Sorry if this isn't the right place for this, but this has to be said. I want to raise awareness. And also if this post might be a bit political, but it is needed to fully understand the problem.
So most of you probably know who Bao the Whale is, she’s one of the larger vtuber out there. She’s of Vietnamese descent and used to have a large Vietnamese fanbase who supported her. However, she was not born in Vietnam but has spent most of her life in America and only learn about Vietnamese culture from either her family or the internet. Despite this, many people still enjoy her stream, especially where she speaks Vietnamese. She even was a guest at AniAni festival, an anime convention back in October 2022.
Before we go any further, I would like to explain a few words that we will encounter that are used exclusively by Vietnamese:
- Tết: Vietnamese Lunar new year
- CNY: Chinese New Year, basically the same but celebrated by Chinese
- 3que/baque/ 3/ : Lit. “three sticks”, a slur for people living in the Republic of Vietnam (whose flag was 3 red lines over a yellow background), the southern part of Vietnam before the end of the Vietnam war in 1975. Now this term is used to describe anyone who is against the current Vietnamese government, or in extreme cases anyone who criticises them.
- Khát nước: Lit. thirsty people. In Vietnamese the word “country” and “water” is the same – “nước”. At the end of the Vietnam War, many Southerners fled the country in fear as their current government was being overtaken by North Vietnamese (Operation Babylift/Operation New Life). As such, they no longer have a country to return to (lost their country/lost their water – “mất nước”) and have to migrate to other countries, mostly to North America, Western Europe, Hong Kong, and Australasia… It is most likely that Bao’s family (and also Shxtou’s family) went to America during this time.
“Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind.” - Albert Einstein
Vietnam has a serious problem. As a Vietnamese myself I understand this more than anyone else. Half of the history book at school is about how we beat the invasive Chinese people, the other half is about how we beat the French and American. Lessons about historical culture, the monarch society, and art… are few compared to the former. Combined with the fact that not until recently, most Vietnamese can't speak English fluently which made the Vietnamese internet space a giant echo chamber. You can only praise, but not criticise. The toxicity of Vietnamese netizens can be seen during the r/place event, where a huge number of them interact with a global, multinational environment for the first time. And as someone who has been using Reddit for a while now, this whole thing turned out to be a shitshow.
So does this have anything to do with Bao? More than you would think. Bao back then represent an icon of oversea Vietnamese, that we Vietnamese can achieve what people from other countries can. This all changed during the Lunar New Year of 2023 when she made a tweet saying “Happy Chinese New Year”. The tweet was deleted and it’s quite hard to find any screenshot of it, but its consequences stayed.
To many people, this seems normal since this is a popular holiday among Asian countries, not just the Chinese or Vietnam. And more importantly because Bao is American, the holiday is known as Chinese New Year for them. However, the Vietnamese are pissed. As if the only country in the whole world that celebrate Lunar New Year is Vietnam, and everyone else’s LNY is just some crappy rip-off (lmao). Like stirring up a hornet’s nest, everyone started mocking and harassing her, saying that she is a “traitor” even today. (see the images of harassment posts)
The nature of Vietnamese netizens. They are ready to cyberbully, harass and send threats to anyone who happens to displease them, whether it was deliberate or not. Doing this made them feel proud to be Vietnamese as if they just protected their country from an invasion. There are many more examples of toxic posts like this, but for my sanity, I would rather not look for more of them.
Thankfully there are still Vietnamese fans who acted maturely and tried to defend her. I hope that people will eventually stop all this bullying. Bao, if you’re reading this then I hope you the best.
Nationalism does it again