Words Fail
Through the Huffington Post, I found this story about Paris Hilton at Yahoo News, which inadvertently summarizes almost everything that is fundamentally very, very wrong with the world today:
Call it class warfare, but how did humanity get to the point where notoriety - and nothing else - qualifies you to receive a million dollars for waving to crowds? That's more money than most people on the planet will earn in a lifetime of hard work. A lot more. Even in this, supposedly the most prosperous nation in the history of the world, some of the most valuable members of society are ignored and compensated almost nothing for their good. Teachers. Social workers, who staff shelters for the homeless, or battered women. Animal rescue agencies. Artists. Just lean your head out the door, and you can find people who will contribute more to humanity than Ms. Hilton, yet who will never be paid $500,000 or $1 million to appear at a party. It's madness. And what's worse, that money was probably paid to her from the public coffers. Middle- and low-income citizens of Austria giving their money to Paris Hilton, so she can wave at them. The Surreal World, indeed.
During the interview, Hilton also displayed some political illiteracy.
When asked about British Prime Minister Tony Blair, her response was: "Who? ... Oh, yeah, he's like your president. I don't know what he looks like."
Hilton also told the magazine she collects $500,000 in fees just to show up at parties and other events from Las Vegas to Tokyo. Her best-paying gig, she said, was a recent Austrian appearance.
"I had to say `hi' and tell them why I loved Austria so much," she is quoted as saying.
And why does she like Austria? "Because they pay me $1 million to wave at crowds!"
Call it class warfare, but how did humanity get to the point where notoriety - and nothing else - qualifies you to receive a million dollars for waving to crowds? That's more money than most people on the planet will earn in a lifetime of hard work. A lot more. Even in this, supposedly the most prosperous nation in the history of the world, some of the most valuable members of society are ignored and compensated almost nothing for their good. Teachers. Social workers, who staff shelters for the homeless, or battered women. Animal rescue agencies. Artists. Just lean your head out the door, and you can find people who will contribute more to humanity than Ms. Hilton, yet who will never be paid $500,000 or $1 million to appear at a party. It's madness. And what's worse, that money was probably paid to her from the public coffers. Middle- and low-income citizens of Austria giving their money to Paris Hilton, so she can wave at them. The Surreal World, indeed.
posted by Nim at
11:27 AM
4 Comments:
Um, why does Paris Hilton even *need* a million dollars from Austria? Isn't she already richer than God?
(Hmm... Paris + Socialite = Parisite)
By
Eli, at 11:48 AM
"Um, why does Paris Hilton even *need* a million dollars from Austria?"
I can't think of a better way to spend a million dollars than to add it to Ms. Hilton's pile.
Can you?
By
Nim, at 12:44 PM
Well she did make that video, so she has that going for her. I mean the girl has mad skills.
Maybe she is just telling you all that she "just waved" and got a million dollars. Maybe there something else she was doing to earn it.
That would be interesting to see what that money came from. Maybe they can justify it. "Look at all the PR we got from it. People are talking about Austria and they aren't mentioning Arnold, the Nazis or The Sound of Music! We are hip now. That has GOT to be worth AT LEAST one million. We could have spent that on ads in the newspapers and nobody would written about it. We probably should have told the media handlers to FORCE her to memorize those few words about our Country though. We believed her when she said, "I'll totally remember what your main export is and why people should vacation here. Trust me."
By
spocko, at 8:59 PM
"Maybe she is just telling you all that she "just waved" and got a million dollars. Maybe there something else she was doing to earn it."
That wouldn't surprise me too much. The woman is a very shameless but very effective self-promoter, and there's no particular reason to believe whatever she says. However, promoters paying to have popular folks hang out at clubs that are trying to make themselves fashionable is a long-standing practice.
I just didn't realize that amounts like FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS were involved now. If that's true, Austria coughing up a million is a lot more plausible all of a sudden.
Still, you can see a lot more of Ms. Hilton on the internets for free than you can in person for a million dollars. I don't get it, and I probably never will....
By
Nim, at 7:51 AM
Post a Comment
<< Home