In-Affluenza (Fashion Blog Post)

If you're affluent, you can get away with manslaughter.

I'm not joking.

Have you met Ethan Couch? He's the Texas teen who got out of 20 years of incarceration, with trips to a 450,000-dollar-a-year rehab facility in Newport Beach and some probation orders, after killing three good Samaritans on the side of the road, trying to help a motorist in need. He also severely maimed two of his friends, who rode in his car and screamed for him to slow down.

Couch, at the time 16, had a blood-alcohol level three times the legal limit. Prosecutors asked for 20 years in juvenile hall, but Couch walked away with practically nothing, all because his lawyer claimed that he was coddled by insanely rich parents.

So, in other words, if you're affluent, you can kill innocent people and be punished with a sunny vacation in California.

 

Well. Okay. If I ever get an opportunity to choose a disease to kill my soul with, Affluenza would be it!

No I wouldn't. I think Affluenza is a terrible thing to have!

"Total B.S!" you say, "there's no such thing as affluenza."

Oh but there is. I've seen it from the people in our previous neighborhood.

First of all, my husband and I aren't the affluent type. We lived in that neighborhood only because our cheaply-made townhouse suffered significant price drop after the real estate bubble busted in 2008.

The neighborhood isn't even that affluent; it's only up-and-coming due to an influx of wealth brought in by the flourishing companies that moved into Seattle. What used to be a working-class hill top is now filled with expensive stores and pretentious restaurants. There are still down-to-earth people there -- old residents who's lived there for long -- but more and more affluent families have moved in.

And boy was it hard for me to connect with the moms there!

Most of them -- MOST -- are cold as ice. They wouldn't even look at you on the street. They are too important to acknowledge anyone.

And you should hear the words they say:

Why would anyone with a college education nanny for a job? Because, unlike you, they have to pay for an education on their own.

I don't want someone making nine dollars an hour teaching my child. There are people making way more than that who do way less at their jobs. Stop judging people on how much they make.

Geez Girlie Blogger! You're too sensitive.

Am I? Then please tell me why many of the non-affluent moms often validate my feelings.

"The moms here are crazy!" One of them confided, "they are not nice people."

"I like the schools here, but the moms are a different story," another said.

And the most recent comment goes, "the school's great, but the moms are cliche-y. They judge you on whether you walk or drive to school. And if you drive, they judge you on what kind of car you have..."

Well I'm glad to be out of the neighborhood then. Our beat-up Toyota would make us extremely unpopular.

And Affluenza is spreading to the next generation!

When I picked up my daughter from the neighborhood school, I was asked by her 4-year-old classmate, "so who do you watch?"

Oh that's right! The kid grew up with nannies picking him up every single day. To him, all Asian ladies in raggedy clothes are nannies. We mustn't be anything else.

Affluenza is real! But if there's Affluenza, there's also In-Affluenza.

You know, us poor folks who can't afford much, and know it: we drive beat-up cars, wear clearance-priced clothes, and nanny others' kids for (a low wage like) nine dollars an hour. We may not get away with murder, but at least we don't walk around like we're better than everyone else.

At last, fashion!

My entire outfit screams "In-Affluenza!"

Boots: on sale.

Pants: discount store.

Shirt, shell and accessories: clearance, clearance, clearance!

I'm sick with In-Affluenza.

And it's the best disease I've ever suffered!

Source:

http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/05/us/texas-affluenza-teen/

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/03/18/family-teen-in-affluenza-case-settles-with-victims-families-report-says/

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/02/06/victims-families-in-texas-affluenza-case-outraged-at-no-jail-sentence/