Should the paparazzi be punished?
Oct 9, 2013, 3:54 PM | Updated: Apr 27, 2015, 8:40 pm
As you may have heard, celebrities are enlisting the help of lawmakers to protect them and their family from the creepy and not so creepy paparazzi.
Steven Tyler convinced several in Hawaii to pass an act, The Steven Tyler Act, that punished paparazzi if they took an unwanted picture of him. Although Hawaii’s actions are definitely broad and may seem a bit ridiculous, there is some legitimacy to the Act and the need to protect celebrities, at least their children. As such, I do not think it’s ridiculous to punish the paparazzi for overstepping their bounds, or at least reasonable bounds.
More recently celebrities such as Halle Barry and Jennifer Garner (married to Ben Affleck) testified in front of the California legislature in order to convince it they, or rather their children, need protection from those that jump out of the bushes or follow them into their schools.
I am sure everyone agrees with this and I anticipate the California legislature will in fact pass new laws protecting celebrities from the paparazzi. I predict there will be something akin to “time and place” restrictions such as the photographers must be at least five feet away at all times and must stay off school premises, and say 100 feet away from the schools and school functions, at all times. If they do not, then they face the consequences of a criminal offense, jail time, civil actions, etc.
Some of you might be reading this and saying to yourselves, “who cares? They have money, they can hire bodyguards.”
To this I would say yes, they have money and yes they can hire bodyguards, but where is your compassion?
Shouldn’t they, especially their children, be entitled to walk down the street without being harassed, accosted and bullied?
I say yes, let’s bring back common sense and decency and afford them some protection. There will always be those creepy paparazzi that do not follow laws or the rules of human decency and I for one would like to give celebrities at least some protection for their children.
