Into Thin Airhead

Screw it, let's stay with the George Bernard Shaw theme for a little while longer. Shaw once said that martyrdom was the only way a person could become famous without ability.

He of course was lucky enough to be dead by the time reality television began trampling our culture like the crowd at a Who concert.

The most egregious "Reality TV" of all remains, needless to say, the news. Find your stupid ass in the middle of a mildly interesting collision of unusual circumstances and you're set for at least the next 15 minutes.

Just ask the unfortunately named Kyla Ebbert.

You might remember the 23-year-old Ebbert as the one who induced two or three seconds of eyebrow-raising last summer when she was pulled off a Southwest Airlines flight for supposedly being dressed "too provocatively." Apparently in the alternate universe catered to by Southwest Airlines, a bleach-blonde in a sweater, tank top and miniskirt constitutes an actionable offense -- remember though, these are the same idiots who couldn't get a flight out of LAX on time if you jammed an alarm clock up their collective asses.

Now Ebbert, in a completely expected development, has parlayed her moment in the limelight into a five-figure nude spread in Playboy. (Well, on Playboy.com, which is I suppose the farm league where the magazine can make a buck or two off of girls who really only merit a second look when they're either dressed like tramps or completely naked -- the Paris Hilton model of female beauty, if you will.)

Ebbert's pictoral, which she insists is "tasteful and classy," is tastefully called "Legs in the Air." The former Hooters waitress goes on to say that she doesn't think posing nude will in any way interfere with her dreams of one day becoming an attorney.

She's right -- posing nude probably won't stop her from becoming a serious professional; being dumber than a dead hamster might though.

But what do I know? I sit here quoting Shaw while this girl at least understands that fake boobs and a willingness to show them off will get you further these days than even martyrdom.