What killed the cat
Whether we would admit it or not, we all have our guilty pleasures. One of them is the insatiable appetite for showbiz or society gossip. This is one preoccupation that seems to have defied age, educational background or socio-economic class. We all love to play with the dung and scrutinize the garbage from our neighbor's bin. We love idolize chosen personalities, practically turn them into demigods … then take equal pleasure in watching them crash and fall.
How many of us shrugged off the whole idea of the recently mounted Royal Wedding and said that the love affair between Wills and Kate has ceased to be of any importance to our daily Third World lives? Yet how many also remained glued to the TV sets watching the ceremonies, amused by the idiosyncrasies of British nobility and the absurdity in their hats? How many took special attention waiting for the middle class girl turned Duchess of Cambridge to appear from her limo garbed in what was dubbed as the ultimate wedding dress to affect fashion sense and sensibility? Well, that is all part of the packaging. That is all part of media savvy, right?
That is no different in watching the Pambansang Kamao ng Pilipinas slug it out with Mosley --- but then taking special attention on who's watching the fight in Las Vegas or how Wondergirl Charice will sing the national anthem? An even greater object of curiosity is Jinkee Pacquiao's seven million peso earrings which she wore for the fight. But of course this no match to the telenovela drama that took place before when Champion and Missus were having a squabble over an alleged Third Party who was threatening to screw up their legendary union. Ah, but let us admit it. All these embellishments --- including videos of Mommy Dionesia practically going into religious ecstasy while praying to the gods above to give victory to her son in their mansion in GenSan add more flavor and spice to an otherwise ho-hum slugfest.
Yes, these are the guilty pleasures that keep us properly amused and pre-occupied. It makes no difference whether or not we are dealing with polite or the perfumed or the scabs of the earth: we love to mount that high and mighty horse and bask on the vulgarity of their ways to make us feel better. That is why we love to play guessing games with blind items published in society or entertainment pages of respected broadsheets --- or delivered with standard cheesiness by Shalala on Juicy. It does not make any difference —-- for as if there is any difference.
We just love to meddle, pre-judge and have sanctimonious opinions about others. It equips us with a sense of righteousness --- and perhaps makes us feel good that despite the fact that we are the have-nots, we still have so much more in terms of dignity and strength in moral fiber. Uhm, yeah right.
So whether we are laughing our heads off watching dentally-challenged residents of a baranggay lash at each other and sputter saliva in the process of verbal attack in Face to Face or whispering about pillars of society make fools of themselves because of the weakness in their lusty loins, we are all entitled to our guilty pleasure.
That, we say, is the price of fame, fortune … or perhaps infamy in one's commonness and anonymity.
