Hilton, by contrast, is almost universally hated. I'm not setting myself above everyone else here—I can't stand her either. She plays a very specific public role: the bad girl, spoiled and stupid, privileged and irresponsible, hedonistic in the most dull and predictable ways.* Different viewers have different reactions to this, but the typical response is extremely negative. Like Lindsay Lohan or Britney Spears, Hilton lets her tabloid audience feel both resentful and superior. Unlike Lohan or Spears, Hilton hasn't accomplished anything that might offset that contempt. Lohan and Spears became famous for acting and singing, respectively, and only then spilled into the more open-ended entertainment of the gossip press; millions of fans have a residual affection for their work that keeps them from being as despised as they could be. But Hilton debuted in the gossip columns. She has appeared in movies and has made an album, but those came later: She isn't a celebrity because she recorded a CD, she recorded a CD because she's a celebrity. And she's a celebrity because people like to loathe her. Being a scapegoat is part of her job.