As far as celebrity Twitter users go, I think it's fairly safe to say that the one with the most drama surrounding her tweets is Lindsay Lohan, who once again has found herself in the midst of a Twitter-based controversy.

The risk any celebrity runs while Twittering is that they provide a direct connection between themselves and the rest of the world, without any publicists or managers standing in between. Of course, some celebrities surely tweet under a publicist's eye (or have a publicist just tweet for them), but Lohan's Twitter account is often filled with rants aimed at her on again/off again girlfriend, Samantha Ronson, quips regarding her father's behavior, and, as of last week, notes on her involvement in the rescue of 40 trafficked children in India while in the country filming a BBC documentary.

"Over *40 children saved* so far," Lohan tweeted, "Within one day's work...... This is what life is about..... Doing THIS is a life worth living!!!" The trouble is, Lohan didn't actually do anything, at least not according to Bachpan Bachao Andolan, the group that organized the raids on 15 New Delhi "workshops" where children were being forced into labor. Bhuwan, a lawyer who spoke on behalf of the organization, told the Telegraph that Lohan "was not even in the country when this raid happened."

Marina Hyde of the Guardian had a few less-than-pleasant words for Lohan over the scandal, bringing up everything from Lohan's reported drug addiction to her spray-tan line to her past public declarations of do-gooding to point out that the starlet has turned a very serious situation into a pathetic celebrity spectacle. Hyde's article, though fairly harsh, has a point: what the hell does the BBC want to shoot a documentary about human trafficking with Lindsay Lohan for? It seems to come from the same place that possessed Ungaro to hire Lohan as an artistic director: her name, and what's left of her fame, seem to be fueling projects that would probably benefit from her absence.

It is hard to fault Lohan for wanting to get involved in the documentary if she believes it will truly help other women and children (and perhaps, in turn, help her get her own life back on track). And perhaps her notes on Twitter were the result of her seeming lack of ability to filter her thoughts before sharing them with the world. But in the end, it seems that the rescue of 40 children has turned into the Lindsay Lohan show, a statement on our inability to separate celebrities from the causes they support, and perhaps a statement on celebrities' inability to do good without expecting to become the star of their own humanitarianism. If Lindsay Lohan wants to help, fine. But it's time to start asking why we need a starlet attached in order to start paying attention to the stories of those who are seeking so much more than fame and fortune.

Lindsay Lohan Attacked Over Claims She Helped Rescue Over 40 Indian Children [Telegraph]
What Has India Done To Deserve Lindsay Lohan? [Guardian]