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I was
reading a major broadsheet over the weekend when the
subhead of a story caught my eye. The story appeared in
the lifestyle section and related the relationship of a
Filipina with a famous but already departed personality
in a European city several decades back.
The
Filipina attributed several things to the personality,
but two things bothered me about the subhead and the
story itself. One was that he “served Class A cocaine
and was a moderate lover.” The cocaine statement caught
me off-balance since the storyteller mentioned it ever
so casually, just as if she were relating that someone
had bought fish from the market.
The
storyteller went on to say that she had hobnobbed among
the elite and the rich in an exclusive club in the
European city where cocaine was a staple during their
parties. I am not familiar with the dangerous-drugs law
of the city mentioned, but even without checking, I know
that cocaine is an illegal substance not only here in
the Philippines but also in most other countries. The
way the storyteller flippantly related the fact that
cocaine was freely shared in that exclusive club (if,
indeed, that was factual) is a slap on the face of the
authorities of that country due to the brazenness and
openness with which it was done then (and is still maybe
being done now).
Could it
be that the authorities look the other way or treat the
miscreants who are rich and famous with a different set
of rules?
The
problem of drug abuse and drug addiction is a malady our
country and the rest of the world has been grappling
with. Chances are, there is a news item relating to the
illegal-drugs issue in every day’s newspapers. Just
recently, a son of a Metro Manila mayor was apprehended
for allegedly peddling illegal drugs. And it is very
bothersome, indeed, that every now and then, famous
movie personalities are featured being caught with
illegal drugs on their persons. An example is a
supposed icon of the movie industry caught in the United
States with an illegal substance in her person. She had
to go to court to try to extricate herself from the
mess.
It is
bothersome enough that the illegal-drug trade is
flourishing here. It is exacerbated when supposed role
models like movie personalities, idolized and looked up
to by a lot of impressionable people, especially the
youth, are caught with illegal drugs. And there were
instances when they went scot-free after, without being
made accountable, due to their fame and, perhaps,
fortune. This sends a very wrong message to the youth
that drugs are cool and part of the social scene.
I would
have expected the leading daily to have been more
circumspect in handling the story without making it
appear that using Class A cocaine is socially
acceptable. I would have understood if the feature had
appeared in a tabloid, but a lot more is expected in
terms of journalistic responsibility and standards from
this major newspaper.
With the
same casualness, the storyteller related having had an
affair with the famous personality. Some people may say
that this is perfectly all right since both were of age
to decide on those matters. But the statement that the
person was a “moderate lover, nothing to write home
about” may encourage impressionable minds to enter into
such relationships. Such flippancy and absence of
scruples negatively impact the way many relationships
are evolving nowadays.
Every
now and then, you read about movie personalities who are
too young to appreciate the serious consequences of
unplanned pregnancies on themselves and their unborn.
It is especially bothersome to read about the woman
saying she is ready to raise the child alone because the
other party is already shirking his responsibility.
Again,
the impressionable minds of the youth are assaulted with
the way such stories are casually related and told to
the reading public.
I
challenge responsible journalists not to add to the
illegal-drug malaise and the proliferation of
relationships that may lead to unplanned pregnancies by
moderating the contents and context of stories of such
nature that appear in their newspapers.
The author teaches at the Ramon V. del Rosario Sr.
Graduate School of Business of De La Salle Professional
Schools. He welcomes comments at dennis.berino@dlsps.edu.ph. |
