A Curmudgeon's Take

 

Seems the only way to approach this is as a curmudgeon. There have been two stories which have dominated international cable news; Gabby Petito’s disappearance & Britney’s legal plight. While the first is certainly tragic, how can it be that this story – this one story - is international news? The second - a ‘poor-little-rich-girl’ story - is only deserving of the National Inquirer, yet it, too, is international news.

Additionally, Facebook and Instagram are in deep doo-doo for bringing low the self-esteem of young girls. How the social-media giant(s) were able to accomplish this mean-girl feat is bogglesome, at least to this curmudgeon. 

Apparently, young girls following other young girls on Instagram are dismayed by the presentation of good times, prosperity and blooming love-lives by ‘influencers’ who are rewarded for presenting idyllic fables for their subscribers to drool over. According to reports, the on-line display of enviable lives devastates the confidence of some young women; purportedly. 

If the curmudgeonly attitude towards the real-life stories of young women seems cold and unfeeling, it’s because the incessant coverage of them makes so little sense.

First, are these troubled teens troubled by the fact that there is inequity in life? Can they be forlorn due to the Tik-Tok narratives they view? Slice-of-life narratives showing others at exotic vacation sites, dressed in cutting-edge fashions, replete with fairy-tale romances and high-ticket accoutrement apparently ushers in crushing depression amongst those viewers for which the aforementioned glimpses of life among the Rich and Famous are well-beyond reach.

Why the media attention? Do people fear that Gabby’s estranged fiancée might be a serial killer and so, warrants a multi-state manhunt? The inclusion of Dog, Bounty-hunter of reality-TV fame makes for a real media circus. Is the despotic junta in Myanmar not an issue anymore?

Do people fear that they, like Britney, will fall under the court-ordered control of a demonic conservator? Are these stories to be taken as emblematic of all women? Is ‘#FreeBritney’ on a par with ‘#BLM’?

Perhaps those poor, unfortunate Instagram followers might take solace or at least, glean cautionary tales from the tragedy of Gabby Petito and, in Britney’s case, the horror of parental conservatorship with this simple observation: “Gee, they looked so happy.”

But, that just might be the curmudgeon talking.