So, here we have another charming woman who happens to have a very strange condition: she is 22 but looks and sounds like an 8 year old. Shauna Rae's condition was caused by chemotherapy drugs when she was an infant. I have to say, that particular tragedy was a new one on me. Thanks mainly to watching TLC, I have been gob-smacked by some truly astounding people, including the 1,000 pound woman, the giant tumor man, the transgender teenager, the hoarders, the , the dwarf families, and the lady who can't stop eating mattress stuffing. The list goes on. These people have dramatically different conditions, but there are a couple of similar veins that run through their stories. One is they aren't the way they are by choice. They either have congenital differences or they developed them later, to everyone's horror. What they all did choose, however, was to publicize their situations on television. We can safely assume these were for financial reasons. After all, if you have an inescapable and rare condition, you might need money, and you might as well benefit financially from the public's fascination in the bizarre. So how does that make Shauna Rae, et al. Different from the freak show performers of the past? In my opinion, there is little difference. The motivations are the same...money. There is the p.c. Premise of creating awareness and acceptance people with rare diseases, birth deformities and underfunded medical conditions. The other commonality among these strange people is they are almost always portrayed as very kind, warm-hearted and brave folks who endure their lots in life with courage and often humor. That's fine. No one wants to watch a show about perpetually grumpy and sad "victims."
