[lbo-talk] celebrity unit

[John Thornton]

Dennis Claxton wrote:
> John wrote:
>
>
>
>   
>> Those 99.9% would love to be treated as Paris was. Her treatment was not
>> good news to people working for humane treatment for prisoners and
>> pretending that it was is totally disingenuous.
>>     
>
>
> Why not turn this argument around?  Instead of demanding Paris Hilton 
> be fucked over like everyone else, why not demand that everyone else 
> be treated like Paris Hilton.  

I never demanded or expressed a preference for Paris to be treated as 
poorly as the majority of prisoners.
I only said that for those of us working for prison reform Paris' humane 
treatment is nothing to celebrate since it is only a function of her 
elite status and not part of a general trend toward more humane 
treatment. It is detrimental to the cause of prison reform when 
instances like this occur since it is used as an example of the need for 
humane treatment trumping societies desire to punish when in actuality 
it is no such thing.

John Thornton