Spoiled Rich Kids on MTV show "My Sweet 16"

[Pax Britannia]

I cant watch that show anymore. Even if I was very rich I doubt that I would spend as much money as some of these people do on a stupid birthday party.

[Vympel]

My saddest/funniest collision on the job as a cab-driver ever was the time the drunken, spoiled little sorority bitch tried to convince me it was my fault after she rear-ended me in the Escalade her Dad bought her, AT A RED LIGHT. Nobody was injured. She could've just paid me for the damage rather than argue with me in the street until the cops noticed, but she was just too stubborn / proud / incapable of accepting responsibility for herself / whatever.

How the hell did she try and argue that, and what'd the cops do?

[Zac Naloen]

Aside from the greed and the potential for sex in the back seat, I've been told another reason parents give their kids SUV's or "big ol' trucks" for their first vehicle is so they'll have more "protection" around them when they get into their first accident.

Note, not IF but WHEN

Whats more funny is that SUVS are proven to be more of a death trap in an accident than a smaller easier to drive vehicle

[Raw Shark]

*snip red light girl story*

How the hell did she try and argue that, and what'd the cops do?

a) She wasn't exactly the OJ Defense Team, her points included "Nobody ever stops at that light," and "That dent was already there!"

b) I gave my statement and went to the station to do the paperwork for body work and a new vehicle while there was still a chance of getting back on the road by last call, but I like to assume it involved a DUI.

[CDiehl]

Another gem is the girl who sees two people making out at her party and she flips out and starts screaming "THIS IS MY PARTY! NO ONE HOOKS UP AT MY PARTY! THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO BE PAYING ATTENTION TO ME!" and she has them thrown out.

Because of course, this sperm dumpster would never do the same thing at someone else's birthday. Yeah right. People on shows like this remind me of the scene in American Beauty when Ricky tells the stupid blond girl "you're ugly, and you're boring, and you're totally ordinary."

This stuff isn't so much an argument for Marxism or the estate tax as it is for a return to some apparently outdated practices. I'm thinking that corporal punishment, arranged marriages and paterfamilias need to be restored, as does an expectation of the children of the rich to be useful, either by going to college or the military, then entering public service. Also, people like her are almost an argument against the concept of individuality.

[Broomstick]

My saddest/funniest collision on the job as a cab-driver ever was the time the drunken, spoiled little sorority bitch tried to convince me it was my fault after she rear-ended me in the Escalade her Dad bought her, AT A RED LIGHT. Nobody was injured. She could've just paid me for the damage rather than argue with me in the street until the cops noticed, but she was just too stubborn / proud / incapable of accepting responsibility for herself / whatever.

How the hell did she try and argue that, and what'd the cops do?

Back when my mom worked for a State Farm insurance agent, one of the most frequent exuses given for rear-ending someone (at a light or otherwise) was "I didn't see any reason why he needed to stop." or some variant on that theme.

Whats more funny is that SUVS are proven to be more of a death trap in an accident than a smaller easier to drive vehicle

As a general rule we're not talking about highly intelligent people in these cases...

[Admiral Valdemar]

These kind of shows just beg to give me an aneurysm. If anything, it just makes me want the species to end very soon and in the most apocalytically satisfying way. I'd have to watch Threads or Dawn of the Dead to cancel out the decay of this modern world.

[Hamel]

So many shows on TV glorifying the rich, seems to be a trend.

[Admiral Valdemar]

There needs to be gladiatorial combat shows instead. With the rich. And many nasty large beasts.

[Joe]

Estate Taxes in the US stand at 50%, correct?

It's a bit lower now.

Do they still apply if the parent gives the cash/property/stocks to their children before dying? (Assuming that they trust them enough to do so).

Yes. There is a marital deduction, but no deduction for offspring outside of the flexible unified transfer tax credit.

[LongVin]

I didn't even HAVE a 16th birthday. I didn't really want one. Not to say I'm not a spoiled little bastard, although I'm not NEARLY as bad as most of the folks around here. I kind of live in a pretty rich neighborhood, and most of the kids at school have cars that were bought for them by their parents.

But seriously... anyone who could fuck up parenting enough to have kids whining at $40k birthday parties doesn't deserve to have children.

Try 300K for a birthday.

[jegs2]

I stopped watching MTV in '89. Used to watch, "Head Bangers Ball."

[Durandal]

I can't even remember my 16th birthday. I might have gotten some RAM or something.

