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This was a well-written article that tries to examine the insane phenomenon that is the fame of Paris Hilton. I don't think she, herself, is as important as that fact that such a person can obtain such a level of fame. We sure are angry at Paris Hilton. Or are we angry at her fame?
Many of the letters, express such a strange misplaced rage. I have no sympathy for Paris Hilton. Drunk driving is right there at the top of my list of asshole things to do. However, it is my understanding that she is really in trouble more for driving with a suspended license resulting from the DUI rather than for the DUI itself.
But the rage in these letters! Why are you so angry? It's a rhetorical question. You resent that justice seems unfair and unequal; you hate her for her appearance of being above the law, and for her stubborn refusal to deal with the reality that you have to deal with every day. Life is hard; it hits hard and leaves a mark. And there she is, free floating blithely above itt all. She honestly seems to think that rules don't apply to her.
That is so damn frustrating. Doesn't that make you angry? She needs to go to prison. She is NOT better than anyone else. She needs to be brought down a peg or two.
But here's the thing I don't understand. The country is headed by an entire cabal of people, from the president down, who acknowledge no rule, no law, no moral consideration as applying to them. They do what they want, when they want, and how they want. One of them, known by the ridiculous name of "Scooter" now stands convicted and sentenced of a much greater crime than Hilton's, and was part of the cabal whose policies have been responsible for the actual deaths (versus the potential deaths of Hilton's driving drunk) of tens of thousands of innocent people. Insert the usual litany of other crimes here.
Yet as I write this — while we're all screaming for the blood of Paris Hilton, hoping her incarceration will somehow rectify the thousand injustices done to us everyday — this ridiculous convicted criminal "Scooter" is doing his best to stay out of prison, and efforts are being made by backers to make sure that he never spend a single second paying for his crimes.
Do I hear any rage? If Paris has you angry, Scooter should have you crippled with blind spitting fury.
But it doesn't.
I think Paris and her little dog and pony show is a sad subsitute for what's really going on. Lots of people in this society are clearly able to act above the law. Hilton is just stand-in for the perp walk we really want to see (hint: it's not Scooter). Realistically, we know that we are never going to see that perp walk, not ever, ever. Paris is the only perp walk available to us; the only leveling of the playing field we are ever likely to see. Sometimes in life, you take what you can get.
