Paris Hilton and the death of privilege

It's good for America. The fear of going to jail/prison is something we should ALL consider.

It will be interesting to see if it has an overall effect on crime in the next months or even year.

If it does have an effect, then maybe capital punishment has it's merits. If it doesn't...

"Paris Hilton thought she could have gotten off easy, just as O.J. Simpson did."

I'm curious why you gave O.J. as an example and not Robert Blake?

Sniff..... something smells like... sniff.... "racial bias."

What a poignant observation you make, Mr. Newkirk. You see, there's a little bit of Paris Hilton in each of us. None of us aspire to be a sick president, a replacement for a gay bashing JCS, a politician with a taste for frozen money, or a long winded Massachusetts senator. No. We aspire to, and relate more, to a skinny, blond, blue eyed, spoiled rich girl. She is we, who want to bask in the glitter and glamor of stardom, and to have that tainted not by our misdeeds, but by a foul legal system that is sposed to keep the peons under control. So news of one of us in distress with the law frankly trumps concern for everything else.

G.I.s are fighting and dieing and this crap is news worthy?

Scooter Libby should be shot as a traitor, not jailed as a liar.
His boss, ElDuce should be hung from a lamp post

Good to see this democrat get behind bars

This is to Bud McFarlin's comment. It seems to me that all the people that see every thing as racist are the biggest racists of all.

Too much is being made out of Paris Hilton's problems. We don't need to hear about it, just like we didn't need to hear about all the lurid details of Anna Nicole Smith's demise. Every time this kind of thing gets too much air-play I get suspicious that other news-worthy information is being withheld.

Paris Hilton's jailing should come as no surprise or disappointment to anyone (other than Paris herself), because it happens every day. It is a consequence of the fact that we have laws to punish irresponsible behavior. Just ask Robert Downey Jr.

Paris went home for a day as a result of the Sheriff’s mistake. So what? The mistake has been corrected, and she now fulfilling the conditions of her probation as the judge intended.

This was all about power. Paris got caught in a pissing match between the judge and the Sheriff. I never thought I'd feel sorry for her, but I do. They used her and her high profile to play their "I'm bigger than you are" games.

We should all be outraged over the fact that even though members of congress who are convicted of crimes will still receive a nice life long pension courtesy of the American taxpayer.

Umm... the comment Hilton thought she could have gotten off easy, just as O.J. Simpson did."
I'm curious why you gave O.J. as an example and not Robert Blake?
Sniff..... something smells like... sniff.... "racial bias."

This is not being racially biased...OJ, Robert Blake, include them all with money that have gotten off WHEN GUILTY...And, yes honey OJ IS AS GUILTY AS EVER! Thank God the judge had some sense and sent this skank back to jail, too bad it couldnt have been for a longer sentence..

Shouldn't someone figure out a civil case to get some cash out of her? Cmon, now THAT'S American justice. Surely a paparazzi's foot was run over in the crush...

If Paris Hilton was black she would have gotten off with probation.

Do you think Oprah would have been sentenced to prison? I don't think so.

The "Black Community" would threaten to burn down L.A. and kill innocent white people again.

This isn't racist, these are the facts.

KB,

Check out the % of minorities in prisons. Yes, your comment IS racist and is NOT based on facts. You're a disgrace to KBs.

What is wrong with Paris Hilton's parents that they haven't taught their daughter the message DON'T DRINK AND DRIVE - PARIS IT'S THAT SIMPLE! Take a limo and be a responsible 26 YEAR OLD ADULT when you go out drinking? The Hilton's certainly can afford a limo and security guard and rid themselves of this media circus and legal fees.

I have no sympathy for Paris, her people were probably working on the sheriff from the minute she walked through the doors and he caved. I don't know what his rea$on$ for doing $o were, but I have an idea.

incognita
politicalstew.com

Anyone who has been driving drunk and then driving on a suspended license deserves to spend some time in jail, if that's what it takes to turn them around. Much better for Paris to spend some time in jail than to drive into somebody next time she is behind the wheel. Tbe key issue here is protection of the public, no matter who is potentially behind the wheel.

US Military death toll in Iraq passes 3,500. Forget LA County, send Paris to Iraq and see how fast her Momma's money burns some holes in DC pockets.

