Those Who Live By Publicity Die By Publicity

The spectacle of the teary Paris Hilton being hauled back to jail in the back of a police car has prompted many to suggest that she has now received a negative kind of special treatment. The argument of Sheriff Boca and others is that whereas, under a Federal Court order to reduce overcrowding in its jails, LA County routinely requires inmates to serve only 10% of their sentences, Hilton has been singled out to serve her full 45 days.

That is certainly true now, in no small way thanks to Sheriff Boca and Hilton's lawyers' manipulation of the system to assure that the heiress served even less that the four and a half days that would have been her 10% debt. It must also be said that the brave front she displayed before her initial entry into jail is at sharp contrast to the latest spectacle of tears and cries for her mommy. One can only assume that the former bravery and civic responsibility was a well-rehearsed farce, played out in full prior knowledge of the extended weekend she would actually spend in the slammer.

What finally condemned Hilton to serve the longer term was her fame, which she has cultured and fertilized with great gusto. After all, she does nothing. She is the epitome of a person who is famous purely for being famous. She is the poster child for our celebrity obsessed culture. When she came before a judge, having flaunted his prior orders, it was totally predictable that he would throw the book at her. To do less would be to kowtow to her status as a celebrity in a town full of such vermin. So in a real way her fame forced the judge to specifically order no early release, no house arrest, etc. Why Sheriff Boca thought he could ignore that order in the glare of publicity is a mystery.

The problem with such intense publicity is that it is an uncontrollable beast. As a prime example, see the front page review of Tina Brown's new book on the former queen of the paparazzi, Princess Diana:

Yet Diana’s savvy had its limits. For although her public-relations wizardry enabled her repeatedly to upstage and — with the tell-all interviews she did in 1992 and 1995 — humiliate the Windsors, it did more than just give the monarchy an appealing, “human” face. By inviting the press to share in her most intimate experiences, the princess abolished every last vestige of celebrity privacy. And by providing the press with picture after dazzling, salable picture, she stoked “the media’s inexhaustible appetite for celebrity images.” In an extended meteorological conceit, Brown observes: “The sunshine of publicity in which Diana would at first be happy to bask, posing and smiling for the cameras, grew steadily hotter and harsher. As the superheated imperatives of an invasive press bumped up increasingly against the milder human necessity of privacy, scattered rains gave way to drenching gales and then to spectacular and finally lethal hurricanes. ... Diana herself had accelerated the climate change that ended up making her life literally impossible.” Mistakenly, she thought she could “control the genie she had released.”

Sounds familiar, doesn't it? If Paris Hilton doesn't wise up, she too will be devoured by the vultures of the press. Imagine how much would be paid for a shot of her funeral.

Paris Hilton, Some Pigs Are More Equal Than Other Pigs

The next time you hear a impoverished resident of your local ghetto complain that justice is doled out more harshly in their neighborhood than it is for the rich, agree with them. It has now been irrevocably proven true.

Paris Hilton, after about 72 hours in the hoosegow, has been released for "medical reasons", which must conveniently be kept confidential. In the process she was credited with a full five days of service of her original 45 day sentence. Wise in the ways of the penal system, her lawyers obviously counseled her to enter the jail just before midnight, there by accruing one full day. She was released just after midnight to accrue an additional full day. That is how three days are morphed into five days through the application of lawyerly magic.

TMZ.com is now further reporting that Paris was released for psychiatric reasons, not physical health issues.

Normally, I would avoid blogging about America's greatest pathological fame chaser at all cost. But this event reaches across the line from the swamps of celebrity shenanigans into the health of the body politic.

How, in the name of God, can the LA County Sheriff and his minions condone such hanky panky? There is no fable they can construe that allows Paris' tears or depression to merit a get-out-of-jail-free-card. It is inconceivable that she is the first person in their jail who was miserable there. That is why the term "suicide watch" was invented. Further, there is no excuse related to post-traumatic stress that could have or should have required the obviation of her sentence. She, more that almost anyone, would be able to afford the finest mental health treatment available after she served her sentence. Jail is supposed to hurt.

So she is now free to relax at home with family and friends for 40 days, (or 38 in the counting method of the Sheriff). Party on dudes!

If I were a resident of LA County I would be ashamed of the Sheriff and in such a state of fury that I would immediately join with anyone available to assure that the Sheriff, Leroy D. Baca, is recalled from his elected office at the earliest opportunity. He is a national disgrace and and a menace to our aspirations to equal justice.

I want to also say that before surrendering to the Sheriff, Hilton made statements that were the most intelligent, adult and responsible of her "career". I was impressed. Now I just think that it was all part of the game. She previously had seemed to believe herself above the law. She was right all along.

Her lawyers will now be able to advertise their new practice specialty. No Hollywood celebrity will ever need to suffer the indignities of the pokey again, almost regardless of their crime.