Ever since Ashlee Simpson's iconoclastic moment on SNL, I have wondered about expectations versus human fallibility. It is generally understood that people often make mistakes even when the intent was to perform flawlessly. In fact, sometimes mistakes can happen simply because people choose to err on the side of caution. I can remember several vacations where I over-packed only to leave a favorite shirt hanging in the hotel closet after returning home. It turns out that, according to Ashlee, the backing vocals heard during her "Milli-Vanilli"-charade on SNL were there to help her maintain rhythm due to her "acid reflux" disease. She was erring on the side of caution.

Life is full of situations where we prepare for the worst yet something always manages to go wrong. In a world of human fallibility, I couldn't help but wonder, when it comes to mistakes, do we all have "acid reflux" disease?

There are 30 million people living in Southern California. I think most of us can accept that there are millions of mistakes made every day by all of us at the work place alone. Then again, most of us are far too over-worked and underpaid to notice or care. The thing that separates mistakes by people like Ashlee really comes down to money. Earning millions of dollars a year from record sales should discount the possibility of mistakes happening, don't you think? Someone with that level of resources should be able to perform near flawlessly, especially on national television. And when a mistake does happen, I think it all too fair that the public should capitalize on that error. In an article from the Associated Press, her producer John Shanks said that the criticism was "overwhelming and unwarranted." Perhaps it was overwhelming, but it certainly was warranted. Based on the millions of dollars Ashlee is paid, the public should be able to hold her to a higher degree of perfection. She is not just a normal kid who makes mistakes like everyone else.

If we look at corporations, highly paid CEOs and CFOs are expected to answer for any mistakes, even if committed by egregious underlings. They cannot just simply brush them under the proverbial rug as an inherent testament of their humanity.

Then again, maybe this is the point. If people like Ashlee should be granted the same level of fallibility as all 30 million of us down here in SoCal, then perhaps it is time they actually earned their fair share of the capital just like everyone else.

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