Friday, January 22, 2016

Everyone must feel royal about it



photo borrowed from http://kickerdaily.com/kris-aquino-erupts-in-anger-after-netizen-called-son-bimby-gay/


SO, all right, I guess everyone's got their fill on what happened to TV celebrity Kris Aquino's son Bimby last Wednesday and probably are better off, if I can be allowed a bit of ironic clause, without having a cup on what happened to a land reform beneficiary in Negros last January 9. And, just now, somebody nudged me if I heard about that Aquino statement of 2014 concerning herself and sex, which presumably also was all over Facebook in that year's January month, to which I said "no" and was therefore instantly sent a link to this report, "Kris admits not having sex", and the following video:



     I get it that many would rather get news about more serious tragedies and expect the news media to offer them precisely those. But I think they just miss the point and significance of all media coverage on the life and hours of Kris Aquino.
     For here's what else I think:
     I guess the point of all this Aquino-centric journalistic coverage is Kris Aquino herself as a vehicle for her unconscious self-promotion regarding her selfhood and selfness and therefore as a royal figure who has got all our attention but really no different than the average citizen who has to tweet on everything that he's doing right now. Such tweets, for instance, as "I'm kissing our dog's asshole right now."
     That unabridged character of hers should make Aquino everyone's Facebook friend, then. Not that all Facebook friends are true friends, but you get the idea. The concept of the "selfie" cannot be limited to self-held cameras and must now be extended to the shooting off of words that resemble the spirit of the selfie. The selfie, of images and words, thence will be seen not just as a simple gesture by individuals qua pointless individuals but as a symbol of their communing with the community of selves interested in each other's selfhood and selfness.
     If media coverage on KA, whether Boy Abunda-instigated or not, manifests a royalist pop culture, then indeed this mini-essay of mine is a Facebook thumb-up to all our little counter-royalisms. I see nothing wrong with either this media obsession with the stars nor with our own little forays into self-promotion on Facebook. I think we should all be stars to each other in the star system we design for ourselves according to each of our (narrow and broad) ideas about the universe. [S / -I]