Way to go, Salon! Not since Debra Dickerson’s article importuning OJ Simpson to commit suicide have I seen such unabashed spite. ‘Tis the season.

This phenomenon of inventing celebrities we "love to hate" is more than a bit sickening to me. Paris Hilton, if compared to a doll, is nothing more than the kind into whom we long to dig our grubby little fingernails before tearing to pieces. Unlike other such tragic figures as Michael Jackson and OJ Simpson, whose falls from grace at least occurred after they had achieved great things, and whose ignominy momentarily satisfied our schadenfreude, Paris had no presaging "grace period". As far as I know, she has never accomplished anything, nor has she claimed to be anything more than a multi-millionaire's heiress. Nor, for that matter, has she committed any crimes that are as heinous as those allegedly perpetrated by OJ and MJ. Instead, she was apparently conceived in free-fall by greedy, frothing-at-the-mouth publicists. She has been entirely an ingenious media-creation: a virtual human being to be despised in an uncomplicated way for all that she represents. In the way that our not-so free society condescends, we are allowed and even encouraged to hate this person. If you were frustrated by the compound compunctions of political correctness which reached a high (or low) point in the '90's, you got an outlet for your pent-up hostility when Ms. Hilton was invented.

What “Virtual Girl” have they given us? She's tall and pretty in a vaguely-threatening-Middle-European-aristocratic way. She might appear arrogant to some, though a better description would be that she appears indifferent, looking on the world with insensate doll-blue eyes; arrogance, after all, connotes an hauteur that one cannot plausibly ascribe to one whose carnal performances have reached general audiences. She runs amok, careless in her "Girls Gone Wild" milieu. By appearances, like a true descendant of Roman patriarchs, her prodigal bacchanalia is unmitigated by any sense of social responsibility.

Her agency in all of this is open to question. Frankly, I doubt Rebecca Traister's acid claim that Paris is “too dumb to pretend not to be”. More likely, she possesses at least a pole-dancer’s street wiles and is capable of understanding the half-violent encouragements of those who would like to devour her. Regardless of how wise she is, as with a pole-dancer, she’s just a bit of a victim. For this she deserves better than what Triaster serves up. Well, we all do!

Pretty rich girls with loads of inherited dough behave badly...are spoiled... can afford to have expensive clothes, cars... can buy beauty... are aimless and without morals... and everybody wants to be their friend!

There have been Paris-types through the centuries, though without the media to bring them in our homes.

"The scariest part about her is how she has made it acceptable to think of women as brainless twits."

Wow, do you realize what power you are giving to little ole Paris? Imagine, before her rise, it was completely unacceptable to think of women as brainless twits, but with a few winks of her labia, she completely changed the way men think, uh, all over the world! My god, yes, she must be destroyed!

Nope, it's true, it has never been acceptable -- and it isn't NOW! No matter what, Paris has not changed this.

And if you and Trister really think she is *herself* on her reality TV show, I have some money in a Nigerian bank account that can be yours if you just provide me with your bank account and credit card numbers.

Sorry, that was supposed to say that Rod Stewart's daughter WASN'T forced to party...

I'm sure that Rod Stewart's daughter was forced to party by Paris, and some of the actions taken by her friends sound like they have a lack of morals and empathy, not that they're puppets she controls. Britney Spears did stupid things (like marrying a man who called himself "KFed") long before she ran around with Paris.

And why do we find her fascinating? Because she is the human Barbie! She drives flashy cars, shops constantly, goes out partying, and wears glamorous clothes. That sounds like way more fun to me this morning than my 9-5 working, used-car-driving, non-glamorous-clothes-wearing life. Maybe there's some jealousy in these anti-Paris rants?

The scariest part about her is how she has made it acceptable to think of women as brainless twits. I have 2 teenage sons and suddenly they see that is ok to call women skanks and ho's and flash your privates and you actually get famous for it!!!! Hilton is lauded, paid and paraded in front of us for no reason and there is a whole generation of kids who think she is the 'It' girl. As opposed to thinking she is a blemish on society with no class and no reason to exsist. The cult of celebrity now worships at the feet of a racist, slutty hyena and does not seem to feel guilty at all.

She is the ultimate example of reaping what you sow. Our mania for all that is flashy and trashy has made Hilton and her coterie rich and famous. The scary part is they are young and have only just begun. Where can they possibly go from here and do we even want to contemplate where that might be???

Paris who? Britney what?

Salon, why are you spilling ink for this?

I can't believe that We'll Always Have Paris (Unfortunately) wasn't the headline for this article. Is there no respect for the classics anymore?!

Also can't believe nobody made the reference before I did in 141 letters.

Because I'm really confused. I had children about 10 years ago, and fell out of the pop culture loop then. Now that my children are a little older, I've slowly gotten back into the world of the media.

And I feel like I've fallen into some sort of alternate universe, where there is now a new category of celebrity famous for doing absolutely nothing. Angelina Jolie is at least a movie star. But what have the Paris's, Jessicas, Taras and Lindseys done that warrant this level of media attention? They're all pretty girls, and they all have vaginas, and some of them like to show them off. No one buys their records, so evidently they aren't THAT popular. When WAS Britney's last album anyway?

What is it about these party girls that we slobber over photos of them going shopping, picking their teeth at the mall, falling down drunk at a club? I just don't get it.