http://www.townhall.com/columnists/benshapiro/bs20050601.shtml


What kind of culture would embrace Paris Hilton?


Ben Shapiro



June 1, 2005


Paris Hilton is at it again. The 24-year-old hotel heiress is the
feature attraction in Carl's Jr.'s new Spicy Burger ad campaign, aimed
at the horny male TV-watching population.

model in a swimsuit washing a car," it is clearly designed to
capitalize on Hilton's target audience -- porn watchers.

As I explain in my upcoming book, "

is that Paris Hilton would be a

most infamous porn video outside of Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee.

That
hard-core work, starring then-boyfriend Rick Solomon, brought her
international fame. At least nine other sex tapes are said to be
floating around somewhere, including a lesbian sex tape with Playboy
playmate Nicole Lenz.

Here's the big question: How, as a society, did we allow Paris Hilton
to become a cultural icon? Clearly, no one likes her very much.
Liberals and conservatives alike agree that she is vacuous and silly.

That's why it should come as no surprise that Hilton's spicy ad has
ardent defenders, who proclaim that just because you don't like
pornography doesn't mean that it can't make someone else very happy.
One man's pornography is another man's means to happiness.

And so Keith
Olbermann of MSNBC ripped the ad's detractors: "I'm reminded tonight of
H.L. Mencken's definition of Puritanism:

Times simultaneously condemned the commercial as "a new high (or low)
in television crassness" and slammed the ad's opponents as members of
the "manufactured outrage industry."

This is the new pattern: individual condemnation and societal
acceptance.

The moral among us have been forced into tolerance of
immorality. Paris Hilton is a cultural icon because of it. As long as
the moral majority is impotent, the lowest common denominator will
continue to define us.

BEN SHAPIRO


Benjamin Shapiro was born

a reasoned political thinker and a powerful writer.

He entered UCLA at the age of 16.

As a staunch

draws a hailstorm of response.

Shapiro was hired at age 17 to become the youngest nationally
syndicated columnist in the U.S.

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/benshapiro/bs20050601.shtml


What kind of culture would embrace Paris Hilton?


Ben Shapiro

What kind of culture would embrace Paris Hilton?

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/benshapiro/bs20050601.shtml


What kind of culture would embrace Paris Hilton?


Ben Shapiro



June 1, 2005


Paris Hilton is at it again. The 24-year-old hotel heiress is the
feature attraction in Carl's Jr.'s new Spicy Burger ad campaign, aimed
at the horny male TV-watching population. Scantily clad in a one-piece
leather outfit plunging down to below her navel, Hilton struts into an
empty warehouse, licks her finger, then suds up herself and a Bentley
automobile, as a stripper-styled "I Love Paris" rendition slowly plays
in the background. At the end of the spot, Hilton bites the burger and
sucks her finger clean. The commercial closes with Hilton's tagline
flashing across the screen: "That's Hot."

The spot is pure, soft-core pornography, beginning to end. The website
for the commercial, spicyparis.com, touts the "too-hot-for-TV spot."
And while Carl's Jr. CEO Andy Puzder defends the ad as "a beautiful
model in a swimsuit washing a car," it is clearly designed to
capitalize on Hilton's target audience -- porn watchers.

As I explain in my upcoming book, "Porn Generation: How Social
Liberalism Is Corrupting Our Future," the plain truth of the situation
is that Paris Hilton would be a relative nobody today were she not
incredibly rich and profligate with her favors. Hilton made perhaps the
most infamous porn video outside of Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee. That
hard-core work, starring then-boyfriend Rick Solomon, brought her
international fame. At least nine other sex tapes are said to be
floating around somewhere, including a lesbian sex tape with Playboy
playmate Nicole Lenz. The sexually uninhibited Hilton became a target
for Larry Flynt of Hustler fame, who released pictures of Hilton
sharing some lesbian tongue at a nightclub. As Conan O'Brien observed,
"Hustler magazine announced that it will feature photos of Paris Hilton
making out with another woman, while the woman fondles Paris' breasts.
So the search continues for a photo of Paris Hilton not having sex."

Because of her pornographic involvement, Hilton has grabbed an
endorsement deal as the Guess? Jeans girl (the New York Observer
reported that "her bad-girl image jibes with the clothing company's
porn-lite ad campaigns"), endless tabloid headlines, and now, this deal
with Carl's Jr. As Brad Haley, marketing chief for Carl's Jr., stated,
"Paris was chosen to star in the ad because she is an intriguing
cultural icon and the 'it girl' of the moment."

