Reality TV is an insult to our intelligence

Despite America's irrefutable love for drama-filled reality television, Oxygen, a network available in more than 74 million households, has canceled its upcoming reality series "All My Babies' Mamas." 

The show, which would follow Atlanta rapper Carlos "Shawty Lo" Walker and his 10 self-proclaimed babies' mothers and 11 children, won't ever see the light of day. 

After news of the show first leaked in early January, opposition to the series immediately became apparent. 

News organizations and civil rights groups like Color of Change expressed discern for the series, calling it a "mockery" and "a new low for humanity." 

A petition was immediately started to halt all production of the series. The petition ended up boasting 40,000 signatures, which was enough to cause Oxygen to pull the plug on the controversial show. 

In the wake of this cancellation, many are wondering what would lead the Oxygen network to consider airing such a tasteless representation of the Black community and the answer is right in front of us - ratings, clear and simple. 

The media serve the people, which is why TV shows that promote rude, crude and completely ridiculous behavior are the ones that remain in demand. Just look at the statistics. The first season finale of "Love and Hip Hop: Atlanta" drew in 4.4 million viewers, compared to the 775,000 viewers that tuned into the first season finale of Style Network's much more positive series, "Tia and Tamera." 

Shockingly enough, American viewers seem to prefer yelling, drink-throwing and fists flying over values like monogamy, marriage and parenthood. Unfortunately, America's guilty pleasure is having a negative impact on the younger generation. 

According to Child Trends, a nonprofit research center, more than half of the births to American women under 30 occur outside of marriage. 

Single parenting has become a new normal for American families. 

Even more unfortunate is the fact that children born out of wedlock are increasingly at-risk for falling into poverty, failing in school and suffering from emotional and behavioral problems. 

Perhaps these were some of the reasons so many people had a problem with the premise and title of Shawty Lo's sitcom. Not only was the title demeaning, the fact that each of the "babies' mothers" was proud of her individualized and stereotypical title. 

For example, one of the mothers was set to be called "Shady Baby Mama" rather than her real name. 

But the fact that the Oxygen network saw an avenue to make money and took it is not the problem here. It is the decision the network made to ignore the blatant discriminatory elements of the series that is truly the issue at hand. 

Despite Oxygen's decision, they are not the only ones at fault here. 

The network was simply taking a cue from channels such as VH1 and MTV that exploit the people of America to get ratings and money. 

MTV was one of the first to do it, with the creation of "The Real World," a reality series that would captivate an entire generation. 

While the series served to display exactly what it said, the real world, it still promoted a wild and crazy lifestyle. VH1 has created an entire empire based on exploitative TV shows including "Love and Hip Hop," "Basketball Wives" and subsequent spin-offs. These shows do nothing for us. Yet we continue to support...and therefore breed similar shows. 

Next time you sit down to indulge yourself in a "Love and Hip Hop" marathon, ask yourself one question: Is it worth it?