(expanded from a comment).
I was making snarky comments about Paris Hilton yesterday, as we are all wont to do. But then someone whom I respect made a couple of points and it turned me around. I saw today's front-page diary on Paris Hilton and feel the need to make a couple of points about her incarceration.
I'm going to defend Paris Hilton for a moment.
I learned something yesterday - In L.A. County, the average probation violation sentence is ten days. The jail rules are that you usually serve 10% of that, or a day in jail. That's the way it is normally done.
Paris was sentenced 45 days, has already served five, or 10%, and yet for some reason they are making a huge issue out of her and demanding she serve the full sentence.
They are taking a rich white girl that is everyone's favorite punching bag and making a political example out of her to show that they are tough on crime. It is sickening.
And in the meantime, it's clear that she is really in bad shape right now. This is a display of torture by media, and someone succumbing. It's really disgusting.
And for that reason, it's newsworthy - not Paris herself, but how they are treating her. This is a display of just how far the media and parts of the legal/judicial system will go. It's grotesque.
I think the Sheriff is a hero. Everyone's stepping on him for supposedly bowing down to celebrity, but he might be the only one trying to do the right thing here. Paris got her punishment, and now he's trying to do the right thing.
It is easy to make fun of Paris. She doesn't exactly invite respect upon herself. But it is also far too easy to use that snark and make the leap to believe that she therefore deserves the treatment coming to her. She doesn't.
This kind of scenario brings out the worst in many of us. And I believe it runs counter to progressive ideals. This is a woman who is hurting. Demand she take accountability, yes. But don't use her as the media and judicial system do.