Aussie Asian TikToker Gets ROASTED For Crying About Poverty In Vietnam

Why did this video of this Asian-Australian TikToker crying in Vietnam garner such a backlash against her? What was she trying to do and what can we learn from this and what's the larger conversation that's coming from this? Let's run the clip. This lady rode a coconut boat in Vietnam She made me cry Because she tried so hard to make us happy and it breaks my heart to see these people work so hard to make a living in Vietnam Everyone in this country hustles from such a young age and to see someone her age do something so laborious in hot weather I want to come back soon and have the capacity to give them more long story short Andrew Fiona Wang is a Chinese Australian travel vlogger and She went to Vietnam Andrew. There was a lady who was paid to take them across the river. They had a great experience together She obviously felt some connection with this lady But then that prompted her to make a crying video saying oh my god I feel so bad for the people in Vietnam And then of course this got some strong reactions both for her but mostly against her Yeah, let's talk about why some people are accusing her of exploiting the old woman and also let's talk about the people who support her Guys, we're gonna break it down We're gonna give you our thoughts and then we're gonna go through the comment section Please hit that like button check out other episodes of the hot pot boys silly to serious Andrew This is silly, but I think it ended up touching a bunch of nerves that were serious, right? All right. So my initial thoughts you're not wrong for being emotional. You're not wrong for having a human connection Obviously like I've been at a younger age. I've traveled I've seen poverty in a different way that I didn't see in America or in the same way but just with different people that I connect with differently because like, you know, some of them do look like One of your grandmothers or auntie is usually the grandma. Yeah gets you. Yeah It's okay to feel emotional and cry even it's okay just because your life is so different than them however to film it edit it add the music hashtag poverty and Then say you wanted to come back and help Vietnam. I think that was tone-deaf and possibly came from a place of privilege or Just uh, like having very limited life experiences, right? Actually. Yeah, I think her worldview is kind of small What do you think though? Because obviously there were some reactions against Fiona Wang that were light and some that were very extreme What do you think of the more extreme ones that were like you poverty porn purveyor? No, I don't think she's exploiting the old woman I think if she ran a whole tik-tok channel off of the old lady or if you know those channels or Content where they just go around giving like a little bit of money to a poor person then and see their crazy reaction And then you're just benefiting off their reaction. It's not real content I think that is more exploitative one tik-tok is not but I could see why people thought that but I think that's an extreme reaction And I don't think that's true Yeah I would generally tell people to not make this type of video because it's very tone-deaf to global power dynamics But I don't falter because Andrew you got to think about tik-tok tik-tok is Filled with people just having a human experience and the very micro sense of like the fishbowl or the nano fishbowl They've been raised in these are not journalists. These are not celebrities These are not people who have been coached to understand socio-economic status country-to-country relations any of that stuff They're almost just like thinking about everything through the lens of just whatever sheltered life that they live Well, literally the the tik-tok before she's like check out this ball me. This is the best ball me and all of Ho Chi Minh City I See the one side where she's just being a girl girls typically are emotional. She feels bad Connected with somebody had a joyful ride with somebody that maybe feels like a grandma or a grand auntie But obviously probably did have a very at least on a financial level impoverished life, right? And then that's one side, but I could also see Vietnamese people specifically just seeing a privileged upper-middle class to wealthy Chinese Australian girl Judging her way of life. Yeah, I see that that's the flip side Yeah, and you'll see in the comment section that we're about to review that some people are like, you know what? You don't need to feel bad for us. That's okay She's doing her job. And yes, she does have less than you but that doesn't mean that she's unhappy So anyways, let's get into the comment section All right The first comment section was a little bit more of a macro takeaway Andrew and it was basically it's like saying let this just be A caution to everybody in the Western world who thinks that money and materialism is everything this lady in the river is probably happy and has Everything she needs man. Why don't you just give the lady some money share a hug and call it a day? There is no reason to be crying into the camera saying I'd like to come back and help these people someday Yo that I would like to come back and help them is that's the that's a that's the funny statement But anyways, I would say yeah, I mean, you know just tip the lady give them a smile. And honestly, that's that lady's job It's not to say that she probably doesn't want more but happiness is a mindset and sometimes when you grow up like that And you're already set in your ways and your routine then you're just happy doing that. So I think again Shedding a tear even by yourself on your own. That's okay. You can have emotions. That's fine, right? Do you feel free to like be a human and process things how you process things even though you haven't been educated on you? It's not like you're the head of