Dear Lindsay:

According to your New Year’s resolution tweets, I know your goal in 2010 is to move “forward, not backwards. Leaving the bad (people, habbits [sic], and negative energy behind) time to make changes-right!?!?” I’m not sure if your little “accident” this past weekend was a step in the right direction (though it looks like you will be cleared of any major wrong-doing), but I’m willing to give you the benefit of the doubt because I want to wish the best for everyone. So when I heard you were teaming with the BBC to produce a documentary on the problem of human trafficking in India and had traveled to that country last month, again, I hoped for the best.

As you probably already know, yesterday was Human Trafficking Awareness Day and the BBC released a short teaser for your documentary (which everyone can see after the jump) and all I can say is WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU, GIRL?!!

Look, I know you’ve already gotten a lot of shit from, well, almost everyone on message boards all over the internet about this project; calling you everything from a whore to a drug addict. I sympathize and think a lot of the criticism is unfair and petty, but they do have a point. From what I can tell from the footage and other things that have been reported, I think your approach to this project will do more damage to you and this worthwhile cause. I’m not asking you to ditch the film altogether, but re-think what you plan to do with it. I know this is unsolicited, but since that’s never stopped me before, let me offer you some advice on what you need to do.

First, you have to stop sending out tweets like this one from your trip in December: “Over 40 children saved so far… Within one day’s work… This is what life is about… Doing THIS is a life worth living!!! Focusing on celebrities and lies is so disconcerting, when we can be changing the world one child at a time…. hope everyone can see that.”

Even if it’s true and you saved all those kids, you sound like an asshole by putting yourself on a pedestal this way. In case your people keep you living in a bubble and you are unaware of how you are perceived, you should know that you are hated by the general public. Let me rephrase that—you are hated by the general public. They think you are a whore, a drunk, a drug addict, a spoiled/narcissistic bitch and you need to start showing some more humility. Girl, you are not the Great White Hope coming in to save all the backwards brown people! Don’t delude yourself.

However, if you are going to make such a grand proclamation, make sure it’s the fucking truth. As this piece points out, you weren’t even in the country at the time of this incident:

“The children were reportedly freed…from a central New Delhi workshop and taken to the Ashram rehabilitation centre before being united with their families…the operation took place hours before Lohan landed in India and a day before the actress and a BBC Three film crew visited the rehab centre.”

Now, let’s turn to the footage from your documentary. It’s clear that the star of this film is…you. I hope I’m wrong about this, but I get the feeling this is going to be the story of how an American movie star comes to India, brings attention to this important issue and makes a difference. Here’s the problem with that: not only does no one care what you think (especially when you make stupidly obvious remarks like: “The traffickers are always in the wrong, because they know what they’re doing, and anyone who says they don’t know…I mean, come on.”), but your presence in the film will hurt the cause more than help.

I actually think you’re a talented actress, Lindsay. You showed in films like Mean Girls that you had real talent and potential before you pissed it all away. But I have to admit that you don’t come off well in this footage. You sound patronizing, not too bright and, well, you do look like you’re still partying too much. The public will not give this film a fair shot because it’s all about you. They will associate this issue with Lindsay Lohan and will reject this worthy cause because of your taint.

So here’s what you need to do: take yourself out of the film. If you need to go back to India and re-shoot the whole thing because you’re currently in every frame of the doc, do it. If you need a celebrity to appear on camera, get that hot Indian chick from Slumdog Millionaire or at least Angelina Jolie, not you. Be a “silent” producer—if you really care and this project is not just a pr ploy, you can do more good by staying behind the scenes and not putting yourself front and center.

I’m sorry if this is a little harsh, but as I said, I do want to give you the benefit of the doubt and hope that you are able to bring attention to this serious problem, but in the right way. Happy New Year and I wish you the best on this and your other endeavors.