Eeee! Little Suri, arguably the most adorable child walking the earth at the moment, and a teeny little Hermes bag matching Mama Joey Potter's! DARLING! Right? Right?
Well, over at the fabulous jezebel.com, the internets are thinking otherwise, as the general consensus in the comments currently stands at something like, "OMFGWTEVER WHATTTT DOES A 2-YEAR-OLD NEED WITH HERMES WHEN THE ECONOMY IS TANKING?!!?!!!11!??? I CAN'T AFFORD TO EAT! (ahem ... at least not if I want to keep up with my Louboutin addiction)!"
I mean, I'm not gonna say I don't wish I could afford a little more luxury in my life, but my initial response to that is: "honestly speaking, what does anyone need with Hermes, then?" It's not exactly a new trend that kids with rich parents tote designer labels. I'm thinking what is new is the Gen X-and-Y-ers (myself included, as I am a whiny brat on many an occasion) who were all collectively raised to believe we could have whatever we wanted are running into brick walls all over the place because, while the majority were also raised with a 'Go Get 'Em, Tiger' mentality and are willing to tear it up in the workplace, most also think they should be doing so for nothing less than a quarter mil, and, well, the chips just haven't been falling that way since we all entered adulthood. Unfortunately, the majority response to this has not been to feed the fire and make everyone work harder or more creatively, or even throw their efforts in another direction, such as selling out with vigor or possibly marrying up.
In most cases, really, most people have just turned into whiners. And spectacular excuse-utilizers.
-"You don't understand, my parents were poor and I didn't get a trust fund but I should be able to act just like everyone who DID!"
-"I couldn't afford to get a college degree, so instead of working my way up I will use this as an excuse for failure!" (or, conversely: "I got this damn college degree and it's totally useless and now I am poor and screwed and DAMN THE MAN!")
-"I work really hard and it's still not enough, but instead of working more to achieve the things I want, I'm going to watch TV because I deserve a break."
-"I deserve it more than anyone, so I'm going to take and take and take and assume that's okay."
-"Of course I hate X, Y, and Z. They have everything I want and I see no way of achieving it for myself, so instead, I will hold a grudge!"
In truth, most people just want a lot from life. We all want to live in New York City (or whatever your personal equivalent is; generally speaking, they're never cheap), we all want to study abroad, we all want to go on exotic vacations, we all want to dress head-to-toe designer, and we all want to work less and play more. It's just that only a fraction of our generation is willing to work to get there, and make amendments along the way to our plans of ultimate consumerist-driven happiness when some things just stay forever out of reach.
The rest? The rest get angry when privileged babies have what they want - or rather, think they deserve. The rest use the state of the American economy as a rationale for their anger at the monetarily blessed, and yet another excuse. It's true, Suri didn't have to do much work to afford whatever's in her Hermes bag. But that's nothing new. All that's new is there are more people ready to reel at the sight and rant in a public forum, because of jealousy, not because of what's right or wrong, and regardless of the state of American economy.
If it makes anyone feel better about adorable little Suri, think about it this way: At least her parents are just rich and spoiling her with their own money. It could be worse. I heard a rumor some insurance firm execs just spent a whole lot of the nation's money to get facials and massages.
