I have been observing a certain mass media platform on Instagram, and I feel embarrassed sometimes when I read the comment section. Has Indonesian internet society gotten so toxic without me even realizing it? When it comes to human rights issues, I get the feeling that most of the commenters (re: Indonesian commenters) fail so badly to understand the basic ideas about it. VICE is originally a Canadian printed and digital media based in New York, United States. Vice magazine has reached various readers from a lot of different countries, but I want to focus on the Indonesian readers that are leaving their comments on Viceind on Instagram. I consider this platform pretty huge that it even has a specific Instagram account for Indonesian readers.
One piece of news that caught my attention was about the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar, condemned by many football fans worldwide. I myself am not one of them, but the issues regarding human rights, slavery, unpaid immigrant workers, etc., concern me.
It was on November 15th when viceind posted the news about the decision to choose Qatar as the host of the football match of the year. One big question was displayed on the picture: Would Indonesian fans find it dilemmatic to watch the game that will take place in Qatar?” As I mentioned above, the comment section turned out to be interesting. Many of them are not well informed about the human rights issues that happen there, and they don’t seem to care at all.
Let me re-translate what rodji01 actually wrote:
Then what’s the matter? Football is football, politic is politic, and human rights are human rights. Don’t mix them up. Qatar has been chosen to be the host of the game and qualified for it. But suddenly, you brought back these issues (slavery, human rights, etc.). Remember, American impeachment is cruel.
The second news about the match that still takes place despite all those boycott actions was published on November 22nd. Similar reactions appeared which make me worried that Indonesian football fans are mostly far from understanding the whole issue. The following are the comments I find the worst:
English translation : Don’t mix up football with your colors (the rainbow flag). This match is already colorful enough without you (the LGBT group). You only need a stage (for public attention) for the marketing strategy of your group, right? And not actually come to support your country’s national team? I feel like I want to blow vuvuzela (not sure what that is) on your ear.
English translation: Western people want to be respected but cannot appreciate others. So stiff, and all issues are circulated to destroy Qatar’s image. Meanwhile, up until now, the human rights violation of immigrant workers is still not proven true.
Ignorant comments are everywhere but there are also people who can still grasp the whole issue behind the football match, as well. Only not as much as the ignorant ones. The Internet should be the place where users are free to express their opinion. Does it also include their freedom to express their homophobic point of view? Or hostility? Or ignorance? On the other hand, in my unscientific opinion, the more pieces of informations are easy to get, the more human beings become too lazy to even do a little but thorough research about mainstream news.
Interesting look into another population’s thoughts! I do feel like you’re worry is unneeded however. As a Dutch person, I find just as many comments like these under Dutch news accounts. This phenomenon is most likely present in every country, just like politically ‘left’ and ‘right’ people exist everywhere, too. Thanks for the translations by the way!