The same week Paris Hilton would end up being criticized for mucking about carefreely in the waters near fire-ravaged Lahaina, she also happened to post a yacht montage of herself doing various water sports, standing “thoughtfully” against the railing of the boat as her resort wear billows in the breeze, seeing some majestic dolphins swim next to the yacht (had they been orcas, they might have had the good sense to attack) and generally posing with another one of her accessories, Carter Reum. All of this would be totally “normal”/par for the course were it not for the fact that, of all the songs she could have selected, Hilton opted to soundtrack the montage to Taylor Swift’s “Cruel Summer” (because everyone has clearly forgotten about Bananrama supremacy).
The incongruity of it all was rounded out by the caption, “An incredible escape with my love after countless weeks of flights, performances, shoots and mommy duties. #Greece #SummerOfSliving.” Apart from the flimsy excuse of Taylor Swift’s 2019 song, “Cruel Summer,” suddenly going viral this year, Hilton hardly has a giraffe leg to stand on with regard to using this particular ditty. Not without having some major malicious intent behind it. But oh wait, we forget how inherently tone deaf and out of touch the rich can actually be. Something that feels more believable in this particular scenario than Hilton actually being sardonic enough to really know what she was doing by wielding this song to the backdrop of her luxurious yachting excursion in Greece.
One can pretty much confirm that Hilton put zero consideration into the cutting irony of “Cruel Summer” set against her affluent jaunt when taking into account that she jetted (switching from yacht to plane for her arrival) into Maui right after the devastating fires that wiped out Lahaina. Hilton specifically settled into a resort at Wailea, just thirty miles from the disaster-struck town in question. And at a time when Hawaiians have specifically been asking people not to come. To not engage in the already divisive-among-Hawaiians tradition of tourism. Reiterating that tourism is the last thing Maui needs right now and that, no, it isn’t going to help in any way with recovery just because tourists think they’re “funneling money into the economy.” In fact, it’s been announced that not only is tourism not helpful, it’s actually a detriment. Per Āina Momona, the “lasting island-wide impact on Maui’s resources” means “the less visitors on the island taking up critical resources that have become extremely limited the better.”
Alas, people in Hilton’s echelon are only too accustomed to taking up critical resources. Not only that, but actually being primary causes of grave climate change factors that eradicate critical resources. After all, it seems well-timed for The Washington Post to release an article about how “the richest ten percent of U.S. households are responsible for forty percent of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions.” The study, published by PLOS Climate, “looked at how a household’s income generated emissions [and] underlines the stark divide between those who benefit most from fossil fuels and those who are most burdened by its effects.” Surely (whether directly or “indirectly”), Hilton must have some investments in the fossil fuel industry game. And even if she doesn’t, the carbon footprint from her yachting and jetsetting excursions ought to make up for it.
Even before landing in Hawaii, the fact that Hilton was blithely tooling around Greece amidst the wildfires that have been raging there since July 17th (making for a genuinely cruel summer) is also telling of a general lack of concern or awareness on her part of anything beyond her bubble—unless, of course, she causes a backlash with her behavior that prompts her to “correct” it by opening her wallet and making the problem “go away.” As she did with the reactions to her Hawaiian journey. Comments like “read the room” were meant to be smoothed over with “a source” assuring that, “Maui has always held a special place in her heart. She has been gathering supplies and taking them to shelters and those who need. She already did and continues to do so.” So as long as she’s “all paid up” in that respect, she can wash her hands of any accusations of tone deafness, right? But no, Hilton remains as tone deaf as Ryanair continuing to offer flights into fire-raging Greece (including the island of Rhodes) for the sake of its own pleasure: more profit. As for what Hilton stood to “profit” from her “Cruel Summer” in both Greece and Hawaii, each affected by profound environmental disasters, it seemed to be nothing more than to prove to her followers that she’s “sliving.” While the rest of the population is barely living.
This is why Hilton’s behavior amounts to another forecast of how the rich versus the “normals” will react to global warming (nay, global boiling) as it keeps worsening. Indeed, one outpost noted of Hilton’s willful ignorance to the gravity of the situation in Hawaii (and Greece, for that matter), “The pictures of the happy family holiday were in stark contrast to the scenes of devastation just over half an hour’s drive away, with locals forced to flee into the sea to escape the burning flames.” Meanwhile, Hilton flees into the sea to frolic with an inflatable duck.
What’s more, so long as Hilton can tell herself she paid even more to be there by donating money to relief efforts, it’s not going to be much sweat off her artificially-tanned back. Incidentally, days before Hilton’s appearance on the island, Honolulu-born Jason Momoa issued a warning that perhaps Hilton needed to hear when he said, “Do not convince yourself that your presence is needed on an island that is suffering this deeply.” But even if she had heard it, it’s not as though it would have made an impact on the woman who unironically soundtracks Greek yachting videos to the tune of “Cruel Summer.” Because, as Paris herself has declared, “Stars are blind.” To any reality outside of their own perfectly manicured one.
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