vhong vhindicated?

on social media some peeps are saying that too much time is being wasted on the vhong navarro story when there are so many other things going on that are more important to nation.  katrina posted this status in response:

no, no. there is nothing stupid, or shallow, or wrong about discussing what truly happened to Vhong Navarro. this is a guy that a mass audience has been watching on TV from Monday to Saturday since 2009. he is someone whose becoming has happened on nationwide television, kicking it off with the Streetboys, and later on doing comedy like none of those other boys could. he has a hit song to his name, hit movies, too. kids watch this guy on TV every day and know of his icon to be about comedy, and wit, and dancing, and fun.

that he has come out looking the way he does is no joke. that the story is about concepts that are the total opposite of his public persona, that it is about rape, extortion, violence, revenge, blackmail, make it an even more important topic for discussion. because the mass audience that watches him on TV every day deserves a discussion about the image of this man they idolize, coming out on TV all black and blue and broken.

there is nothing stupid about this. neither is there reason to think this shallow and superficial. this might seem less important than politics and corruption and the economy (or whatever else), but it is important on the level of culture — and i don’t mean just Vhong as celebrity — but culture as ideology, as the way we engage with the world, and the way things unravel, publicly and otherwise.

this is not any more or any less important than other national issues at this point in time. it is equally important because it is about nation, and it is a discussion that we MUST have because this speaks of and about us. ignoring it would also mean missing the opportunity to engage in a discussion about violence and rape, regardless of whether the latter happened or not.

and really, more important things to discuss? whatever happened to multitasking?

my reaction, when i first saw vhong’s black-eyed and puffed-up face on tv, was consternation: such violence! the guys who beat him up must have been so angry, what’s the backstory?  and then, again, maybe the guys were just high on some speedy drugs, and so, wala lang, trip lang?

now we have two quite different versions, one denying, the other alleging, a rape attempt.  one alleging, the other denying, below-the-waist kababuyan.  the strange thing is, the girl isn’t hiding her face, like the usual rape/attempt victim does, and she has a well-known businessman-cum-personal-body-guard (who admits beating up vhong) doing all the talking for her.  very weird.

meanwhile, i hear the nbi finds merit in vhong’s case.  i’m just glad that there was no knee-jerk response from women’s groups that are usually quick to scream rape! in support of alleged rape/attempt victims.  good job, girls.

Comments

  1. Batang-genyo,Alah,eh

    I think discussion on the issues of violence & rape involving Vhong is not a waste of time. In fact,Vhong may not be a multi-awarded artist but he had established an iconic image among teenage kids who follow heroic stars and made a large crowd of fans in the movie industry. I for one is interested to read and follow the story behind this bugbugan blues, even though such personalities do not influence our economic and political lives.

  2. manuel buencamino

    Katrina is right to criticize those who say the story is a waste of time etc etc. I can’t stand people who think it is only what they think is important that merits attention. What is imprtant to one may mean shit to another but that does not mean that what one considers shit is shit. Bottom line is live and let live, if they don’t share your priorities then that’s their call not yours.

  3. It’s a criminal case and involves gangster behavior. May lead to a tax evasion case. Reads better than a movie script. Use of anti-hero very realistic. The moral implications of this story is very complex and sooooo worth our while.

    • Batang-genyo-Alah Eh

      Tama po kayo dyan. From entertainment trivia involving a comedian to a probable criminal act by an abnormal behaviour of a businessman (Cedric) engaged in govt transactions who is described by a former schoolmate and now Senator JV Ejercito as a “unreliable character”. Marami po tayo ding di nalalaman sa kapaligirang dapat malaman upang maka-iwas sa mga di kanais nais na pangyayari, lalunat ang mga kriminal ay may kapit kapangyarihan sa mataas na lipunang malimit pinapalampas ng mga kapangyarihan ng gobyierno.