Kamla, Machel and Louis Vuitton?
What a combination?
Plastered all over Trinidad and
Tobago’s print, broadcast and social media was this snapshot of Prime Minister
Kamla Persad-Bissessar on the stage with Machel Montano, at his infamous Machel
Monday show, clad in a US$ 795 Louis Vuitton high-top, gold sneakers. It seems
like the whole of T&T had a field day “kicksing” of the picture. Some began
to question government finances, others wanted to purchase the boots, and yet
others rooted for their PM, as women who knew style.
Despite, all of this I question
the relevance of this article to the political economy of Trinidad and Tobago?
I question the decision of the Trinidad Express Newspaper to put this as a
headline at the front page. Is there nothing going on in Trinidad and Tobago that
this is the only information of importance to the T&T populace? This in and
of itself is a sad revelation.
This is a typical example of how
the media tells us what we should be discussing at lunch or dinner tables. It
is yet another way of the media highlighting to citizens what should be
important to our livelihood. An image like this would help shape the identity
of many persons; as identities can be easily influenced by images of class and
notions of beauty expressed by the media.
The image shows the top woman in
the T&T political arena, and along with the top man in the
entertainment-soca scene with a Louis Vuitton in the picture. In my opinion,
this says to onlookers, that only if you’re of a certain caliber can you be
exposed to and possibly own the finer things in life. This is a case of
subliminal messages cultivating false needs that are created, and can be
satisfied by capitalism (Adorno and Horkeimer).
But my question to you, should this have been the main headline for the
newspaper issue on February 16th 2012?
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