It's been kind of impossible to avoid the last few days, but part of me has kind of been interested in the Paris Hilton saga. I think it's really fascinating to watch the societally-accepted joke of a human being (which, let's face it, she is. As far as American popular culture is concerned she's not a real person). What's fascinating, though, is that she's becoming more and more human to me. By going to jail and having these emotional outbursts I'm coming to recognize her as a person, not just a random celebrity personality.
I first started thinking about it when she had to go to jail, and I realized that she is, legitimately, fucking her life up. I mean, the consequences of her actions are going to be far less terrible than the non-famous person (like, by writing exploiting her jail time she'll make mass money), but she still was legitimately going to jail for a long period of time at a relatively young age.
Now that she's in and out again (insert all the "One Night in Paris" jokes you like here), especially with the above picture, it's really humiliating. She's becoming human! Through her tragedy! For some reason this picture affects me more than I feel like it should, and more than the same picture of anyone else would. It's like seeing this shell of a fake person get broken, and there's something kind of satisfying (and horrifying) in knowing that there's a real person under there that cries in cop cars.
