I do not usually follow the newest issue on the celebrity slash influencer world out there unless it blows up big and gets a trending on Twitter because I put my time mostly on it. Yesterday, the akun julid retweeted on my timeline shared about one of the influencers I used to look up to, Sunny Dahye. I frequently watched her videos several years ago to fill my empty brain in the skincare world and thanks to her, I finally managed to learn how to treat my skin and I stopped it since her contents are more about a vlog (someone’s life) right now. I am not against it, it’s just not my cup of tea and a personal’s preference. I am writing this to not gossip nor spread the rumor (remember, it is still unconfirmed), but to highlight an important point that we could learn.
Sunny and her boyfriend’s name (Chris) starts blowing when an anonymous account spills their fakeness. It stated that both Sunny and Chris were mocking Indonesians viewers as they always feel interested in videos related to Indonesia. Majority of Indonesians tend to over-praise foreigners who usually mention Indonesia-related on her/his video. Hence, they start capitalizing on it. You may start observing on YouTube videos entitled “Bule mencoba puasa / reaksi pacar bule makan rendang / ….” kind of and discovering that the comments are filled up by Indonesians.
Please, remember again to put aside Sunny’s rumor (it’s still unconfirmed) and let’s focus on the main issue, which is foreigners mentioning Indonesia. To be honest, I am not surprised if the rumor were true knowing that we are as described, mostly I mean. Do you realize about these things:
1. Why do we always ask foreigners for a picture?
2. Why are we always more excited when the speaker is a foreigner in a class/webinar/any activity?
3. Why do we feel honor to be married to a foreigner?
What do you think about those three questions?
The sad truth is since we were kid, the society told us to feel honor to interact with the foreigners as if we were cool if we can get their photograph or something. Hence, you’ll find many people compete for “foto bareng with bule” at Candi Borobudur/Bali/any other places and then post it on Social Media and act like “look how cool am I to get a photo with this pretty/handsome bule”. I also did the same, I am not embarrassed to admit it. Aren’t we all victims of this distorted society?
Unfortunately, yes our society taught us that they (foreigners) are:
a. Smarter
b. More beautiful/handsome
c. More respectful
d. Must be treated like a superstar
The question is why and since when?
After a long search, I compiled some reasons behind our imposed mindset on it:
1. The effect of colonialism. We were colonized for more than 300 years, so it could be hard for us to eliminate the mindset of “we are only a slave, those invaders are above us”.
2. Lack of nationalism, people love to appreciate things except their own country. It could be affected by a factor like disappointment or such.
3. Failure in understanding our history. Rather than having a deep learning lesson about the cause and effect of colonialism, we only focus on “Yes we were colonized and so what?” without really paying attention to the factors behind.
I guess from now on, we must agree and impose a new mindset on the equality of all human races. No one is better than anyone else, we deserve to be respectful. We come from the same source and die in the same form. It is okay if you like or adore foreigners, but please know your limits and behavior. Do not treat them like a superstar just because they are foreigners and do not feel inferior to them. Treat all humans equally. It’s not their fault nor our fault, we are all just lacking knowledge. So, let’s learn together .
Back to Sunny’s issue, I expect the rumor wasn’t true because if it’s, she and Chris should be ashamed and deserve to receive a punishment. Please for people out there, do not judge them until the truth is revealed. I do not want to blame foreigners who take advantage by mentioning Indonesia (it’s called an opportunity?) but please, if you want to create content about Indonesia, please learn it properly and respect us sincerely. I guess, it is not that hard?
