When we elect millionaires because they buy their way into office, when our most talked about celebrities are best known for infrared videos and DUIs as opposed to. But the fact is that it's enough, at least for one night - that these kids and their parents are willing to spend what in some cases amounts to more than the annual gross domestic product for a small island nation, says something about the nature of fame and celebrity today. Just like being at the Oscars, or being president maybe.Įxcept, of course, these sixteen-year-old rich kids didn't do anything to earn fame. Inevitably, in each episode, there's the scene where the birthday boy or girl arrives at the party destination in a stretch limousine or horse-drawn carriage or something, friends lining the street screaming - not necessarily out of adoration but probably to be the one adoring-seeming-enough to get on camera. I'm struck that the Super Sweet 16 birthday parties seem mostly about creating for the spoiled brats the sense that, at least for a moment, they're famous. In an era where inequality has never been worse and the planet can't continue to stand for such lavish excess, the glorification of wealth leaves many of us wanting to be rich, too, instead of wanting to tax the hell out of the super-rich who've made their money largely on the backs of poor and middle class workers.īut we can't criticize the super-rich if we're too busy wanting to be rich ourselves. They're spending it on yachts and private islands and other obscene luxury items, which the rest of us then watch on MTV and E! News and the Wall Street Journal, feeling jealous and inadequate. And they're not necessarily putting that extra money into creating new business investments that kick start jobs in poor communities. The top 1% of Americans control 19% of the wealth. I know I already made this point, but it's important. Bear in mind, as foreclosures have risen rapidly in the United States, luxury yacht sales have also skyrocketed.Ģ. In the United States today, the rich are richer than they've ever been and while many of the rest of us are struggling just to get by. But I guess these sixteen-year-olds really need such extravagant parties, not to mention the expensive luxury cars that each kid inevitably gets as a "surprise" gift at the end of each episode. That same money, distributed in the world's poorest communities, could double the standard of living for over 31,000 people for one year. That's $23 million spent on 46 sixteen-year-olds. Let's assume the average spent per party is $500,000. There have been 46 episodes of "My Super Sweet 16". Worldwide, there are more than 2.8 billion people who live on less than $2 per day. Mind you, here are people spending hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars on 16th birthday parties in a nation where over 37 million families live in abject poverty on less than $20,000 a year. In another episode, the birthday girl spends $5,000 on her dress. In another, the birthday girl gets an $800 manicure with real diamond inlays. In one episode, the birthday boy spends $250,000 on jewelry. Here are the top four scary things we can learn from watching MTV's "My Super Sweet 16": At the same time, the show also reveals many of the dangerous and worrisome trends in society more broadly, trends that might even make Leona Helmsley roll over in her newly dug grave. The show reveals super-rich kids as they put on 16th birthday parties of gargantuan proportions. Have you seen this show? It's like a great big warning sign about the level that inequality has reached in America today.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |