It’s a reference to a story about Tarquin the Proud, the last king of Rome. His son, Sextus, although still secretly loyal to the father, had been taken in by Tarquin’s enemies in the city of Gabii. Sextus sent a messenger to learn from his father what he ought to do. The messenger came upon Tarquin in a garden and asked what message he should take back. Tarquin paced, striking off the heads of the tallest poppies. Sextus understood by this that he should eliminate the city’s most prominent citizens, which he did.

Jeff, I think I will trademark a new slogan: universal enough to be judgmental, yet made for a libertarian.

Heidi,

here is one take on why she is in such demand, from the Hymovitz article:

“[T]he worse she behaves, the more famous she becomes and the more money she makes. . . .For a reported $700,000, she is putting her name on a chain of nightclubs; the first Club Paris, opened in Orlando this spring, was an instant sensation. The owner of the club, which also sells Paris logo’d . . . hats. . . was breathless: ‘Anything she touches is big. The marketing is unbelievable.’ Though Paris isn’t known for sparkling conversation, she does frequently coo, ‘That’s hot,’ so in October 2004 she trademarked the phrase. You can just imagine the marketing possibilities . . . [l]ast year, Paris earned $6.5 million.”

James: my BabelFish failed me on that translation!

Is there a middle ground? Can we decry the entitlement and fortune of those who benefit from our overly lax estate taxes without our attitudes and actions devolving into a form of “cutting down the tall poppy?” (great image by the way) In other words, can’t we distinguish in our tax policy between money earned and money inherited so that we are taxing the latter more partially because we want to value the work ethic of those who earn?

I do wonder, though, what it says about our culture that Hilton, while an object of much ridicule, also is in popular demand in many respects. I believe she gets paid hundreds of thousands of dollars simply to show up at events, has a TV show that people watch, etc.

And your viewpoint is nicely nuanced – libertarian enough to allow Paris her vulgarities, but laced sufficiently with universals to be judgmental about her. (Personally, I don’t get even the vulgar appeal of Paris Hilton, but I don’t buy checkout line magazines either.)