A California woman named Nadya Suleman has recently given birth to octuplets. She was granted her wish of having a big family through a specific type of artificial insemination that would create a large number of babies.
She is also jobless, unmarried and on welfare with six other kids. In the mind of a normal person, six kids constitutes a big family to begin with. But to sum it up: eight plus six equals 14 kids, all under 7 years of age.
According to a Feb. 9 Los Angeles Times article, she told NBC’s Ann Curry that money is “paper” and said that she will provide for them through faith in God.
Unsurprisingly, Suleman has been met with a tidal wave of criticism from the media and the rest of the nation. Even her parents have spoken out against Suleman’s actions and seem to be the slightest bit embarrassed and ashamed that their offspring is causing such a riot in the headlines.
Another interesting point of information behind the Suleman story is that this woman with no income and living in a welfare state had a publicist. Seriously. Even though the firm was representing her for free, she was not necessarily famous for anything worth publicizing.
According to a Feb. 15 Los Angeles Times article, after receiving a slew of nearly 55,000 e-mails and death threats that included being “anesthetized like a dog,” the Killeen Furtney Group that was representing Suleman finally dropped her as one of their clients this past weekend.
No worries, though, as the great state of Tennessee is there for her when she gets dropped. Suleman hired Franklin, Tenn.-based Ambassador Agency Inc., to put together a book deal and handle appearances. Where she got the money to hire another public relations agency, who knows?
This spectacle is a circus full of scary clowns with Suleman as the main attraction. It has become apparent that everybody is in it for the attention, Suleman included. Unless she is out of her right mind (which isn’t entirely out of the question), she knew what she was getting into and what would come of it. She had to have known this type of story wouldn’t go under the radar and she would be the center of attention, basking in the heat of the spotlight.
What makes her crazy is that she has basically birthed 14 kids into this world who don’t have much of a chance unless they’re adopted by families not on food stamps. All of this mess is for Suleman’s attention and so that Suleman’s desire to have a big family would become a reality.
According to a Feb. 15 article in The Daily Telegraph, the incompetent doctor who provided Suleman’s service currently has another patient in her 40s, without medical insurance and carrying quadruplets. The doctor, Dr. Michael Kamrava, may have seen all of this as a great chance to get his name and practice out there. He probably saw the glorified advertisement in his mind. “Want eight babies at once? Dr. Kamrava delivers! Call 1-800-LOL-KIDZ for your free consultation. No credit! No problem!” Based off the “success” of Suleman’s story, this may have been the springboard he was hoping for. Unfortunately, the California Medical Board is looking into his practice.
The Killeen Furtney Group saw this as a chance to capitalize on a national news story and have their name tagged with Suleman’s every time it came up. They would be the real face of the story, the ones releasing updates on Suleman’s every emotion. “On behalf of brave mother Nadya Suleman, the Killeen Furtney Group is pleased to announce that Nadya has learned to change multiple diapers at once.” The media would flash the text all over the newscasts and soon other Hollywood celebrities in Los Angeles would be hitting up Killeen Furtney Group for their own representation. The clowns at the Killeen Furtney Group didn’t deserve the death threats other clowns gave them, but these folks definitely tried to jump on the wrong bandwagon to success.
Everybody is profiting off Suleman’s stupidity and, ultimately, the children’s misfortune. These kids were born screwed, and everybody around Suleman is trying to make a buck or steal a wince of the spotlight. How pathetic and selfish.
Maybe Suleman is smarter than we all give her credit for, and she knew our silly society would become obsessed with her story. Ironically, there is even a kid in Knoxville, Tenn., who wrote a column about her for his school paper. Maybe she knew the sponsorships and book deals would come, and she would get to tell her wonderful story to the rest of the world. Maybe she saw it as her free ride out of welfare.
What she got was a shovel to keep digging herself deeper with. At least she’ll have 14 helpers.
— Oliver Casey is a junior in enterprise management. He can be reached at [email protected].
