's another to have everyone up in your business to the point that people were. These people had cars driving by their house like it was a tourist attraction.

Writing the three infamous names above, reminded me of something. We really haven't seen much out of those three lately. They've faded into a sort of obscurity lately. Behaving, well, almost normally.

And maybe that's why there's become this fascination with this ordinary couple with eight children. All the other tabloid favorites have packed up their toys and gone home (for now). Britney's not out flashing her hooch, Paris isn't banging some guy with a night vision camera and Lindsay's not driving down PCH hitting other cars (or breaking up with her girlfriend or throwing a tantrum on a set or ...).

So, now, another eight children will be faced with growing up in broken homes. With parents who won't speak to each other, other than to find out what time to pick them up, or grouse about their latest "mistake" raising their children. And, better yet, WE'RE STILL GOING TO FILM IT AND SEE IT ON OUR TV'S EVERY WEEK.

Some of my friends and former classmates on Facebook are going through the mess of a divorce with children. I watched as my niece and nephews dealt with their mom and dad splitting up. It's hell. And that's without cameras following them around, and the piles and piles of money that they got for being on a cable "reality" show.

In the end, those eight children are going to be stuck between two warring adults, who will one day, very likely ask them to make a choice: Mommy or Daddy.

And TLC will be there. Jumping up and down at the little ratings machine they've got on their hands. With advertisers galore wanting to get their products in front of the eyeballs that tune in each week to see the real life soap operas playing out in front of them. The same one that is playing out in communities across the country every day.

But since it's on TV, it can't be real. It can't really affect them.

And yet, more and more, it does. By continuing to watch, you're outright supporting the divorce. You're outright supporting that it's OK for the tabloids to splash every detail about people's lives on the cover of their magazine. Because it's anyone else's business but your own.

I have no desire to see this train wreck. We see enough of them every day across the world. Ones that have a lot more bearing on our day-to-day lives than a couple of young 30-somethings who got married too young, had a whole gaggle of children and then realized that they weren't right for each other, leaving said gaggle in the middle of what will be a very, VERY messy divorce hearing.

I for one won't be watching.