Here's the big question: How, as a society, did we allow Paris Hilton
to become a cultural icon? Clearly, no one likes her very much.
Liberals and conservatives alike agree that she is vacuous and silly.
Media commentators all over the map label her "spoiled" and "stupid."
Maureen Dowd, hardly a cultural right-winger, lumps Hilton together
with "vacuous, slutty girls on TV sitcoms."

No, Hilton is today's "it girl" for one reason and one reason alone:
Individual scorn, though that opinion may be shared by a vast majority,
does not control the river of a culture. It is those who push the
envelope who do. Over the past few decades, we have implemented a "live
and let live" culture whereby abhorrence for immorality is seen as
illegitimate if promoted through governmental means. Instead, we are
supposed to let our culture be poisoned slowly -- and if we protest, we
are told that as long as we turn off our own TV's, all will be well.

That's why it should come as no surprise that Hilton's spicy ad has
ardent defenders, who proclaim that just because you don't like
pornography doesn't mean that it can't make someone else very happy.
One man's pornography is another man's means to happiness. And so Keith
Olbermann of MSNBC ripped the ad's detractors: "I'm reminded tonight of
H.L. Mencken's definition of Puritanism: the haunting fear someone
somewhere may be happy. Is that at the bottom line here, I mean, that
the people who have to protest crap like this ad -- and it's crap --
but are they afraid it will corrupt somebody, or are they afraid
somebody will enjoy it?" Paul Begala labeled the offended "the
sanctimonious Republican right." And Michael Hiltzik of the Los Angeles
Times simultaneously condemned the commercial as "a new high (or low)
in television crassness" and slammed the ad's opponents as members of
the "manufactured outrage industry."

This is the new pattern: individual condemnation and societal
acceptance. The moral among us have been forced into tolerance of
immorality. Paris Hilton is a cultural icon because of it. As long as
the moral majority is impotent, the lowest common denominator will
continue to define us.




BEN SHAPIRO


Benjamin Shapiro was born in 1984 in Burbank, Calif. Brought up in the
home of two Reagan Republicans, where intelligent conversation about
politics and philosophy was encouraged, Shapiro quickly developed into
a reasoned political thinker and a powerful writer.

He entered UCLA at the age of 16. Never afraid to antagonize his
political opposition, he was the only counter-protester at an
Affirmative Action Rally that drew over 1,500 people on UCLA's campus,
and he has repeatedly challenged liberal professors and faculty.

As a staunch conservative on the modern politically correct campus,
Shapiro faces the political liberals head-on. From exposing the leftist
tilt of the professoriate on college campuses to addressing the
conflict in the Middle East, Shapiro's confrontational approach always
draws a hailstorm of response.

Shapiro was hired at age 17 to become the youngest nationally
syndicated columnist in the U.S. His columns are printed nationwide in
major newspapers and websites, including Townhall.com,
WorldNetDaily.com, Frontpagemag.com, the Riverside Press-Enterprise and
the Conservative Chronicle. His columns have also appeared in the
Orlando Sentinel, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, RealClearPolitics.com,
Jewish World Review, and he has been quoted on the O'Reilly Factor, in
the Wall Street Journal and the New York Press, and in The American
Conservative magazine, among many others.

Shapiro is a regular guest on dozens of radio shows around the United
States and Canada. He is also the author of the national bestseller,
Brainwashed: How Universities Indoctrinate America's Youth (May 2004,
Thomas Nelson Inc./WND Books).

An Orthodox Jew, virtuosic violinist, and hack golfer, Shapiro
graduated UCLA in June 2004 with a B.A. in Political Science. He is
currently a student at Harvard Law School.

As I explain in my upcoming book, "Porn Generation: How Social
Liberalism Is Corrupting Our Future," the plain truth of the situation is
that Paris Hilton...

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/benshapiro/bs20050601.shtml

No, Hilton is today's "it girl" for one reason and one reason alone:
Individual scorn, though that opinion may be shared by a vast majority,
does not control the river of a culture. It is those who push the
envelope who do. Over the past few decades, we have implemented a "live
and let live" culture whereby abhorrence for immorality is seen as
illegitimate if promoted through governmental means. Instead, we are
supposed to let our culture be poisoned slowly -- and if we protest, we
are told that as long as we turn off our own TV's, all will be well.

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/benshapiro/bs20050601.shtml


What kind of culture would embrace Paris Hilton?