The Gist

Paris Hilton, George Bush and America 2007


I never thought I’d write anything about the woman, nor give her this kind of significance, but it’s nonetheless true that Paris Hilton has become a potent symbol of the times we live in.

Watching the over-the-top media coverage -- and the outrage that ensued when she was let out of jail after only three days -- I couldn't help but think about George W. Bush. True, Paris Hilton had not waged war based on falsehoods, nor deprived the people of New Orleans immediate assistance after a horrific natural disaster, nor allowed the Justice Department to become a political arm of the president, nor brought the faith-based armies into White House. Paris Hilton had not set out to trample the Constitution -- if she has even read it -- nor has she gone about trying to wiretap Americans’telephone calls and monitor their email. And I doubt that Paris Hilton has any grand schemes to wipe out “axis of evil” any time soon.

Still, the similarities between the two underscore the collision of political culture and popular culture seven years into the Bush II Era. The message that has filtered down from the Oval Office and spread far and wide: If you’re white and privileged and from a good family, get away with whatever you can – out in the open, flaunting it -- because you deserve it, everyone else be damned, just like the president.

Sure, it's old message, but it got renewed vigor, thanks to Bush. Paris Hilton took it to heart, just like Andrew “TB Man" Speaker, who decided he – a white, well-connected Southern lawyer -- didn’t need to listen to health authorities and could expose people to a deadly form of tuberculosis, flying all over the world and then driving right into the country under cover of whiteness, along with his blonde wife. The border guard at the Canadian/U.S. border in New York didn't think he looked like he could be that dangerous, even though everything in the computer said he was definitely so. Meanwhile, people are being detained, handcuffed and searched at airports because they are dark-skinned, Muslim and are praying, or because have a t-shirt with Arabic lettering on it, no matter that have no intent of a committing any crime.

Again, it's true that bias and racial profiling predate George W. Bush, but he certainly helped to inflame them since 9/11. And while Bush may not be responsible for Paris Hilton and Andrew Speaker, it can surely can be argued that his presidency has contributed to a culture of blatant, reckless disregard among the wealthy and powerful – from Enron to Halliburton to greedy oil company executives and beyond. So, while often innocent non-white people were being water-boarded in Guantanamo, or sent to a CIA rendition camp somewhere, or rounded up on some suspicious charges, should anyone be surprised that Paris Hilton was prancing out of jail and in front of the cameras, and believing she was entitled to do so?

In Hilton's case, justice reared its suppressed head, and she eventually was sent her back to prison on a tide of outrage. Ironically, in the 24/7 hyper-media vengeance culture, she may now even be experiencing overkill, turning into the fall gal (a woman once again taking the fall) and scapegoat for the nation’s pent up anger and frustration over the injustices we have witnessed over the past 7 years. George Bush, meanwhile, is still the president, and he’s not even remotely paying the consequences for the actions he’s taken.