Letter: Americans take too much joy in Paris’ fall

Monday, June 11, 2007 | 7:03 a.m.

I am literally ashamed of my fellow Americans.

I have never witnessed such gloating and persecution against Paris Hilton as witnessed the past few days. Sure, she abrogated the law, bent it toward her own convenience and the court adjudicated the punishment. Why are we all playing judge and jury? Why have we all become the executioners?

So the sheriff released her after three days in favor of a longer sentence under house arrest. Then on Friday the judge changed her sentence back to hard jail time. Now, why are we all heaping all this venom on her because she is a rich kid? Do not the rich deserve our sympathy as well as the poor when they have broken the law?

The argument seems to be that because she is rich she was released prematurely. Perhaps that is a correct assumption, but it does not give us the right to empty our garbage on her.

Do we hate the rich so much? Are they not individuals with the same problems we all have? We all make mistakes and the courts generally do a good job in handing out punishment, but why again is there so much hate directed toward this girl?

Redirect your hate to the more important miscarriages of justice and responsibility in all veins of society. Make your hate an aggressive way to straighten matters out through your intelligence and participation in matters that you can affect. But don't waste your energy on petty miscarriages of justice and empty all your pent up grievances on this poor little rich girl, for, in essence she is a poor little rich girl.

Ely Borax, Las Vegas

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