Lindsay Lohan

I don't much care about celebrity stories and the travails of their largely irrelevant lives.

But the tale of Lindsay Lohan is actually a morality play with currency.

It seems pretty clear to me that she's not a sociopath. That isn't to say drug addiction and sociopathy are mutually exclusive, but I think she is just a deeply troubled woman with a drug addiction. Lots of people see drug addiction as a moral failing. It isn't. It is a disease. Cancer suffers and diabetics aren't moral failures, and neither are addicts. And yet, we jail one group and treat (or try to ignore) the other group.

Lindsay Lohan was in court again today and is likely to be put in jail.

How will that help?

Think, maybe, about the motivation.

Nah, that wouldn't be funny or snarky enough.

a lot of hateful spite on DU. Thank you for posting. I hope LL finds her way out of her problems....with some sympathetic friends to lend a hand.

You're right that we don't put diabetics and cancer sufferers in jail. Drug addiction is treated differently; but being a drug addict almost compels you to break the law - illegal possession, public intoxication. Public intoxication should be viewed as a threat to society. My preference is that simple drug crimes, e.g. possession, public intoxication, be treated as symptomatic of disease and, possibly, requiring removal from society until the disease can be treated (I'm not talking about possession of pot).

Putting her, or anyone, into an American jail will most likely aggravate any problems she has. And then, after she is released from jail, in worse condition than when she went in, and re-offends, we'll demand that she be put in jail again for a longer time so that her problems will again get worse. Then, we'll all shake our heads about the rate of recidivism.

And she will continue on this path until someone shows they care enough to put the tough love smackdown on her. Seems like her parents are enablers.

It worked for Robert Downey Jr. did it not?

The real story about Lohan is the power of celebrity and wealth. If Lohan were an average woman, she would have be jailed a long, long time ago.

I have no sympathy for her. There are plenty of ordinary people who don't have 1% of what she has earned and pissed away. People who are hungry, homeless, or have no medical care. And yet we're supposed to be concerned about this one celebrity? Why?

Do not pass go, do not collect $200.

snip-
He credits his wife with helping him kick his drug and alcohol habits."There's no understanding for me of the bigger picture in real time in a hands-on way without her. Because it was the perfect, perfect, perfect matching of personalities and gifts."One of his biceps reads "Suzie Q" in tribute to her.

Downey says he has been drug-free since July 2003, thanks to his family, therapy, meditation, twelve-step recovery programs, yoga and the practice of Wing Chun Kung Fu.
-snip

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Downey,_Jr.#Personal_life

Nowhere does he mention thanks to his jail term. Sorry. A strong family is what saves a person and Ms. Lohan does not appear to have that. I feel very sad for her and the many others, out of the limelight, like her.

And yes, I agree that a strong family and friends willing to intervene are what is really important. All Lohan seems to have is enablers and leeches. Sad, really. When Lohan is dead everyone will ask "How could this happen to such a promising talent?" and use her death to sell more magazines and advertising for TV programs, and re-release her movies in "Special Editions".

...is nearly impossible for most. Those who have a partner and a family that calls them on their BS, and support them can recover. Family is the key element in kicking all addiction, because some of the time, it's also a family problem.

term, but for some it provides an incentive to finally appreciate and accept the council of those who care for them.

his addictions. Again, jail has nothing to do with turning one's life around. It sickens me that so many hold this belief here.

I'm not sorry to say I have too little time to concern myself with the oh-so-tragic plights of various celebrities, so I shall be done with this.

But Herbie was fully Loaded when he said that.

Honestly, I feel for the girl on that basis alone, and wonder how many of her problems trace back to both bad examples and having no guidance in life thanks to them.

The insane "War Against Drugs" is a catastrophe on multiple levels, I like Lindsay but she is one of the more fortunate victims, if this nation had any sense, drug use would be an educational, medical and/or personal privacy issue, not an excuse to throw people in to prison.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4744843

Thanks for the thread, Stinky The Clown.

one chance at staying out of jail let alone the numerous chances that she's had. The real story here is that celebrity will keep you safe from the same fate as your non celebrity counterparts.

In my view, the REAL story are those faceless, nameless addicts you cite who are in jail with no chance.

Which is why I termed this a morality play with currency.

that's about a dozen more than your average poor person who might get busted for having a small amount of drug in their possession.

