Anne Rice likes Honey Boo Boo and Honey Boo Boo’s family.

I’m not opposed to them, m’self, though I haven’t watched any more now than I had the last time we visited here.

This is what Anne Rice says:

Honey Boo Boo. I’m a fan. Love the mother, her independence, her love for her girls, and her pregnant daughter. Very cheerful, fun loving and kindly people, this family. If I’m supposed to scorn them, well, I’m not getting it. I think they’re great. I wish half the people I knew were that kind and that cheerful. I wish I was that kind and cheerful. They all love each other; no meanness, no darkness. Great people. I even like their ambitions and dreams for Honey Boo Boo. Go for it, I say. Will be watching more. Fascinating look at an American family.

Which is not so different from what I said. What really fascinates me is the comments people made to Ms. Rice. To wit:

They scare me. I have no prejudice against simple, country folk. There are, however, some psychological issues that disturb me so much that even if I did watch reality TV? I could not watch that show.

I’d be curious to know what “psychological issues” the commenter is referring to.

Is she talking about them being poor? Or previously poor, I should say, because they’re certainly not poor now, since they just got a big whopping raise for doing what they were going to be doing every day anyway. I would argue that they are resourceful, rather than crazy.

Or does she mean that they have less-than-good manners? It’s not good manners to talk on the phone while the cashier is ringing up your groceries, but nobody calls the asshole who does it while you’re waiting in line behind them crazy, just rude.

Is it that pesky go-go juice incident? Plenty of parents have momentary lapses of judgment, but that doesn’t make them crazy. Plenty more parents make daily judgment calls to drug their kids with Benadryl to get them to sleep better. Which is worse?

Also, they might be “country people,” but I doubt they’re simple. They’ve managed to parlay a kid who likes wearing the glitter shoes into a paid profession. They’re stars. People know them when they pull up at Wal•Mart and want to speak to them. They are like Elvis, even if only for a short time. The people who are railing at Anne Rice do not have television shows and fans and get paid just for hanging about the house.

I stand by my original post. I like them. They like each other. They have fun together. I couldn’t stand listening to them talk about their bodily functions, but I’d rather spend the day with them than with people who are so uptight they squeak when they walk.

As for the people who are talking smack to Anne Rice and threatening to burn her books and never read her again, well, I don’t know that I’d be so concerned about the opinions of a handful of people who don’t know the difference between your and you’re, and who can’t figure out where to put the apostrophe.