Funny, K.B. If she was (were) Black she would not be a skinny, blond, rich white girl, heir to a hotel fortune. Burning down LA is for Peons. Innocent white people own LA. The Hilton chain may even own the prison. They're in the hospitality business aint they?

K.B.

"This isn't racist, these are the facts."

As proven how?

The "death of privilege"? Really?

Let's not get ahead of ourselves. She's small fry indeed compared to the real villains who should be jailed. That said, good that she got what all drunk drivers should get: time off the road and behind bars to think about their poor choices.

Consider for a moment that perhaps the whole Paris Hilton story is a performance in collusion with the media. she continually plays her spoiled rich girl persona; the news media falls all over themselves to record it; the story provides easy to understand filler for TV and newspapers; readers and viewers can have an opinion about the issue without having to think too much; adverisers are happy because more people are paying attention to the TV or print media; Paris can use the attention to market her line of clothes, comestics or whatever she is selling. What else can explain why a skinny, untalented, late 20's female posing as a teenager, can get so much undeserved attention.

Yes, Paris should go back to jail and serve her sentence. That is the right thing to do in this case. She will survive the ordeal, and perhaps benefit from it all. I have never been a fan of her's, but I have to admit I do do feel a little sorry for her. She let down her public persona and showed herself to be just another scared individual on the way to jail. Her appeals for her mother as she was being sent back to jail made her seem like a frightened little girl, which is what she still may be in many ways.

First off, I hate Paris Hilton and wish she would go away, or at least the idiotic media would simply ignore the talentlass tramp.

With that said, Paris Hilton got totally screwed in this situation. What this proves is that stars NEVER get real justice, but they clearly don't always get the benefit of the doubt.

I just went to court for driving on a suspended license last week and they threw out the charge even though I technically was guilty. As a few media heads have pointed out, people almost never get FORTY FIVE DAYS IN JAIL for a first time offense of driving on a suspended license. The judge who sentenced her has probably thrown out thousands upon thousands of such charges, or reduced them to the minimum fine.

Yet Paris Hilton gets made an example of, perhaps to boost the judges chance of reelection? To establish his no-nonsense bona fides? To gain the inevitable press coverage that such a situation would inspire?

I'm amused at those who are calling this "justice." Most times stars go on trial they receive prefential treatment, but Paris received the opposite bias. I never thought I'd say it either, but I feel bad for her in this situation. A normal paeon would have received a much lighter sentence.

Perhaps the solution is to reduce the discretion provided judges, but my instinct is that solution would be worse than the problem. Mandatory minimums and often 3-strikes laws are a travesty that have created some absurdly disproportionate sentences. I guess the best hope is to mitigate America's celebrity worship, which is about as likely to happen as President Bush appointing a professional, competent, nonpartisan technocrat to an important bureacratic management position instead of a hardcore partisan hack.

Hmm. Violate probation on a drunk-driving conviction and you have to spend 45 days in jail. Murder your minister husband in cold blood by shooting him in the back while he's in bed, and you may end up serving as little as 60 days in jail. That makes a lot of sense.

Wait a second Bryan. Paris Hilton did a lot more than simply drive on a suspended license.

She was originally arrested in September of last year for DUI. She pled no contest to a lesser offense of alcohol related reckless driving (i.e. a "wet reckless" in California legalese) and was granted probation.

She then violated her probation by TWICE driving on a suspended license and failing to enroll in a court ordered alcohol education program. Her excuse was that, apparently, she didn't read the papers the court gave her, and her attorney failed to explain the consequences of the conviction to her. That kind of ignorance is simply not considered a defense. If it was, everyone would skate.

So, no, she didn't get 45 days just for driving on a suspended license. I wouldn't feel so bad for her.

"Do you think Oprah would have been sentenced to prison? I don't think so.

"The "Black Community" would threaten to burn down L.A. and kill innocent white people again.

This isn't racist, these are the facts."

K.B.

Well K.B., I frankly don't have any "facts" at the ready which support this speculation. I do know for a "fact" that every riot involving African-Americans of which I am aware erupted as a result of (i) the assassination of a leading black citizen, (ii) the death (or some might say lynching) of a black citizen at the hands of governmental authorities or that amounts to a hate crime, or (iii) governmental authorities caught on tape senselessly pummeling black individuals. Not to argue that riots are warranted in any of these examples, but my sense is these highly charged situations evoke strong feelings of injustice that at least explain the reaction as not being completely without reason. Contrastingly, in my experience riots that reportedly erupt among whites in this country typically spring from sporting events (even when the home team wins) and Halloween parties. Again, while riots in either case are not justified, query which case presents the greater moral authority?

