Paris Hilton No Antigone

Paris Hilton No Antigone by Roxanne McDonald

Great stuff, Paris Hilton fans—appealing to the governor to help someone displace, deflect, and avoid altogether personal responsibility….

As if we don’t have enough passing the buck and blaming everyone but the one initially responsible behaviors. Paris chose to do what she did to incur the [impending] punishment, but fans evidently appealed to Governor Schwarzenegger to help Paris avoid doing jail time for a violation—driving on a suspended license after a DUI had her CDL suspended.

At the same time, the fans didn’t think this up themselves, I understand. According to Celebrity Spider, TMZ, and other news source sites, the celebutante urged fans to endorse an online petition that would pardon her from serving her 45-day jail sentence for a 2006 drunk-driving arrest.

The petition, addressed to Schwarzennegger and posted on Hilton’s MySpace blog, thanks to a “friend” named Joshua, includes the following pleas:

“…the American public who support Paris are shocked, dismayed and appalled by how Paris has been the person to be used as an example that drunk driving is wrong.

She provides hope for young people all over the US and the world. She provides beauty and excitement to (most of) our otherwise mundane lives.

If the late former President Gerald Ford could find it in his heart to pardon the late former President Richard Nixon after his mistake(s), we undeniably support Paris Hilton being pardoned for her honest mistake as well.”

Evidently Joshua and company have not yet taken a critical thinking course, and have yet to learn about fallacious reasoning. I’m not even sure as a former instructor of such a course I could begin to get through to them the many problems with their statements—including, for example, false analogy, two wrongs not equaling a right, and and and…um, appeal to authority?

How can you be appalled by one being used as an example when you are the example to begin with? That is, when you did commit the crime, then blow off the punishment? And blaming your publicist for not informing you…well, first, displacing the responsibility won’t work; and second, ever hear that ignorance of the law is no excuse?

Forget blaming, screw representation of the minority of celebrities or you as some sort of sacrificial scapegoat or whatever, and take the punishment.

Well, evidently, Paris is now going to do just that.

When the governor, who is likely busy with more important concerns (imagine that, Paris, something more important than getting you off—like, say, green awareness, gas prices, the war, drought, famine, collapsed thoroughfares and other state emergencies and national disasters….), didn’t “receive any formal request to consider a pardon” and has been said to find any such decision premature, Hilton, backed by lawyer Richard Hutton backpedaled.

Now what the media coverage and misconceptions about her have done, Hilton stated, has made her feel the need to clarify. Now, she says, she “absolutely realize[s] how serious driving under the influence is…” and is “ready to face the consequences of violating probation.”

”No one is above the law,” she said, “I surely am not. I do not expect to be treated better than anyone else who violated probation. However, my hope is that I will not be treated worse.”

Unfortunately, FOX 5 News says the current inmates at California’s all-female Century Regional Detention Facility, where Paris is scheduled to start her time on June 5, have claimed they are ready to welcome Paris by “beating her to a pulp” and by “stealing her shoes”. Other threats reportedly include inmates writing, “We’re going to get you” and, “I’m going to kill you.” This is understandably what prompted Paris, who admitted to being scared, to try to get out of paying penance.

A pat on the back for acknowledging the reality, Paris, for conceding to free will and the consequences of that will to choose. Let’s just hope the jail you serve your 45 days in is not the one where the inmates are as irrational as your friend Joshua was in the petition dealie.

Maybe you can pull a Bridget Jones or something.

Celebrity Spider Paris Hilton links

No Comments »

No comments yet.

Leave a comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.