The Price of Fame....

The other day I heard that Persatuan Seniman was trying to get authorities to approve dark tinted car windows for artistes. I find this rather disturbing considering there are bigger issues that Seniman should look into. Lobbying for tinted windows is somewhat of a pointless venture especially since it's being done already anyway, regardless of what the law says. Not just artistes, but any Tom, Dick or Harriet are sporting tinted car windows beyond the limit permitted by JPJ. My guess is whether it gets legalised for them or not, they're going to do it anyway. The difference is just in paying the fine. As for my opinion, no valid reason warrants you to champion the cause of getting darker tints legalised.

But that's not what I want to talk about today. I would like to propose for Persatuan Seniman to start conducting courses on How to Behave in Cyberspace for celebrities, particularly the new ones. In this modern day of high-tech gadgets and the world wide web, we are no longer guarded by gatekeepers. Back then, if a public figure has something to say, the only way to do that would be to go through a reporter, or a tv host in a talk show on tv or radio. The producers, journalists, editors would then act as the gatekeeper. If artiste A says something foul about artiste B, the reporter would omit the bad language and what reaches the public would be devoid of outbursts. Of course there are still gossips and sensationalization but they would not be coming out straight from the horse's mouth. Hence, the role of the gatekeeper keeps the public somewhat safe from idiotic outbursts from our public figures.

Thanks to technology, the role of the gatekeeper has now been rendered obsolete. With social networking, public figures are now able to interact directly with their fans with nothing to act as middlemen except for their brain cells. Unfortunately, despite the fact that technology seems to be advancing at a million miles per hour, common sense and brain cells seem to be depleting at an alarming rate.

It is truly amazing to note how many celebrities today falter at the hands of technology. What should be used as a means to reach out to their fans, instead is being utilized to mock other celebrities, pass judgment, and sindir-menyindir. What do they hope to achieve by this? My deduction is that they enjoy the support given by their fans. Unfortunately their die-hard fans fail to see that they are being used by these irresponsible celebrities to satisfy their need for validation. To me, this is where the fabric of society begins to tear and idiocy spreads at a rate more alarming than the drop of Greece's credit rating.

I noticed that our new breed of celebrities have taken to Twitter to make fun of their fellow celebrity mates, saying bad things as well as using foul language to express their rage. And after that, they cower and hide behind statements like “Saya juga manusia biasa” or “Saya tak sindir, kalau orang nak terasa itu bukan masalah saya” or “I'm just being myself” or “Saya bukan hipokrit.”

In one of the online forums I visited, I chanced upon a very intelligent observation by a forumer. This person said that in attempting to not become a hypocrite, that doesn't mean you end up compromising good values. If you were meeting your future mother in law for the first time, do you eat like a glutton, pick your nose etc etc, all in the name of not being a hypocrite? No, you exercise proper behaviour, because if you had been raised well, surely your parents would have taught you how to behave properly in front of other people. (credit: forum cari).

Now I think this is a very wise statement. You can be yourself but does that entail you behaving like an idiot? If it does, then I guess you were poorly raised. This sindir-menyindir behaviour among celebs on Twitter is fast becoming a disease. Do you realize how foolish you look? Just because a few thousand seem to support you ,that doesn't mean what you're doing is right. Why can't you be the bigger person and keep your personal feelings to yourself? Why must you unload on your fans and make yourself look stupid? I would like to use Neelofa as an example of good Twitter behaviour here. Despite the chaos that was brought on by the 'virginity' tweet last week, Neelofa has choosen to remain silent on the matter, and did not resort to any blatant sindir-menyindir on her Twitter account. I noticed that she has been entertaining her fans on Twitter regarding other matters completely and has yet to say anything bad about the whole debacle. Now I don't know Neelofa personally. But assuming that outside Twitter, she is as bad as some people seem to think she is, she is still looking good here. Because she did not choose to lash out on a public platform. Remember that when you are a celebrity, you are no longer accorded such luxuries as being able to say whatever you want in public. You wanted fame, now pay the price. If Neelofa is reading this, I just want to say, kudos girl. Your silence has proven that you have more brains than most of the other celebs on Twitter. I don't know what you do outside, but you have choosen to take the high road and that is already a plus point for you. I hope that you will continue to take the high road, and not succumb to lashing out at other people on Twitter.