[Gil Hamilton]

I remember mine. We opened presents at home and then went to Red Lobster. It was supposed to be a secret party, since the last thing you want to do is let a Red Lobster know it is your birthday, but one joker in my envoy decided it would be a funny prank to let them know I was the birthday boy. It was OK, because the next three times we went out, I told the staff of whatever resturant we were at that it was his birthday and that they should sing to him, none of which were on his birthday. Good times.

[Middleclass]

I think every generation thinks the newer one is spoiled. Obviously not to this ludicrous standard, but still. This is most likely because the things that many teens get now are, comparatively, much cheaper. As incomes rise, products get cheaper, and alternatives come out, it's natural to see kids as spoiled. They do have more than we did.

[Darth Raptor]

What the fuck are you doing even watching MTV? There's nothing worthwhile on that channel anymore.

I like The Andy Milonakis Show and Wonder Showzen, but I'm a head case.

[Base Delta Zero]

I suppose one good thing about this show is that whenever the revolution begins, an episode guide will provide a perfect list of who should be first up against the wall.

Yeah, I stole that from the Time Article.

[Mr. T]

<snip>

On the actual topic, there was a great column about this show on Time Magazine last week (the special issue about the movers and shakers of the world). It's just fucking unbelievable...

Edi

Here it is:

Sweet 16 and Spoiled Rotten
For rich teens, the hottest birthday present is a six-figure helping of fame
By ANA MARIE COX

Apr. 24, 2006
In the future, everyone will be famous for $15,000. WITH the emergence of a whole industry devoted to re-creating celebrity culture for anyone who can afford it, fame is a commodity like any other, although it's true that no matter how much you spend, you'll probably sacrifice your dignity as well.

Actually, $15,000 is a lowball estimate, since that would barely cover the event-space rental tab for the kind of lavish spectacles that have become prime-time fare on MTV's highly rated My Super Sweet 16. The show documents the excesses of privileged youths commemorating the mighty achievement of making it through their 16th year. Shell-shocked parents--always uttering the mantra "It was worth it"--typically peel off checks for upwards of $200,000. We learn that from the Sun Belt to Erie, Pa., the lack of taste knows no ethnic, religious or cultural bounds. You give teenagers $200,000, and they will spend it exactly as you would expect. The parties are the aesthetic equivalent of Hilary Duff MP3s.

Every culture has its coming-of-age rituals. A child is inducted into the adult realm through a transformative experience, whether it's becoming more steeped in religion or killing a deer or having a vision. It's true that I would be happy to send any of the children of My Super Sweet 16 into the desert by themselves for a while. Their blingy flings are not celebrations of accomplishment; they're celebrations of self. What used to mark the end of childhood now seems only an excuse to prolong the whiny, self-centered greediness that gives infantile a bad name. Far from joining polite society like the debutants of the past, the kids gleefully rip through social graces, alienating friends and sacrificing tact all in the name of creating a VIP room filled with people too young to drive themselves home.

The protagonists' excesses alone make for lurid, enjoyably outraged viewing. (Surely one celebrant's decision to dye her poodles pink should have prompted a call to the A.S.P.C.A.) A precocious celebutant makes her entrance via helicopter. A self-proclaimed "divo" (like diva but different) rents out the mall to stage a faux fashion show (prompting a backstage catfight over a limited supply of bustiers). There are hired dancers, a raj-like litter hoisted by hand-picked hotties and an apparent contractual obligation for someone to arrive in a stretch Hummer. I had no idea so many stretch Hummers even existed. No wonder we had to go to war in Iraq.

The series is like an infomercial for class war, and should the revolution come, an episode guide will provide a handy, illustrated list of who should go up against the wall. My Super Sweet 16 had its third-season premiere last week, building up to the broadcast with a drumroll of conspicuous consumption: four two-hour blocks of episodes drawn from the show's previous seasons. To witness such unself-conscious acquisitiveness in one sitting is like eating an entire normal-kid birthday-party sheet cake, wax decorative candles and all. There's the same queasy sense of monochromatic excess because all the shows are alike, from the fake panic that the party may not happen to the scary-sexy dry humping on the dance floor. And no matter what the nominal theme of the party--California beach party, Moulin Rouge, the color pink--each guest of honor is really after only one thing. "I feel famous. I love it," says one. Another: "I definitely felt like I was famous." Yet one more: "I felt like such a star." The teenagers take on all the tics of fame, from tiny dogs to referring to oneself in the third person. We are all Paris Hilton now.

