End of The Cotillion - Chris "Preach" Smith

Once again, Lindsay Lohan is big news.

And once again, I say...Big Fill-in-the-blank Deal.

I've long understood the media at large's obsession with Lindsay.
She's a cute girl, one we've all watched grow from an adorable
child model and actress to the train wreck in high heels she now
is. If you can make Courtney Love look clean and wholesome,
that's a problem. Her drug and alcohol abuse is extensive, and
now she's in and out of jail because of it. Funny enough, her last
movie role in Robert Rodriguez's 'Machete' seems to highlight
certain things about her situation we all might have picked up on
for a while now.

Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton and Taylor Momsen among others
with their behavior bring to mind a certain novel written by a
great and supremely underrated novelist, John Oliver Killens,
known as 'The Cotillion.' Killens was a highly regarded writer
who had a keen eye for the subtle hypocrisy in American society
as well as a strong sense of Blackness. 'The Cotillion' dealt
with a young woman from Harlem who at the insistence of her
mother was entering a cotillion or ball for young ladies of
color just like the young White girls did before they went to
high school. The prime scene of the novel is when the young
woman, Yoruba, witnesses firsthand exactly what a White
cotillion is all about, right down to the last bit of debauchery.
And whenever one of these young ladies has her face plastered
all over the news I can't help but think of that scene. It's as
if we need to see these young women at their worst, at their
most objectified. Lohan's role in 'Machete' seems to speak to
that need, and Rodriguez does touch on it even though it's in
the middle of an action flick.

These women seem to embody that motto that used to be
thrown around a lot in the old days, 'free, white and of age'.
That was the blank check that absolved a young woman no
matter what her transgressions were. But it falls flat when
you look at yet another miscue by Paris Hilton who is really
famous only for being an heiress who is easy and apparently
has no brain cells. Taylor Momsen is a Runaways wannabe
with about 1/16th of their talent who gets more fame for
her stripper chic than any of her music. I can't help but think
that in some households across this nation, people are
looking at these girls and thinking, 'if she was Black or Latina..'
and not finishing the thought because we know the end
result. That's not to say most White Americans aren't
disgusted by the actions of these young women either.

Ultimately, we know that the media at large loves to focus
on these stories because we have let them decide that
tabloid slants and heavy sensationalism is how we prefer
our news. We want to be told that these are bad girls.
Their actions can be seen as a reminder of the inherent
patriarchy that still exists. Nothing like the naughty, coked
up party girl to stimulate the fantasies of middle aged
men worrying about mortgages and rising recession. And
who cares if they give the wrong impression to young
girls out there? Sex has always been a seller, just look
at your local clothing store and count how many jeans
are made in low-rise fashion for grade-schoolers.

We should really be looking at these young women with
sadness. And we should be even more troubled about
those who exhibit the same behavior without all of the
notoriety. And ultimately, we should ask ourselves how
these stories have more value than the fact that we're
still in a recession and we're still knee deep in a conflict
in Afghanistan. Because the bottom line is, society has
enabled Lohan, Hilton and others to act a fool time and
time again with no real punishment. Name me someone
from the 'hood who has had as many failed sobriety tests
and parole violations and can get out of jail that same
night. I'll wait. It's this society that has by their misuse
of the law and need for entertainment that has let these
girls act wild with no real remorse. To our detriment.