The simple conclusion that can be drawn here is that celebrities must realize that technology is not meant to cater to their every whim and fancy. Even normal people seem to behave better on a public platform compared to some of our celebs. Please, for the love of God, stop using Twitter to gain validation for your insecurities and childish outbursts. Kalau tak puas hati dengan sesiapa, silalah hantar private e-mail kat orang tu, and luah lah perasaan anda sepuas-puasnya. When you are a celebrity, you have fans, and some of your fans hang on to your every word. Do you really want to use that power to spread hate and idiocy? I can't stress it enough, take the high road, please! It pisses me off to no end seeing the blind support you're getting from your die-hard fans who do not know any better.

Kalau you want validation, kalau you perlukan approval from your fans, just stick to the normal things. Let them puji your looks, your fashion sense, your talent, your career etc. Tak perlu lah nak tarik peminat di dalam ketidakpuasan hati anda dengan rakan artis lain. Industri hiburan Malaysia tak besar mana. Sindir on Twitter, lepas tu bila reporter TV or majalah or paper tanya, bagi statement denial yang sangat menyakitkan hati. Our celebrities are truly good at hiding behind nonsensical denial statements. Do you really think we're that stupid? Maybe you are, but most of us out here are just laughing away at your idiocy.

Saya juga orang industri. Saya menulis artikel ini bukan untuk mengutuk anda semua tanpa sebab. Saya tak ada masa nak menghentam membabi-buta. Tujuan saya menulis adalah untuk menyedarkan anda bahawa apa yang anda lakukan di Twitter memberi gambaran buruk terhadap industri hiburan di Malaysia. Tidak cukup dengan kualiti filem-filem kita semakin menurun, anda pula nak menambah keburukan industri dengan membuat perangai tak senonoh di laman sosial. Saya sayang industri hiburan Malaysia. Saya sayang dengan perjuangan Allahyarham Tan Sri Dr. P. Ramlee. Saya mahu industri ini terus maju, tapi kalau macam ini lah perangai anda di Twitter, it's a sign that our industry is heading straight for the dumps.

Saya faham masa kita sekolah dulu, tidak diajar cara-cara untuk mengendalikan diri di laman sosial. Jadi mungkin sebab itu anda seperti kera mendapat bunga apabila berhadapan dengan Twitter. Tapi ingatlah satu benda, common sense adakalanya tak perlu diajar. Kalau anda mempunyai akal, anda dapat tafsir sendiri, yang mana baik, yang mana buruk. Masalah dengan kebanyakan artis kita, ialah mereka tidak boleh ditegur. Kebanyakan mereka dah masuk category bodoh sombong. Bila kita tegur, dilabelnya kita sebagai 'haters' yang dengki akan kejayaan yang mereka kecapi. Let me put it to you this way, although I can't speak for the rest of the 'haters', I can speak for myself, and this is what I have to say: I am in no way jealous of your stupidity. Why should I when it is so obvious that I am so much smarter than you. Ini bukan cakap sombong, tapi ini untuk menyedarkan anda, saya tak mahu jadi anda. Saya tak dengki dengan kecantikan, kejayaan, kemewahan anda. My boyfriend says that I'm the most beautiful woman he's ever seen and to me that means more than winning the title of Miss Universe, my success is rooted in my ability to exercise common sense whenever needed as well as in my ability to write, for that is where my ambition lies, and even if I had a million bucks, I still would not waste it on Loubotin or LV or Prada or whatever other nonsensical designer brands yang tak lawa langsung pada pendapat saya. I would rather buy 10 handbags kat Sungai Wang, than spend 3000 bucks on one bag from Coach. Even if I had 3000 bucks to blow, I would rather spend it on benda lain, like books or going on a vacation. So I'm sorry, I do not measure my success by the number of designer handbags I can afford. That brings me back to the fact that I measure my success by my intellect and not by how big my closet is. Kesimpulannya, I am not jealous of you and you are definitely not my hero, not by any definition of the word. So get that through your thick skull and start to see the good points I'm making in my articles. Use my advice and you will be a much better person and ultimately reflect better on the entertainment industry as a whole.

