“I must…say that I was shocked to see all of the attention devoted to the amount of time I would spend in jail for what I had done by the media, public and city officials. I would hope going forward that the public and the media will focus on more important things like the men and women serving our country in Iraq and other places around the world.” — a statement attributed to Paris Hilton, but which of course was written by her handlers, who are basically saying we should direct our strong feelings elsewhere.
The Paris Hilton hate storm is not about what she “had done”, but what she hasn’t done. Not who she personally is as much as what she is and what she represents and how the legal system always seems to cut breaks for celebrities.
“When an L.A. judge ordered Hilton back into jail just 24 hours [after she’d been unexpectedly sent home], causing the 26-year-old socialite to sob, ‘It’s not right! Mom!’, it was as if the biggest bouncer in Hollywood had folded his meaty arms and turned a whiny VIP away. I’ll admit, I kind of…liked it. The same way you like watching the head cheerleader fall off the pyramid.” — from a 6.9.07 piece by Time magazine’s Rebecca Martin Keegan.