No, your eyes aren’t deceiving you. We’re bringing back the weekly roundup of the discourses we love to hate at 5XPress.

Not to worry, Rumneek will still be contributing her hot takes in this column. But in the meantime, someone has to remind you of why the internet is eternally frustrating and silly, so I decided to step up to the plate. 

‍Newsflash: TMZ is still evil

Earlier this week, news broke on social media that Takeoff, one third of the rap trio Migos, died in a fatal shooting at just 28 years old. Before I was even able to read about the details of his death, many on Twitter expressed their disgust with the distribution of graphic videos and images of Takeoff by TMZ when the incident occurred. 

In the recent past, we’ve heard more and more examples of the media and first hand witnesses  sharing information online about celebrities dying before the victim’s loved ones are even aware.

I think back to how Vanessa Bryant first learned of the sudden loss of her husband and daughter, Kobe and Gianna Bryant, through social media notifications. 

I can’t even begin to imagine processing such a devastating and intimate loss, knowing that thousands of people already knew. 

While TMZ is a huge pillar in broadcasting extremely inappropriate levels of access to celebrities, in both life and death, they aren’t the only ones contributing to this pattern. 

When Sidhu Moose Wala died earlier this year, graphic images of his lifeless body in a car just moments after he was shot flooded my timeline. He was declared dead in hospital shortly after. 

Anytime I stumble upon a graphic image or video of a celebrity dying, I wish I never saw it. I gain no value in seeing a celebrity in their last moments. As a fan, if you feel like you have the authority to view a celebrity in their last moments, if that’s something you truly and genuinely want to see, it might be time to step back and ask yourself why. 

I can’t help but wonder what the purpose of this kind of content is? What’s the desired outcome?

In a time where celebrities are being treated less and less as actual people, it feels like a gross invasion of privacy to be let into their last moments without their consent. 

So the next time you see a video like that, take a moment and consider if there’s any value in re-sharing it. If you ask me, it’s creepy and weird to think that other people need to see that. 

Normalize scrolling on.

‍People hate the idea of international students having fun

As you all know, last week was Halloween and Granville street was full of costumed partygoers. Among them, international students posted on TikTok celebrating the holiday, playing Punjabi music and dancing in the streets. 

Like clockwork, people decided to disparage the students in the comments for simply having a good time. Though a lot of the hateful comments came from white people with the usual, “go back to your country” or “keep that shit in Surrey” sentiment, there were also a lot of comments from members of our own community.

One user reacted to a video of folks dancing by commenting, “I used to be proud to be Punjabi in Canada at one point.” 

By now, many of us understand how difficult it can be to be an international student in Canada. International students are vulnerable to cycles of exploitation and violence that older immigrants and children of immigrants benefit from. 

So then why are we the ones who are the first to criticize them for finding joy in experiencing a new holiday for the first time? 

Why do we place limits on their joy, but not our own? 

To me, it smells like hypocrisy. But that’s an article for a different day. 

Moral of the story: let international students have fun. They deserve to experience joy and shouldn’t be belittled at every turn for finding pockets of happiness where they can. 

Oh, and don’t use their expressions of joy as an opportunity to let your internalized racism shine through. It’s embarrassing. 

That’s all from me this week, folks. Catch you next week with some more hot takes. 

Xoxo, 

Jeevan