http://paris-hilton-seex-tape.blogspot.com

Wow. You’ve completely read my mind. Except that your thoughts were more articulate and well-organized. I was just going to say that she’s a nasty, dumb ass skank bitch who wouldn’t last a week without her money or fame. I was also going to say that she is the worst kind of example of success and shouldn’t be beloved because she’s an idiot who squanders her good fortune. But yeah. What you said. I’m going to go with that.

I must point out, however, that it has been reasonably well documented that Paris Hilton has had at least one abortion (One has to assume that the pregnancy was, uh, unwanted.), has used the “N-Word” in public for her own amusement, may have contracted herpes, has spent time in jail for DUI and other driving infractions, laughed on video when her pal Brandon “Greasy Bear” Davis said as vile a load of vitriol as one can ever say about a woman (the Lindsay Lohan rant), dissed BFF Kim Kardashian for her own publicity, cried like a little girl when she had to pay for her crimes, and goes to exotic locations not for real world enlightenment but because her life is one long party vacation.

I find it weird that you seem to think baby=bad and dilettante=good. Also, I should point out that Paris Hilton is on record as both being enamored with Nicole Richie’s baby and a bit jealous. I’ll leave it to psych scholars to determine whether Paris Hilton dating Nicole Richie’s baby’s daddy’s twin brother is simply happenstance. And, oh, Paris Hilton hasn’t really dated men that most of us wouldn’t classify as rich or very rich. Pizza boy is the only one who comes to mind. And that may have been part of a Pygmalion fantasy, seeing as Paris Hilton has succeeded in making “celebrities” out of some in her erstwhile inner circle.

Mercedes, I should also point out that you, unfortunately, have a bad habit of attributing big things to me that I haven’t said, thereby polarizing my place in an otherwise relaxed and respectful debate. Find me the sentence where I intimate that “she’s a complete nobody who doesn’t deserve this attention.”

I realize that “celebrity” can be both fleeting and immaterial. I honestly don’t fashion myself as the ultimate arbiter of who makes the cut. And honestly, if this were something that I took so seriously, I probably would have no good reason to frequent a celebrity gossip blog.

At the risk of completely hating on Paris Hilton, I’m saddened to think that some 12-year-old girl may actually be looking at Paris Hilton as her ultimate example of a “successful” woman.

So that, my dear skeelo, is why I call her an icon.

Paris Hilton only became uber-famous due to a sex tape AND because she’s a well-heeled Hilton, known for her wild party-girl ways. Great contributions. I’ll agree that she has skillfully perpetuated and augmented her fame. Great for her. You’ve cited specious one-off examples that hold little water, as though they blow what I’ve said out of the water. Nice that you register my “little complaints.” Perhaps you should realize that these are your icon’s “little accomplishments.”

Obsession, simple fame (no matter how intense), and icon status are decidedly different things. Paris Hilton has been lionized to a great degree, but that’s as close as she’ll ever come to icon status. She’s very “of the moment.” If People and US realized they could sell more issues writing stories about Tinkerbelle instead of Paris Hilton, they would, and there would be no great initiative, in media or society, to look back and fawn over Paris Hilton’s great accomplishments.

The masses are obsessed with Paris Hilton NOW because she’s our most unabashed example of abject excess, living the good life as though the world is her oyster. To the extent that people care, people want to be her or people want to hate her because she’s as polarizing a celebrity as there is.

And it saddens me to realize that someone would describe a jail stint for felonious crimes with a “big whoopee,” as though jail is the new black.

and skeelo, about your little complaints:
sex tape = why? cuz she actually had the nerve to videotape herself and a guy have sex? oh yeah, she’s obviously the ONLY girl on the planet who’s done that. fo sho. i’m sure most of the girls you’ve f*ed have done that, or much more.
b-rate reality show= tori spelling did that, and the only way she could actually get famous enough for people to 1/2 watch is by making a guy leave his wife and have his kid. yep, that’s much better. at least paris got it with her personality and the fact that people are interested in her life and what she does.
jail= martha stewart was in jail, too, big whoopee. and she’s totally repectable.
getting paid to party= like every other famous girl in HW, nothing wrong or crazy about that. she knows what she needs to do to make a living.

That must count for something, surely.

Audrey Hepburn is an Icon, Jimmy Hendrix is an icon, Prince is an icon, Martin Scorsese is an icon. Paris Hilton is someone who has “independently” traded on the family name to make a few bucks. Fast forward 20 years and tell me if you really think there will be continued Paris Hilton appreciation. Appreciation for what? Paris Hilton is now at the height of fame and she has flaws like many true icons have had. But what has Paris Hilton contributed that’s so lasting? Her true gift is that she’s managed to perpetuate fame in a grand fashion, with little substantive returns. I highly doubt that Paris Hilton has iconic staying power.