(Untitled)

[morganmuffle]

I, along with half the western world, have been finding it impossible to completey ignore Miss Paris Hilton's prison stay. It occured to me however that the general reaction to her release into house arrest has been a little... unthinking is, I suppose, the word

Comments

[chaletian]

I thought the reason she was jailed was because she had continued driving after her licence had been suspended?

The whole thing has been completely ridiculous, anyway...

[morganmuffle]

That shows how much attention I've actually been paying to the story *checks*

Yeah, she "violated probation" after a drink-driving incident, so it wasn't the dui itself. It's still true, as far as I know, that you don't tend to get actual jail time (or not a full sentence) or such crimes.

Looking on the BBC there now appears to be a row over whether she should go back in or not *rolls eyes*

[mhw]

Yeah, she "violated probation" after a drink-driving incident

Make that "repeatedly violated", having been warned several times. Far past airheadedness and into don't-give-a-damn territory.

[davidbrider]

For me, the thing that gets me about the Paris Hilton thing is that she was making such a big drama about it. When she started the jail sentence, she was quoted as saying, "I'm definitely scared, but I'm ready to face my sentence," and, "Even though this is a really hard time, I have my family, my friends and my fans to support me, and that's really helpful." I mean...puh-lease. My girlfriend's dad's recently been diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer. That's scary, that's a really hard time. Going to jail for 45 days for breaking the law is just one of those things

[morganmuffle]

The whole bravery thing was more than a little stupid really.

She's going to spend longer on house arrest than she would have done in prison (assuming no more changes), it's not exactly as if she's got off scot free.

It was medical reasons and there appears to be a bit of an argument about whether they should have let her out and someone (yay, paying attention honest!) said that fair sentencing meant not punishing her more harshly because she's a celebutante (I love that word though it doesn't mean a thing except rich- from Daddy's hotel money- and a bit famous)... it's going to drag on and on I guess.

It just annoyed me that everyone was assuming her fame/wealth was getting her off the hook when actually driving crimes tend to be much less harshly punished anyway.

[davidbrider]

...it could just be aprt of a pattern that says it's ok to drive without due care and attention.

Oh, I bl**dy well hope not. *fumes quietly*

Remind me, was it dozydormouse whose car was written off by some total nozzlehead?

I think I'd better go and calm down for a while.

David.

[morganmuffle]

I'm actually against giving stiffer penalties for Death by Dangerous Driving than for just Dangerous Driving.

I can get behind that! Really the number of idiots you see on the roads who deserve to be pulled up for dangerous driving is quite scary sometimes and I can see what you mean about them actually killing someone being bad luck in a way... in a way I never understood why manslaughter charges aren't brought instead of specific charges for killing someone whilst in a car.

Indeed. We all know what she looks like now. We're just entering the turning on the parents stage though so soon it will start to fade I think.

[davidbrider]

I can get behind that! Really the number of idiots you see on the roads who deserve to be pulled up for dangerous driving is quite scary sometimes...

Absolutely. There are ssome absolute monsters on the roads sometimes. Sarah's a really safe driver, thank God, and I hope she instils common road sense into me, but as she points out - she can be as safe as she likes, but all it takes is one idiot deciding to overtake unsafely, or pulling out without checking, or something like that, and we could be plastered all over a dual carriageway. *eep*

I've also got a current pet peeve about bad cyclists - the ones who just cycle through red lights at pedestrian crossings as if the laws of the road don't apply to them.

We're just entering the turning on the parents stage though so soon it will start to fade I think.

I saw a rather appalling headline on an Evening Standard stall on Wednesday night - "Maddie parents accused of being suspects." Which apart from it being more than a little depressing that it's come to that, struck me as being

[davidbrider]

(Other blondes in the news: I am sick of Madeleine McGann because...well...she's only still in the papers because she's a cute girl with a pretty mummy. Loads of children go missing and there isn't this fuss unless they're cute. Eg. Sarah Payne. Yes, I'm heartless.)

Well, you're absolutely right.

David.