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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
Give a monkey a loaded machine gun. If he doesn't happen to kill anyone with it, then I guess it was just a cute trick. DUI is precisely the same as giving a monkey a machine gun, so I guess the lack of DEATH DOOM DESTRUCTION proves the act is non-violent. It only becomes "violent" when chance puts YOUR ass in the line of fire.
I am in my 33rd consecutive year as a licensed EMT (both in Maryland and California) as well as having worked in both ER and Critical Care. I guess I fail to see the "non-violent" nature of DUI. Having one's hands inside other people for years, trying to help keep them alive, or prying them loose from the wreckage created by some non-violent idiot irresponsible (and I don't care if it's a blond-haired rich white girl or a fat, brain-damaged redneck)just takes all the fun out of non-violence for me. Which brings us back to Harry Seldon's notion of "torture." And yes, I, for one am proud to be an American. Weird to find those words here, but there it is, Harry.
So Paris' lawbreaking was just trivial and non-violent. And now we're torturing her to get even because she's so much cooler than us losers. Ah,yes, I'm beginning to see the light. I think it's the locomotive at the end of the tunnel. How'd we get in here?? MOM!!
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.
Actually, I think she probably went into withdrawal--she couldn't very well keep taking her Oxycontin in jail. Now, she's probably getting methadone or suboxone to keep her straight until she checks out. Of course, if she would have just hung with the sisters instead of being such a scaredy cat, they would have fixed her up. Being a Hilton, she would have had to pay a larger than customary fee, however, for street drugs. But once she'd cooled out, the girls would have helped her get a little perspective. "Damn, Paris,you're hysterical over a week of time?! I'm in here for 10 more years, and all I did was buy a dime bag. Say, will you ask your lawyer to help me out? I don't have no money, but I'll make sure you feel no pain while you're here. (and I'll keep the sistermen away)."
The sheriff insists that she has some "really serious problems"--jail is no place for someone like her. I hope all the inmates are listening closely so they can demand equal justice (as long as they haven't killed anybody) next week. At least, demand a private room, uh, cell.
I'm beginning to think Paris has been concealing either a split personality or premature alzheimer's--both of which which would have explained why she was driving on a suspended license--twice. Seriously, whatever it is, it seems to manifest itself only in jail, not on the Red Carpet or at Puff Diddy's party.
Straight up.
I just found my old copy of Soul on Ice--think I'll share it with little sister.
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
219 Democrats and one Republican join in favor of the legislation, which passed by a narrow margin
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Salon headlines in your mailbox
