Imagine a world where a teenager steals some beer, jumps in his truck while intoxicated, and kills four people. Imagine this teen is sentenced only to probation. Outrageous, no? Even more outrageous is that this actually happened, and it happened because a psychologist says the teen suffers from "Affluenza." That means the psychologist thinks the boy grew up in an environment where he had no consequences to his actions because his family is wealthy. I'm sure the definition of Affluenza is true. Some people seem to live their lives by different standards, getting away with crimes for which we mere peons would be executed. How, though, can one use this as an actual legal defense? And as an excuse to get away with another crime? And who, pray tell, is the real perpetrator here?
In this society, people have a constant need to find someone on whom to place blame. There's a few different things you'll be hearing in regards to this particular story...
1) Capitalism- Everyone's go-to when something doesn't go their way. If that family hadn't acquired so much wealth, maybe, just maybe, this boy wouldn't have Affluenza. You can try to go this way, but given an ideal can't philosophically speaking take any blame, you probably shouldn't. Capitalism didn't jump in a truck while intoxicated and kill four people. Capitalism didn't sentence the kid to probation when he clearly should have gotten jail time. Which brings me to my next point...
2) The Justice System- Go ahead and try to say the Justice System failed because the kid is wealthy. After all, his family probably paid to have his sentence reduced to probation, right? So is the judge to blame? The lawyers? The psychologist? Nope. Nope. Nope. Keep on point. The judges, lawyers, and that psychologist didn't jump in a truck while intoxicated and kill four people. They didn't raise a spoiled rotten brat who constantly gets his way and has no consequences.
3) The Parents- Ahhh...getting warmer. Having wealth does not automatically make you a bad person. There are plenty of celebrities who are praised for their humanitarian efforts. The parents had (and still do) a responsibility to make sure their child grew up with morals and principles. In that respect they are no different than any other parent on the face of this planet. Rich, poor, black, white, gay, straight...I don't care. Every parent is responsible for making sure their child is raised up right. It is a parent's responsibility to teach their child respect, compassion, and personal responsibility...to a certain extent. At some point, everything your parents taught you becomes guidelines. You start making your own choices. You start testing boundaries. Which is where we need to remember those parents didn't jump in a truck while intoxicated and kill four people. Noticing a pattern? Now we get to where the actual blame needs to be placed...
THE TEENAGER!!!
It doesn't matter how you were raised. It doesn't matter if you've never had to face consequences before. It doesn't matter if the psychologist comes up with some crap legal defense and the judge shows leniency. The responsibility lies solely on the one who made the choice to steal the beer, jump in his truck while intoxicated, and kill four people. The cure for this so-called Affluenza is not more leniency in the courts or a diagnosis code in the DSM. The cure is taking personal responsibility for your actions. Plain and simple. Stop looking for a way out of the consequences. Stop looking for a scapegoat. Until this society starts to value personal responsibility again, you can bet on seeing more stories a lot like this one.
The news article can be found here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/12/affluenza-defense-probation-for-deadly-dwi_n_4430807.html
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