More to the point, I know of no riots erupting in African American communities because of the jailing of a black celebrity (or whatever Hilton is). L'il Kim, James Brown, Ronald Isley, Mike Tyson -- and yes, even O.J. for pretty much a year while awaiting his trial -- were locked up without so much as a peep, much less a riot. Given that the second clause of your... "[t]his isn't racist, these are the facts..." assertion is so obviously flawed, I will assume that the first is as well.

Roger,

I didn't make the connection from Paris to O.J. Neikirk did. (I never would have made that connection because O.J. was not convicted as Paris was.)

Why didn't Niekirk make the connection from Paris to Blake? Why O.J.?

I'm not calling Neikirk a racist. I just think it's a knee-jerk reaction on his part. A racially biased knee-jerk reaction that I've been hearing on the radio all day. Why does everyone remember O.J. and not Blake?

Answer: race.

Headline: Paris Deployed, Nation Outraged, Troops Come Home

Paris should quit acting like a Republican (Scooter, George Ryan) and just do her time.

Who cares about her,she is not talented celeb,every women can show tits and ass and thats what she is popular for,she does not have any talent...no one is above LAW,she did something wrong,she gonna stay in jail like anyother ordinary person in this country.I have more respect for Madoona who has great talent.

How much time would she spend in prison if she was a drunk driver & killed herself in an accident?
At least then, her privilage would give her a very nice cemetary plot.

The death of priviledge? One spoiled little heiress going to jail for a month doesn't mean that C students named Bush or Kennedy won't be getting into Harvard ahead of your kid, or that just about every CEO of every money-losing company won't rake in millions from their friends on the board, or that some Alaskan Senator won't be steering taxpayer dollars to his son's company.

Earl has it right. Paris will dry her tears as soon as her agent lines up a few movie roles like "Debutant Tarts Behind Bars" or "Paris in Prison" and the rest of us will suffer through weeks of ridiculous non-stop media coverage.

Bill,
You should contact the Hilton rep and see if you can get a jailhouse interview with Paris:)

She'll end up laughing all the way to the bank with the check from her "Jail Tales" book. They'll eat up the photos!

You could see that Congressman Jefferson's daughters were shaken by the whole Paris Hilton situation. Attractive, well-known, well-dressed young women with Good Hair can get sent to jail? What is this country coming to?

Regarding Roger Licht's comment on Mr. McFarlin's comment: Mr. Licht, I suspect Mr. McFarlin was commenting not so much on O.J. but on Mr. Neikirk's use of a black defendant as an example in light of this paper's recent shot at Fox News for misidentifying a black politician. While I think Mr. McFarlin had a good point, and I disagree with this column on the Fox News thing - you gotta admit the O.J. trial got a lot more publicity than the Black trial so O.J. is a better example as more people are familiar with it.

Regarding Roger Licht's comment on Mr. McFarlin's comment: Mr. Licht, I suspect Mr. McFarlin was commenting not so much on O.J. but on Mr. Neikirk's use of a black defendant as an example in light of this paper's recent shot at Fox News for misidentifying a black politician. While I think Mr. McFarlin had a good point, and I disagree with this column on the Fox News thing - you gotta admit the O.J. trial got a lot more publicity than the Blake trial so O.J. is a better example as more people are familiar with it.

Regarding Roger Licht's comment on Mr. McFarlin's comment: Mr. Licht, I suspect Mr. McFarlin was commenting not so much on O.J. but on Mr. Neikirk's use of a black defendant as an example in light of this paper's recent shot at Fox News for misidentifying a black politician. While I think Mr. McFarlin had a good point, and I disagree with this column on the Fox News thing - you gotta admit the O.J. trial got a lot more publicity than the Blake trial so O.J. is a better example as more people are familiar with it.

Is Bill Niekirk starting to lose it?

