Paris Hilton - Why is she popular?

Once again, a Top Searches topic that continually baffles me. Why is Paris Hilton so popular? The old saying about not being able to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear applies here. Take away the fact that she is an heiress to the Hilton fortune (to the tune of $300 million), and she would cease to be "newsworthy". While she is not what I would consider ugly, she is certainly not as "hot" as the sheeple make her out to be. She cannot sing well without the aid of quite a bit of digital processing, and to call her an actress is an insult to all who have ever held a SAG membership. Basically, it seems that people treat Paris Hilton much the way that the Mugatu character (played by Will Ferrell in the movie Zoolander) repeatedly talked about Owen Wilson's character: "That Hansel is so hot right now!"