You cannot have your cake and eat it too.
Of late, news websites have been carrying less of news and more of advertorials and snippets that put (in)famous gossip magazines to shame. And so you have an actual piece of news, followed by 8-10 sleazy posts on celebs vacationing in the Maldives, creating couple goals by eating breakfast together (??) and setting fashion goals by what they wear to the airport.
And so it isn’t much of a surprise when “breaking news” comprises of minute-by-minute updates of a certain Khan’s son being held in custody for allegedly being in possession of the “banned for the public but seemingly routine consumption for celebrities” stuff. Op-eds are being readied, the common man is sharpening his virtual knives for a co-ordinated attack on the “haves”, by the “have-nots”.
The celeb friends on the other hand, are already preparing a co-ordinated defense, and frantic calls are possibly being made to get the “issue sorted.”
Lines have been drawn, and a certain portion of the public is ready, popcorn in hand, for the slugfest.
This is what it has come down to. We forget all our troubles momentarily, and focus our energies discussing an unfortunate incident to which one has absolutely no connection unless one is Shah Rukh Khan, his wife, the NCB or the judge in charge of the case. Downright silly.
But not unexpected.
If you choose an audience that laps up your vacay posts and peddling of Huawei through “tweets from iPhones”, then you should anticipate this as well. You get to choose the audience, and your choice is what dictates how much attention you get and to what that attention is directed to. If you want privacy, it’s time to become moderate and stop clicking bikini pics in Maldives during a pandemic, especially silly since…
Who takes a professional photographer to a vacation??
Nevertheless, we the audience encourage this by buying into such bits of nonsensical information. Our clicks determine what the media shows us, and going by the looks of it, we prefer vacay selfies to actual news. So we have ourselves to blame for the stupidity masquerading as news, that is out out there for our consumption.
Don’t worry too much about the son of the “King Khan”. This can very well be his first step into Bollywood. Case in point – just google the journey of Sanjay Dutt!
But what is all this to you anyway? Two days of venting over Bollywood and it’s alleged narcotic-fuelled nepotists, and then standing in queue for their next film release. You paid for this, in a way:)
See you tomorrow!