Would We Pay Attention?

Would We All Pay Attention?

Cody Lyon

OPINION

On one hand, to go there, might be seen as caving into media frenzy, talking about a subject, many are embarrassed to admit they follow, a topic that will surely invite criticism. But, to not, would be missing an opportunity to ask some deeper questions about national priority, fame, and the places Americans obtain information they consider important.

Paris Hilton is headed back to jail. Across the country, thanks to feverish coverage, voices both pro and con, are being raised regarding California Superior Court Judge Michael Sauer’s decision to remand Los Angeles Sheriff Lee Baca and his release of Hilton to electronically monitored home confinement the previous day.

As is widely known, Hilton’s legal saga began after being stopped by police, and found to be under the influence, with a Blood Alcohol Content level of .08, the legal threshold in California. As is fairly standard under California law, her license was suspended and she received 36 months probation and a $1,500 fine. But, over the next few months, she was stopped twice more by police, found to be driving with the suspended license ultimately finding herself in Judge Sauer’s courtroom where he issued the 45 day jail sentence. Then, after 5 days in jail, the sheriff, at the behest of the Hilton camp, released Paris to home confinement. Observers have said in news reports that many Californians convicted of non violent misdemeanors, end up serving time in home confinement or other alternative environments, in many cases, because of overcrowding. But, according to most news reports, Judge Sauer was furious at the sheriff, and ordered Hilton back to court, and re-issued his 45 day punishment.

As Loyola Law School Professor Laurie Levenson told the “New York Times” “she’s a pawn in a turf fight right now” and “it backfired against her because she’s a celebrity” noting that because of the incredible public attention, it didn’t sit well with the court that she’d been released.

In fact, most legal observers say that in California, low risk offenders often serve only five percent of their jail time, which essentially, Hilton had fulfilled. In addition, many say, it is un heard of, where a judge goes through the trouble of actually ordering a low risk defendant back to jail.

Regardless, the attention meter was running at high speed during the Friday circus surrounding her return to prison.

The arrest at the mansion, trips to court and jail were all covered live by the cable networks from up in the sky, ala OJ. On the ground, minute by minute reports, graphic descriptions of tears, screams and pleas all poured in from reporters. An assortment of Pundits, cable anchors, activists, legal “experts” and even a sheriff from New Mexico, all cawed like crows in a cornfield with, opinions rants and raves on the three cable news networks.

Evidence that a huge swath of America found satisfaction in Hilton’s return to jail was soon evident all over the web. Comments like, “I think she deserves it”, “She’s long overdue”, “Celebrities are no better than the rest of us”, “she’ll serve as an example” and the endless rich bitch girl comments that in the end, quiet frankly, sound just a bit mean spirited.

On Fox News, Rev. Al Sharpton weighed in by phone about what’s good for one is good for all, Geraldo and Shep Smith hollered and giggled and Greta worried that Hilton was ill, or perhaps, “twitching”. But then, of all the pundits, a very interesting comment came from the high priestess of outrageous and offensive right wing ideology herself, Ann Coulter.

Of the madness, Coulter hypothesized, that if this were Tom Hanks, you wouldn’t have all this blood lust.

Perhaps she’s correct. For one, Tom Hanks is a respected and talented actor who, unlike Hilton, earned his status as such. But more significantly, regarding the Coulter comment, Tom Hanks possesses a wholesome Americana Jimmy Stewart like image. Most people can’t help but like him, he embodies nice guy and rarely shows up in tabloids or in gossip columns.

On the other hand, Paris Hilton is the quintessential example of what many Americans claim to hate, a symbol of tawdry excessiveness, seen as spoiled, fame and wealth for no reason, and most of all, the privilege that money affords anyone in America who has it.

But, Hilton, a woman with the genes of Conrad in her system, is, for some reason the object de jour of countless magazines, television programs a virtual all you can eat buffet of guilty pleasure that Americans love to chow down on and the media loves to feed.

