It seems national media has developed into more than a news platform. Information given to different media stations causes fundamental contradictions and more often than not plays the kiss of Judas in the less-than-biblical situation of the disagreements between overpaid celebrities.
Now, let us take football, being the well-educated and passionate football fan that I am, nothing excites me more than another transfer rumour or hair transplants for sportsmen with receding hairlines. Surely that last one can quickly develop into a national advertisement for shampoo or some other hair product that does nothing better than all the others, but has a pretty package? If I were L’Oreal , I would certainly prefer to hear Wayne Rooney tell me to “Spray it, Updo and Undo-it” rather than the good-ole Cheryl Cole. Well, sure he will take some time longer to remember all the lines, but isn’t it originality adverts try to grip onto so desperately?
Having tackled (tackled, like in football get it? I told you I know my stuff) the hair issues let us move on to the other bit of ground-breaking football-related news (though news seems to be a term too widely applied). Returning to the biblical nature of everyday news (once again, far too widely applied indeed), Arsenal player Samir Nasri was recently rumoured, or rather tempted, by football giant Manchester United regarding a transfer, or rather – sin. Of course, Nasri’s protector Wegner did what Jesus would – denying any such sin and refusing to believe his beloved disciple would dare leave. The problem with media comes here – little young Judas, however, cared not for Jesus’ protection and being successfully tempted by the hissing United serpent he publicly declared that he shall not speak until he knows whether the interest (or sin, or whatever, the saying is somewhat musty) is genuine. Effectively, Wenger would feel betrayed, but what is worse than being kissed by your own Judas is being kissed by the Daily Mail. We can argue media has taken the role of the Judas kiss for many reasons. One, of course, is that the betraying Biblical character is exactly what they are after. Nothing makes news better than scandal and nothing makes scandal better than national publicity. So, thought the Daily Mail, why shouldn’t we give the Kiss? We are not related, so no-one will think we are gay and we are far too neutral to be blamed, I mean it’s not even our kiss, right? Well, right.
The next is a little more focused on the individual than the media. Biblical times did not really allow Judas to e-mail Jesus and end it on good terms, or change his Facebook status from “Disciple” to “Bachelor” so face-to-face confrontation was necessary. Today, however, we have all struggled to find more and more impersonal ways to avoid actual human contact in general, let alone when revealing some sort of unpopular information. Thus, Nasri took the modern option, the easier option, instead of going forth to carry out the Judas Kiss himself, he used the third party media. This reveals some truth of our society (I said some, I do know this is a story about football) and most of all how well developed the Judas-Kissing machine of our generation is. Celebrity scandals are no longer between people – they are between the image, the fan base, the ideal and suddenly everything the celebrity stands for.
This is why a sentence in the media had Nasri called a traitor; this is why even a dispute over bike helmets can turn the nation for or against anyone at any time. We like to judge because no-one’s listening. Little do we know, we can be caught throwing a cat in a wheelie bin next. God forbid.
Mirela Ivanova