1) "America" only cares about Paris Hilton because Niekirk's media buddies (CNN being the worst offender) jam her down our throats 24-7.
2) How's this for a classic case of Beltway navel-gazing: "Paris' re-jailing was another bad day for the capital, and not just because she stole their thunder as far as the news is concerned. No, it was for another reason. It's another example of how hard it is for the politicians to work around the rules, as they have long been accustomed to doing. It was easier not long ago to "earmark" funds in Congress to pay for a project supported by a contributor. No longer. The 2 1/2-year sentence for Scooter Libby stunned the town. How could such a heavy sentence be approved for such a high government official? Remember how Vice President Spiro Agnew got off with a small fine for taking bribes?"

Don't Beltway reporters realize that America DOESN'T take its cues from D.C.? I doubt D.C. was 'stunned" by Hilton's sentence, but even if it was, who outside the Beltway cares?

Bleh. This isn't about justice or not for the rich; that's a red herring.

The vast unrich portion of America gets to smack its belly and say, "Unf--she got hers!" and delude themselves that "the justice system works, no one is above it, not even the rich and pretty," while in the meantime MUCH more egregious crimes are committed and covered up by people who REALLY know how to work the legal system (corporations, for one) or can subvert it to their purposes (Fredo Gonzalez and CheneyCo, signing statements, little bits of text inserted into the Patriot Act while no one is watching).

The squalling over Paris represents the TRIVIALIZATION of the legal system--making it do a little booty dance over an heiress who photographs well, grinning and saying See How It Works!

The US legal system has become Judge Judy, Cristina's Court, and "Justice Is Revenge"--a matter of how well the crowd is entertained, not whether the legal system prevails.

William Neikirk says:On a day that the defense secretary named a new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a Louisiana congressman pleaded not guilty to corruption charges, no one cared. On a day that the president of the United States got sick at the Group of Eight conference in Germany, no one cared. On a day that Ted Kennedy talked about his plan for winning passage of the immigration bill, no one cared.
Congradulations...you have now made two stories out of one. As the media force feeds the public with the Hilton story, it also finds another way to conduct its business of selling news. On one hand it fills the news with Paris interest and then makes you feel bad about the hype over it all in one breath.
For all those who feel sorry for Hilton......
PLEASE>>>>>>>> Fines mean nothing to this "girl". To the average Joe, a $2500 fine to him hurts. A loss of a license hurts. To her it means nothing. She can just sing....My Maserati does one-eighty-five
I lost my license, now I don’t drive
I have a limo, ride in the back
I lock the doors in case I’m attacked

She'll be laughing all the way to the bank with a big check for her book "Jail Tales".

"OJ IS AS GUILTY AS EVER! Thank God the judge had some sense and sent this skank back to jail, too bad it couldnt have been for a longer sentence.."

Can you tell me what you know or heard that the jury that found him innocent in the criminal trial didn't? (not the CIVIL trial - as anyone who knows anything about the justice system knows, a civil trial does not find anyone guilty and the standard of proof is much lower). One of the problems with our systems comes from the type of thinking you're putting out here.

This is Bush's fault.

How much of a tax break did he give the Hilton's?

This is what happens when you have little Princesses like Hilton, and the Bush twins with no military draft.

Bruce,

I'm going to copy down that little anti-Hollywood spiel of yours and paste it under every single post on "Hollywood" Freddie Thompson the career lobyist.

Thanks buddy!

I wonder what will happen when Bush pardons Libby. Then we will see how real privilege and corruption work.

The press isn't watching like a hawk.

It's the public, via media such as this site and its comments board, that's watching the press like a hawk. And like a terrier dog, and like a whole lot of other aggressive metaphors of perseverance.

She could have been out there driving recklessly with her cellphone in hand, headlights off, drunk above the legal limit and could have hit a car with a child in it or run over a teenager or something. Yes, it's possible. Rebecca Gayheart, the Noxema girl, killed a little boy, driving recklessly and without alcohol in her system.

Paris and her skank friends drive around LA as though they own the place and have no regard for anyone else until they actually kill or hurt someone.

She belongs in jail.

actually, there should be more minorities in prision... because we don't invest in their community it is only logical that they have less information and less options than acts that typically lead one to prison. American society doesn't just pick and choose to send blacks/hispanics to prison, they pick and choose to fund schools and programs where the white majority live. Not saying this is right; just saying it needs to be addressed. With a more enlighted population there will be less in the 'justice' system.