Is Paris Burning … yet?

The national pastime of America is no longer the great game of baseball. The activity that seems to float the boat of most people is celebrity voyeurism – the burning desire to gawk at the public works and private lives, and subsequently seek to destroy, of those men and women in entertainment field, sports, politics (even religion) for some sort of perverse pleasure. Simply put, we like tearing down people who have “made it.” I don’t know why, but we do.
The latest example is the legal trials and tribulations of one Paris Hilton. This 26-year-old woman’s legal affairs have been splashed across the TV screens of the world like so much old Aqua Velva in a sweaty men’s locker room. It reached the absurd point of no return last Friday, like a circle of small children watching an animal being tortured merely to get their kicks from it.
Here is the real situation. In Los Angeles, this was a political battle over a power base between Superior Court Judge Michael T. Sauer and L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca. Little Miss Hilton is caught in the middle.
Paris was ordered to serve a 45-day sentence for violating probation in an alcohol-related reckless driving case, but she was released, by Baca, after serving three days (which is three days longer than this girl ever imagined).
After the word got out, the judge ordered her back into court and tossed back in the pokey. Fair enough most of you said. She should do the time for having done the crime, right?
Except … the sheriff let her out and the battle was on.
In a reversal of discrimination of sorts, the sheriff told a news conference that Hilton’s celebrity was working against her.
“The criminal justice system should not create a football out of Miss Hilton,” Baca said. “The only thing I can detect as special treatment is her sentence. The special treatment appears to be her celebrity status.”
Of course, Hilton didn’t help her own cause by bawling like a 3-year-old, crying for my mommy.
According to the Los Angeles Times, in the last five years, the LA County Sheriff’s Department “has released more than 200,000 inmates early, including some who ended up committing murders and other serious crimes when they otherwise would have been behind bars.

“The releases were possible because of a nearly 20-year-old federal court order allowing the Los Angeles County sheriff to alleviate overcrowding by letting county offenders go home early.
“Behind closed doors, many judges have complained that the releases have circumvented the justice system — essentially giving an elected sheriff the power to re-sentence offenders in violation of the constitutional separation of power. But few have been willing to speak publicly, and no one has challenged Baca on legal grounds.”

While West Coast legal experts debated the sheriff’s authority to issue such an early release, those same experts admitted that it is a common practice and judges almost ever challenge such actions.
“It would be an interesting clash of judicial power,” said UCLA law professor Sharon Dolovich said.
Let’s state this clearly: Paris Hilton is a stupid, vapid, spoiled woman of ridiculous wealth (not earned at all) whose only claim to talent apparently was having sex with a former boyfriend that was seen by million on tape. As a member of society, she contributes nothing of any discernable value although I am sure some rare examples of humanity can be cited.
That having been said, this also is true: men want to be with here and many, many women want to be her (young, fairly attractive, filthy rich, able to attract male at the snap of her fingers). Anyone who says they don’t dream of having more money than God, and being perpetually young and attractive, is a flat out lying hypocrite!
Want some more truth? Rich people have a different standard of “justice” than others because of their accessibility to better lawyers. You DO get what you pay for (just ask someone named O.J.).
So why does this constant yearning to tear down people of means and celebrity on the public’s part? Is it because we want them to lead lives as ordinary and mundane as ours? Or is it jealousy of the talent, wealth, fame and, yes, sexual advantages that being among the “beautiful people” commands? People want to rip actress Angelina Jolie all the time and I suspect it is because she’s probably the most gorgeous woman on the planet who is involved with Brad Pitt, one of the most handsome males on the same planet – not because of any adoption, her politics or her humanitarian efforts.
To seek punishment for illegal behavior is one thing; that is well-deserved in this case. However, when we cease to punish and merely want to torment a particular person, then the line has been crossed to some sort of perversion. Retribution becomes entertainment and, in any compassionate society that it laughingly claims to be, that is morally wrong.
If you really want to punish a person like Paris Hilton, how about this: IGNORE HER! Simply don’t give her any publicity, any photos, any attention or even the time of day. A celebrity is not a celebrity if no one notices.
But do not treat her like a piece of meat in a tank full of piranhas … which is what the American public has become. Shame on many of you for acting like voyeurs; you do not honor yourselves or our society.
Those with their eyes glued to the television, smiling at the prospects of Paris Hilton being perp-walked, only feed such frenzy.
Because, in the end, what has she ever done to you?