By Briyah Paley

The latest trend in television is rich people. We see how they live, what they wear, where they vacation and, most importantly, we catch them with all of their foibles.

Jaime Gleicher, one of MTV’s resident “Rich Girls,” recently said on camera: “You know what I find weird? That people pay money for clothes. Shouldn’t it be a free necessity like water?” (Note: This girl has so much Prada and Gucci, she could compete with J.Lo.) She also said “Just because we’re rich doesn’t mean were not good people.”

While that may be true, Jamie, you have proven that you and I are very different. Although we grew up in the same city, I don’t own a pair of Manolo Blahnik shoes and I haven’t been to Tommy Hilfiger’s ranch in Mystique.

Television often uenables people to look foolish. Years ago, “Candid Camera” was about regular people on the street. We also had “Americas Funniest Home Videos.” Now we see shows like MTV’s “Punk’d,” where celebrities not only seem stupid, but they have an attitude, all purely for our own entertainment. Halle Berry was shut out of the premiere of her new movie “Gothika” as part of a stunt on the show. Once she found out that it was a prank, she glamorously laughed it off. She may be a successful rich movie star, but a hoax like that is what ensures her celebrity. As long as people care enough to punk you, you’ve still got it.

Fox’s newest reality show, “The Simple Life” starring socialite and hotel heiress Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie, daughter of music legend Lionel Richie, premiered on Tuesday. The show follows the girls to Arkansas where they live and work on a farm — something they would never do in their regular lives. Plagued by the recent discovery of an old sex tape, Hilton cancelled appearances on talk shows that were to have promoted the series. But we all know what’s coming. Hilton admits she had never heard of Wal-Mart and now it’s, like, her favorite store. It reminds me of the time on “Newlyweds” when Jessica Simpson spent $750 on underwear without even looking at the price tag.

We need more from our rich. These are the creative people in our country. Jamie Johnson, one of the heirs to the Johnson ‘ Johnson millions, made a documentary called “Born Rich,” which can be seen on HBO. His grandfather invented the band-aid, a fantastic idea that changed our daily lives. But in Johnson’s documentary, we hear other heirs and heiresses make complete fools of themselves. Many seem unhappy and clueless about real life. They’ve been told that they’re set and don’t ever have to worry about money. One of the heirs recalls all of the drugs he did while still in middle school and how he would taunt fellow classmates.

These kids have been warned that they shouldn’t talk about their money, that they can’t trust the sincerity of another person and to be familiar with the term pre-nuptial agreement. Carlo von Zeitschel, a baron and a count, actually predicts that he’ll “fall in love and get divorced a few years later.”

Johnson, fully in charge of the film, even his father feeble minded rich kid himself whose idea for his son’s future is for him to collect antique documents.

Although it may seem like it, I’m not against rich people, and I watch them on TV like the rest of the country. Viewers are catching a real glimpse of what these people are made of and they feel angry about it. Luke Weil, heir to the gaming industry tecnology company Autotote, which supplies wagering systems to race tracks. His father ended up suing Johnson to try and stop the film from being released (the case was thrown out of court).

As an aspiring journalist, it’s important to me that SI Newhouse IV, one of the heirs to Conde Nast, a publisher of $20 billion in magazine publications, makes smart decisions about the magazines. We need those in power to do more than just get into fancy clubs and buy houses in Southampton. This is the next generation of entitled Americans, of what serves as an American aristocracy. We need them to turn their attention away from themselves and look towards what’s good for us all.

In “Born Rich,” Weil says that talking about being rich feels good because he is so alone in his situation and not many other people can relate to him. Although he was nervous about participating in the film, he says some of the most memorable lines. For example, he says if some small-town kid annoyed him at boarding school, he would say, “I’m from New York. I can buy your family.”

If Weil didn’t want to look bad on camera, he would have watched his mouth. I can’t say what else is in store for America on TV or on the big screen. Clearly, our culture’s fascination with the rich is far from over. But the question is, will you watch?

-Briyah Paley can be reached at [email protected]