"My guess is that, before long, Trump leaves yet another wife and takes up with Paris -- his fantasy, no doubt, and maybe hers, if she does in fact have any imagination at all."

Oh God, can you imagine the bleakness of that coupling? Talk about your joyless sex!

"LeCastor" opined:

"There are only a few countries that have a higher GDP per capita and have a comparabale purchasing power parity: Sweden, Luxembourg, etc. Even France's GDP/capita is about 1/4 lower than that of the US, and after living in France for a year, I can confirm that salaries are lower, and everything is more expensive."

I can't believe I'm even in this idiotic thread and not doing something relatively productive, like, oh, I don't know, taking a dump or something, but I'll bite. Perhaps while you're rooting around for per capita GDP figures, you could trouble yourself to examine per capita hours worked/yr figures as well. As I understand it, the only nation on this planet which works harder than the United States is South Korea. Not Japan, not China, not Germany, and certainly not 35 hr/wk, 6 wk vaca/yr France. I would quite happily surrender a quarter of my pre-tax salary to work the hours the French do. I work as much in 3 days as they do in 5, easily. And a 6-week vacation? HA! I will be shocked if I can string together 10 consecutive days, counting weekends, at any point in the next decade, apart from quitting my profession. If Americans make more money, it's largely because they work more. In other news, 1+1=2. Shocking, I know.

http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:al2eGwzbXfoJ:www.oecd.org/dataoecd/28/17/36396820.xls+hours+worked+France+US+Spain+Japan&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=2

As for 35/hour workweek, don't have any illusions. It doesn't apply to everyone in France, and the higher up you are in the rigid social hiearchy, the more you work.

Well said.

I agree about the boredom with the subject and given most of the current discussion so do some other folks.

Time to move on...

...is that, unlike other famous trust-fund-baby-brats, her antics have not, as far as I know, been balanced with any "redeeming social value."

In the past, the poor little rich kids who entertained/appalled the masses with their drunken debaucheries were smart enough (or well-advised enough) to make sure that they also did well-publicized Good Works so as to let the great unwashed know that they did, in fact, understand the adage "Much is expected from those to whom much has been given." Consider the Kennedys, Fords, etc. and their numerous charitable foundations. Remember that in World War II most of Hollywood's elite made visible contributions to the war effort - even in many cases to the extent of joining the military. The most extreme case, perhaps, is that of Katherine Drexel, the 19th-century heiress who used her share of the family fortune to found an order of nuns who educated ex-slaves and Indians.

But Paris and Nicky, and most of the rest of their posse? Clue me in, fans, if they have ever done ANYTHING in the realm of social service, outside of maybe attending a few high-ticket charity balls. I think this is ultimately what is so irritating about these girls - they misread their potential and, as a result, are wasting it. And "wasted potential," no matter what the social background of the squanderer, is always a sad thing to witness.

I think the problem is, to a large degree, our infotainment-oriented news media that has glommed onto Paris as a worthy subject for coverage. There have probably always been people like Paris, and there probably always will be, but why oh why is so much ink, so many column inches and so much broadcast time devoted to her? Newspaper and broadcast editors can put other stuff into that space. Even if they want fluff -- and readers and viewers need some light stuff because it can't always be the heavy stuff, I understand -- there's plenty of non-Paris material available.

Haha! Good one. :))

I'm another barking dog in the movie! She gives me the shivers.

She writes this absolutely fantastic article. I think Rebecca Traister is my new favorite journalist of all time. I laughed so hard at this succinct but brilliant analysis of Hilton's role in American pop culture that I fell off my counch.

Honestly, every other article I read and love on salon is written by her. She is a goddess and I hope salon pays her lots of moola.

The reason Paris is fascinating is because she is so typical. Go to any University or expensive private school and you will find she is the norm. When I attended college, it had gotten so expensive that only affluent could attend. Wealthy bimbos were rampant. Male or female, people who couldn't find their own butt with both hands and a map were at the school because Daddy had money and was an alumni. They would show up to school in fancy clothes and BMW is spew the liberal gospel of political correctness and mulitculturalism because it made them look good socially but if you weren't as affluent as they were they wouldn't give you the time of day. Would Paris actually give you the time of day? Or is she more interested in going shopping and being seen socially in the right places? Paris is a typical American, shallow, stupid and self-serving. Let them eat cake.

The author cannot simultaneously argue that Paris should be condemned and yet object to it when people call Paris a "slut," because one of the main problems with Paris, one of her biggest moral flaws, is her slutty behavior. Using any other term for it is just a euphemism. The author even goes so far as to equate calling Hilton a slut with "lashing out against femininity and sexuality," and she implies that any man who calls Paris Hilton a slut is a misogynist. How absurd!

When people use the word "slut," and I have heard that word used to refer to men too, they just mean that they don't approve of that person's promiscuous behavior. It doesn't even mean they hate the person. They just don't approve. Big deal.

Then, at the same time, the author, who objects to Paris being called a slut, refers to her as something even worse - a "succubus." [Exact quote: "the world's most famous succubutante." "Succubutante" is a made-up word derived from "succubus."] A succubus is a female vampire who has sexual intercourse with men while they are asleep (and unaware).

I really wanted to agree with this article, and you would think that any article bashing Paris Hilton would make its own point, but the author spoils her main point by going off on this absurd tangent about what people should and shouldn't be able to criticize about another person.