I really don't give a damn about Paris Hilton, but doesn't this just break your heart?
Friends said that she was not eating or sleeping in jail, and that she had been crying a lot. Some reports suggested that this was because she had not been allowed to wax or use moisturiser.
For Ms Hilton, here's a little song to cheer her up.
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You don't want Skatje to follow suit?
Poooooooooooooor baby.
Paris should consider herself lucky that she isn't treated as real criminals who get more than two years in jail, for doing nothing.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/08/AR20070…
"Ryan Kenty, 20, and his brother Brandon, still a sophomore in high school, plan to drive their mother to jail Monday morning before heading back to her rented apartment to move the rest of her belongings into storage.
Their mom, Elisa Kelly, and her ex-husband, George Robinson, are paying the price for hosting Ryan's 16th birthday party -- more than two years in jail each. Ryan had asked his mother to buy his friends some beer and wine, as long as they all spent the night."
Maybe you can see why Europeans think most Americans are stupid.
"If you see a blind man starving in the gutter, kick him. Why should you be kinder than God?"
— Anon.
"The frenzy began early on Thursday when sheriff's officials released Hilton after serving just three full days, because of an undisclosed medical condition."
She needs to wax that bad after three days? What's the medical condition - hypertrichosis?
She needs to wax that bad after three days? What's the medical condition - hypertrichosis?
maybe "she" is afraid the world will find out she's really a guy?
I really love Randy Newman. I'd never heard this song before, but I gotta buy the CD.
Thanks!
Alan
There's
a good argument that Paris Hilton is at best a distraction from things that matter.
PZ, you missed the best part:
Oh how heartbreaking. I don't know how those evil people sleep at night.
Guess she wasn't cut out for the Simple Life after all...
Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_BZc2yMSNk
You know what I think? All this publicity just gives her more power - put the attention whore on ignore.
Not eating or sleeping because you can't moisturize? Good, I say, let the bitch starve and rot. One less spoiled, self-absorbed, petulant and entitled brat we'll have to deal with.
Peter @#8,
That was an interesting take on the situation. Here's another, a libertarian viewpoint.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/katz-j/katz-j16.html
Really, why do people hate her so? Just because she's an insanely rich, beautiful, airhead party girl? So what? Who has she harmed? I don't give an effing dead rat's ass what she does, but the media frenzy over this whole thing is absurd, and a statement beyond belief over the current situation in this country re the media. Bread and circus while ShrubCo lays out his plans (no surprise) to stay in Iraq another fifty years--or forever.
On another blog somebody noted they overheard somebody gloating over Paris' 'punishment', and the poster asked this stranger if they thought Scooter Libby received a fair sentence...'Scooter who?' Maybe he should have taken his case on American Idol.
We are doomed, doomed I say!
but the media frenzy over this whole thing is absurd,
understanding that much of what you said was satirical...
well, you could say that's one of the reasons she is despised, but really, that's not her fault.
my personally despising Paris Hilton is more a projection of my despising the vast bulk of Americans who apparently find her so fascinating that she warrants days and days of news coverage.
much like how I despise(d) Anna Nicole.
I also empathize with her parents, who must get weary of the endless embarrassment.
but to add on to that, I despise the cheapness in character she represents, that many kids find necessary to emulate for reasons that are beyond me at this age.
yeah, she sucks, 'K?
like with Kent Hovind, I have would have no compulsions about her having a lengthy stay in prison, if that meant less news time would be wasted on her sorry waste of a life.
I actually feel bad for her now. I think she should have served her full sentence before, but now that an official let her out, it's not fair for a different official to throw her back in. The first official should be punished and Paris should remain under house arrest, stupid, spoiled brat that she is.
"I really don't give a damn about Paris Hilton, but doesn't this just break your heart?"
What it reveals about her inner life does indeed feel very sad, to me.
emkay,
As usual, the libertarian voice makes lots of sense, until you get to around "But a license to drive your own car, on roads they tax you to pay for? This is simply an excuse to charge bureaucratic fees, and to make people carry identifying papers."
Sigh. These people seem so sane and rational until they turn into frothing the-state-is-evil-no-exceptions ideologues. Scratch another political movement off the list.
This blood-frenzy against Paris H is disturbing.
