Lindsay Lohan "Rumors": Getting a Second Chance That You Never Would

[LSN80]

Remember when Lindsay Lohan was hot?

[YOUTUBE]75ZEhY5S01w[/YOUTUBE]

Sorry Lindsay, the ship's been sailed on people "respecting your privacy". I know, I know, you just want us to "back up off you", after all "youre only having fun". But isn't that how you got in trouble in the first place?

My aim is never to try and be judgmental, because I have made plenty of mistakes myself in life, as we all have. I also know that addiction is real and for some, it just takes one shot, one pill, one needle, and they're hooked forever. But that's not what I'm taking Lindsay to task for today. With regards to Miss Lohan, the problem I have is as follows, from the mouth of her publicist:

"Lindsay arrived at the morgue approximately 20 minutes late and will be returning for orientation tomorrow or her community service. Her lateness was due to a combination of not knowing what entrance to go through and confusion caused by the media waiting for her arrival. Lindsay spoke with the supervisors at the morgue. They showed her how to get in, and everything is all cleared up."

This, from the same women who missed a past bail hearing because she "lost her passport." The same woman who was ordered to be on house arrest and not party, only to get busted for, partying. And here we are again. Be it 20 minutes or 2, it's the same thing we get from Lindsay all the time. Excuses, and a failure to take the justice system seriously. Here's a thought, Lindsay: Show up a half hour early if you don't know where you're going or know paparazzi would be swarming you. How could she not know? She wrote a song about wanting them off her back! What do you think it will take for Lindsay Lohan to stop taaking liberties of the justice system?

Accoring to the report, just a day earlier, a judge rebuked Lohan for similar failures such as her breaking her house arrest, and her losing her passport that caused her to miss a court hearing. She then revoked her probation and forced her to post $100,000 bail. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Stephanie Sautner ruled Wednesday that after Lohan posted $100,000 bail for her probation revocation. she had to perform two working shifts -- or eight hours a day -- twice a week until her probation revocation hearing November 2.Why was Lohan's probation revoked? Because she failed to meet the terms of her first community service assignment, working at a downtown Los Angeles Women's Center. Lindsay "attempted" to fulfill her obligations by volunteering at a Red Cross instead, but the judge angrily rebuked her because she never authorized the change. Is there any justifiable reason why Lohan deserves another chance? How would you have ruled on her if you were the judge?

Lohan's camp is hoping the "drama" will be over November 2nd, when she is set to appear before Judge Sautner again. Through her lawyer, Lindsay issued the following short statement:

"Lindsay is hoping this matter will be resolved on November 2 and the court will reinstate probation and allow her to continue fulfilling her community service."

Lindsay's father Michael, who she is estranged from, had a different point of view on the subject:

"My daughter needs a very, very intensive program of rehabilitation for substance abuse.What the judge did, she had to do,". But said jail time? It just wouldn't be the proper remedy.She's not going to be working the morgue. She's going to wind up in a morgue if someone doesn't do something to get her help."

Here's what I know from my experience with drug addicts. If they don't want help, they won't take it through a rehab program. They'll do the minimum to get by and honor the program, and only work at it hard enough until time served is over.

Jail time is a different story. Adicts, especially severe ones, go through an extreme shock to their system. It's the best form of rehab for addicts. They're pulled off their drugs of choice cold turkey, and are given just enough withdrawal medication to keep them alive, but not to minimize their sufferring. Most, not because they want to stay clean, but because they never want to experience such anguish again, don't re-start using. Ive had three drug addicted clients in jail Ive continued therapy with in there, and their sufferring and pain is immense. Im sure most of you have seen the movie The Fighter. Remember Christian Bale's character in jail, and how sick he was? I praised the movie immensely for it's accurate depiction of what withdrawal in jail is like. But different things work for different people. At this point, do you believe Lohan would be better served by a long jail sentence, or a long stint in rehab? Why so?

The judge questioned much of what Lohan did in the past month, including one from the the unauthorized probation center in the Red Cross. She gave Lohan credit for two hours of community service, and called that generous. When Lohan's lawyer told the judge she had been meeting with a psychologist every Tuesday, also receiving glowing reports, the judge questioned this as well. The psychologist's report noted she had perfect attendance each week as well. However, Lohan had received "excused absences" from community service from September 9th to October fifth, to travel to New York, Milan, and Paris for work, so she could provide for her family. I wonder why Lohan's adult family can't provide for themselves, but the judge wondered something else.

"The psychologist said she appeared in person for her counseling every Tuesday. I don't know how she did that.Did she go to Milan for five days and come back in time or go to Paris for five days and come back in time?If she was gone from September 9 to October 5, did she get beamed across the pond? I don't know how that happened."

Her lawyer instead noted the following:

"I don't know the specifics of Lohan's psychological appointments, but the psychologist said the arrangements did call for phone conferences.Because the work is out of the county, it did cause a disruption to her schedule to do community service.Lohan's work in Europe was done to support her and her family -- and affected her ability to carry out the community service."

Again, leaning on my experience as a psychologist, Ive never seen an arrangement where a client who's there court-appointed has been able to do anything but show up. No excuses- Not work, family, or even deaths of loved ones have changed that. But thats based on my experience with less then ten patients. Is it possible the psychologist's report is accurate, or is the judge the accurate one here?

