A mere 63 hours after the capture of Saddam Hussein was revealed, more Americans watched Paris Hilton’s rich-girl-on-the-farm “reality” show than watched Diane Sawyer’s exclusive interview with President Bush. (Don’t blame me– I didn’t watch either one.)
As Harry Shearer often says since 9/11, “We are so back to normal.”
Is it possible that Americans find a spoiled daughter of privilege who doesn’t pretend to be something else even more appealing than a spoiled son of privilege who does his damndest to be something else? I ask, you decide.
Giving a bad review to Ms. Hilton’s TV show a few weeks ago, the eminent TV critic Tom Shales of the Washington Post wrote:
Maybe if the show encouraged more hatred of the rich, who are having so much fun right now (as they usually do during Republican administrations) while the rest of us just hope to cope, it might be worth watching and worth having been made.
So one reason he dislikes the show is that it doesn’t encourage enough class hatred. Whew. And Jackie D. thinks I bash the rich too hard. Hey, I go easy on ’em.
