All this hoopla over Paris Hilton is a bit disturbing.

First it was "Eat the Rich: as she got a much strong sentence than most people in the same situation. The average sentence for her offenses is 10-15 days, even from this same judge. However, she got the max, purely because of the deterant value due to the media covered. Which is legal, because the judge can legally sentence up to the max, and deterrence is a valid reason. But still, it was messed up to pubish her more because she is famous.

And then the opposite happened, and she was let out of jail after 3 days because she is famous.

And then the "Eat The Rich" kicked back in, and she was dragged out of her house to appear in a new hearing (despite misdemeanors like this usually allowing for a phone appearance) and sent back to jail.

And at no point was she ever treated like everyone else - either to her benefit or detriment, every stage has treated her different.

And people are taking great joy in her heavy sentence, and her screaming and crying over it, and being dragged out of her house in handcuffs, and all that. Schadenfreude. Taking joy in the pain of others. It's an ugly thing.

Like Melody said to me earlier today - it's like royalty in France during the revolution, being dragged to the guillotine, with peasants throwing rotten tomatoes at her and screaming for blood as she is dragged down the street crying.

Sad and nasty stuff. It doesn't speak highly for the society we have built.