I totally agree with Traister that Paris Hilton is a mortifying symbol of young American womanhood. But Hilton feeds on any press, whether positive or not, and the nauseating phenomenon just continues. This is what she wants. When all of the media, including well-intentioned invectives written in Salon, just cease giving her attention then her popularity or notoriety (however you want to see it) should hopefully cease as well.

"For years we've been paralyzed in the tractor beam of her brainless celebrity."

No, "we" haven't. You have. Accept responsibility for your own ineffectual will power when it comes to knowing the difference between newsworthy and starfucker.

I don't know any true feminists who waste a minute on Paris Hilton. Get my point?

the fact is she is subject to a HIGHER level of scrutiny and criticism from many quarters BECAUSE she sells sex: both men and women, for somewhat different reasons, resent the fact that they have to use their brains to have something to sell and she doesn't.

But I'll continue the debate because, truth be told, I'm pretty shallow.

Leave Britney alone. She's enjoying her freedom, and if Paris is her partner in crime, all the power to them both. I'd be slutting it up too if I were pregnant for two years straight, while stuck in an oppressive marriage to perhaps the world's biggest loser. We should be celebrating her emancipation, rather than shunning her for immodesty.

And, please, Paris is hardly a culprit here; it's obvious Britney's got a crush on Paris. Paris is just letting her follow her around.

And of course Paris' friends have problems. She leads a life of excess, as do her friends. That's what happens when you lead a life of excess. You get coked up, or you start puking yourself. Paris deserves some credit for (apparently) not doing either of those things. She may be dumb, but she's not stupid.

Paris Hilton is one bad habit I have never had. I just don't care about what she is doing. The best way to dampen a celebrity worshipping culture is to well, not participate. I won't lie if I am stuck in a long supermarket line I flip through the pictures but I am not going to pay to read about those people. Come on, like most Americans I have a job and a life and while it does not involve clubbing or island hopping I kinda like it.

It's just that simple.

What is it about her that has Hollywood-plus so willing to allow her to behave as she does, and more than that celebrate it and partake in it?

I'm not naive, I get the allure of the 'bad girls' and the 'bad boys' but she's not a Bad Girl in a fun way; she's toxic.

One thing that I don't think was mentioned was the release of the night-camera video of her naughty behavior with some creep whose name I can't remember. It kind of makes me think of 'the slutty girl' in high school who makes one bad mistake and is forever branded because of it. Because she knows herself thus condemned and irredeemable, she decides to make lemonade out of her new status as the school lemon.

Or maybe I'm giving her too much sympathy. She does seem pretty desicable. What an embarassment for her family. I'd have thought she'd be brought into check well before now, families that wealthy and influential usually have a tight rein on their progeny.

I always knew RT was smarter than a lot of people, fans and non fans alike, give her credit for. There's apparently good evidence that a sense of humor is a sign of intelligence, perhaps that is why it is so highly valued.

There is no question that we are culpable, as readers and writers and photographers and Web surfers and consumers -- addicted to the empty calories and steady buzz of hating on Hilton.

To paraphrase Tonto: "Who's WE, white woman?"

YOU may be obsessed with Hilton. I've never given a flying fuck about that brainless whore, or any of her lowlife hangers-on, and neither has anyone of any intelligence that I'm acquainted with. Maybe folks in New York are incapable of tearing themselves away from idiotic tabloid rags like the Post, but don't be tarring the rest of us with that brush, ok? Some of us have the brains to know a waste of attention when we see it, thank you.

Next time you go on one of your soapbox rants, try speaking for yourself. You'll come off much less insulting to your readers.

to write about Pinochet's death instead of Paris Hilton? Do an interview with someone interesting/funny, write a comparative analysis of freedom of speech restrictions around the world. How about Senator Gordon Smith? The new UN Ambassador? Some book or movie that's not Apocalypto? Or maybe about some other feminist concern than raising boys (now done by that alcoholic woman and debra dickerson)?

I mean, really, you just hash over the same topics, over and over. RT writes about Madonna, Whitney Houston, now Paris Hilton. Same article over and over again.

:)

but had done everything else the same way, would she be stirring such strong emotions? I kind of like her; she draws a lot to the surface that should be seen about peoples attitudes.

Earlier today you were bragging about having enough money to pay for Salon. Seems to me that now you're just bitching about having wasted your money. Make up your fucking mind. After 400+ letters, you still have nothing to say. You and Rebecca Traister have so much in common!

Oscar Wilde said:

The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.

You say:

It's time to admit that Paris Hilton, that creepy dollie, must be destroyed.

Ignoring the fact that your epiphany is at least two years too late, you fail to meet your stated purpose.

How can you get her out of the public eye by publicizing her?

Who gives a shit?