The term 'picking a fight' -at least where I'm from- suggests a deliberate attempt to instigate a fight with someone. I'd be surprised if Chris Brown woke up that morning and decided he was going to start a fight with Rihanna.

And I guess I feel 'fight' isn't a great word to describe what happened either. Chris Brown gave Rihanna a severe beating from the sounds of things, there wasn't much contest or competition involved.

The varying levels of murder appropriately cover accidental or death due to neglegance vs serial killers.

My opinion may be a little different than yours, but I personally believe that role models/celebrities/people in power/etc. should be subject to a more stringent form of the law, not a looser form. 

When the crimes commited are moving into the realm of violent crimes (first time or not) where one person places anothers life in danger don't deserve any better treatment than an animal.

I think you misunderstood my previous post, I believe I was attempting to relay the same message you just did.

that to me is a slippery slop--i feel every person should be treated the same based only on teh law not the veiw society might have on teh law

sure he is a role model to some but not to everyone and that make him neither better then me or you 

so why should that make him worse in teh eyes of the law?

Just taking a quick look at the recent history of celebrity crimes and the corrective actions they have received is absolutely garbage.  These people are looked up upon by many people (not you or me, or seemingly anyone else on this site), but there will be several people that actually view this person as a role model.  Now there is one prominent role model that is held at quit a high standard, teachers, now a teacher screwing up and doing something like this will severely limit their opurtunities.

Celebrities get it off easy in far to many cases:

Mel Gibson - Yelling racial slurs at a police officer while drunk driving => punishment is a public apoligy

Mike Tyson - Rape somebody, serve your time, who cares about all the rules in place for boxers to fight, he makes money so no biggy.

Flava Flav, Britney, Lindsay, etc. - Do all the drugs and drinking you want, no one is going to be sending them to jail for being stupid, let them make another song, movie, etc. because it makes someone money

50 cent - popular because he was an idiot?  I still don't understand.

Obviously I could go on all day, but what message is sent to youths when their hero's are allowed to break the law around every corner, but receive little to no punishment.  How long do you think teachers/police officers/politicians would be around if they pistol whipped someone in a parking lot?

Sorry for the rant, to address the slippery slope. Fine I agree, harsher punishment is a slippery slope, it wouldn't actually be something we could allow and will never happen. They should actually be forced to leave the public eye and never be allowed to act/sing/perform/record etc.

I agree with you that they need to set a better example

And I agree that they should be held accountable for the mistakes they make

However I don’t agree that they should be held to a different standard then us in punishments for better or worse

They really shouldn't need to be held up to a different set of standards, although in there position I would prefer they error on the side of to harsh.  I actually think I feel this way because there are too many celebrities that get away with more than what normal people do, so in my mind I think I convinced myself that to balance this out there needs to be a wave of overly harsh punishments handed out to celebrities.

i think women beaters are c***s, i also think that celebretie culture is a pile of w**k

Giving someone an STD is still no reason to hit a woman. Ever.