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Barbie Jeep girl’s overnight fame represents everything wrong with America

In further proof that our society will really make a hero out of the worst villains, the Internet has turned a Texas State student into a bit of a legend overnight. If you haven’t yet heard of Barbie Jeep girl, consider this your introduction.

Apparently Tara Monroe, a junior studying electrical engineering, got into a little trouble with the police recently. Her license was suspended when she refused a Breathalyzer (fun fact — you aren’t protected from consequences if the cops can’t test your breath for booze; you can lose it anyway), and she was convicted of DWI. Her dad took her car.

More: My parents’ refusal to talk about alcohol nearly cost me everything

So what’s a lazy college student to do? Shoulder that bag of books and get to walking? As if! Monroe apparently hit Craigslist and bought herself a little girl’s used Barbie Jeep. And an Internet legend was born…


Which raises the question: How hard up are we all for a laugh, America?

Monroe isn’t driving a Barbie Jeep around campus just for the fun of it. She’s doing so because she was convicted of driving drunk.

Every two minutes in America, a person is injured in a drunk driving incident. Every day, 28 people die as a result of a drunk driving incident. According to 2013 statistics, 10,076 people died in that year alone because of drunk driving incidents, while another 290,000 were injured.

More: Teenage drinking is so much scarier when you’re the mom

Still laughing at the girl driving around in a Barbie Jeep because she lost her license in a DWI incident?

Think the families of those 10,076 people are laughing? How about the parents of the 200 kids killed in 2013 in an alcohol impairment-related crash?

Monroe has said this whole thing is the best way to get her 15 minutes of fame.

But after a DWI, the last thing you should be seeking is fame. The first? Forgiveness.

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