Why Must 'Being Maci' Turn Into a Debate?

Former Teen Mom star Maci Bookout's new spinoff special, Being Maci, aired Sunday night on MTV. For the most part, it featured regular Teen Mom-esque fodder , but it did cause a stir when, in one scene at a bowling alley, Maci takes her son Bentley to the bathroom and spanks him for misbehaving, although MTV didn't explicitly show the spanking. Bookout tweeted after the show: "im gonna catch a bunchaaa shit for spanking bentley.... #parenting." Obviously audiences reacted, all over the Internet, with discussions on what kind of a mother Bookout was, the merits of spanking, and alternative methods of discipline.

Of course, I adhere to the mantra "Never read the comments," but damn... some of these comments. Because of Being Maci, sites all over are asking questions like, "So what do you think of spanking?" and "Do you think Maci should have spanked Bentley?" Such a blatant form of parenting voyeurism makes me wary.

As a true blue Debbie Downer, Teen Mom is just depressing to me. No, I don't believe it glamorizes pregnancy, because I don't think anything about the show is glamorous. But it gives an arena to fans to criticize the way these girls are parenting their children. After Being Maci aired, Twitter blew up with people both admonishing and supporting Maci Bookout in her decision to spank Bentley. Something as personal as one girl's parenting being dissected all over blogs and on Twitter strikes as invasive. Then again, isn't Bookout inviting that anyway by agreeing to have her motherhood filmed? Does that give us an excuse to openly round-robin criticize the decisions she's making?

Really, is it any of our business in the first place?

Image: MTV