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As I was watching the media coverage of Paris today I was struck by the overheated defense of the girl by several of the men, plus Greta van sustern and Ann Coulter.
Levy, the editor of TMZ, appeared on several shows to insist that Paris was being destroyed and she was seriously ill! He was really pissed.
Geraldo insisted that this was pure, unadulterated evil.
Some other FOX news guy claimed the justice system was all messed up, seeing as how the preacher's wife was sentenced to less than 300 days in a mental institution for killing her husband. And isn't this proof that the justice system is screwed up? (Quick answer: No).
Several other white men were impassioned about this--always with references to her crying, her mental distress, the hell, the torture...And pointing out that she didn't injure anyone with her two driving violations.
I don't care if no one is injured when someone is driving drunk or 70 mph with no lights on, like Paris was. People are killed by drunk drivers and that's something we take seriously in our society.
To me it sure seemed like "poor little blond rich girl" syndrome took over for these guys. She was crying! Boo-hoo! I have compassion for anyone in this situation, including Paris, but these same men aren't lining up to protest similar examples of bad punishment. What if this was a young black man? "He could've killed somone! Throw the book at him! He was drunk! We're lucky no one got killed!" Or what if it was some poor white woman--trailer trash redneck would be the slur.
Greta was upset because she was crying and twitching in court. Paris isn't the first defendant to have that reaction to imminent jail. In reality, Greta believed Paris was being abused by a psychiatrist and being overwhelmed by Thetans, which is the orthodoxy of her religion. Somebody call Tom Cruise.
Coulter sympathized with Paris because she should just be able to "pay a fine." Wait, is this the same Ann Coulter who wanted to behead and imprison Muslims and liberals? Just asking. Because conservatives like those who run with Fox News are the ones who call for mandatory minimum sentences, limits to judicial discretion, harsh prison conditions, etc.