#HasJustineLandedYet

I felt my jaw dropping when I saw the whole world (well..., almost. Like, the online part of it) united over one single tweet. A tweet meant for joke, carelessly tossed, has managed to draw sensation, laugh, and absurdly, ire.

I'm sure that those of you who've been following the news have known the story. Unfortunately, my country is on the shortlist of places who are not *in* the rage. Can't blame 'em, though. What with the case of Banten ex-governor in a graft scandal dominating the national news.

For the sakes of those of us who don't really know the whole story, here... Let me polish my story telling skills and relay it to you.

On Friday, 20 December 2013, a PR executive for InterActiveCorp (IAC) tweeted the tweet in the picture above, just before she took off in an 11-hour flight to South Africa (She came from London). She only had less than 200 followers, but one of BuzzFeed's reporter, Andrew Kaczynski, got wind of it. He re tweeted it to his considerably larger followings - being a reporter and all.

And there began the whirlwind. Users on twitter were responding with a normal scale of bash and incredulous-ness, at first. Questions like, "Is this tweet for real?" and "Are you stupid"' were thrown around. But those were within the boundary of good ol' Internet shaming-joking. Then, began the appearance of intolerable-police-of-the-internet individuals. Of course, in the name of all that's good and holy, such (jokingly) racist tweet like this is tolerable, right? Maybe no.

While the PR executive was probably lounging comfortably inside her plane, she was unaware, that the anti-AIDS activists were directing their "crusading" at her. Granted, it was a slow Friday night. No horrible disaster. No breaking news immediately to be taken notice. As the consequences, even major news outlets like Business Insider had sniffed out the building storm. A woman in Miami picked up an ingenious inspiration in the form of #HasJustineLandedYet. Needless to say, it was like sugar for hungry ants who would eagerly prey on boring Friday nights.

Justine's landing would become positively historic by now, articulately worded by this person below.

Kieran Healy @kjhealy

I don't think America has watched a landing this closely since Apollo 13 re-entered the earth's atmosphere in 1970. #HasJustineLandedYet

Parodies were being made. This one's my favorite.

As usual, there HAS to be some people who were just opportunists by nature. AIDS organizations immediately drew sympathizers to donate, even to the point of establishing www.justinesacco.com as a fundraising page.

This incident has been covered by The New York Times, CNN, ABC, and other news outlets; became a joke among pilots ("Pilot on our flight just told us we had a time to send last minute text or tweet before takeoff but to remember to 'be careful, kids'."); used by GoGo the wireless internet on flight provider as a means for their marketing (which was withdrawn later on); made a point in the forever-waged war between conservative vs. liberal; and catapulted Sacco's fame beyond international superstar Justin Bieber's in search box.

When her flight landed, Justine suddenly found herself in a terrible predicament: she lost her job, received backlash from her boss and the rest of the world, effective immediately became a national pariah in the country she was stepping her feet on.

It was funny, alright. I have to admit that. But my personal take on this one is that it only reflects how much the social media has power over us all.

An article I read put it the best of all.  

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2013/12/21/why-did-buzzfeed-and-co-target-justine-sacco-for-online-assassination

"Her life was destroyed while she was out of touch with the world and couldn't defend herself."

It was a form of journalistic assassination.

If a regular joe twitter user like Justine Sacco with even less then 200 followers can be such a worldwide target, then how can we all be safe? I've heard that the NSA spying has dramatic backlash from around the world. Even the newspapers in my country have campaigned heavily against the Indonesia-Australia spying scandal which is one of the implications of the NSA whistleblower. People are offended when having their privacy disturbed. We shouted foul at NSA for doing that to us. Then, we've gone and done the same disturbance of privacy to Justine Sacco.

Are we sure we are completely innocent of any thoughts about racism?

What happened to freedom of speech? What happened to giving someone a benefit of doubts?

I express my sympathy over what happened with Justine Sacco. However, with all the articles that I am seeing on my google search result now - about how people are now expressing their regrets over the recent event - I think it's fair to say that I have great hopes!

Justine Sacco shouldn't have deleted all her accounts just because of this mishap. I can't imagine what she must be going through, but I'm sure the Internet (and the world) will give her a second change.

Right, guys?

PS: In relation to journalism (yeah, because I can't bear to not mention the J-word in this post. Unreasonably.),  lo and behold this is how one journalism's negative spotlight can (possibly) destroy a person's life. One good thing, though. More attention on the AIDS sufferers from around the world. More donations, too.

Australia, Indonesia - My 2-cent

Today's edition of my newspaper subscription has brought me articles about the reportedly 'okay' relationship between Indonesia and Australia. Again.

I can't help but rant, really.

Oooh, so damn cool!!! I love epicness!

To bring you up to date with the current developments, here...let me recap it for you.

