On Aug. 24, “hot sauce mom” Jessica Beagley was convicted of child abuse and five days later was sentenced to three years of probation.
In November last year, the 36 year-old Alaskan woman achieved national headlines and notoriety with her appearance on Dr. Phil’s “Mommy Confessions” when she submitted a video showing herself pouring hot sauce into her adopted son’s mouth and putting him into a cold shower as a form of discipline.
The video, which can be watched on YouTube, is difficult to view, with Beagley screaming at her child in an attempt to discipline him. Beagley conducts herself in a manner that is disturbingly seasoned. “No, don’t spit it,” Beagley says with experience after dumping hot sauce in his mouth brusquely.
Not satisfied that her son has learned his lesson, she then resorts to another cruel and unusual punishment: a freezing cold shower. The video ends with Beagle screaming at her child through the shower curtain while her child sobs uncontrollably.
The prosecution argued that she submitted the video in a desperate attempt to gain a spot on the show after being rejected from an earlier episode of “Angry Moms.” Either way, Beagley was found to be at fault.
If Beagley exaggerated her disciplinary techniques to gain her 15 minutes of fame, it would have been a twisted example of child exploitation. On the other hand, if the video had truly been representative of the way Beagley disciplines her children, it would have been a clear case of “creative” parenting gone terribly awry and arguably abusive.
In the video the boy, 7, had gotten in trouble at school because he had been fighting with pencils and had lied about it. Although Beagley was right to discipline her child because of his behavior, the harsh punishment doled out to the boy hardly corresponds to what indeed was a minor offense—and, in fact, the means by which she attempts to discipline him should never be used at all.
Beagley’s behavior exhibited more anger and frustration than it should have. DiscipliProxy-Connection: keep-alive
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involves more communication than mere abuse, for parents who yell at or occasionally spank their children usually sit down and discuss their actions with them after disciplining them.
Yet,Beagley is only one of many who have decided to utilize the media to gain fame, including fame-grubbing couple Richard and Mayumi Heene, who engineered the Balloon Boy hoax, in which they lied to the police about their child being trapped in an air-borne balloon.
The media is indisputably an instigator to these desperately atrocious bids to gain societal acknowledgement. The excessive publicity granted to these individuals has created a detrimental and irresistible incentive to others who crave nationwide recognition. Many are prepared to do whatever it takes to appear on television, regardless of the moral implications and consequences.
Although the individuals who resort to such ploys are obviously at fault, the media is responsible for the proliferation of like-minded individuals by giving them air time. Ultimately, the media should not grant such extensive coverage to such gimmicks because it exacerbates the problem.