The Slipper of Shame

It is so hard to decide what to be outraged about these days. Who can blame the mainstream media for not knowing which triviality to beat up out of all proportion? 

Look no further than Peter Slipper and his "vile" texts about female genitalia and alleged harassment of a former staffer, which culminated in his resignation last week. Most of the media missed what was actually written in these texts. If the description of the content is as vile as they say, then I'm one of the vilest creatures I know. It would appear as a serious condemnation of a significant proportion of the male population, as the ol' bearded clam (or in the case of Slipper, shell-less mussels), appears in many open conversations around the world without any need of furtivity. According to anyone with two brain cells to rub together, Slipper's private messages are none of our business and should not impact on his ability to do his job. So what if he made an off-colour remark - it does not make him unfit for public office, and if all our politicians were judged this way then we'll soon be seeing lots of empty seats in parliament. 

Grow up, pathetic children of Australian media. If a vagina cannot be described by likening it to a mollusk, then we've lost a few centuries of progress. 

I have another question to ask. Does anyone believe that Alan Jones's comments about the Prime Minister's late father were deserving of headlines for a straight fortnight? Moreover, the resultant fallout and hypocrisy from Jones in labelling the cyber-terrorists out to ruin him is equally petty and childish. The way Jones is carrying on he’ll be nailing himself to a cross any moment now. Crikey.com.au commenter Keith summed it up tersely: The mob mobilising shock jock is complaining about a mob being mobilised. But back to my question: who bloody cares. 

In entertainment, I'm late to the party. Gangnam Style by Psy has finally reached #1 on the charts and the youtube clip has reached half a BILLION views. I won't be viewing him on TV as unfortunately he'll be appearing on The X Factor and Sunrise next week. This is a complete soap opera social media phenomenon that cannot be avoided, try as you might (I certainly did, and failed). The rise of Psy is owed somewhat to a carefully managed pop-campaign,  but moreso to the capabilities of users of social media to share and promote these otherwise little-known quirky acts, and it is for this reason that I have found myself ensnared. The teenage me, drenched in angst and Slipknot, would have me shot. But I'm honestly glad to see Korea get the spotlight for any reason that isn't (a) Samsung, and (b) complications with the North. The unsuspected consequence of course is that this surge in K-pop interest may lead to everything else that is endearing about Korea being overshadowed by the horsey-dance. Or it might have the opposite effect. Time will tell for the ROK Tourism office.