Even rich and spoilt children get frightened. Taking pleasure in another's genuine fear is pretty disgusting and must surely sicken the spirit of those who are capering about, gloating.
Evolution has resulted in us having the instincts of any ape, but it doesn't require that we howl from the forest.
Taking pleasure in another's genuine fear is pretty disgusting and must surely sicken the spirit of those who are capering about, gloating.
feel free to concern troll, but do be sure you know what you speak of when you use the word "genuine" as applied to Paris.
Do have to wait for her to run over someone?
She's a drunk. And probably a coke addict.
Yes she needs treatment. But she also needs to learn there's penalties for ignoring the law. I don't feel bad for her doing jail time. I feel bad that she's such a miserable person.
Maybe if she had done a week the first time she got caught drunk driving she wouldn't have thought of breaking parole.
I don't take pleasure in a rich girl's minor discomfiture. The point is that every day a great many poor people are going through greater suffering than poor Paris -- and they do not get round the clock coverage on CNN.
What has me aggravated is the hypocrisy and the silence about anyone other than the obscenely wealthy.
Saying the media has its priorities wrong is an understatement.
Far be from me to defend Paris Hilton, but:
This part is credible enough, but . . .
. . . this part, not so much.
Notice that the reporter doesn't even pretend to give a source. This is probably because the reporter (who is male and presumably never had a wax in his life) actually believes that a woman might be upset about having to skip having her hair ripped out by the roots. (And the Times' copy editor didn't pick up on it either.)
I call bullsh|t.
Who on earth would have sympathy for her?
Getting out of jail because you have stress about being there is absurd. If that were the case, nobody would be in jail.
Even being in jail, this is barely even punishment for her. The sentencing is for 1 and a half months in jail. She doesn't have to associate with other prisoners while she's there, so she's in no danger. Whats the problem? She just has to sit around for a little while doing nothing. She's not losing income being there. Her ability to find work is not being impacted for having a criminal record. She might even be able to find a productive use for the time. BARELY punishment. And yet she can't even face that with any dignity.
The only thing I can think of which might freak her out is if she's addicted to drugs and she's going through withdrawl. But, I don't have much sympathy there either.
feel free to concern troll, but do be sure you know what you speak of when you use the word "genuine" as applied to Paris.
In your ear with a can of beer Ichthyic. I don't your understanding of human nature is so much closer to the divine than anybody else is. Yeh Paris H is an pointless person. Yeh a mass of deeply unsatisfied people yodelling with creepy joy at her discomfort is pretty sh#tful sight too. Yeh people get it a hell of a lot worse. Does that justify revelling?
The woman may be snarkily (and justifiably) dismissed as a plastic barbie-doll, but she is just as much flesh and guts as you are baby.
Grow up.
I have no sympathy for that vapid, spoiled idiot.
She's learning the hard way that she isn't above the law.
My primary concern is making the rich pay for their crimes. Our prisons are stuffed to overcapacity with people who are locked up for the 'crime' of being poor and using non-alcohol narcotics, and real criminals - who hurt vastly many more people than drug addicts - barely get a finger waggle (if they're ever punished at all) because they run companies that steal from people and poison them with unsafe food and drugs and ruin their lives, rather than doing it in person.
Paris is a drunk driving lout, and deserves to be in the clink. Frak her.
"Notice that the reporter doesn't even pretend to give a source."
Good point.
'Some reports', indeed.
I don't buy into hating her simply because she's a vacuous rich woman-child as some people do. I do, however, take some satisfaction in the fact that the legal system has finally managed to make an impression on somebody who clearly hasn't had the slightest bit of regard for the rule of law. This isn't somebody who was busted doing something dumb in the privacy of her home. This is somebody who essentially got off the hook for drunk driving and ignored her "punishment" the first time around, as if the fact that she could buy her way out of most of life's troubles meant that she could endanger others without any consequences.
I have genuine sympathy for kids who do dumb things and get in far more trouble than they need to in order to learn a hard lesson. A fourteen year old who gets caught with marijuana needs a talking to from Mom and Dad, not time in prison. An adult who gets caught drunk driving and gets out of doing time should take her good fortune and go. I have no sympathy for people who don't take the first slap on the wrist to learn their lesson and essentially thumb their noses at the people who let them off the hook.
