Faux what?

NEW YORK –The counterfeit trade is swingin’! In a time where everyone wants a piece of the action, they will resort to anything to lick off a piece of it. Every fashion maven strives to carry the much coveted (and oft times backlisted) Hermes bag, dons the hottest CD shades and wears the sharpest Choos. But in today’s depression du jour, you may not see people jumping off buildings but fashion veracity is surely plummeting faster than you can say "ay fake!" So what if your Stephen Sprouse LV is more Stephen Lee of Korea, only the weight of your conscience and the unbearable lightness of your wallet will know.

However, fashion trends are as fleeting as Liz Taylor is with her husbands. When the goods hit Canal Street or Moody Road, you know over ka na. However, there is a trend that no matter how big your bank account is and who your hairdresser is, faux relationships will always be in style. What is this?

It started with the ever intriguing showbiz world. Talented or not, tinseltown will always be tinseltown. Even if you’re not a closet Pinoy Blockbuster patron, there is something simply fascinating about how the usually dysfunctional showbiz world oscillates. The most Oscar (or in our case FAMAS) award-winning theme is boy meets girl and well, boy...

In this day and age where the intake of Prozac beats that of multivitamins...it’s really quite obvious that good ol’ Manila is getting f*****d up. Suddenly, no one wants to get married. If someone does want to make a run for the altar, oftentimes any joe shmoe will do. Affairs are now so ordinary. Suddenly thwarted women are hiring hitmen. And men...well, men are running for cover.

Courtship is really as dead as Rizal. These days, just like the popular tube top, everyone wants their romantic dealings with no strings attached. Text messages have replaced verbal discourse. Flowers are replaced with watered-down Gimlets. Visits to the woman’s home are as extinct as the dodo bird. It used to be when you date the girl you date her family, now you date her friends while you all galivant in some bar. It’s all a big orgy.

Don’t get me wrong the physical requirements of having a relationships still remain intact. However, it’s the intimacy and emotional aspect of it that is quickly becoming as rare as a quality Hermes Birkin bag. Now, it’s more like a marketing relationship of sorts. Both parties have a common goal (have fun figuring it out!) juxtaposed with different goals/interests (career, nightlife etc...). They use whatever qualities or elements that they can to fortify their own current states and satisfy their needs without the painful resolve of compromising.

You may ask that why in the Fifties people and before that life was just so simple. Well in the Sixties the sexual revolution kicked in and, boom, everyone is now a self-involved being. You must remember that in the so-called Golden Age (after the Medieval Times), there was a backlash against the God-fearing martyr and the result was the Renaissance man whose stalwart belief was that the world centered around him.

There the selfishness of man was commemorated.

It’s unbelievable really how selfish everyone has become. What even more astonishing is how everyone has received this egocentricity as the norm. Suddenly, it seems like everyone has an ample reason to jerk around. It’s like accountability for one’s actions is now such an antiquated notion. Oh, daddy cheated so maybe I’ll just sleep around. Oh, I went to the prom stag so maybe I’ll just string along every knock kneed jerk I see.

I think I should blame it on the movies. You know, cool guys snag hot chicks (or how the snooty babes get the devoted, starry-eyed lad). It’s made a game out of commitment. I recently found out from marketing class that a heavy average of beer drinkers read Modern Bride. Isn’t that something? There are dysfunctional relationships everywhere. No one can seem to get it right these days. A boy can be holding your hand and at the same time stepping on your heart.

In a time where technology and fast lifestyles are conducive to emotional numbing, no one wants to lose in the dating game. So the injured party simply yuks it up and takes it in all for the sake of saving face. At the end of the day though, everyone really loses. As the old adage says you cannot really receive until you give and that it’s not yours until you pay for it. Everyone comes home empty in the relationship fast-food arena.

We all still want to believe in the flowery promise of romance. We all still want to believe in forever. However, all these desires still remain simply that...a desire. Yet emotional jadedness and trepidation are at an all-time high... you have to ask, is there still hope? Will everyone die alone?

Call me a hopeless romantic. People fool themselves that they’re in control and stay in a faux relationship for faux-er reasons. However, all the lies and delusions will catch up with you. It’s never really good when they do. You feel like a sucker and a fraud and the worst part is you allowed it all to happen. Life and love are so much nicer when you share them.