By Michael Margavitch, Columnist
In the days of our parents, the rich and famous were always portrayed as perfect in public. They had it all: money, cars, and expensive clothes. Any scandal at all would assuredly end their career, because the public would lose their perfect illusion.
Things have changed drastically. We as a society have a constant craving for the imperfections of celebrities, because they break the perfect façade. In a sick way, it also makes us feel better about our own lives to see these people fall.
We enjoy these moments of bad behavior so much that we reward the stars. One reward is publicity. Remember that little jail sentence that "famous for being famous" socialite Paris Hilton served for driving under the influence? The media and public alike salivated over the thought of this spoiled heiress trying to serve her sentence.
Instead of condemning her for potentially endangering the lives of others, we celebrated her, granting her several interviews to say her piece. Her arrival to serve her sentence resembled a one-person red carpet, with Ms. Hilton posing for the press, who desired to photograph her final glorious moments of freedom. Of course, her already pithy forty-five day sentence was drastically shortened.
This is not the first time the socialite received free publicity from her antics. A sex tape entitled "One Night in Paris" was leaked shortly before the premiere of her FOX reality show, "The Simple Life." This had a positive effect as the show posted high ratings at first, likely based on intrigue caused by the sex tape.
Lindsay Lohan is another star with recurrent bad behavior. She has been in and out of rehab more times than one hand can count. Though her movie career is in the toilet, she is still a marketable brand to the tabloids solely because we love hearing about how much of a mess she is. I call it the Amy Winehouse effect.
The most recent case of celebrities still being rewarded by us despite bad behavior is Charlie Sheen, star of television's number one comedy, "Two and a Half Men." Though he was addicted to hard drugs and prostitutes in the early stages of his career, Sheen has continued his bad behavior with no consequence.
In 2008, he assaulted his third wife. On October 26, he was found drunk naked and disorderly in the Plaza Hotel, allegedly with a call girl. In the next room were Sheen's ex-wife Denise Richards and their children.
What does Sheen get for this? The shooting schedule for his sitcom is adjusted so he can make up for his behavior, and he is about to get paid one-hundred million dollars for two-more years of his sitcom. Because we reward these stars, they think they are above normal people. This cycle needs to stop because it is a bad example for others and detrimental to the lives of the celebrities themselves.