Let’s Aggravate Some Celebrities

Celebrities are public figures, setting examples for everyone (including children in many cases). Their behavior undeniably has a greater impact on society as a whole than that of most non-famous people.

Celebrities can often afford top-notch legal representation, or have it provided for them by powerful corporations who rely on them for revenue.

The famous life probably isn’t easy (I have no desire to try it myself), but one can’t deny that it comes with some pretty hefty perks. So why shouldn’t it come with extra responsibility? Society treats these people like royalty, giving them the best service, the finest goods and lots of admiration and attention. Shouldn’t they be required to hold up their half?

Here’s my suggestion: At the moment, being a celebrity, while it’s not directly considered in the judicial system (though of course juries and judges are going to have their opinons), often functions as a mitigating factor. People are more willing to cut slack for those they admire, especially when those people have reeeeeally good lawyers.

Why not formalize the celebrity of a criminal as an aggravating factor to a crime? It obviously is, and it doesn’t make sense to leave its application as such to chance, and open to the manipulation of lawyers. It is worse for a celebrity to commit a crime than it is for a regular joe, whether that celebrity is a movie or rock star, a well-known businessman, a politician, or whatever — By being in the public eye and benefitting from fame, people have a greater responsibility to behave themselves and set a good example. Why not write this fact into the judicial process?

We consider it “aggravated assault” if you do it with a gun, or to a whole roomful of people, or in public. Why shouldn’t Wynona Rider’s theft of over \$3,000 in merchandise be “aggravated larceny”? (It was worth too much to be retail fraud, I think.)

In a wider sense, I really wish that the society I live in would pay more attention to what it’s rewarding and what it’s punishing. For such a science-obsessed culture, we seem to ignore the simple relationship of cause and effect with shocking regularity. That’s outside the scope of this little point about celebrities really, but I wanted to say it anyway.

(That’s what happens when the flu puts the gag on me for a few days. ;)

-PD