Sympathy for Paris Hilton

So Paris Hilton is going to jail. It sounds like a Stephen Foster blackface minstrel song to me--

Paris Hilton goes to jail, do da do da
Paris Hilton goes to jail, Oh do da day
Lock her up all night
Lock her up all day

Paris Hilton, she got nailed
Its exactly what I say

If I knew Paris Hilton in person, I probably wouldn't think that much of her. It doesn't sound like she has that much contact with her own affairs. As she said about her failure to read her mail, she has "people who do that." It sounds like she has "people" to do everything which doesn't sound much like living to me.

In thinking about Paris Hilton though, I'm not focused on Ms. Hilton herself. I'm thinking more about the low hum of national celebration for her upcoming 45 day incarceration. In reading the comments from the "experts" on MSM and Fox, I get the overwhelming sensation that "people" have been waiting for Ms. Hilton to fall like this for a long time.

Lights are out at eight,
Doing laundry every day,
Paris Hilton's going to jail,
To the slammer they say.

Where I have sympathy for Paris Hilton is that I believe her life is essentially a highly-paid rape trial. Just as defense lawyers bring out details of a woman's life to prove that she was "guilty" of her own rape, the paparazzi bring out the most mundale details of Ms. Hilton's clubs, dancing, clothes, boyfriends, and girlfriends to prove that she is guilty of "living like that." Every word Paris Hilton says to anybody and every word anybody says about Paris Hilton is recorded to further manifest her guilt.

I imagine that Paris Hilton's admitting guilt for drunk driving and violating probation was not that big of a deal for her. After all, her life is one extended series of guilty verdicts. Just for "living like that."

Why should the most recent guilty verdict make that much difference?

It's just that now people get to see Ms. Hilton pay for her life of crime.

And it's much too satisfying for us.