CAPILLAS
By now, a lot of people have probably grown tired of the week-old road rage case involving one David Lim Jr., who posted bail and had left the dank confines of the Cebu City jail yesterday afternoon.
The Lim case drew notoriety and attracted national attention not only because of what the young man did last Sunday dawn, which his lawyer claimed was done in self-defense, but by who he happened to be — a son of a Filipino-Chinese businessman who figured in an accidental collision that killed a fish vendor as well as the nephew of a businessman accused by President Rodrigo Duterte of being a drug lord.
As if it couldn’t get any more upsetting to Cebu City residents and netizens, in came this social media post made by starlet Ellen Adarna who questioned and lashed out at Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña’s warning to the city’s “spoiled brats” by claiming that the mayor’s son had threatened one of her friends in an incident involving his now-wife.
Osmeña’s son Miguel had answered Adarna’s Facebook post with his own through his wife’s Facebook account; but regardless of what they said which was a personal matter between them, it doesn’t detract from the mayor’s message that the city’s young elite should at the very least avoid breaking the law, keep their indiscretions to themselves and not harm or inconvenience anyone else.
While the average person on the street can get picked up for a traffic violation and fined or the poor land in jail for vagrancy, the rich have their lawyers who can arrange a settlement with the aggrieved party and walk away from the scene with nary a crease or stain on their clothes.
In David Lim Jr.’s case, the public has at least seen for themselves how he was booked like any other suspect in keeping with the police’s contention that Lim didn’t receive any special treatment from them.
If a former president and a sitting senator were shown being booked by police before their detention, surely it wouldn’t be beneath the younger Lim to undergo the same process despite his family’s attempts to keep media coverage at bay by asking for police security and later providing him with his own bodyguards.
Even in detention, the younger Lim had a cell all to himself and his lawyer continually insisted that Lim didn’t surrender but turned himself in “for safekeeping” as if the Cebuano nurse whom he shot continues to pose a serious threat to his safety.
Oh right, they were referring to the netizens who were outraged by what Lim did and continue to raze him with comments that range from the most vicious to the downright libelous and malicious.
But for all the ill and harm that social media had been blamed for, in this one instance it had become the outlet for ordinary citizens to vent their ire on those whom they feel and suspect to have done wrong, those privileged few whom they think consider themselves to be so far above the law that they are “untouchable.”
Through social media, the once formerly “untouchable” has been brought down to street level so to speak and shown to be just as vulnerable as anyone else to public outrage.
Through social media, “spoiled brats,” who also use this medium to flaunt their behavior and privileged status in life, are reminded by the public that they can also be held accountable for their excesses if they cross the line.
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Speaking of spoiled brats, one of the two protagonists in the Disney remake of the classic film “Beauty and the Beast,” a proud and vain prince, had to undergo a painful lesson from a fairy in order to learn not just humility but genuine love for others.
I watched the movie last Friday after debating whether to watch it or “Kong: Skull Island” and I picked the 2017 live action remake since I don’t fancy the idea of having nightmares of giant creatures staring menacingly down at me before rushing face first to kill me in my sleep.
I’m not a movie critic, but again, please indulge me in this instance and let me just say that while “Beauty And The Beast” is good, it isn’t that great especially when compared to the 1991 animated film which is a classic by any standard.
Compared to it, the live action remake feels like a “by the numbers” production that looks mechanical and contrived instead of fluid and natural. The only credit to the film is the additional background which showed how Belle’s mother died and Gaston’s former life as a soldier.
The gay reference was only that, a fleeting reference with no overt show of passion that can be overlooked by those with conservative views.
And while Emma Watson isn’t bad, I thought American actress Alison Brie, who starred in the US sitcom “Community” would have been a better Belle considering that she looks about the same age as the male lead Dan Stevens.
But that’s just a bit of fan casting, and overall, the film is good and a necessary break from the superhero films now flooding the cinema.
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