by Cynthia Nelson

Created on: April 23, 2008

The answer to the question should Paris Hilton get one million dollars to tell her jail house story on NBC is a resounding NO. There are people who have been wrongly accused and convicted of crimes that they haven't committed, who have spent fifteen or twenty years in jail, and they do well if the government gives them half a million. However, Paris gets to talk to NBC for a sentence that didn't even last a month as a consequence for breaking the law. NBC should focus on the people who have had their lives pass before their eyes in jail for a crime that they didn't commit, instead of focusing on the reflections of a spoiled brat who is sorry that she got caught.

In a way, this shows just how misguided our society has become-a television channel wants an exclusive interview with a celebrity who got caught breaking the law and had to face the consequences for it. The bad thing about is that they wouldn't want the story if they didn't feel that it would get them ratings. The only way that we can stop the madness of celebrity misbehavior making the front page is to ignore it, but we instead buy magazines whenever one of them gets caught committing a crime so that we can read all about it. When we realize that some of the celebrities like Paris Hilton only act out to make headlines and start ignoring them, then this trend will stop.

I can't possibly imagine what horrors Paris faced while in prison for such a short period of time. Let me guess, she was ostracized by the other inmates for looking better than them? Or, how about how she had to eat horrible prison food? Better yet, she will probably tell a heart wrenching story of how she broke a nail while making license plates! Who knows, this interview could possibly garner an Emmy nomination for ridiculousness!

By offering Paris Hilton one million dollars to tell her jail house story, NBC is sending her and the rest of the misbehaving celebrities a message-crime does pay if you are a celebrity. When journalism gets back to reporting the news and discussing important world issues, this world will become a better place to live in.

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