If Paris Hilton is, in fact, "snorting coke in some random nightclub" she is definitely breaking the law.

And one of the reasons that America hates her is because she gets away with breaking the law with impunity due to her wealth and status.

We resent her lack of noblesse oblige; her clumsy in-your-face-artlessness. But she's theatre and she plays into that vacuousness and she knows she'll always be the punching bag. She loves the negative attention the way a bratty 3 year old does.

What's really going to suck is in ten years when she'll try to get all Angelina on us. It will be so phony. At least now she thinks that being dumb is really funny and sexy, (and her TV show was so forced and unfunny) so she's owning her idiocy. George W. was pushed to sit in the front of the class by his handlers; no one is asking Paris to do anything more than show up at nightclubs in expensive clothes. Thankfully nobody is propping her up to lead a nation. Whewww...

I just hope she'll have that epiphany soon about those tiny chihuahuas. She started a terrible trend. I heard recently that there is an explosion of these dogs in Norway and they're over bred and sold for 3k a pop. This is sad to me. I hope Paris gets schooled by PETA and starts campaigning for people to adopt rescue and shelter purse dogs. They are getting dumped by the thousands because of a trend she started. Maybe that will be the reason we had to endure her.

I just have HUGE problems with people calling the recipients of said plastic surgery "naturally pretty." Hell, Dolly Parton's even said that she wouldn't ever want to be called a "natural beauty." And I never even said Paris wasn't pretty. Just not naturally so. She was pretty before the makeover. (I like girls with beak noses. I think it gives them character. Also, she should really stop with the weaves. She actually looks cuter when her hair is short.)

BTW, do people really hate other people because they're beautiful?

I read an article once (don't ask me where) about how beautiful people actually have an easier time making friends, finding jobs, getting married, etc. It seems humans are more likely to see good in pretty people, than they are to see bad. So maybe we don't really hate pretty people. Maybe we just hate people who suck, who also happen to be really, really good-looking. And because those people suck and are arrogant and narcissistic, they actually believe the reason no one likes them is because they're beautiful.

Kind of sad really.

Go back and reread Thomas Garman's letter, LeCastor-- your crazy rant seems a little off the mark.

Actually, LeCastor

If Paris Hilton is, in fact, "snorting coke in some random nightclub" she is definitely breaking the law.

And one of the reasons that America hates her is because she gets away with breaking the law with impunity due to her wealth and status.

-- No Name Given

Well, yeah, but she's not selling thes stuff. I mean, do people really get angry at other people for snorting coke? I'm more upset by people breaking laws against rape and murder and theft and environmental regulations than some random person snorting coke.

And correct me if i'm wrong, didn't she get arrested for DUI or something like that recently? Paris, in handcuffs. That's something, isn't it?

Did I actually just read this vapid, pointless article? What was it about, exactly?

Let's see... Paris Hilton is bad because she's skanky and stupid. But newspapers shouldn't say that she's skanky and stupid, because that is anti-feminist. And, in summary, Paris Hilton is bad.

Fascinating. I'd like a refund on the ten minutes I spent reading this dreck.

"How thin the line really is between moral righteousness and plain old hatefulness." - Patricia Schwartz

Patricia, there is no thin line - this is plain old hatefulness.

To the editors of Salon.com:

Please delete this article and this thread immediately. Such ugliness doesn't behoove you or your readers. Please expect more from your readers and appeal to their higher aspirations, rather than their lowest urges. Otherwise, you will soon be a tabloid. I've always admired your approach to pop-culture with a smart edge, but this is completely indefensible.

Seriously, I mean it. Please don't fill your pages with this hatefulness.

George Byrd

Columbus, Ohio

I once rented a dvd of that "simple life" show. I don't have a tv, but I love trashy tv dvds. But I couldn't wring one bit of pleasure out of it. It was sort of...dead. It was also depressing. The only part that was interesting, was the way in which it was always Nicole who was doing and saying all the really bad, mean things. Paris appeared quite neutral, and yet she remained at the center of the show. I got the impression that Nicole was performing for her. Paris was egging her on, without visibly doing so. How was she doing it? It reminded me of the mystifying, awful parts of high school.

This aricle was thoughtful and funny. I wanted more when it was finished, so I read the letters posted about it. That was a mistake. what kind of person takes the time to read an article and then posts a letter about how it was a waste of time?

For the Dead Pool 2007

Anorexia

This article (though poorly, at too great length and in an unstructured manner) confronts a paradox: it is not legitimate to be concerned about Paris Hilton, but it is legitimate to be concerned about the level of popular concern about Paris Hilton.

I could care less about Paris Hilton or other celebrities... they pass by in my peripheral vision and are a part of the pop-culture noise around us all. It makes me sad that America, in the midst of foreign and domestic turmoil, distracts itself with this kind of stuff. I think it's pathetic at the decline-of-civilization level. But I'm not an American, cannot do anything about it, and turn my attention to my work.

But as a father in North America, I am very concerned. My morals were shaped in part by popular culture, and I'm sure that my children's will be as well. I can see how my teen aged brother and sister are affected by American popular culture: they are increasingly apathetic, hyper-materialistic and image oriented.

My parents balanced the socialization that I received from the media and my peer group by talking to me themselves and setting a good example for me. That's the approach that I plan to take.