Peace Corps. There's one time in Shanghai. I saw an old impoverished lady She was dragging a cart full of like stuff. She was collecting so much So much. Yeah, and it was a big a trunk that she was carrying really old lady And I wanted to give her some money, you know, was it reminded you of my mom? Yeah, and it was late outside of the club and I and I handed her some money and she said Yeah, we all like she don't want it. And then after that I just work in her job. She live in her life I did feel emotional in that moment But I did not film it and go tell the world about it and then say I wanted to save her life That's all I think a lot of the vitriol against Fiona Wang Because you could say that it was too extreme and it was like OD it actually comes from a hatred of influencers, right? Somebody was like dude. I'm so sick of social media stars They are so talentless, but they want to be so famous They're reaching for every sort of incident They can to get points and go viral and get clicks and give you like you said, you know, she's not a writer She's not a journalist. She's not a Philanthropist so when she said I want to come back to Vietnam and uplift the Vietnamese economy and change them to First like third generation capital whatever like she was trying like she was just saying stuff and I get it Yeah, I don't think she had any bad intentions about it But of course, I'm not blaming anybody for perceiving it how they perceived it because totally the tones were there Somebody said this girl must live in a bubble I live in America and there's homeless poverty on my street every single day feel bad and cry for the single mom working at McDonald's Then too if she's a travel blogger, where the hell is she traveling to and by the way, yes Even this poor Vietnamese lady can still afford a coffee and a chat with their friends on the sidewalk and have peace of mind You have to understand they came out of such a difficult war era. You guys cannot even imagine what that lady's been through She's happy. Yeah, I think poverty it hits you differently though Especially when you travel to a place that you relate to and I think that's starting I mean it's it's happens like, you know If you go back and visit your motherland wherever that may be in Asia or Africa or you know Places that there are a lot of rule and like poor people. Yeah, you couldn't feel bad, you know So it does hit differently than America I would say in reply to this comment Yeah, that is true. Somebody said I'm V an American myself, and I don't know why Fiona Wang is getting so much hate It really is abject poverty over there caused by the ruling communist regime Life does suck and people have no options about what they can pick as a career So, I don't know why everybody's mad at her So this was a little bit of a politically charged thing, right? Like this is a Viet American going back saying yeah, I saw the same thing and I thought it was bad Yeah, I blame it on the rulers. Yeah, I think that's why I do believe the backlash is OD. It's overdone I don't think she deserved all of that But I think if she was really trying to put out and she edited the tick-tock So she thought about it before she posted it if she was trying to do something that was actually helpful I guess she could have explained more about Vietnam or said, you know I'm gonna learn about Vietnam, you know Or I'm gonna go back to Australia and help the poor people back in Australia This inspires me that would fight global poverty or something. I would maybe make more sense. Yeah, somebody said let's be honest here There's a lot of tribalism and geopolitics at play Fiona Wang presents as a very light-skinned rich Chinese person from either China or Australia So let's be honest here. There is a geopolitical thing or an East Asian Southeast Asian tribalistic play at well Yeah, I do think what some people are saying they're touching there They're talking about the fact that she being East Asian her last name is Wang. It could be Taiwanese Chinese, whatever right, uh It feels like that It's like oh a privileged East Asian girl going to Southeast Asia and just seeing how poor it is and just being shocked That's what like white people used to go and do to Africa right in Uganda. The white girl would be like Oh my gosh, these Ugandan kids need shoes and not water And I think that that's where the reference of poverty porn or slum exploitation those terms got hashtag when discussing Yeah, obviously do I think it was nearly to that extent? No, but I could see what people are saying Listen, some people actually go back to those places and help build like fresh water wells or like water filtration systems that makes sense, but there's also people who would go back spend like four days there take Pictures with a bunch of the kids and be like, I hope I left my mark Yeah, somebody said it was also in defense of her Somebody said so all these people who record all these evil violent things on tik-tok and IG are okay But this girl is actually bad for feeling bad and paying this old grandma some money for doing a job This is why the world is going downhill due to social media. Oh This was a good comment. Actually, I can kind of rock with this comment It's true because there is a lot of destructive videos out there that people are kind of like they kind of laugh off like someone gets hurt or Something that is like illegal like you wreck like property and then like ha ha ha ha But then this is like, oh, let me type it Yeah, obviously I think on a logical level messaging Fiona and her boyfriend attacking them and harassing them is completely OD But I think it goes to our previous point There's more dynamics and power dynamics at play than are even acknowledged, right? It is her being a target her looking like she has a good life Listen, I think a lot of the people commenting might not get to travel the world with their