Who Is Miss A?
(Oriental Daily) In Hong Kong, a 24-year-old female artiste has been dating a 22-year-old male artiste. Four months ago, she was changing clothes at his apartment, and he took a short clip of his topless girlfriend with a mobile phone camera. Shortly after, the boyfriend left the phone in a taxi by accident, and the another passenger picked it up. The other guy watched the video clip and got the idea that he could blackmail the female artiste for HK$50,000. The woman called the police, who arrested the blackmailer. Earlier this week, the man was found guilty of theft and extortion, and sentenced to 28 months in jail.
Yes, but so what?
The "So what?" is that the whole city wants to know who the female artiste (known only as Miss A in the court documents) and the male artiste (known only as Mr. B in the court documents) are. The relevant laws are that the media cannot disclose the identities of Miss A and Mr. B upon pain of being held in contempt of the court. Meanwhile, that does not prevent ordinary citizens to get on the Internet forums to offer their speculations. This is also prime time to distribute viruses and trojan horses under the guise that this was the famous video clip.
This leads to a very interesting blog post by 葉一知 at 刁民公園 (Diuman Park). To appreciate this, you will have to read the the Apple Daily essays in defense of Easy Finder's photographs of Gillian Chung changing backstage (see In Defense of the Realm). This post transposes the same arguments to say that Miss A should step up and provide us with the video, but this is pure sarcasm. In this new context, the arguments are obviously absurd.
(Diuman Park) The Whole City Is Competing To Guess Who Miss A Is. 葉一知. September 8, 2006.
[in translation]
A pair of television artiste lovers were blackmailed because the boyfriend lost a mobile phone which contains a video clip of the girlfriend changing clothes and someone else picked it by accident.
The court case was completed on the day before yesterday, but the identities of Miss A and Mr. B have drawn the "public concern" of the citizens in all of Hong Kong. They are posting at forums: "Who is Miss A? Who is Miss B?" and "Who can tell me who Miss A is?" Some netizens even asked: "Does anyone have the video clip? Everybody wants to see it ..." At Yahoo, there were dozens of these threads started within a day.
Recently, the Gillian Chung affair has taught me about many facts of life, included the logic and rationalizations as delivered by the master-class newspaper commentators. Therefore, I have sufficient reason to demand Miss A disclose her identity and the corresponding video clip. The reasons include:
Jiang Yun:
Miss A, if you don't want anyone to know, you should not have it in the first place? An artiste should not be ashamed of her body. I don't believe that this video clip will damage your performing careers. From the chain effect for Gillian Chung, it can be seen that this will help, not harm.
Miss A, how many immoral tales are unexposed under the sun? This immoral behavior of making videos would not be known to the public if it wasn't for a blackmailer. Therefore, the blackmailer actually served a watchdog function.
Miss A, if you take off your clothes, everybody wants to see you and everybody wants to know. Your market value is huge -- although the market still does not know who you are, the market can be satisifed if only you let them see you. Please disclose your identity quickly.
Miss A, everybody wants to see your video. You are really popular now. No matter where or when, you must maintain the perfect posture, because even your mother might be secretly videotaping you.
Koo Tak Ming
Artiste Miss A, the various sectors in Hong Kong are irate that you are not disclosing your identity and the video tape.
At the end of the Han dynasty, the celebrity Heng took off his old clothes in pubic and stood naked. Cao Cao yelled: "How can you be so rude in a temple hall?" Heng replied: "I show what my parents gave me in order to prove that my body is pure." So he was unashamed of being naked.
The true "dirty spot" of a person is the dirty spot on the soul and the conscience. What dirty spot can there be if you are an artiste who took a semi-nude video clip in which the critical parts can be covered up and so you only show a little bit of skin? Even if there is a "dirty spot," it belongs to your boyfriend.
I read the history books and let the ancients show the way. Miss A, as long as your have not sold your soul and conscience out, please step up and let us see you.
Li Yi
Jiang Yun and Koo Tak Ming, I applaud you.
If the media only report what the public figures want them to report, it will "bore the audience to death," in the words of Jiang Yun. Therefore the media must dig out what the public figures do not want reported.
Miss A, you are an artiste and a public figure. You don't want your identity and the video clip to be reported, but we will get to the bottom of this and ferret it out, even if this means contempt of court. We must protect the public interest.
The privacy rights of public figures are different from those of citizens. In the entertainment section of the newspaper, we see female stars revealing their private body parts as if by accident. It is hard to say that if was an invasion of privacy, because the female stars might have done so deliberately. Afterwards, they may become even more popular.
Miss A and Mr. B, you are just second-line or third-line artistes. You ought to actively provide information to the media. You should not have asked the court to protect your identities and the video clip. You are letting a chance to become popular pass by. Please call the Fruit Daily hotline, where we are ready to take your call twenty-four hours a day.
If an actor has good acting skills, style and looks, who cares about his or her personal morals? Miss A and Mr. B, please call the Fruit Daily hotline, where we are ready to take your call twenty-four hours a day.
The private details of public figures are so valuable, so how could the public not pry into them? How could the media not demand the disclosure of the identities of the principals as well as that video clip? Miss A and Mr. B, please call the Fruit Daily hotline, where we are ready to take your call twenty-four hours a day.
Netizens
If you want to be an artiste, you must be prepared for this. If you eat salted fish, you must be able to withstand the thirst. So Miss A, please come out with your boyfriend and the video clip.
You have no idea how good this is for promotion. The fact that we are willing to watch means that you will be popular. Even the ratings for your drama series will soar, silly woman!
Miss A, there is no fucking need to play hard to get. If you are not a star, you should not pretend that you have top billing. Even someone as popular as Gillian was seen, so who do you think you are?
The fact that so many people want to watch you means that you are popular. If you are not popular, who is going to care about you?
If you are a female artiste, you are a chicken. A male artiste is a duck. Other people have seen every part of your body. Why should it matter anymore?
The video clip of men and women having intercourse in Phuket was widely disseminated. So what is the problem with Miss A disclosing her video clip?
If it was only a ten-second clothes-changing scene, that is a lot less than a Japanese AV movie. What is the problem with disclosing it?
I oppose the evil law. I oppose the court concealing the identities of the artistes, interfering with freedom of press, depriving the public of the right to know and endangering the public interest.
...
See, Miss A and Mr. B, we have so many powerful reasons here. Why don't you just come out quickly and contribute the video clip to the public interest?