Halili Kho Sex Video Scandal: Sensationalism Undeserving of Political Dimension

Fetish is defined by dictionary.com as ``Something, such as a material object or a nonsexual part of the body, that arouses sexual desire and may become necessary for sexual gratification" or ``An abnormally obsessive preoccupation or attachment; a fixation."

Since our genes have been essentially programmed for two missions- survival and procreation-some of our procreational stimulus comes in the form of fetishes. And capturing a consensual sexual act in video is just part of this fetish for some (orgies, dominatrice sex & etc.).

Scandals arise when such fetishes are leaked into the controversy hungry public. For instance in the account of the Halili-Kho scandal as discussed in Halili Kho Sex Video Scandal: A Case of Political Opportunism, it's seems hypocritical that many people have used the unfortunate incident to moralize on the alleged misbehavior of others but in themselves engage in consuming the scandal. Who among those moralizers haven't watched the "evil" video?

Furthermore, they are snared by politicians as opportunities to advertise themselves especially with the forthcoming elections (smacks of political opportunism) and or utilize such opportunities to promote the encroachment and restrictions of our civil liberties, by proposing meaningless and unenforceable laws which only promote systemic inefficiencies and corruption in the government system, in the name of farcical nobility.

The point of this blog is to demonstrate the exaggeration of such scandals as a public issue.

Why have Filipinos been so fixated with the Halili Kho scandal when there have been other local scandals which involved other media personalities?

In countries like the US, sex scandals, while indeed attracts public attention don't hold up to become governance or political issues.

This from manolith.com's: Celebrity Sex Tapes: A Laughing Stock or a Catapult to Fame

``It’s difficult to go 30 minutes in this 24-hour news cycle world without hearing about another alleged sex tape. Most recently, defamed politician John Edwards has been mentioned to have recorded a sex tape with his former mistress. This “credible” information came from a disgruntled former staffer who, according to reports, will soon be releasing a tell all book about the affair.

``It’s stories like this that has caused the once sensational sex tape, to become just another blip on the radar and an annoying sideshow for the cable news cycle to report. Today, after all, it has become very rare for a sex tape to become a big career booster, as it once was for such “celebrities” as Paris Hilton or Kim Kardashian. Regardless of the public’s weaning voyeuristic appetite, managers and publicists continue to exhaust and exploit this medium for the career booster it was once hoped to be. But is this always the case? The following are 15 examples of peculiar celebrity sex tapes and their implications."

Read the 15 examples here.

Lesson: Celebrity scandals are a way of life, here, in Hong Kong, in the US or elsewhere. And you can't legislate morality. The unintended consequences could probably be that of the promotion of extortion.

``Our increased reliance on laws to regulate behavior is a measure of how uncivilized we've become" Walter Williams on Law versus Moral Value

Halili Kho Sex Video Scandal: A Case of Political Opportunism

A short commentary on the Katrina Halili-Dr. Hayden Kho Sex video scandal.

It is quite dumbfounding how media and politicians have turned in haste an isolated problem into some sort of a collective spectacle or "national" crisis-as Senators and the Palace has joined the fray. And some of them have used the opportunity to scream for new legislation/s to curb so called abuses.

This isn't about "offensive to public morals" - the cyberspace has hundreds if not thousands of sites that cater to pornography, sex videos or "voyeurism". And these include some locals.

Moreover, through the years police enforcement hasn't been able to contain the sale of lewd "illegal" DVDs as scandals upon scandals have emerged.

Besides, this problem isn't anything new-anyone remember the Betamax scandal of a local politician and a sexy movie star?

This only goes to show how our officials have little understanding of the cyberspace or they are not being forthright or have other latent interests.

The main difference in this scandal is that those involved have been public personalities, if not celebrities. And given the proximity of the national elections, the sensationalism surrounding the incident seem like an egregious opportunity to generate broad publicity mileage.

Going back to the case, the issue again is NOT about morality but about the violation of the aggrieved party's private property.

If it can be established that the perpetrator willfully deceived the other party to broadcast their private tryst in breach of trust then there should be an indictment.

And it can also be seen from the context of client-confidentiality if such circumstances have existed.

For instance, the recent sex scandal in Hong Kong saw the arrest of a computer technician who spread the private videos he illicitly obtained when his actor client brought the computer for repair; where the so called "voyeurism" or sex video wasn't disseminated by the participants but by a third party.

In any case, passing fickle laws to curb "this" and "that" has only worsened the problems by creating legal loopholes, fostering bureaucratic inefficiencies, opened opportunities to extortion, bribery and corruption, and has increased profit margins for politically backed operators which sustains the business of "illegality".

Moreover, the proposed law is a form of state expansion which could be utilized as an instrument to suppress the freedom of speech and expression.

Don't forget that each new law comes with attendant expenses that funds the bureacracy for its implementation-all at the expense of the taxpayer and the costs to do business here.

In short, people pay for the mischiefs, profligacy, grandstanding and wrong policies by politicians through higher consumer prices, lack of jobs and poverty.

What may be seen as a popular may in fact be an illusion, learning from Thomas Sowell, ``Televised congressional hearings are not just broadcasts of what happens to be going on in Congress. They are staged events to create a prepackaged impression.

``Politically, they are millions of dollars’ worth of free advertising for incumbents, while campaign-finance laws impede their challengers from being able even to buy name recognition or to present their cases to the public nearly as often.

``The real work of Congress gets done where there are no cameras and no microphones — and where politicians can talk turkey with one another to make deals that could not be made with the public listening in.

``To be a fly on the wall, able to listen in while these talks were going on, would no doubt be very enlightening, even if painfully disillusioning. But that is not what you are getting in video footage on the evening news.

``Some might argue that, in the absence of the cameras, many people might not know what is going on in Congress or in the courts. But being uninformed is not nearly as bad as being misled.

``For one thing, it is much easier to know that you are uninformed than to know that you are being misled."

Don't be misled.