boyfriend like Fiona does Yeah I mean I don't think that many people in the world get to travel like they do to be honest I mean they do look like they have money to be honest Somebody said uh, I'm so sick of the woke mob coming up with terms like poverty porn Nobody looks up this type of porn on porn hub Maybe sympathy porn is a better word, but poverty porn sounds ridiculous to me. Everything's so woke in 2023 Of course, this was a that was a general comment sort of like not for or against her But just like a commentary on society in general Somebody said I'm Mexican and me and my aunt always have this argument We go to Mexico and I see how poor everybody is But I also see their happiness and togetherness and my aunt sees them in rags and just cries all day We're both correct, but we're perceiving it and processing it completely different I thought that was a really interesting comment, right? I'm a Mexican American by the way. Yeah Yeah I think you can have the same person can see and experience I mean different people can experience and see the same thing and process it differently. Yeah. Anyway, man, let's get into the Takeaways Andrew, what do we think because you know, I'm not gonna lie. This isn't the most complex topic we ever broke down You know ever but it generated a ton of online interest. You know what I see This whole like debate on tik-tok or like these next shark articles It's kind of like Asian diaspora training ADT ADT man It's kind of like this point where we as a community and the community is like the next shark community Let's just say for example or jackfruit community, whatever next shark community it's like you get to come around and talk about what this woman did or did not do wrong and That can actually change your behaviors and you can actually learn something from that So it's almost like watching a class discuss something like you ever had a professor say Okay today class. We're gonna be looking at this case. Let's pick it apart and analyze. What did she do wrong? Boom? What did they do? Right? Boom. Yeah, and honestly, this is way more interesting than learning about the Chinese Exclusion Act in AAS Yeah, it's 180 T is better man It is one big manners and behaviors class for Asian Americans and what I will say that I like I don't love that But I like that we all had this class and discussion together saying the Harvard Business Review but for Asian diaspora training yeah, so think about it if you're a food blogger or travel blogger and you go and do exactly what Fiona did and you Post it and you get backlash and you read this article. You can't say you didn't know what was gonna happen, right? Because people can go on Court the court of public opinion would like to refer back to the precedent case set by Fiona Wang versus the Asian public Yeah, I hope people can learn from this. I get it. There's a lot of hate on the internet She's a cute girl with her boyfriend. It looks like they have fun. They eat a lot of food So, of course, they're kind of a easy target. They do seem a little bit and by the way guys I don't want to be one of these people just going through everybody's internet history. They do kind of look like not the most Socioeconomic status minded people. I don't think these people have a Three degrees in international studies. Yeah I don't seem like Fun people who like to spend a lot of money on food in various places in the world almost like a Yelp elite crowd, you know You're running around the world. You're trying to create content. You're eating lots of yummy food You're trying to have fun and you're gonna give travel and you do something tone-deaf And you try to make an emotional piece and you think it's cool and dramatic and it just it just it just comes right back In your face, so that's what happened. But anyways, uh guys, obviously, you know I would always recommend people don't spend so much time hating on other people but learn from it learn from it, please Honestly this whole next shark jackfruit world that has emerged where like maybe a hundred thousand people are commenting on every little Inter-asian thing that to be honest other races in America would super not care about is really interesting Yo, I hope we're becoming smarter and more aware from all this because you can't watch this many people make these many mistakes and not Learn from it. And what is it about? I mean, let's be honest Andrew tick-tocker I mean youtubers have even made mistakes but you have to like shoot something and you have to watch it like 20 times in the edit when you're a youtuber when you're A tick tocker Andrew you're just doing it like in the uber ride and then you're just putting it out to the world So it's somebody it's almost like a direct stream of some from somebody's brain whether calibrated or not Anyways you guys let me know in the comments down below was Fiona very wrong Just a little bit wrong was she tone-deaf or was she totally in the right? And this is she's just having a human experience and people are just having a bad reaction because she is like a fun pretty tick-tock Influence. Yeah, I'll say one last thing about poverty and seeing poverty like man Not everybody can control what family they were born into and you can't control what era you were born into either Everybody knows Asia for the most part for the past I want to say hundred years has been poor a lot of countries not all you know They're still on their timeline, but they're bouncing out of it now You know what? I mean? It's just a it is something that you gotta hey, you got you got to know that There's a whole spectrum, you know being poor to many people is Only relative to what you need out of life. So I don't know. Maybe she has everything she needs Everybody let us know in the comments down below Please hit that like button subscribe check out other episodes of the hot pop boys and until next time we out