"Notice that the reporter doesn't even pretend to give a source."
That's becuse it's original snark.
I don't hate Paris Hilton, she is not evil, merley vapid. Butthe frenzy around her makes my stomach churn...
C'mon. She was driving double the speed limit, at night, with her headlights off, after her license had been suspended for driving drunk. If a month of jail keeps her off the street for a while and does anything to convince her that this behavior is a bad idea, I'm all for it. Why wait until she kills someone?
Who hates Paris? Not me. Who is sick of the people that have always let her get away with whatever she wants to do? I'll fit into that group.
I have a limited sympathy for this; but anyone that ever watched more than a minute if The Simple Life knows that this was somebody that was raised completely to believe that she was a princess and that rules don't apply to her.
Now they do. And she can do her time like my daughter would if she pulled the same kind of crap; or that Lindsay Lohan is about to do.
This twit could have paid her own way through grad school with her teen-age allowance, but apparently actually learning something is even more oppressive that where she is now.
She's having a good cry - on national television no less. Now she "won't eat." Oh, she's as pleased as punch with herself.
Give her to me. I'll give her something to cry about. (I don't remember her ever having to clean a cat box - but even if she has, she's never cleaned my cats' boxes!)
I still want to know what her 'unspecified medical condition' was.
Was it explosive diahrea? I bet it was explosive diarhea. Or uncontrollable flatulence...
Anal leakage?
feel free to concern troll
To paraphrase Inigo Montoya, "I do not think that phrase means what you think it means..."
Why feel sympathy for her parents? You think she got this way from TV or something?
Aw, shucks. When I saw there was a song, I thought it was going to be Princess Vespa singing "Nobody Knows the Troubles I've Seen" from Spaceballs, until the YouTube loaded up. That would've been just perfect.
And BTW, I think Ichthyic was using the phrase appropriately.
Maybe it is time to look at what sort of perks Sheriff Lee Baca is getting from the rich and famous, Hollywood or other.
Just who does he hobnob with? What kind payback does he get for his understanding of the difficulties of the privileged.
Why feel sympathy for her parents? You think she got this way from TV or something?
do you recall her parents being in the news for acting like complete asses in public, drunk driving, etc?
me neither.
hey wait...
maybe YOUR parents are to blame!
:P
Bingo
Well, given the fact that Paris, and her current troubles, will be remembered, at best, as one of the least important commas in the tapestry of this century, the main story here overwhelms me with its irrelevance. Sure, its a bit sad when you consider it refers to an actual, real live person. On the other hand, there's that whole schadenfreude thing. Hard to figure where the moral position lies. Regardless-
That song? Brillant!
Randy Newman totally kicks ass, in so many ways!
I feel more sympathy with the two year stint for the adults who threw a safe beer party (comment #3)
Forgive the reverse concern-trolling (especially as I don't know the girl personally), but it seems to me that this might do her a bit of good. (And as Shindrak @ 24 points out, it's not really going to harm her.)
She's well past the age when most people get that "actions have consequences" thing. (Don't you wish someone had impressed that on Bush?)
Moreover, while no one expects her to be anything but white trash with money (also similar to Bush), inasmuch as her folks probably would have been able to buy her way out of this if not for the publicity, she could be persuaded by this incident to be more discreet, benefiting not only herself but the rest of us.
But don't go in a car.
Most of the posters in this thread are directing their anger in the wrong direction. I'm with everybody else in stating that the rich should have the same penalties as everyone else, but Paris did not let herself out of jail.
True enough. The person who let her out of jail was a sheriff who accepted $1000 from Hilton's grandfather for his re-election campaign.
Can we have him thrown out of office and arrested, too?
This girl, Paris, needs to grow up and learn something quick.
1. People are responsible for their actions. If you repeatedly violate the law, go to jail.
2. Driving drunk and/or drugged and recklessly is stupid. You can kill or maim yourself on a good day but are just as likely to kill or maim someone else who is totally innocent.
3. Overindulging in alcohol and drugs isn't a good long run strategy. The people I knew who did that fall into two classes. Those who stopped and those who are dead or dying.
She probably won't. Being a bubble brained blonde with money sounds like an easy job. They have a habit of checking out of earth early. Princess Diana and Anna N. Smith are two that come to mind.
