Trends of the week
And the biggest story to come out of typhoon Ruby is…
MANILA, Philippines - After much trauma-induced anxiety, super typhoon Ruby trudged through Visayas, weakening with each landfall, and shedding every bit of its fierceness until all that was left was its plain, unintimidating tropical depression. After being compared to typhoons Yolanda and Glenda in the days leading up to its approach, Ruby seemed benign, causing relatively lighter damage and fewer deaths.
Without the great catastrophe for which we nervously braced, there was a void left in social media that needed to be filled. Luckily, we had power couple Mar Roxas and Korina Sanchez to supply the necessary fodder. Mar had a mild mishap with a motorcycle, while Korina had a much-talked-about verbal blunder, where she somehow ended up wishing Ruby would unleash its wrath on Japan instead.
When the two top stories about a supposed super typhoon are a DILG secretary falling off his bike and a satirical article about a news anchor’s ban from Japan, then you know you got the best-case scenario.
Royalty meets ‘Royalty’
The United Kingdom’s most celebrated royal couple visited the United States where they were appropriately welcomed, not by the head of state, but by fellow metaphorical national leaders Queen Beyoncé, Prince Consort Jay-Z, and LeBron “King” James. Prince William and Duchess Kate seemed awestruck being lavished with so much attention by American royalty at the Nets-Cavaliers game in Brooklyn, so much so that Kate couldn’t help but blush after LeBron put his arms around her for a photo-op. The British press was quick to point out that this was a “breach of royal protocol,” after which scandal-magnet Duchess Fergie probably muttered, “Children, please.”
Black America can’t breathe
“I can’t breathe” went from Eric Garner’s last words before being choked to death by a New York police officer, to a protest chant, to a trending hashtag, to an NBA warm-up statement shirt. The ripple in the NBA was equally exponential — it went from one player (Derrick Rose), to a few (LeBron James, Kevin Garnett, and a few other Nets and Cavaliers players), to an entire team (the Lakers). But as protests continue all across the United States, as “I can’t breathe” continues to be expressed in myriad forms, the very fabric of America remains unchanged — white entitlement brandished under the guise of “freedom” and other lies that render other races’ concerns as irrelevant. Here’s hoping that the new generation of White America is watching, their tabula rasas splashed with the colors of truth.
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What are your top trends this week? Tweet us @PhilStarSUPREME.
