Not-so-newsworthy News

When you’ve pored over the news feed on Facebook as much as I have, you’ll have surely noticed some news items that made you think “Why on earth did you report this?” or “Great, that’s two minutes of my life I’ll never get back.” Here are five “news items” that I spotted recently that perhaps, IMHO, shouldn’t have been cluttering up our screens.

1. Facebook Live of the Wednesday workout at the Government House

What’s the point of watching PM Prayut Chan-o-cha leading his officials in their weekly exercise? I mean, they weren’t doing anything exciting like a backflip, a parkour sesh or a human pyramid. Now if they could, that would be another story.

Seriously though, we were just reminded that it’s okay for some to exercise during working hours while we’re over here staying late to finish our office tasks. Furthermore, don’t we already have to watch the PM on several other TV programmes?

2. Women Do Traditionally Male Jobs

We shouldn’t really be making a big deal about women who have decided to become pilots or mechanics. And praising them by saying they are doing “as well as men do” is actually an insult because it implies that they are inherently not as capable as their male counterparts. It’s freaking 2017, people!

3. Look! A Guy With Some Online Following Has Had Plastic Surgery Multiple Times!

Several news outlets recently reported a Thai man who underwent plastic surgery for almost 30 times. He used to sell shoes for a living and collected enough money to go under the knife to achieve the look that he wanted. I mean, I’m happy that he saved up for what he wanted but why do I need to know about it?

4. This is What Your Celeb Looks Like Now

This type of news is usually a collection of pictures of the said celeb from their IG, preceded with a short intro. The “news” is that a person looks different as time passes. This could be replaced with just a link to that celeb’s IG account.

5. Twin Boys Look Exactly the Same

I kid you not. A news outlet (whose name rhymes with patient) reported in May about a pair of 10-year-old twin boys in Songkhla who looked so much alike. It went on to add that they studied Pratom 4 together and do everything, together. It added “whenever you see the older boy, you’ll see the younger one and vice versa.” On weekends, the boys would play with other kids at a temple or a fair.

Were they for real? Or did they report this story as a subtle protest to the media reform as some theorised? I sure hope it was the latter.