Carrie, Carrie, Carrie...(Prejean, that is)

So someone finally dug up a sex tape featuring the villified Carrie Prejean, speaker of negative opinions about gay marriage. She admits that she made this tape at the age of 17 (um...what???where were your parents, Carrie????) but has since changed her life, and has not and will not be involved in any such thing again.

She also is complaining loudly, not the first time, that it is not fair that she has been targeted for destruction, vilification, and treatment akin to mental torture.

I agree that it is not fair. I agree that I wouldn't want to be her right now...but it also seems to me to be a case where "if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen". Ms. Prejean and her supporters claim that when such videos are found starring Lindsay Lohan, or Paris Hilton, those women are not villified or harrassed, or made the top story on the news.

Perhaps this is because such activity caught on tape would not be out of character for the aforementioned celebs. It IS out of sync with the character Ms. Prejean has claimed -- and thus it is news. The fact that she is a conservative woman also makes it a given that she will be held to a different standard, and WILL be targeted, and followed, and harrassed. Sad, but true -- not fair, agreed -- ridiculous, understood.

It's not that I don't have sympathy for this woman. She simply stated her opinion in a cogent way, and a firestorm ensued. However, she decided to ride the firestorm and get out of it what she could.(I'm wondering if, for a while her motto might have been, "the only bad press is no press".) I think she would have been better off to explain her unfortunate actions -- "I was young and foolish, and have changed..." and acknowledged her current "popularity" -- "Because of my beliefs, I have been targeted. I'm not surprised they dug this up. I regret my actions of the past...That's not who I am now...end of story. I'm sure their scrutiny of my life is not over, but I'm not going to be imprisoned by it." Her loud protestations, and appearances on so many talk shows, only take away from her dignity. She's giving her pursuers more power by playing the victim.

So stop, Carrie! You're in the kitchen -- get out, or get some oven mitts!