After Anna, Who's Next?
Britney, Lindsay, Paris?
by
Paul Petersen

For months I have gone to bed each night with the welfare of several young women on my mind, praying that those alleged friends and ten-percenters who enable such terrible behavior will finally put simple human values above their paychecks and find a way to leave a message for us at A Minor Consideration.

Are the American Press and a soulless entertainment industry trying to kill all these young women? Isn't Anna Nichole Smith enough?

This morning I awoke to the news that Britney Spears left a Rehab center in Antigua after one night, flew home in the last row of coach, and took herself to an all-night tattoo parlor after chopping off all her hair, and while her wrists were being decorated by needles, struggled and screamed and then took herself to a waiting SUV.

Those religious flagellants in Iran and the Philippines have nothing on Britney, no sirree. Hey Social Services, are you that envious of Britney to forget that she has two innocent children under her many roofs? Where are you?

Lindsay Lohan endures facials, manicures and shopping sprees while spending 40 Grand a month in a Hollywood Rehab. Think she's serious? And what about those treatment Administrators? Think they really, really care? They want the money. We want to help.

While Newsweek markets a tasteless cover of these Size Zero heroines I read that four teenagers were killed in a crash in Illinois while being driven by a 23 year-old female drunk, and the eight Black teenagers who brutally beat three white girls last Halloween were given probation instead of jail time, actually managing to escape justice before the most grievously injured victim was out of the hospital. All these young thugs did was beat down and kick three defenseless girls, smashing one of them with a skateboard while she was already unconscious and helpless.

The members of A Minor Consideration have already enlisted in this culture war. We are armed with weaponry no civilian can muster. We've been there. We, too, have used Fame to avoid the consequences of our actions. We put our track record on the line every day, publicly, and even though the Industry that raised us finds it exceedingly difficult to call on us, even in the midst of their glaring failures, we are taking our tools on the road to do what we can in Indiana and Illinois because we, at least, recognize that the common factor in all this news is that these little lost and dying souls are young…very young.

Young people are screaming for help. A silent response is unacceptable. Surely there are people left in this country who know how to dial a phone when they see trouble. Surely there is someone left in the Tinsel Town apology crowd who knows how to text message for help when their pal is in desperate straights.

Meal Tickets can expire. People on the edge sometimes fall off the cliff. Bright lights burn out. If the death of Anna Nicole Smith taught you nothing else you should now be certain that unwarranted Fame and public perversions that only appeal to paparazzi are a toxic combination that can lead to death.

Please, Anyone. Help Us Intervene.

You'll like yourself in the morning.