Perhaps the only thing more boring than the Paris Hilton phenomenon are the boring lamentations over the Paris Hilton phenom, the whole "Why are we expending so much time and energy on this talentless void when there are so many other issues and people worthy of attention? What does it say about our culture?" We know what it says about our culture: it says the same damned thing about our culture that Diana and OJ and Madonna and the Elian Gonzales soap opera did; we learn/forget/relearn/reforget the same lessons about the transient, mass-media, celebrity-driven dynamics every time, and every time we make the same frowning, concerned noises to no avail, just to hear ourselves sound enlightened and above the frantic din. But sometimes the din is compelling and there's no point pretending today's din and hubbub wasn't.