But, there is an even deeper sad truth revealed by this celebrity studded legal hoe down. The cable news networks, decided, or perhaps knew, that this past Friday, more Americans would be interested in what was happening in the entertainment capital, than in the capital of government, where the country’s highest ranking military officer, the Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff, was essentially being laid off, because members of the Bush administration knew that he’d face hostile questioning during re confirmation hearings from an angry Congress over his leadership role in Iraq.

One wonders if the Senate hearings of General Peter Pace, and the answers they may have provided would have, just perhaps, led to a drama that even the nation’s cable news networks would have covered. Perhaps too, the American people would have paid attention.

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DON IMUS-CAN WE ALL PLEASE SAY NEW ORLEANS?

By Cody Lyon

Don Imus crossed a line when he belched out hurtful, sexist and racist comments that hurt a lot of innocent people. But, truth be told, this cantankerous old school shock jock is a symptom, of much deeper lying infections that still plague the United States, racism and sexism.

But does the removal of Imus from his pulpit attack the source of these infections, or does it simply place a band aid on one of its symptoms, inappropriate or vile language?

If Imus has truly realized the gravity of his sins, and seen the lights of redemption, could he not serve the greater good, by going back to his flock, talking his talk and serving as a catalyst of change among his listeners using his potentially new found sensitivity and enlightened ways, to educate his listeners that what he said was wrong and that he is truly sorry for the pain he caused.

Obviously, Imus made a very serious mistake and he should not be allowed to get away with it, but, if he came out of the uproar with a more enlightened attitude, and was returned to the airwaves, is there not a strong possibility that he might influence folks in his audience to perhaps do a little soul searching of their own?

True soul searching is challenging, but isn’t that what we as a nation need to be doing more often when it comes to our attitudes about race and gender?

In a way, the Imus incident and the ensuing media hysteria takes a portion of the discussion about race further away from a group of people who actually need to be talking and perhaps challenged. Instead, the firing of Imus has led to truckloads of hyperbole providing media outlets a colorful lightning rod that is more about Imus and rhetoric than the sins of racism. Some are saying the finger will now point at what many call the prevalence of misogynistic lyrics by hip hop artists while others raise more fingers at the Ann Coulter's of the world. The problem is that it's always easier to point a finger at the attention mongering character of the day, diverting attention from the deeper issue. What we seem to forget and hardly ever fully address, is that these high paid opinionaters speak words they think that their audiences will approve of, in fact, they and the people who pay them probably subscribe to the theory that they speak words their audience want to hear.

The fact that the Don Imus's, Ann Coulters, artists who objectify women along with numerous other high paid figures and gadflys of entertainment, politics and media play upon the inappropriate assumption that Americans will accept, laugh at or subscribe to such antics says a lot. But, by simply decapitating one of them verses "calling them out" and encouraging "reform", the real problems don't go away, instead they go elsewhere, perhaps less visible but still there.

Don Imus commanded a large, loyal daily audience, but by firing him, a potential forum of the often prickly and uncomfortable discussion of race in America has been lost. It could be said that the Imus firing pushes an opportunity for greater awareness further into the underground of denial and hypocrisy. Sure, on the surface, there may appear to be increased discourse on race flowing over the nations airwaves, as the cable news networks, and other outlets showcase shrill pundits who argue and scream over what is appropriate to say on the air or in public. But, there are much deeper, more important issues still raising their heads up from the putrid smells of racism. Many of these issues impact people's lives every day. Hopefully, in the future, more energy will be expended on public debates that seek solutions to real problems like inequities in economic opportunity and the system of insufficient funding of urban public education systems, among others . Most of these inequities are the direct result of a legacy of racism and the injustice it has wreaked. And while reading that same page, one doesn't have to dig to deep to find plenty of examples that illustrate the legacies of sexism and homophobia within our society and culture. Both these society sins manifest themselves in laws, policy and attitudes about marriage throughout the country.

One thing is certain, America has a long road to travel when it comes to dismantling a hard wired system, in this case a system polluted with the poison that is indeed racism, need we say New Orleans?