She's really an agent of the religous right sent to distract us from the all the other stuff that's FUBAR.
Bah... it's a waste of ATP to contemplate this.
To archgoon, I certainly hope you don't immediately dismiss the entire libertarian political philosophy because of the views expressed by one of its self-proclaimed proponents. I personally consider myself a libertarian, yet I do not agree with either the tone or view expressed in the article linked-to in emkay's comment.
Taken singly, the objections made by the author of the article may have merit: What business does the government have in providing roads? Are the funds derived from taxation justifiable given their use? Do we really want the government collecting personal data and storing it in a single location? Should the government really be telling citizens what they can and can't do to their own bodies and to what extent? These questions can all be answered in a variety of ways, and it is unlikely that you would find unanimous agreement among any party, even libertarians.
However, I think that the author of that article ignored the present reality in which those issues can no longer be divorced from one another and treated separately. For better or for worse, the government has taken on the responsibility of providing roads, and like any responsible steward, be it public or private, has deemed it necessary to impose restrictions on the use of its property. Restaurant owners reserve the right to eject patrons if they become disruptive, and provided they refund them for any services paid for but not supplied, few defenders of individual liberty would object.
If the author of that article feels that private road companies would have permitted Hilton's behavior, then he should have so stated and based his case on that assertion. I obviously disagree and think Hilton's punishment appropriate. Hopefully, my stance will prevent you from closing the door on libertarians.
I believe that the most important thing here is that all the young girls who worship and wish to emulate Hilton and her celebity party girl peers, will get a real life lesson from this episode. Hopefully, paying for the amoral, negative behavior that Hilton has parlayed into a career will allow some impressionable young people to see a little reality.
"What business does the government have providing roads?"
Are you effing kidding me? It seems atlas1882 is just another Randroid. But then, I expected as much from a libertarian apologist calling itself 'atlas'.
A person who rejects an entire system of thought because of the comments of a single person supposedly following that system... isn't rejecting it because of that.
Since libertarianism is not a system of thought, and cannot be rejected on its merits, its proponents provide the only basis for consideration. As they have done nothing for me lately...
Perhaps I am just a very twisted person but I would watch Disney movies if the Randy Newman who wrote God's Song and Sail Away showed up, not the Newman who wrote You Got A Friend In Me.
I'm just waiting for Paris to find religion and become a television evangelist. It seems like the next logical step in her career.
stogoe, is there no room for debate on the question of who is best-suited to provide roads? In dissecting the author of that article's objections, I was merely trying to suggest that it contained matters worth discussing. I freely admit that it is possible that the government may be able to do a better job building and maintaining highways than an alternate private entity. I, for one, haven't seen the analysis that firmly settled the matter, but that doesn't mean it isn't out there. Perhaps you know where I could find it. I don't, however, see how condescension or name-calling effectively addresses the issue.
Caledonian, I'm not sure I understand your response. In the phrase "A person who rejects an entire system of thought because of the comments of a single person supposedly following that system," aren't the supporter's comments being explicitly identified as the reason for the rejection?
Ken Cope, why do you say libertarianism isn't a system of thought? What is an example of a philosophical system of thought that could be evaluated on it's merits irrespective of its expression by its proponents (or opponents, or neutral third-parties)?
From the way she is behaving and going, she will probably end up with a large number of prescriptions to CNS active drugs. And then OD some day in a hotel room somewhere.
Just like that other blonde bubble head did in Florida.
Not only do people sometimes fail to identify their motivations for an action, they sometimes misstate their motivations purposefully - with or without conscious awareness.
What can we conclude about a person who claims to reject a system of thought because of some idle comments from a supposed applicant of that system?
Caledonian, I see what you are saying now. Sorry for not picking up on the implication the first time. I guess I am expecting a bit too much when I look for a thorough philosophical explanation in the comments section of a blog post about Paris Hilton, eh?
She isn't a girl. She's in her 20s, and fully capable of being a mature adult if she wants to. I wonder if this isn't something entirely orchestrated by her in the first place, to be honest. She's shown amazing cunning at making herself into a celebrity out of whole cloth, and half the time I wonder if she isn't brilliant and laughing her way to the bank behind that vapid exterior. She already tried to put some spin on it; according to early reports, she had said that she was offered pay-jail but refused because she wanted to do her time like everyone else. That later turned out to be entirely false, that the judge had specifically required county jail. I could easily see her faking a few tantrums in order to get herself more press (done), and a good base for her tell-all book "Shattered dreams, shattered mind: My breakdown and recovery in the Big House". If she knows anything, it's how to get people to pay attention to her.
