Confessions of a 'Simple Life' DVD owner
That's right, I own all four seasons of "The Simple Life" on DVD. Chris' obvious crush on Paris notwithstanding, he makes the point about Darfur coverage not making the front page. As someone who writes about Darfur and Vietnam and Iran and Turkey and the EU and all that crap that many American readers have to be beaten over the head with to get their attention, I also find the focus on trivial news (and the live jail-to-mansion coverage on TV at 1 a.m. this morning) frustrating. Conversely, as someone who writes about death and destruction and terrorism and fanaticism and political prisoners, it's nice to escape once in a while by popping on a DVD about Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie trying to make it on a farm in a podunk town. Mindless reality TV can be fun, and lots of news consumers probably have the same affection for mindless celebrity news, judging by the success of TMZ.com (my hat's off to Harvey Levin, whom I remember as the guy who asked people in Times Square what they thought about cases during "The People's Court").
But if could put a hard-news spin on Paris' contribution through her reality TV work, it would be this: Through her travels on "The Simple Life," she has helped expose the ugly bias that exists across the Heartland against Californians. We may talk with funny accents, wear colors and use the words "like" and "hot" a seemingly excessive number of times, but dammit, we're people too!