'Bangladeshi girl invites me to her home': White privilege and the terrorising by foreign Youtubers

Photo: A screenshot of the video posted by the Youtuber from South Africa.

And we are back here once again. 

It's yet another white Youtuber causing a stir in Bangladesh through deliberately putting themselves in situations and then misrepresenting the facts. 

The latest to hop on to this trend is a Youtuber from South Africa, who's tapped into the hyper-trendy mix of misogyny and Bangladeshi social media users. 

In one of his videos, posted a day ago, he titled it "Bangladeshi Girl invites me to her home". 

In the video, the Youtuber can be seen getting on a launch for Tk10. 

Exploring the poverty left behind, largely due to centuries of colonisation, is one of the favourite pastimes of foreign Youtubers. 

During his "expedition", this modern day Indiana Jones encounters a young lady who speaks to him in English. Mind you, he constantly tries to speak in English with everyone around him. The expectation is, everyone should know. 

On the launch, the Bangladesh hospitality is present as ever. 

When he encounters a young girl who speaks English well, she converses with him. 

The girl's mother then extends the foreigner an invitation to visit their home. 

He declines and then asks his viewers whether he should have gone with them.

While putting up the pretence of being polite, he manages to reduce the hospitable girl, who even helped him catch a ride to his next destination of exploitation, to a mere adjective. "Beautiful girl" and "baddie", he refers to her. 

We could excuse him for his misunderstanding of the situation, but on social media, nothing is a mistake. There's also the fact that white men in their 40s often talk about going to Asia to "find a bride". "They'll do anything for a passport," they say. There's even a racist American TV show about it called "90-day fiance".

Soon after the Youtuber's post, his comment box was flooded with many others shaming the girl and her mother.  

But many stood up for them and called out the Youtuber, who used the same formula before in Venezuela, but could not generate the 2.8m views on Facebook amassed this time around.  

It's no secret that Youtubers from around the world descend on Bangladesh for the views the word "Bangladesh" in the title or description generates. 

To put it to the test, just look at the Youtube videos of MasterChef Australia with and without Kishwar. It's a sample, but a telling one –  the margins are obvious. 

We, as an audience, are highly active on social media. With 59.2 million Facebook users, who also hop on to other platforms like Youtube, it's no wonder we are a prized market. 

And this prized market is up for endless exploitation. 

Last April, Kalu Mia, 60, was detained by police earlier for harassing Australian travel blogger Luke Damant during his recent Dhaka visit. Damant had released a video of the incident where Kalu could be seen following him and incessantly asking for money. 

Kalu was later released after paying a Tk200 fine. Damant, to his credit, also asked that the police go easy on the elderly man. 

The incident showed that apart from foreign Youtubers' grabbing the attention of viewers, they also manage to quickly alert authorities. 

Red carpet receptions, which our people offer so gracefully, however, are now not only taken for granted, but some visitors even consider it their right. 

Back to the South African Youtuber. Another of his videos shows how he was "scammed" by a CNG-run autorickshaw driver. He wasn't scammed in reality: in the video you can clearly see the autorickshaw driver did agree to a fare of Tk300, which the Youtuber then suddenly decided to renege on at the end of the journey. 

Was he overcharged? Sure. And this is another favourite of caucasian Youtubers: going to tourist spots in Asia and pretending like everyone is trying to scam "the white man". It should be noted that some of the biggest tourist scammers are right there in Europe.

While ending Visas for such individuals isn't really an option, we must at least contribute and start a discourse on why such things ought to be stopped. 

Perhaps we can have our own racist little TV show such as Border Security or Customs UK, where Asian and African travellers are harassed at immigration to delight millions of American, Canadian and British viewers. 

Most importantly, we have to send out the reminder: the colonial period has ended and our country is not a poverty zoo for the consumption of the white gaze. 

At the same time, we must focus on the fact that Bangladesh has become a coveted brand on social media. Let's not let everyone steal our profits this time around as well.

Yashab Osama Rahman is the Head of Online at The Business Standard.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of The Business Standard.