Ogle La La
By Alexandra Fortabat de Hermès

The spotlight moves on to the lads for the next batch of the #TroubleTrifecta.

For our second edition of this particular reincarnation, let us focus our attention on the brawnier gender and take a gander on the three types of men who, in the last year, have raised our perfectly tweezed eyebrows and twiddled our well-manicured thumbs.

The first category of our Gents of Gaffes are those peddlers of conspiracies, half-truths and alt realities who think that the world is run by a cabal of evil manipulators. More than likely to be die-hard supporters of The Orange One, these Daddies of Delusions also deny the existence of COVID-19, refuse to get in queue for a vaccine and prance about town with a sense of braggadocio worthy of Vladimir Putin. They also like surrounding themselves with jungle bunnies that are normally half their age (and one third their size) who hang on to their every words as if they were the commandments from up above. To be sure, little delusions can make us feel better about ourselves BUT when there’s too much of it then perhaps these guys should join the Man in the High Castle (on Amazon Prime) – and stay there.

Next up are those rather chunky lads who do not seem to have any other point in life but to stuff themselves with only the hautest of cuisine and the vertices of vintages. These Master Gobblers always look like they have lechon (avec Prose) for breakfast, Lafite for lunch, and Sevruga for supper – all while proclaiming that everything is being done in moderation. Ok our inner gourmands may be a tad bit jealous over all this indulgence but as Mahatma Gandhi once said “There is always a limit to self-indulgence, but none to self-restraint.” This adage is particularly important now that the world is gripped in a pandemic and billions are suffering from the economic and social effects of it.

Now that we’ve mentioned the unprecedented challenges currently facing society as a whole, let us now examine the worst of the deans of distress because these are the guys who have been gaining the most while preying on the lowest sectors of the population. These Papa Profiteers have ensured that their influence (and capital) grow by being close to the center of power in order to manipulate policy to their advantage. Dealing with disasters have everything to do with wealth, poverty, vulnerability, resilience, corruption, cronyism and a whole plethora of social ills and these boys have definitely been milking this current one. Perhaps they are channeling John D. Rockefeller, one of the original robber barons, who once declared “I always tried to turn every disaster into an opportunity.” However, being opportunistic can, in most cases, be fine but being exploitative is just plain unconscionable.

So there you have it folks – the Lordly Lotharios that make up this edition of the #TroubleTrifecta. If by any chance you happen to run into any of these characters, please remind them to always ground themselves in facts, never brag about their overindulgences and please hit Ctl+Alt+Del on all their exploitative activities.