Hello, Pinoy baiting, Goodbye

Break Free from Filipino’s Colonial Mentality Past Chains
By: Justine Mae Fernandez

Owing to Filipinos’ long history of colonization and subjugation, some scholars posit that a small spotlight on our country and culture, or anything associated with being Filipino, would mean a lot to us. This could be one of the reasons why international YouTubers, who have shown a keen interest towards the Philippines and the Filipinos, have raked in massive support from the Filipino audience.

All of a sudden, we see a person of foreign descent eating a Filipino delicacy, reacting to a Filipino celebrity’s closet or beauty queen’s pasarela, or sensationalizing menu entries of Filipino restaurants, etc. This international recognition has indeed awed the Filipino audience, if not fed our egos. But just as when we get thrilled with how foreigners have become so enthralled in our country and our culture, based on the videos or vlogs we now see online, the phrase “Pinoy baiting” surfaced.

Filipino content creator, M.A Buendia, made noise on Twitter when he introduced the phrase “Pinoy baiting,” referring to it as today’s “marketing strategy”. This stirred a contentious CS regarding international Youtubers referencing anything related to the Philippines to attract, as if to “bait”, our countrymen into watching their videos, helping them become more and more popular online, and thus, turning their content into a highly lucrative material.

Are these foreign vloggers genuinely fascinated with the Philippines and Filipinos, or are these just any of their schemes to entice the Filipino audience, who “access the internet more than once a day, and primarily check their social media accounts when accessing the internet” based on the recent Pulse Asia Survey? Are these videos created only to gain more views, and thereby, conveniently earn a buck for themselves? Maybe, it is indeed time to put our egos on the shelves and re-evaluate these online content and the intent of its creators. We might be overwhelmed with too much attention, not realizing that through our likes and subscription to these vloggers, we have become accomplices to oftentimes stereotypical or ill-framed stories.

We can understand how vlogging has now helped storytellers satiate their curiosity, develop further their skills in storytelling, amplify their voices, and reach a global audience. We can also understand how these vlogs have made connections with their audience, making the content viral and the creators famous. But what we should not tolerate are any forms of cultural exploitation, now in the form of Pinoy baiting, which could be a precursor to modern-day colonization.

There might be, of course, some who have shown admirable compassion for the disadvantaged Filipino communities. There are those who do their best to immerse themselves in the community to learn about the country’s culture and traditions. However, there are also those who may be feeding on our longing for recognition.

Just this year, the netizens were surprised to learn about an issue brought to light following the vlogger Nuseir Yassin of Nas Daily, who was criticized for posting the traditional tattoo artist Apo Whang-Od’s online lesson on hand-poked tattoos. It became controversial when Whang-Od’s grandchild called out Nas for allegedly not getting Whang-Od’s consent and not explaining the provisions of the contract clearly. The benefits that Whang-Od would have gained from such exposure were also unclear, if not misleading. This, likewise, raised concerns from the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples - Cordillera Administrative Region (NCIP-CAR) since the teaching of tattooing through a public platform accessible to the general masses will lose the cultural relevance and sacredness of the tattooing art of the Kalingas. There’s certainly nothing wrong with our culture being recognized and valued around the world as it increases the visibility of the Philippines in numerous aspects that should be highlighted; however, it becomes a problem when such appreciation is exploited by those who clearly lack awareness and genuine regard for the culture. Exoticizing a cultural tradition for the sake of popularity and some moolah is a clear case of cultural insensitivity. And although Nas has clarified through another vlog that his intentions towards the country and our culture were pure and that proper coordination with Whang-Od’s family and NCIP were done prior to the offering of the course, his social media following has been dwindling.

It is good that although the concept of Pinoy baiting is still in its infancy, it has already triggered various perspectives. It is good that someone has stirred the waters, or else more and more people will continue to take advantage of our country, people, and culture for instant following and money. We can be appreciative of stories given life through vlogs, but we need to immediately see the early signs of cultural appropriation and any other forms of utter disrespect of us so that we immediately prevent it from happening. Let us call out creators who manifest these, if need be.

Furthermore, Buendia’s move is a call for us to support Filipino digital content creators who make quality videos. After all, we have some of the most talented storytellers in the country ready to showcase stories of other inspiring Filipinos whose stories need to be amplified to the world. More importantly, we need to realize that international recognition doesn’t make our culture any more or less valid, and that it is time to break free from the chains of outright insecurity and feelings of inferiority. And appreciate the wonders our country has to offer wholeheartedly without always seeking affirmation from the outside and avoid turning ourselves bait material. The more we educate and immerse ourselves through first-hand experience with the things we encounter online, the wiser and better equipped we are to assess who is worth the attention and hits amongst the list of content creators worldwide.