Forget the reported rape of Pepsi Paloma?
By Farah G. Decano
IT was just around six months ago when I wrote about some Generation Z terminologies in the dating scene. I talked about situations, caspering, benching, and many more.
Little did I know that there was already a bunch of new terms brewing that time from members of Generation Alpha.
Wait. What, another batch of weird terms again? And I have not even mastered Generation Y (millennial) acronyms yet? Remember ROFL, LOL, OOTD, and ICYDK? Yes, I am still coping with these shortcuts.
For the information of the readers who belong to Generation X, the Boomers, and the Silent Generation, here are some of Generation Alpha slang codes according to fox5ny.com.
- Sigma: This may be the 18th letter of the Greek alphabet, but this term is now used to describe someone cool or a dominant leader.
- Beta: The 2nd letter of the Greek alphabet which is given a different representation – weak.
- Mog: A term applied to compare physical attractiveness of people.
- Looksmaxxing: A portmanteau of “looks” and “maximize” which is to boost one’s appearance through diets, surgery, and other enhancements.
- Skibidi Toilet: A label for evil or negative.
- Ohio: Also interchanged with strange or weird.
- Rizz: Short for charisma.
- Mad lit:
- Mewing: Looking good.
- Fanum tax: To steal food.
The aforementioned words are, indeed, out of this world. How they evolve to such terms with strange meanings, which are far different from their original definition, can be explained by internet trends. Skibidi toilet, for example, was culled by Generation Alpha from a popular YouTube short series with human-headed toilets as characters. Ohio came from the recent reputation of the State of Ohio, “where weird crazy cyberposts come from.”
Some analysts say that these are actually communications in a cipher by the youth in order to shun out the older ones from their world. Some say, however, that since these concepts only developed from flash-in-the-pan fads in the cyberworld, then they are useful only for the time being. Brain Rot is how others would call this new lingo because nothing of intellectual value can be gained from it.
Now that Generation Beta has started existing this year, I am wondering what means of communication will they introduce to the world when they turn teenagers. Will they introduce grunts, whimpers, sighs, and moans expressed to the tune of nursery songs? Or will there be reverse trend as some cultures are wont to follow? Will we witness a return to elegance, erudition, and royalty in our daily exchanges?
* * * *
Daryl Yap’s movie, “The Rapists of Pepsi Paloma,” is stirring quite a controversy because allegedly the movie has made mention of the names of popular celebrities.
There have been many academic papers written on Pepsi Paloma’s tragedy. Using her life story, professors and students discussed burning sociological issues arising during that time such as how low women were regarded, how the crime of rape was almost considered a petty crime, and how oppressive were the rich and powerful against the poor.
My concern is the present lack of credible sources that reported the famous alleged rape of Pepsi Paloma, the dismissal of her criminal charges against the culprits, and the so-called public apology of the latter. In some public cyber forums, netizens are blaming a very influential person for “erasing” these materials from the World Wide Web.
We have discussed this “right to be forgotten” before. Do those accused in the reported crime against Pepsi have the right to erase articles about their criminal charges because the case against them had been dismissed anyway?
Since rape is no longer a “petty” crime of chastity but a serious crime against persons, then there is public interest in this data. I hope that some of our mainstream news agencies would restore their factual and opinion articles on the contended rape of Pepsi Paloma so that the next generation may learn from the follies of the past. And the foolish.
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