A surprising news came on the previous Sunday morning, which was that Wiki Leaks had another whistle-blowing episode concerning the espionage scandal between Indonesia and Oz. We're certainly approaching the big picture now. Apparently, the reason why the whole debacle happened was because of Oz's curiosity on "who wears the pants" in the administration of the government of Indonesia.

Three guesses who.

And nope. It's not the president.

Alas, it's a great day for women, because allegedly the First Lady (Ani Yudhoyono) was the one who has hold the BIG influence in decision makings. In their words, "she had become the single most influential adviser for Yudhoyono and was taught to be hatching a presidential succession plan for the eldest son."

The First Lady and the Prodigal Son (Disclaimer: not mine!)

Now, one has to wonder what implication this event has on the still-healing Indo and Oz relationship.

By 'still-healing', I mean that the status of Indonesian embassy in Oz AND Indonesia's support for Abbot's "Stop the Boat" still remain to be seen.

So, we are left in a stand-off, in which Indonesia is still begrudging its neighbor by refusing to restart their cooperation whilst Oz can only grumble about how "singularly unhelpful" Indonesia is.

I wonder if this story might end better without all the pride and so-called 'sovereignty' claims on the way? If only......I still rather naively believe that a simple apology could bring us far, you know?

Keindahan yang Menjadi Biasa

Anak pengusaha kaya itu tertawa. Di matanya tidak terbesit kesedihan sedikit pun. Senyumnya lepas tanpa tertahan. Matanya berbinar di bawah cahaya lilin-lilin natal yang menerangi ruangan itu. Dari bawah jendela, seorang anak berbaju kumal memandang dengan setengah tersenyum - setengah berharap dan setengah terbawa dalam kenikmatan. Bila ia benar-benar berharap, mungkin saja cahaya lilin itu bisa masuk pula ke dalam hatinya, disertai dengan kehangatannya. Mungkin saja, kehangatan itu bisa ia bawa untuk bertahan di tahun baru yang dingin dan sendiri.

Tiba-tiba, seakan seperti angin membesit mematikan api kecil, senyum sumringah digantikan dengan air mata.

"Oh, Ayah! Bukan ini yang aku minta! Apa Ayah tidak melihat daftar yang sudah aku buat?" ujar anak itu sebal melihat boneka panda di tangannya. Bukan Santa, melainkan Ayah. Rupanya, "Santa" sudah memperkenalkan identitasnya yang sebenarnya.

Di akhir hari, hadiah yang mengecewakan tersebut diletakkan di atas tong sampah luar. Sruk, sruk, sruk. Dari kejauhan truk besar berwana hijau melakukan tugasnya. Tangan-tangan kecil dengan sigap meraih si panda dan mendekapnya dalam kain pakaian yang terlihat seperti karung goni dikontraskan dengan bulu halus si panda.

Mata cokelat yang berkaca-kaca, di figura oleh wajah yang kurus, menatap ke langit sore menjelang malam. Terima kasih, seakan ungkapnya oleh mata polos yang melihat panda tersebut seperti harta tak terbayang jumlahnya.

"Ini adalah natal terbaik yang pernah aku rasakan," bisiknya, sebelum berlekas ke sebuah rumah reyot untuk menceritakan kabar baik ini kepada teman-teman seperjuangannya. Mungkin untuk berbagi pula. Karena kehangatan yang ia telah dapatkan di dalam hatinya, tentu dapat tersalur...

The Plight of our Dear Archipelagic Neighbour

Some of you who have been following the news these days must have heart about the devastating disaster that the Philippines had experienced and are currently struggling to overcome. Yes, the Super Typhoon Haiyan (some call it "Yolanda" too) which struck the central Philippines on the 8th of November has been a great disaster that has taken far too many lives (last report stated at least 1774 deaths). The catastrophic event has quickly prompted the world into action, by sending more and more humanitarian fight forces to this date. For those of us who neither have the resource nor the capability to help in the field, we are still sending our prayers from home. This is a tragedy where the world unites as one for our dear brothers and sisters in the Philippines.

"My hometown will never be the same again. About 90% of the city is destroyed..." - A victim (Source: BBC)

He took my heart out. Has he taken yours too?

There comes a time....
When we heed a certain call....
When the world comes together at once...

There are people dying...
And it's time to lend a hand...
To life, the greatest gift of all...

"We are the World - Various Artists"

"We need your help!!! Pls!!! We need food! We need shelter!"

The current situation in Tacloban city that had been struck the worst is still of a great concern, reports said. There are great desperation abounds. Deprived of food and shelter, the residents of the city are desperate for a way out. Accesses from the neighboring cities are sadly lacking, what with the airports and harbors being littered with debris and even corpses!