The questions are contained within the thread, but other thoughts or discussion are welcome here. Just one more question, just for kicks.

Did you ever find Lindsay Lohan to be hot? If so, do you now?

 

[klunderbunker]

I'll do this at least a little bit in reverse.

1. Yes, Lindsay Lohan used to be gorgeous when she was all curvy with the long red hair. Watch Mean Girls or Freaky Friday (better movie than I expected) for proof of that. Now though, not so much. She's thin, the blonde/pail thing doesn't work for her, and the cigarettes are constant turnoffs.

As for the main question here, based on what I can see, there's no reason to believe Lohan wants help or will ever be made to do anything. She's had excuse after excuse for all these legal issues and gets off every time. She's famous because of what she used to do years ago but she hasn't been in a movie or TV show in how long? The difference between people like her and people like us is she can afford a legal team that can get her off the hook time after time. No judge has had a backbone against her and she'll probably do the bare minimum to get off so it looks like she's doing something and then will be back at a bar or getting her latest supply of drugs to start things all over again and she'll have another excuse and won't have to go to jail to face any real consequences. I have little to no sympathy for her.

 

[Mustang Sally]

Consider the position of Lindsay Lohan from the point of view of "regular" citizens like ourselves. As far as we're concerned, we live in a "free" country and we "can do anything we want, as long as it's within the law."

Of course, we don't know what freedom really is, and we appreciate it only when it's taken away from us. In other words, if someone puts us in jail, that's when we start to appreciate the freedom we took for granted before.

As to the "doing anything we want," we don't have that privilege as much as someone like Lindsay Lohan. Most of us are constrained by lack of money, fame and/or privilege. Lindsay isn't constrained by those things.....in fact, she uses all three to extract herself from penalties the rest of us would have to pay because we don't possess these resources to the extent she does.

I don't know that the laws Lindsay breaks have anything to do with addiction; I think they have to do with the fact she's had everything in life done the way she wants it done. When she drinks too much and gets caught, she has her high-priced lawyers mitigate the damages.....as far as we know, there have been charges her lawyers have been so successful at eliminating that the public never even knew they existed. So, her attorneys are one reason she doesn't have to take responsibility for her actions.

So, she keeps breaking the conditions of her parole. You would think she would have been given a long jail sentence by now, yet she still gets out on bail even after the judge ruled she had broken her probation. If you or I had committed this many violations, do you really believe we wouldn't be behind bars?

The judges who keep drawing Lindsay's cases should look at the big picture: which is, she isn't learning any lessons from these arrests and parole violations. She's still doing exactly what she wants to do and turning to her lawyers when something else arises.

And us? Her public?.....There are still too many of us who, instead of damning this girl for her behavior, are coming out in her favor because we're so knocked out by celebrity status that we presume fame and fortune = virtue. It just ain't so, but you read it in the papers: "Why are they bothering Lindsay? She's such a wonderful person!"

But, I'll tell you what. If the legal system keeps allowing Lindsay to return to her preferred lifestyle, one fine day we'll be reading how she drank or took drugs......got behind the wheel of a car.....and killed someone.

Then, the same "regular" folks like us who pleaded for leniency for this "wonderful girl" will be passionately imploring:

"Why wasn't she put in jail before something like this could happen?"

Here's hoping it never comes to that. But if the legal system continues to prescribe only community service for her repeated violations.....and she doesn't bother to comply with the community service anyway.......don't be shocked if it ends in tragedy.

I just hope she doesn't take an innocent victim with her.

 

[Xemmy]

What do you think it will take for Lindsay Lohan to stop taaking liberties of the justice system? When the justice system decides to actually punish her the way it would a normal U.S. citizen. No judge would put up with some random person on the streets because they aren't "important". Their ass would be locked away in minutes. Not that I approve of locking people up for drug use. But her lack of respect to the courts it's ridiculous. It simply stems from "I'm a big star, so I don't have to be on time, show common courtesy, or respect."

Is there any justifiable reason why Lohan deserves another chance? How would you have ruled on her if you were the judge?

There is no justifiable reason why Lohan deserves another chance. Unless you count bribery or star-status. I would have bumped her up the maximum sentences on all charges against her for her negligence and disrespect.

At this point, do you believe Lohan would be better served by a long jail sentence, or a long stint in rehab? Why so? I think either might work. Though part of me really would like to see the spoiled rotten brat behind bars for an extra lengthy time, rehab is the better course of action against people with drug problems.

 

[Dagger Dias]

People like Lohan get special treatment because fans find them attractive. I find it terrible that this happens and am more disappointed each time I hear about another celebrity getting away with something. I have never been a fan of Lohan or her work. Mean Girls especially. One of my ex's made me sit through that stupid movie two times in a row on the same night.

What it will take for Lohan to stop manipulating the legal system would be for her to not be attractive anymore. I never found her attractive to begin with, but a lot of people do. There is no justifiable reason to give her another chance. She screwed up. She should be punished. I would give her a longer sentence due to her being a spoiled annoying brat that deserves to learn the hard way that she cannot get out of being punished if she makes a mistake.