It isn't just about the blonde socialite, it's about us, and our judicial system, and our love/hatred for royalty and privilege, and that's what makes it all so delicious.
I'm talking about Paris Hilton, of course, and the lovely romp we've had through the ins and outs of California's revolving incarceration door this week.
In any other town, the sheriff would lose his job - in LA, he might not, because after all, he gives perferential treatment to celebrities, and this is a town of celebrity. In any other state, the sheriff wouldn't have had the authority to reduce a sentence like that without first going back to the judge.
The sheriff of Maricopa County (Phoenix) is dying to get his hands on Hilton, so he can stick her in one of his desert inmate tents and get her skinny butt on a chain gang. He's proud of the fact that he's got the only female chain gang in the nation. This guy's ballsy, and always has been. He's also an attention whore of an entirely different kind.
I'm sure there's some sort of commentary to be made about the styles of the 2 sheriffs. One in the glitterati-West, and one in the desert-baked-my-brain-West. Oh! that gives me an idea.... *
Why do we focus on such trivial shit? Because we get to trash a rich, empty-headed young woman who's known nothing but privilege her whole life. (And yet, she managed to earn $7 million in the last year, much of it from fees she charges to attend all those parties, and pose for all those photos.) I think it appeals to the proletariat in us all. Deep down, we believe that everyone in this country is equal, and we resent when someone sets themself up as royalty, and when our fellows allow them to do it.
Salon really trashes the whole story here. Not the best Salon story I've ever read, but it does show the photo of Paris being driven to court, hysterical. The reason that's interesting, is because of who the photographer is: Nick Ut. He took another very famous photo of a hysterical young girl on June 8 - 35 years ago. You'll see which one I mean on this page.
There, perhaps, is the best commentary of all. The contrast between Phan Thi Kim Phuc, and her fight for freedom (she later defected from communist North Viet Nam to Canada,) and Paris Hilton and her fight for freedom.
Maybe the judge should sentence Paris to spend her time in prison reading about Phan and the entire Viet Nam war - a whole different kind of reality show.
June 9, 2007
Image by Ned Mudd, "The Orange Shoes of Paris"
