Culture, TV
While we all sympathize with the incredible psychological pressure Paris Hilton must have been under while being unable to shave her legs for three days, we have to wonder if, besides Al Sharpton (and maybe Lindsay Lohan and Michelle Ritchie), anyone really has a good reason to care about the story.
This is news: There’s a G8 meeting under way, the president is hung over, Lebanon is burning, Putin’s getting all Cold War-ry on us and soldiers and civilians are dying in Iraq. Yet our cult of personality remains obsessed with the story of the poor little rich girl who thinks it’s okay to get drunk and drive a car again and again.
TVNewser provides a log of the shallowness of cable television’s reportage of Hilton’s release from jail yesterday:
10:36 am, MSNBC: Chris Jansing asks the Village Voice’s Michael Musto: “You know everything there is to know about Paris Hilton. Does she have a medical condition?” “Yeah, she’s crazy,” he says…
11:01 am, FNC: Co-host E.D. Hill: “It is a great day in America if your name is Paris Hilton or you are an illegal alien. Today, we’ll tell you why…”
11:56 am, CNN: Immediately following an interview with General David Petraeus about Iraq, Heidi Collins says: “Well you know, we’ll always have Paris, but she won’t always have a cell…”
12:08 pm, MSNBC: The cabler reveals an animation titled “Paris Hilton Free,” complete with a bark from her dog Tinkerbell. “Paris Hilton’s long, grueling ordeal behind bars has come to an end,” Lisa Daniels mocks…
12:10 pm, FNC: Jon Scott’s attempt to transition from the G8 to Hollywood: “While the president is in Germany, the world’s attention is focused on Paris — Paris Hilton…”
12:22 pm, CNN International: “These are live pictures from our affiliate KTLA, helicopter pictures of the home of Paris Hilton… We’re watching that home. Lots of cars down there.” Co-anchor Stephen Frazier transitions: “Let’s turn now to Harvard…”
12:44pm, MSNBC: “It’s good to be rich and famous in America,” legal analyst Susan Filan concludes. “It is; I wish I was both,” Lisa Daniels responds…
1:38 pm, FNC: “This was not a good punishment for her,” a Live Desk panelist says. “The real punishment for Paris Hilton, I think, would be that the media gives her no coverage at all… That would be cruel and unusual punishment for her…”
1:54 pm, CNN: Kyra Phillips asks a guest: “Are we just so pathetic and so lonely that we have to live life through people like Paris Hilton?”
2:25 pm, MSNBC: After talking about immigration, Contessa Brewer asks political analyst Pat Buchanan: “I have got to ask you, is it fair that Paris Hilton is under house arrest?…”
4:09 pm, FNC: Neil Cavuto jokes: “Do you know if Paris sold stock today?” “I don’t know if she knows what stock is,” his guest responds.
I could not believe it when I turned on the news today and got wall to wall live coverage of Paris. Unbelievable.
I’ve begun to think that the media is focusing on BS like this on purpose. They are doing their very best to cover for this administraton.
I’m just sickened.
CNN and National Inquirer announced today that they would merge their operations.
A spokesman was quoted as saying, “Why not? Hell, we already cover the same trashy stories that have no educational value.
Why fight over the limited space in the gutter “infotainment” groups like us, FOX and CNN, share?”
Wall Street was exuberant over the news, with stocks gaining a new low.
This, an analyst noted, was due to the fact that nearly all the traders were preoccupied with watching the latest tawdry reports about Paris on all 24 hour “News Channels.”
Elsewhere, America heaved a collective barf.
One night in Paris…
Shot by shot: here’s a distilled, tastefully blacked-out breakdown of the video…..
PH (looking at camera): Hi.
RS: What do you say? I can see it. Come here. Uhhhh.
PH: I don’t wanna do it this way.
RS: How do you wanna do it?
PH: This way.
RS: You’re not gonna be able to see it good from there.
PH: Yeah I can.
RS: Here.
More at:
http://www.rotten.com/library/bi…p/paris-hilton/