Nadya Suleman Spending $250 on Haircuts [The War on Welfare]

As we reported yesterday, Nadya Suleman (better known to the public as Octomom) is currently again under investigation by her local Child Protective Services due to squalor-like conditions reported at her home in La Habra, California.

Agents from the local Dept. of Family and Children’s Services (DCFS) knocked on Suleman’s door earlier this week for a visit, and according to the initial report, the mom of 14 was grassed up by her personal hairstylist, Stephanie. (Related news: Octomom is seeking a new hairstylist. Must like large numbers of small children and squalor.)

Given our ongoing War on Welfare series, I’m almost mad at myself for not anticipating the mouth-foaming that would result from all the aspects of the news that Suleman is being re-investigated by DCFS. It encompasses so many levels of outrage it’s hard to know where to begin- but single moms on food stamps couldn’t have asked for a worse caricature than the unstable, plastic surgery addled mom of many multiples.

Inevitably, when food stamps come up in an Inquisitr post, the same types of comments result- mainly complaining about single mothers who “pop out babies” for a payday, in hopes of living large on welfare funds. Nadya Suleman, it is almost certain, did no such thing and rather exhibits a far more complex sort of psychosis when it comes to bringing kids into the world.

The other stereotype- one that is ugly and largely false- is that those on welfare are ballin’ on public funds. Unrelated to Nadya Suleman, I’ve seen friends in my Facebook feed complaining that moms on welfare can afford new iPhones (they presume, I am assuming) while honest taxpayers struggle to get by. The fact that most people on public assistance, particularly SNAP, work to some degree is largely ignored- the stereotype persists.

And now it comes out that Nadya Suleman- who herself drew great public outrage when she admitted she was back on food stamps to feed her supersized family- was getting $250 haircuts from the hairdresser who turned her in to DCFS. Again, what needs to be remembered here is that this is one extreme example. For every Nadya Suleman on food stamps, you have a military mom whose husband broke down and took off after several tours of duty in Afghanistan and severe PTSD. (A story from one of our commenters.)

You have a small family with both parents working two jobs at minimum wage who can’t pay the rent. Or an elderly person whose pension is sparse. Food stamps are exceedingly common (not due to laziness, but to a lack of jobs), and Nadya Suleman does not in any way typify the very real, very hard-working families they save from hunger each day.