On the surface, it would appear that Ethan Couch and Anthawn Ragan, Jr. have absolutely nothing in common.  Couch is the Texas 16-year old who was charged with and acquitted of the deaths of four pedestrians while driving drunk, using the outrageous, and now infamous, defense of “Affluenza.”  This term, coined by “Jessie O’Neill, the granddaughter of a past president of General Motors, when she wrote the book The Golden Ghetto: The Psychology of Affluence,” was used by a psychologist during Couch’s trial.  “Affluenza” is described as a “condition in which children — generally from richer families — have a sense of entitlement, are irresponsible, and make excuses for poor behavior because parents have not set proper boundaries,” according to an article published in USA Today.

Anthawn Ragan Jr. is the 19-year old Miami man who is charged with the murder of ten year old Aaron Vu in his family’s Miami nail saloon, for which he was arrested on November 22, 2013.  He was also subsequently arrested for the murder of 21-year old Luis Perez at a North Miami Motel 7, which took place on November 1, 2013.  According to an insightful column by Miami Herald columnist Fred Grimm on December 7, 2013, Sins of a father, portents of a killer, Ragan was also the product of a home where no proper boundaries had ever been set.

Ethan Couch came from a life of privilege where, all too often, the children of the ultra-wealthy are left to fend for themselves while their parents are preoccupied with their careers and social lives.  Many of these children grow up believing they are entitled to take whatever they want because they’ve always had their every desire fulfilled on demand.  Added to that toxic mix is the commonly held idea that a child’s self-esteem is dependent on being recognized for merely showing up as opposed to having to accomplish anything.  The Participation Trophy Generation has become accustomed to being rewarded for simply existing, which has in turn created an entire culture of entitlement.

I am hardly surprised that some psychologist or lawyer would cook up a murder defense based on the ridiculous notion that the defendant is a result of dismal parenting.

The same could be said for Anthawn Ragan, Jr., who was raised by an 18-year old single mother with no support at all from the child’s father who was serving a life sentence for murder.   As Fred Grimm wrote, “There’s no shortage of sociological studies predicting dismal prospects for children of poor, teenaged mothers abandoned by the father. A father gone off to prison presages even worse outcomes.”  Ragan’s mother, now 37, is also in prison now.

Ragan’s circumstances in life are the exact polar opposite of Ethan Couch’s, and yet both turned into heartless, cold-blooded killers.  Both are seemingly without remorse or even an awareness of the heinousness of the act of taking someone’s life.  That complete lack of any empathy at all shows that both Couch and Ragan possess a void of humanity that is so vast and so deep, it’s almost unfathomable.  Neither appears to have any conscience whatsoever.

Couch was given a sentence of  “10 years of probation after he confessed to intoxication manslaughter” instead of the “maximum 20 years in state custody” sought by the prosecution, according to a Huffington Post article published on December 12, 2013.  Now that Couch will suffer no significant consequence for his horrendous behavior, he will be further enabled by the court system the same way his parents have enabled him for the first sixteen years of his life.  The adults in his life have preserved his blatantly false sense of “self-esteem” at the cost of four lives.

Anthawn Ragan Jr.’s “self-esteem” was never a concern, yet he appears to have the same warped sense of entitlement.  After robbing the nail saloon, he casually walked out, turned around and for absolutely no discernible reason, fired a round of bullets into the store, killing Aaron Vu and wounding his father.  It was as if there was no afterthought.  His final senseless act of violence was like a throwaway line in a B movie – in this case an extraneous act that took Aaron Vu’s life.  All for a score of three hundred dollars.

The disease of entitlement is a pervasive sickness that, as we now see, can have deadly consequences.  The worlds from which Ethan Couch and Anthawn Ragan Jr. come may be diametrically opposed from one another, but both created two brutal, uncompassionate killers who are completely disconnected from any semblance of humanity.  For all intents and purposes, both might as well have been raised by wolves.  As far as I can see, Couch and Ragan are two sides of the same coin.

Early this morning, another arrest was made in the murder of Luis Perez by North Miami Police.  According to the Sun-Sentinel, 22-year old Terry Allen Nealy was taken into custody in Miami Gardens and confessed to killing Perez.  Both Nealy and Anthawn Ragan were shown on video firing shots at the victim.  Both are charged with the victim’s murder.  Major Neal Cuevas of the NMPD told the Sentinel, “We had a full-blown manhunt for him.  The chief ordered an all-out manhunt for this guy because people are nervous. We have been working many hours around the clock.”  Apparently, that effort paid off.

Since Nealy was only arrested today, we know very little else about this killer as yet.  Judging by the fact that “police suspect that Ragan and Nealy may have been partners in several crimes in the area,” it would not surprise me if it turns out that Nealy’s upbringing was similar to Ragan’s – another “victim” of poor parenting.

Whatever his background, this second suspect appears to be cut from the same heartless mold as Ragan’s.  Unless there are real consequences for their savage crimes, they will probably continue on their killing spree in the future.

Granted, Couch’s crime of intoxicated manslaughter is not quite the heinous charge of first degree murder.  But the fact that his irresponsible behavior resulted in the deaths of four innocent human beings is just as devastating as the deaths of Ragan’s and Nealy’s victims.  Even one human being’s life taken at the hand of another is beyond morally reprehensible.

The disconnect that these monsters have with that reality is the scariest part of all.

The Participation Trophy Generation has come of age.

Stephanie Kienzle
“Spreading the Wealth”