Trends of the week

MANILA, Philippines - Twitter is an exercise in continuous education. We learned a lot over the week: what happens when two gay men kiss on live TV, what makes fictional TV characters resonate in real life, and what R&B divas do when someone beats up heir business-mogul-rapper husbands.

The Internet speculates on

#WhatJayZSaidToSolange

TMZ leaked a surveillance video of Solange Knowles attacking her brother-in-law Jay-Z in an elevator, which is like tossing a T-bone to a pack of rabid dogs. The ferocity with which Solange kicked Jay-Z was indeed alarming, yet the Internet chose to direct its shock towards Beyoncé, who was visibly nonchalant throughout the entire episode, content to stand and watch, like a bystander with front-row access to a celebrity death match. It wasn’t really a match, to Jay-Z’s credit, who we’ve learned this week is man enough not to fight women. What we’ve yet to learn is what caused the violent outburst. What could Jay-Z have possibly said to make Solange so upset and Beyoncé so… uh… unsupportive? Thankfully, social media is here to give answers.

The trending hashtag #WhatJayZSaidToSolange was a delightful piece of running fan fiction that produced hilarious tweets and memes, as well as another opportunity for the common people to feel good about themselves. Poor Solange was the butt of most jokes, her relative obscurity next to her superstar sister and brother-in-law being the most common punchline. “This elevator has more floors than you have fans,” says one tweet. “Solange: ‘Can I sing backup on your tour?’ Jay-Z: ‘You gotta learn how to sing first,’” says another. One tweet was an equal-opportunity offender, zinging Jay-Z as much as Solange: “My lips are bigger than your career.”

Take a bow, Internet. You did us proud.

A kiss launches a thousand praises, homophobic rants

Michael Sam became the first openly-gay football player to be drafted in the National Football league this week. It was history in the making, made all the more memorable for the image of a teary-eyed Sam kissing his boyfriend on ESPN after hearing the news. The video went viral, and soon, Twitter was brimming with jubilation, or — depending on the people you follow — indignation.

One such person was Ole Miss basketball player Marshall Henderson who trended a few days later after tweeting: “Boycotting sportscenter til this michael sam nasty as* sh*t is off… My brothers are 7 and 11 and saw that!!! #SICKENING.” He retracted this tweet an hour later, claiming that it was part of an experiment conducted by his friend whom he conveniently claims to be a gay psychology major. He tweeted: “The point of his study was to see how people react when others say things or act a certain way against another group of people.” Sure, because people reacting angrily on Twitter is an unexplored phenomenon that needs to be coaxed via experiment.

In truth, tolerance towards the gay community is largely still an ongoing experiment. A lot of it is still theoretical, with people behaving differently when finally faced with the unfamiliar, which is why the world needed that footage of Michael Sam and his boyfriend, sharing a moment that no gay men have ever had the privilege of sharing in front of cameras before. We needed to see people voice their support, their confusion, their outrage. Twitter allows us to see the ways in which the world can still be improved.
 

Tyrion Lannister is our hero

It took an impassioned, royally pissed-off speech from dwarfish Tyrion Lannister to finally push Game of Thrones into the local trends list this season. This makes perfect sense, considering that the Philippines’ already Westeros-like reality was once again brought to light by the unfortunately coined “Napolist.” It’s clear at this point that the government can no longer be trusted, if that wasn’t already clear enough two impeachments ago. To Filipino audiences, the mythical realm of Westeros is beginning to seem only mildly hyperbolic, the similarities with our country now more striking than the differences. One is a place where anarchy rules, where the only law that applies is that of the jungle, where justice is not a virtue, but the pathetic recourse of the weak. The other is Westeros.

In this week’s episode, “The Laws of Gods and Men,” the black sheep of the ruling Lannisters, Tyrion, finally went on trial for allegedly masterminding the death of King Joffrey. Unable to stomach the flagrant lies of the so-called witnesses, Tyrion lashed out at the injustices that surrounded the trial and that upon which House Lannister was built. It was an extremely cathartic TV moment. Finally, someone had said what we’ve always wanted to scream for so long — at our TV sets, laptop screens, and our real-life leaders. In a TV show that is increasingly inching closer to our reality, it was a moment of pure, satisfying fantasy.

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Tweet the author @ColonialMental.