What is even more upsetting is how they jump and flip out when crap gets flung back in their faces. How is it that they are free to say whatever the heck they want, but when people retaliate and give it back to them, they jump and scream bloody murder?! May I say, you asked for it! So deal with it like a grown-up lah! Instead of running around, crying that people hurt you and demanding for action against those people whom you claim have 'wronged' you. Sekarang ni bila dah keluar rumours atau cerita yang bukan-bukan, terima lah dengan hati terbuka. Dah awak tadah diri, letak bullseye target kat dahi terang-terang, jangan bising bila orang bash awak balik. Bila orang dah hilang hormat dengan awak, maka sampai ke lubang cacing lah mereka akan cari kesalahan awak. Walaupun kesalahan tu sangat kecil atau mungkin juga sekadar salah faham. All I can say is, look beyond the rumors and ask yourselves, why is this happening? Kalau tak nak baju kotor, jangan main lumpur. Tapi awak nak main jugak, bila baju kotor, awak lari nangis-nangis marah orang yang kotorkan baju awak. Boleh ka macam tu? Kalau orang biasa berperangai macam tu, ada maaf lah jugak. Tapi awak celebrity, takkan nak perangai macam anak kecil lagi kot? Rasanya pelakon kecil Mia Sara Nasuha tu pun tak buat perangai macam tu.

Tak semua orang ada Twitter, when you bising kat mainstream that you have been wronged, those without Twitter will immediately take your side without knowing the whole story. Now how is that fair? They too need to know what brought the mess on. Tapi ada ka media mainstream yang nak carry the whole truth, without any cover-ups?

I think I've rambled on long enough for now. I know that some would say that this issue is too petty for me to harp on. Some would say that there are children dying because of hunger, war is raging in some parts of the world, Malaysia is going through a political turmoil, etc etc, and I choose to highlight this small issue instead. Let me just say that this 'small' issue will be the thing that will break our society in the future. If everyone is focused on writing political stuff, who's going to highlight the little things? If you don't combat the little things when it is still little, it will grow and start to become a disease that one day may be too late to cure. And the lack of common sense is truly a terrible disease. Maybe I'm not doing my part in fighting for world peace or combatting famine in Africa, but what I'm doing here is trying to make you see that advocating common sense can be just as important. If we allow these celebrities to continue behaving in an improper manner on a public platform, all we're doing is contributing towards the downfall of our own society. Stop giving them validation and maybe they will change.

Kepada Persatuan Seniman, harap-harap dapatlah dianjurkan kelas mandatori untuk mendidik artis-artis Malaysia tentang perlakuan terbaik ketika menggunakan laman sosial. Ini adalah kerana perlakuan buruk mereka memberikan gambaran buruk terhadap industri hiburan negara. Sebagai contoh, Ali merupakan seorang yang berjawatan tinggi di Kementerian Pertahanan. Ali juga mempunyai akaun Twitter yang terbuka kepada public. Ali menghentam Kementerian Pertahanan di dalam Twitternya. Sudah pasti Kementerian Pertahanan akan mengambil tindakan terhadap Ali kerana perlakuan Ali memberi gambaran buruk terhadap Kementerian yang beliau wakili. Same goes for our celebrities. Their bad behaviour on Twitter is a reflection on the entertainment industry because as actors/actresses/singers etc they are representing the industry.

Like I've said before, kalau nak jugak mengamuk kat Twitter, create a private account, add your friends, and mengamuk lah sampai terbakar blackberry/iphone/tab etc tu. 

Live Long and Prosper. If you still choose to behave like idiots, all I can say is suka hati hang lah labu, orang kalau dah nasihat, tak nak dengar jugak nak buat macam mana. There's nothing more repulsive than an arrogant fool.