Atlas, I'm not taking issue with the suggestion that roads should not be state run. I'm taking issue with the claim that the sole reason for the existence of driver's licenses is
'an excuse to charge bureaucratic fees, and to make people carry identifying papers.'
And I'm not basing my opinion of the libertarian movement on this one individual. I apologize if I wasn't clear on that, though I thought that the phrase 'as usual', would indicate that I've seen things in a similar vein before.
Caledonian, I reject Libertarianism as a *political* entity precisely because I have yet to meet anyone that claims to belong to it who doesn't at some point stick their foot in their mouths up to the crotch with some overly simplistic nonsense about the governments non-role in something, the magic wand theory of markets, or one of the other button issues. And that, unless you missed it a week or so ago, when you where trying to swallow your own foot and most of the people here where trying to convince you not to, are no different.
If Libertarians have one key philosophy it is, "In X case, the government can't do anything but screw up, so let the market handle it.", where X could be anything from preventing nuts from selling me poisons, but insisting that the FDA shouldn't exist or have the power to be stopping them, to complaints about how the government shouldn't tax them to pay for police, or what ever other idiocy you can name. Even if one can agree, in principle, that their needs to be some consideration of *if* the limits/powers government gets are reasonable, Libertarians are *never* for more intervention, no matter how badly the *market* has screwed something up. And they are almost as consistently denialist about the history and facts of *how* government came to intervene in the first place.
FSM save us from Libertarian government, as their members tend to arbitrarily cherry pick the issues they think count, while failing to see the half dozen "also" defended against by the same agency or law. If it was, "We need to be more specific or cautious.", that I would have no problem with. But what you hear from damn near "all" of them is usually along the lines of, "I don't have a clue how many millions of things the FDA stops reaching the markets that could kill me, but they stopped X from reaching the market, therefor we don't need the FDA.", and other similarly insane stuff.
And your fun argument from a week or so ago just proves the point that you can't be Libertarian without jamming, "slightly out of touch with reality", some place into the mix.
I... hope you are confusing published opinion and public opinion.
I agree, libertarians seem so rational until...
...they once again overlook that "the government" is no longer King George III of England. (I'm using the US example because there are so few libertarians outside the USA.) Instead, you, You the People, are the government. You sit down and agree on "OK, we need public roads, so let's build some".
Taxes should be regarded as the membership fee for a democracy. When I pay my fee to the Society for Vertebrate Paleontology, I get the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology four times a year, plus the abstracts of the annual meeting and the occasional Memoir. When I pay taxes, I get roads, railways, police, healthcare, education, and so on.
I... hope you are confusing published opinion and public opinion.
I... hope you aren't thinking the two are unrelated.
btw, what's the name of the rhetorical device you are using?
I... just can't recall.
for want of a name, I'll call it a "Shatnerism".
Archgoon, I apologize if I misconstrued your statement. If my libertarian position sounds like all the others you've heard and you've considered and dismissed them all, well, that's your prerogative. Regarding the author's stance on driver's licenses, I also feel that his proposed rationale was off-base. There are numerous reasons why any entity that offers a service would like to be able to identify its customers beyond the simple generation of bureaucratic fees.
Kagehi, I never said that the government shouldn't provide a police force or that it shouldn't use taxes to pay for such protection. In fact, I accept these things as legitimate government functions, and I think that you will find many libertarians hold a similar position. There are alternatives out there that some people prefer and there is surely room for discussion about the relative merits of each, if not then one would be sinking into dogma. I do happen to think that the FDA is a not drain on society and the costs it imposes outweigh the benefits it yields, but you obviously see things differently. If you'd like to discuss that issues further I'd be glad to try and explain my position and hear the defense of yours, but I'd appreciate it if you would cease your insults and tone down your rhetoric.
David, there is a fundamental difference between taxes and membership fees in that one is voluntary and the other is not. And despite the fact that ours is a government of the people, individual citizens rarely have a say in how specific policies are implemented. The tyranny of the majority can be just as real and repulsive as the tyranny of King George III.
