Stunt queens
What is it with internet fame that people will do anything, as in literally anything, just to get it?
Several glaring examples of famewhores who scratched and scrabbled their way into the limelight, leaving us scratching our heads and wondering where common sense and decency went:
The case of the Travelling Butts, where two American tourists, true to their Instagram handle, decided to expose their naked butts while within the premises of Wat Arun, a sacred temple in Bangkok. Not satisfied with taking their clandestine photos, they then posted said evidence of juvenile stunt on their IG account. Result: not only did they get the desired likes from their 14,000 followers, they also got a visit from the local police, who promptly arrested them.
Apparently, it is a rule that tourists should dress modestly in the temple, but Joseph and Travis Dasilva (a couple, and not brothers) flouted that rule in exchange for the dopamine fix received from thousands of likes. After spending a night in jail, the couple paid a minor fine for posing naked at a religious site, and could face more charges for other violations of religious and pornographic laws of the kingdom. (I bet they're not returning to Bangkok to face charges any time soon.)
Turning to Logan Paul, a vlogger with 15 million subscribers, who thought of stirring up some love from his fans by travelling to Aokigahara, an area near Mount Fuji in Japan famous for suicides. There, Logan films himself discovering a body in what could possibly be a suicide case, and then posts it online for his followers to relish.
Condemnation ensues, as Japanese-philes, suicide centers, columnists, and think tanks all pillory the vlogger. There are many layers of wrongness to the stunt, including racism, cultural insensitivity, and glorification of suicides. (Note to self, research on Aokigahara, and ponder on Japanese society.)
More understandable, perhaps, is the case of My Mate Nate, a bigger internet star with 3.3 million followers in YouTube.
Nate a.k.a. Nathan Bartling, an American expat, similarly decided to court Thailand authorities' attention when he thought of a stunt involving coins and railtracks. Nate was arrested for placing coins on railroad tracks and then waiting for trains to come and run them over.
The furor arose because viewers thought that stunt could have resulted in a derailment of the train. Police reacted by charging him with obstructing the railway, trespassing, and damaging railway property. (Good thing he didn't use Thai coins, which carry an image of the beloved Thai monarch, or he would have faced more serious charges.)
I say understandable because apparently, his YouTube fame lets him cash in on the number of viewers of his videos. That's aside from the clickbait his video provides, where clicks on ads earns him revenue. The Bangkok Post reports that aside from these sources of cash flow, Nate also has a souvenir business where t-shirts, caps, and other sundry My Mate Nate items are sold, and also more websites, including Facebook, where more revenues can be derived via the attraction of more viewers. Hence the need for more stunts to post.
At least with Nate, we know where the internet fame is leading. It's not just fame for fame's sake. The others?
Society needs to come to terms with the impact of social media on individuals. Yes, it's an artistic outlet, and unique and quirky individuals can be discovered online who would otherwise be undiscovered and unappreciated. In that sense, I'm all for it.
But what about when it leads others to irrational behavior in the quest for individuality and uniqueness? That's where it becomes dicey.
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