I think I initially misjudged paris Hilton. She is actually a keen observer of American culkture and mores-her show is actually a very subtle analysis of what we (collectively) belive. take her outrageous performance at the funeral home-wasn’t she really telling us that we shouldn’t be fearing death, and that levity is a better way to deal with grief and loss? Or take her stint as a bridal shop/wedding arranger-she was cracking me up, by throwing snappy questions at potential ministers (“Have you had liposuction?”).
I thing she is really a very perceptive young woman…she will probably be teaching psychology a harvard University pretty soon!
Or am I totally , like wrong?
She seems to be forming some kind of a philosophy based on thermodynamics. Her most frequent observations about people, situations, movie scenes, etc. are based on heat. She’s hot, he’s hot, her strip scene in House of Wax was hot, her new line of fragrances is hot.
Could be. She actually fits in rather well with my Crack Cocaine Theory of American Culture. You know, how the coca leaf, chewed and made into tea for centuries in many stable societies, is stripped down and turned into cocaine…and just when you thought you had the ultimate consumer product, into crack. Conveniently stripped of all history or social context.
Much as McDonalds is food stripped down to just the fat and salt. And likewise, Paris Hilton is celebrity stripped down to just pure celebrity, without the talent and accomplishment. Or rather, like crack, the long awaited perfection of that ideal. Andy Warhol tryed to acheive it but unfortunatly Edie Sedgwick was just too deep. Admirable that Ms. Hilton has sacrificed herself to acheive this cultural goal.
I think she’s smarter than we give her credit for. She’s an expert at cashing in on her celebrity status. Whether she earned that status is besides the point, the point is she’s maximizing her profit from it. If people throw money at her, she’s smart enough to pick it up. If acting like a ditz pays big bucks, you act like a ditz.
Like a number of other folks, Ms. Hilton is a social whore, pimping her appearance to whoever’s willing to pay.
And anyone can be a social critic.
She’d pretty much *have]/i] to be, wouldn’t she? I mean, if she were to go on breathing?
. . . I’ll bet Paris Hilton even knows how to preview her posts . . .
Yes, that’s a fascinating theory. Excuse me, I feel a sneeze coming on.
aaaaaaa…SKANK!
Despite the disapprobation for jacking political issues into non-political discussions, if you are not convinced by the political discussions over the last 20 years or so that damned near anything can be spun, tortured, or contorted into a superficially defensible position (less is more, war is peace, Iraq is a threat, social security is bankrupt, gay marriage threatens the social foundations, etc, ad nauseam) this thread ought to pretty well cinch it. Ms. Hilton as insightful social critic? Give me a break, already.
I remember when the term “philosopher” was reserved for very learned people who espoused a comprehensive view or reality and our relation to it. A “philosopher” dealt with things like metaphysics, epistemology, and political and esthetic theories. A “philosopher” was the bedrock of human thought, the person who provided a context within which intellectuals debated the nuances of existence.
Now, the term “philosopher” means any lifeform with a pulse.
Well consider the story of the Buddha.
He was raised in unimaginable regal splendor before getting a wake-up call that not everybody was rich and fabulous. He then divested himself of everything and turned to a life of meditation and philosophy.
Paris Hilton was also raised in unimaginable regal splendor. She probably knew from the age of 6 or so that not everyone was rich and fabulous. Evidence would suggest that she came to consider herself better than those other people. All her adult efforts have been directed to getting more of everything - fame, money, clothes, drugs, publicity etc.
So if material acquisitiveness is a philosophy, then sure. Just be glad she chose entertainment, and not politics; she’d be in Congress by now.
I doubt it, she probably has staffmembers for that.
I see a picture of Paris Hilton, my first thought is always:
“Hold your head up, honey.”
Then I find that I have nothing else to say about her.
Tris
And most real philosophers have been a whole lot more attractive.
You’re not serious, are you, ralph124c? If you are, I think I’m officially giving up on humanity.
Paris Hilton is a philosopher in the same way that Peter Sellers’s character in Being There was a philosopher…
She almost dresses well. No, actually she almost dresses. I like that in a brainless but cute twit.
So far as I can tell the ONLY reason why people have so much distain towards Paris is because of jealousy, pure and simple.
Ms. Hilton does have a mind for business; no matter how much you hate her. Granted, she did have a head start due to her being born in to wealth. But she has CLEARLY made lots of money on her own. I’d like to see all the nay-sayers do half as well, if under the same circumstances.
It’s not as easy as one mignt think.
Yes, the thing that made her super-famous - an internet leak of a videotape of her screwing her boyfiend - was a brilliant marketing decision on her part, and I’m sure she calculated it with her fine business mind. She’s famous for being famous, and as far as I can tell her only real decision has been to milk it for as much as she can. That’s not a clever business strategy, it’s what any idiot who could afford to hire a team of publicists and handlers would do.
Perhaps your definition of “business” differs from mine, but how does Ms. Hilton have a mind for business? She didn’t PRODUCE any of this stuff; she didn’t come up with the idea for “The Simple Life,” she didn’t produce “House of Wax,” and she didn’t produce her album. She hasn’t had a hand in any of the business aspects of the Paris Hilton phenomenon.
Sure, she’s made this money herself, but that doesn’t make her the brains of any of the outfits in question.