The Lipstick As A Powerful Weapon

I remember with nostalgia this very beautiful evening at Jibowu Bus stop when I boarded a Danfo to Ikeja for a little hangout. Luckily for me, I met the front seats unoccupied and I quickly hopped in. Soon, this man arrived who wanted to have a seat too. Seeing that the seat next to the driver was bad, I simply alighted so he could go in instead.

Then the drama started. This man started showing his typical intimidated Nigerian self. He questioned why I would want him as "a man" to go in while I sit next to the door.
I simply let him know I was there first and hence had the right to whatever seat I choose.‎
Infuriated however, and with no choice as he seemed somewhat in a haste too, he had to go sit next to the driver but not without saying so many loud things like "ladies of nowadays", "what kind of women are we training these days", "this one will be ordering her husband", "only beauty, no respect". All these while, I stayed mute. I couldn't give a rat’s ass to what he was saying.

Here I was, about to have a GREAT evening. How dare I let this man with his inferiority issues spoil my mood.

Well, that didn't mean I didn't give him a dose of his medicine subtly.

As I was about hopping back into my rightful place, I moved my head very close (so as to seem like an unplanned bump) to the collar of his WHITE shirt and made sure it got stained with my RED lipstick.‎

You needed to see the shock on his face. He couldn't believe that happened too. He kept ranting about how I was entering in a very uncivil manner like it's my car and all. Grudgingly I said sorry like I didn't know it was planned.‎

My heart was so elated that night; I almost choked from overdose of joy.‎

He'd definitely have had to sort it out with his wife that night. God bless his soul‎ if his attitude has been questionable before and his wife is a No-Nonsense woman. Well, I can only say I'd miss that part of the drama. Next time he won't rub his inferiority issues all over a girls face trying to smear her make-up.

Oh yeah, if I had cried or frowned from what he said, can you imagine how ugly I'd have looked and all my make-up efforts wasted that night?

THE SELFIE IS THE NEW AUTOGRAPH

 The selfie is a digital trend that has gradually slipped in to become an autograph. ‎

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Selfies are faster, easier, can capture multiple fans simultaneously and are also more convenient. There’s the tendency of making the fan feel closer and involves latest technological gadgets which are more fun to operate.

The downside of a selfie though is that autography is an old beautiful art which could involve graphics and calligraphy painstakingly penned down in the author's own writing, unique to each fan and could even come along with words of encouragement, thereby creating a more personalized relationship.

I like to look at the selfie as both a modification on autograph and as a separate art with similar intention.

What the selfie has done is upgrade the autograph to the 21st century reality with the help of technology and social media. A signed autograph hitherto was seen as a personal encounter with someone famous. But it sometimes lacked authenticity and most times it couldn't also capture the moments those encounters happened. The selfie brought all these together; the time, the ambience, the memories and of course that authenticity that the normal autograph couldn't mostly give‎.

Needless to say, in a bid to feel special, a fan could involve graphic enhancement with the use of Photoshop application so as to give the impression of a photograph taken with the star, hence being deceitful.

‎Like we know, a picture is worth a thousand words. That personal endorsement and validity the selfie brings makes it priceless. However, the selfie though brings both parties together in an emotional and powerful keep sake memory, cannot be said to replace the autograph 100% as there are a great many people that would still opt for an autograph alongside a selfie

HOW TECHNOLOGY DISRUPTED THE TRUTH

The long read on Katherine Viner’s “How Technology Disrupted the Truth” in The Guardian, was insightful and helpful in understanding how people feel towards digital technologies especially the social media.

I don't think it is technology that has disrupted the truth. Truth has often been a subjective reality of a person or group and has always been manipulated using the various medium in time. Technology is more about its use than the technology itself. People will always be people and those that intend good will still direct its usage towards good. However, technology enhances things and this means that anyone who intends bad will be helped towards that by its use. Technology can only be said to help spread the false phenomenon faster and broader.

Most people feel technology makes it easy to manipulate and spread falsehood and I think that's just what it is; a means.

Facts exist, like gravity; like good and evil; like hunger and sex and other things but truth and technology are like the message and the medium. Somebody encodes it and then transmits it through a medium expecting a certain outcome. The real problem now is people do not filter or facts check anything again. It is selective exposure without question. You can pretty much convince people with dodgy videos and they would swear it's true. A case in question is the latest hoax on plastic rice. It always just happens that those who spread falsehood usually are more determined and motivated.

Technology creates a fantasy and can be used to elevate or exaggerate falsehood just like it could be used to create an opposite reality altogether. Same technology can be used to spread the truth by those who wish to counter the general falsehood that's been spread around.