If you are an English speaker, then you are well aware of the dramatic struggle American socialite Paris Hilton has endured the last few days. She has been incarcerated, put under house arrest, made to serve her full sentence, had that sentence shortened, and finally returned to prison with a judge's order to serve her entire sentence . . . but good behavior may cut away a third of that sentence.
Ugh!
My aim is not to criticize our penal system, complain about our crowded prisons, or even to take a swing at the over-privileged 'socialite' and her misadventures. No. What I would like to comment on is the pathetic fact that I know so much about Ms. Hilton's trials and travails, and the fact that journalists around the world are taking so much interest in this woman's excesses. It has been nearly impossible the last few days to glance at any news source without some mention of the Hilton circus: Article upon article has been written, news anchors spar legal experts about the case all day long, I even overheard an elderly couple discussing Ms. Hilton at a local bagel shop this morning.
Now, I understand that young, scandalous celebrities have always captured the imagination we hoi polloi, but what ever happened to good old-fashioned shame & disapproval? For example, I have been watching the old BBC series "The House of Elliot," which follows the lives of two young women that start their own fashion house. I have enjoyed the series for many reasons but one particular thing from the series applies to this discussion. When the girls in the series sleep around--and because it is the 1920's and they are modern women it happens--their business suffers. Much of their clientele refuses to employ the Elliot's because to do so would be seen by society as an endorsement of that lifestyle. Naturally things work out for the girls but that is beside the point, what I would like to focus on is this idea of societal shame and communal notions of decency--dare I say morality? By the way, for those who are interested more can be learned about "House of Elliot" at the following link: Click Here
Instead of glorifying Ms. Hilton, or taking pleasure in her difficulties, the American public should be embarrassed for her. Reckless individuals who drive drunk endanger innocent people on the road should suffer the legal consequences. However, Ms. Hilton obviously needs help, indeed her pathetic career in the public eye has been one desperate cry for help. Instead of allowing her to run wild her family and close friends should sit her down and help her get her life together. And the public should not endorse her excesses by eagerly devouring everything she produces.
I believe it was Montesquieu who when describing the English noted that they were free by their laws, but bound by their manners. And this is an important point because unfortunately, people in Ms. Hilton's position can afford do what they want for virtually as long as they want. I doubt that the current episode will slow her down much, and I imagine that it will only help her career--but it shouldn't. While the law provides a framework for what we can and cannot do, civilized people should fill in the gaps and provide some constructive shame and chastisement. But it seems that we are all too ready to accept the kind of empty excuses for bad behavior that Christopher Marlowe penned in the following exchange in his 1591 play, "The Jew of Malta":
Friar Barnadine: "Thou hast committed--"
Barabas: "Fornication-- but that was in another country; And besides, the wench is dead."
The public should be fed up with this kind of behavior, Hilton’s TV show should be cancelled, along with all other endorsements, and she should be ignored. This would motivate her to pause and take a look at herself and hopefully she will be able to get her life in order. (On a side note, compare this to the Don Imus scandal a few weeks ago and ponder the American mind. Say “knappy-headed hoes” and lose your radio show & millions of dollars, not to mention being virtually forced to apologize to Al Sharpton; but no major figures are concerned with the right and wrong of Hilton’s activities.)
Hilton is in a position of influence, and her example matters. I think of the young girls around the world who emulate her lifestyle and do not have a multi-million dollar fortune behind to clean up their mistakes. The rest of us can help end the reign of such American icons by refusing to support them and hope they can pull their lives together before they destroy themselves.
Addendum:
ReplyDeleteEXCLUSIVE: Hilton Calls Barbara Walters From Jail -- 'God Has Released Me'
She 'Was Severely Depressed and Felt as If I Was in a Cage,' but now Has 'New Chance'
By BARBARA WALTERS
June 11, 2007 —
On Sunday at 3 p.m., Paris Hilton phoned me collect from jail. Prisoners must call collect.
The unusual conversation came about because Kathy Hilton, Paris' mother, had phoned me, and while we were talking, Paris called on the other line. When she heard I was talking to her mother, she said she'd like to talk to me herself.
She sounded tired but totally aware of what she was saying.
"How are you?" I asked.
Paris answered, "I'm hanging in there." But she declared, "I feel as if I'm a different person. I've dropped my appeal. I don't want to cause any more problems."
I asked what happened in the jail that led to her being released or reassigned to her home. She said she had not been wailing, sobbing or screaming as had been described.
"But," she said, "I was not eating or sleeping. I was severely depressed and felt as if I was in a cage. I was not myself. It was a horrible experience."
"How are you different?" I asked.
"I'm not the same person I was," she said. "I used to act dumb. It was an act. I am 26 years old, and that act is no longer cute. It is not who I am, nor do I want to be that person for the young girls who looked up to me. I know now that I can make a difference, that I have the power to do that. I have been thinking that I want to do different things when I am out of here. I have become much more spiritual. God has given me this new chance."
I asked what kinds of things she might want to do.
She said she would like to help in the fields of breast cancer her grandmother had breast cancer or multiple sclerosis. Her father's mother suffers from that disease.
She thought she might get toy companies to build a kind of Paris Hilton playhouse, where sick children might come, and the toy companies could donate toys.
She has had a person whom she described as a spiritual adviser who said, "My spirit or soul did not like the way I was being seen and that is why I was sent to jail."
"God," she said, "has released me."
She is reading newspapers The LA Times and the Wall Street Journal and books like "The Secret," "The Power of Now" and the Bible.
When she is not in her room, she can play ping pong.
She said the other women had all been friendly and the guards had been fair.
She wears the prescribed prison garb: an orange or brown jumpsuit.
She is not allowed makeup. She said that her skin was very dry and that she was not allowed cream.
"It doesn't matter," she said, "I'm not that superficial girl. I haven't looked in the mirror since I got here."
She said, "I feel that the purpose of my life is to be where I am. However, usually with a situation like mine, the person serves 10 percent of their time. I have already served 30 percent of my time. I hope if there is overcrowding in the jail, I would be let out before someone with a much more serious crime."
Her mother had earlier told me that Paris said, "I will never again have a drink and drive."
Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures
Your hopes that people will scold Paris is far fetched, and I think it is probably a good thing that the world no longer works that way because then you have uptight, old, white people making the rules for the rest of us. Bu that is not to say I think DUIs are ok. i just mean that people make mistakes and to be able to lose your life over 1 mistake is to me not fair. Anywaay.....
ReplyDeleteThe comment above is Paris lying. I just heard on the news that her parents are planning on throwing a huge 'get out of jail party.' PLus, they are all going to find a way to make $$$ off of this, just wait and see...i smell a new reality show in the works.