In that video, when there are four pictures (the bottom left is the Dalai Lama), who is the priest at the top left? He looks EXACTLY like someone I work with. It could be his double, and it's bugging me that I don't know who it is so that I can tease my workmate about it, since it's clearly a famous religious person and my colleague is not religious at all.
Not watching TV can be a disadvantage sometimes. (But not often.)
Good morning Atlas,
Strictly speaking, one does have the option of not paying taxes, through civil disobedience, emigration, or revolution. I suppose one also has the option of dropping off the grid and living off the land, which I believe requires none of the above action.
Maybe this is not a useful point to make, but there it is.
I've encountered the idea of selective/elective tax-paying, by which a citizen is given the opportunity to shop / sign up for governmental services they wish to, um, consume. It's an intriguing idea, of course, but its proponents never explain how this system is to be administered or enforced. Surely, in practice, this cannot be a component of a "smaller, less intrusive government" paradigm.
True. Individual citizens rarely seek or demand a say in how specific policies are implemented, but it does not necessarily follow that no path to acquiring a direct say is available. Now consider the outcome of active involvement in every decision and implementation by any and all interested citizens. *shudder*
That is very quotable. I like how it applies to issues like rights (i.e. same-sex marriage rights in Massachusetts, which face threat next week at the constitutional convention, where opponents seek to put a question on the ballot regarding and amendment to the state constitution defining marriages a union between a man and a women, or something). In what other areas should the majority be deprived of its say?
"System of thought" is an oxymoron, a warning label, theming and branding ideologues for whom the system provides ready made answers and conclusions; no thinking required. Whether advocated by an ESThole or a Randroid, a Libertarian or a Scientologist, my first response is to check the security of my wallet. When Cal makes a compelling argument (and it happens more often than not, to my mind) it's despite, not because of, any so-called system-o-thot to which he adheres. As Mr. Natural sez, "Is dis a system?"
Running out of gimmicks as fast as they are, the only reason we haven't seen Survivor: Libertarians! is because the contestants wouldn't last long enough to get a season out of it. It'd be worth it to cough up the dough for a subscription for a dish if they tried it, though.
Et tu, PZ? I'm tired of the Paris hating. She has an awesome life based on conformance to sexbot mandates. Instead of hating her, why not question why society places such a premium on sexbots in the first place? And for Dog's sake, would you please use your critical thinking skills to figure out that those "reports" are another form of Paris hating and probably lack all factual basis?
And this is the other problem with them. They take any mention of a problem that one of them may have as a declaration that its what all of them believe, so think their *individual* denial matters. I think you missed the point. Its not that you all agree that paying for cops is bad, or the FDA is bad, or X, Y and Z is bad. Its that you seem to all randomly pick something, which not even every libertarian agrees is a problem, then harp on everything they see wrong about it, while presenting "solutions" that make about as much functional sense as if I where to say, "Well, if we just invented food replicators, no one would go hungry!" Well, sure.. The problem is, none of you have a fracking clue how to get from where we are to where we need to be, you just have your pet complaints about various things you have a problem with, and your *first* step is never, "Lets find a way to fix what already exists, even if its only short term, while we look for a better solution." Its almost always, "The costs we imagine outweigh the benefits we *can* imagine, so lets just throw out the whole thing and see if that fixes it."
Mind you, this may not be how to deal with things in reality, since I don't think you people are completely insane, but it **is** how you talk about dealing with every real and imaginary problem you come up with.
Oh, I've never heard the song before, but I love it. I'm going to see if I can find it on iTunes when I get home.
I... hope you are confusing published opinion and public opinion.
I agree, libertarians seem so rational until...
...they once again overlook that "the government" is no longer King George III of England. (I'm using the US example because there are so few libertarians outside the USA.) Instead, you, You the People, are the government. You sit down and agree on "OK, we need public roads, so let's build some".
Taxes should be regarded as the membership fee for a democracy. When I pay my fee to the Society for Vertebrate Paleontology, I get the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology four times a year, plus the abstracts of the annual meeting and the occasional Memoir. When I pay taxes, I get roads, railways, police, healthcare, education, and so on.