Personally I look at Robert Downey Jr. who seemed to have done the same path of self-destruction that Ms Lohan has done. He had parents who were very laxed and almost encouraged the use of drugs (Downey said he started smoking pot at age 8). He did multiple drug rehabs that did no help. I think most of us thought he was a lost cause. Finally he was jailed and after a few years he came out and actually turned his life around big time including another Oscar Nomination along with the highly successful Iron Man series.

We have to stop pampering Lindsay Lohan. If she was Linsday 'Poor girl living in the neighborhood' she would have been jailed ages ago. Perhaps jail is the last resort that might actually save her.

Lohan and Downey are simply avatars for the millions of young people who get sidetracked into drugs. Theyc ome from all walks and stations in life, you know. Heroin addiction is an epidemic in our suburbs. In this area, heroin is more prevalent in the "safe" suburbs than on the big city's "mean streets."

Surely you're not advocating jail from drug abusers, are you?

Most first or second, even third, simple possession beefs, and simple using beefs, get no jail time as it is now. You know that, right? It takes multiple offenses in most jurisdictions to get jail time. Yes, there *absolutely* are aberrations, but they're not the norm. Except in the famous "law and order" states.

The point of the OP is that drug users are much more disease suffers than they are criminals, and that our Calvinistic society is dead fucking wrong in how we treat them.

If Lindsay Lohan was just another kid she would have been doing some hardtime in jail ages ago.

You're actually advocating that people who do drugs are all suffering from a disease as if anyone that does drugs is an abuser. That's like equating the drinking of alcohol with alcoholism. The vast majority of people who drink alcohol are not alcoholics nor problem drinkers even if a lot of their drinking is to make themselves feel better. The vast majority of people who drink or do drugs are not abusers nor addicts and do it because they like it and because it is NOT destroying their life.

I don't happen to believe that Lohan's biggest problem is drugs or that she's necessarily an addict. Her biggest problem is her wealth and celebrity coupled with the people around her not giving a shit. Her family is a bunch of enablers, and being who and what she is she is surrounded by people who do nothing but kiss her ass no matter what she does. She came of age with all of this and has never once learned discipline and personal consequences and is truly BAFFLED that she could ever be treated like an "ordinary" person. Society in general and unfortunately the justice system have done nothing but show her over and over that she is correct in her belief that she is "special" and can do whatever the hell she wants, and her out of control behavior demonstrates more that she is continually testing for limits, not that she is a drug addicted diseased person.

People NEED limits and boundaries in order to function normally, and kids start testing their limits practically as soon as they're born. Lohan, like thousands of celebrities before her, is showing the same out of control behavior associated with a person floundering for boundaries and continually testing where they are and whether or not they even exist. Whether she knows it or not what she is desperately looking for is that necessary structure of limits and boundaries all people require in order to function normally and because it is continually denied, she continues to up the anti.

That wasn't my intent, but I can see how you might draw that conclusion.

she does steal things and I live in LA so it might keep my stuff from being stolen. It's not like she's getting life. People that steal, do drugs while under the watch of the court and drink and drive seem like the type of person that might be a threat to me and thus a good candidate to spend some time in jail. Had she been a poor girl in Compton, would anyone question she might need some jail time? No.

It is good to hold people accountable for their behavior.

She's been through the revolving door a few times too many, and unless and until she spends some actual time in the cooler for a while, she's probably not going to try to stop her destructive behavior.

As I am presently dealing with someone who has some pretty serious emotional and addiction issues, I have come to see that maybe a little time behind bars isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Or chastising them?

Her behavior is not so consistant with an addict but far more consistant of someone testing for boundaries and continually getting a pass. I don't know why you believe she is a drug addict at all nor why you believe this assumed drug addiction is at the heart of her behavior.

And those damned cancer patients. They **really** need to be held to account.

On a serious note, if you are up to that, it's kind of like DWI laws. If you break them, being an alcoholic might be a mitigating circumstance, in the sense that it can influence a judge's sentence. But it will never give license to drink and drive.

Likewise, shoplifting and other forms of theft are criminal matters. If a thief is addicted, it may have some influence on the sentence handed down. But there are going to be consequences, especially for a repeat offender.

Your babbling here is, at very best, pathetic.

There is no help while in jail.

n/t

douchebag (STILL!).

What is the point of your thread??

And yet we seem to be giving a pass to the coke-feuled hooker banging Charlie Sheen.

I was on probation for two years and smoked weed the whole time...

:smoke: :)