My Super Sweet 16 isn't even the most visible or popular iteration of our democratized just-in-time celebrity culture. Club Libby Lu, a fast-growing chain of mall stores owned by Saks, provides the setting and accessories for elaborate makeover parties for girls as young as 4 at a relatively reasonable $21 a head. They can strut down a catwalk, don mock Madonna headset microphones and pester their parents to buy Role Model perfume or a LOCAL CELEBRITY T shirt. It would be easy to bemoan the trend as the end of childhood or the corruption of innocence. But the hunger for recognition doesn't end with the acquisition of a driver's license. As popular culture divides into ever more finely split niches, with Yahoo Groups and blogs touting the cream of whatever subculture you can think of a domain name for, famous is just a matter of answering your e-mail.

The irony, of course, is that the easier it is to become famous--whether in a really famous fashion or simply as a queen for a day--the more irrelevant the meaning of celebrity becomes. As a diminutive diva on My Super Sweet 16 guilelessly observes, "We're like celebrities but not famous." Exactly. Autographs, please.

Quite disgusting indeed.

[Jack Bauer]

I won't lie, that show is one of my guilty pleasures. Makes 99.9% of humanity feel much better about themselves.

[The Yosemite Bear]

My saddest/funniest collision on the job as a cab-driver ever was the time the drunken, spoiled little sorority bitch tried to convince me it was my fault after she rear-ended me in the Escalade her Dad bought her, AT A RED LIGHT. Nobody was injured. She could've just paid me for the damage rather than argue with me in the street until the cops noticed, but she was just too stubborn / proud / incapable of accepting responsibility for herself / whatever.

How the hell did she try and argue that, and what'd the cops do?

Back when my mom worked for a State Farm insurance agent, one of the most frequent exuses given for rear-ending someone (at a light or otherwise) was "I didn't see any reason why he needed to stop." or some variant on that theme.

Whats more funny is that SUVS are proven to be more of a death trap in an accident than a smaller easier to drive vehicle

As a general rule we're not talking about highly intelligent people in these cases...

I recall one time rear ending someone where I really can't believe I was at fault. I was driving down a highway, no signs no nothing and this guy slams on his breaks. Why because he was so fucking baked that he hallucinated a large dog..... (65-0 in very short span, and I was only a fraction of a second behind when I caught on to his actions)

[Alan Bolte]

Legally, I believe, you're supposed to stay far enough back that that can't happen.

[The Yosemite Bear]

That's correct, I had just started acclerating to get through an intersection that people tended to run the stop signs (by people I mean semis)

[Glocksman]

My saddest/funniest collision on the job as a cab-driver ever was the time the drunken, spoiled little sorority bitch tried to convince me it was my fault after she rear-ended me in the Escalade her Dad bought her, AT A RED LIGHT. Nobody was injured. She could've just paid me for the damage rather than argue with me in the street until the cops noticed, but she was just too stubborn / proud / incapable of accepting responsibility for herself / whatever.

How the hell did she try and argue that, and what'd the cops do?

Back when my mom worked for a State Farm insurance agent, one of the most frequent exuses given for rear-ending someone (at a light or otherwise) was "I didn't see any reason why he needed to stop." or some variant on that theme.

Whats more funny is that SUVS are proven to be more of a death trap in an accident than a smaller easier to drive vehicle

As a general rule we're not talking about highly intelligent people in these cases...

They'll really regret it when snookums causes a major, major accident where the costs exceed their insurance coverage limits by a factor of 10 or so and the local ambulance chasers are besieging the victims in ICU with offers of representation.

Ah.. I remember the days when there was Music still on MTV...... I remember wanting MTV, because all I had access to was NightTracks, midnights on TBS.

Careful, you're showing your age.
Personally I preferred the movies and videos showing on USA's 'Night Flight' to 'NightTracks', but that's purely a matter of taste (or lack of it, considering some of the movies aired).

[Cairber]

On this parenting board I belong to there was a thread about "keeping up with the jones's" and it was about people giving their 1-3 year olds parties that cost upwards of 2-3 grand. The thread quoted an article on the subject and in the vote, 43 people said they either have or plan to spend that much for their child's toddler Bday party.

Having read that thread, this show doesn't surprise me at all.

[CmdrWilkens]

The series is like an infomercial for class war, and should the revolution come, an episode guide will provide a handy, illustrated list of who should go up against the wall.

This is now officially one of my favorite quotes. Its so simple and yet explains everything you need to know about the series. No wonder I've watched it more than once...I'm putting together a target list.