All in all, when deprived of basic human necessities, people tend to rely back to their primal instinct. Reports are coming about the consequences of the panic and fear that have overtaken. A food warehouse was mobbed on Tuesday but a section of the building fell down during the process, killing 8 people. On the next day, shots were heard in the street for some horrible activities undisclosed in my source while a boy was found with a stab wound in the stomach.

A tragedy needs not to be made a bigger tragedy.

Philippine President Benigno Aquino was found speaking to CNN on Tuesday, emphasizing that this, ladies and gentlemen, was the brink of the climate change that has been in debate for several years now. In the view of a person who is concerned about humanity, I must ask, "Is the world ready?"

Or, are we going to be caught unprepared like this shocking hurricane that has left people in despair despite all the relief efforts still coming from around the world?

Best wishes and concerned thoughts from Indonesia to Philippines. Our prayers and hearts are with you through these difficult times.

Confidence is not obtained by trying to out best everyone

The world is full of exceptional people. The people in the world who do kindnesses, or search for truth despite their lives being at risk. The engineers, the teachers, the doctors and adoptive parents, the scholars and the firemen, and yes, the journalists. People who risk everything for the sake of others, and those who simply try to help those whose need might be greater than their own. Those people inspire me, not the other way around. They’re my magnetic north, if you will. They’re the WHY of it all. […] The world needs them more than it needs me. […] They’re special. I think they were all meant to do great things. Maybe greater in their way than what I can do. — Superman, Strange Attractors

Recently, I was going through a turmoil over who I really am and what I want to be. It had been quite a ride. I have to admit though, my melancholic tendency didn't help a bit. Because of that, I felt so depressed and completely so self-centered. But the problem is that I couldn't find a way out of it.

You've probably noticed, that it's been over two weeks since my last entry. Heh. Funny. Just when I thought the days of being swallowed by my attitude of not keeping a commitment was over. I am really sorry for that, but believe me, the one who is most upset over this is myself. Therefore, today I decided to kick-start the blog again, by ignoring my fears and worries and starting to write.

What is the damn thing that makes me depressed? ('cause I talked about being depressed for the paragraphs in the beginning of this entry and you were probably just scratching your head)

It begins several weeks ago. Let me just start from the beginning, guys! So, I was offered a scholarship to a university in the capital city of my country. To make long story short, I had to visit before accepting it, because the university is relatively new (it just started this year!!) and yet, I couldn't dismiss such a good offer (a 100% scholarship). Therefore, my father and I went to Jakarta and we did a lot of surveys, including comparing the said university to another university located right beside it which of course has been established longer (I've been planning for some time to write an entry about the comparison between both universities. So, guys, please "stay tune" to find out! ^^). In the end, I chose to accept the scholarship and went on to enroll on the digital communication major, which is just fit with my interest in journalism.

Coming from a small city, Semarang, even though it is still the capital city of Central Java, had given me a lot of perspectives about Jakarta. Here, I spend a lot of time browsing over the internet (yes, I am a bit of a nerd) until I know about western cultures which are all over the net than my own culture. Of course, spending five years of my education in an isolated English Program environment doesn't help. Though I am indeed thankful for the condition that I was raised in, sometimes when I observed the true situation of my country I felt such a big gap.

Jakarta, a big city with so many Indonesian-infamously-rich cultures embroidered in, is truly one of a kind. There are of course those tall skyscrapers that I scarcely meet in my own city - I previously even thought that I would only see those in Western countries, as it is depicted by those Hollywood movies! There are just so many people, and being in the foremost city in Indonesia really helps the development of the city. I was mesmerized by practically everyone's fashion sense, the big malls, jaw-dropping architectures, cutting-edge technologies, and how the whole city (well at least the part of the city that I visited) screamed international. 

Needless to say, I felt very much like a girl coming out from a "hick town" and gaping all the way to a big city. And all of a sudden, my sense of self-worth practically plummeted down. Then I realized how much I put myself in the category of high-and-mighty, and how much I have been self-centered and clamoring  for attention. Before you ask, yep, this is a "coming out" story, and I have long learned to get used to my tendency to embarrass myself ;)

The thing I learned is that when you take out the pillar that constructs someone's life, it will cause such a drastic impact that will set them out to a path that will help them to find the sense of self-discovery. So, there I was. I saw a lot of better people; prettier, smarter, more brilliant, more driven, more adapted to the big city than I am. Then I wondered, what would be of my life? 

I contemplated this question day by day. In the process, I kind of lost my drive for writing, or doing any independent projects to be productive. In addition to that, at times I felt intimidated by even my peers who are of the same city and same age as myself. There are those who have managed to do some great things; like having numerous academic achievements, doing a lot of amazing extracurricular activities and etc.  My self-esteem improved a bit for the speech contest that was held last week (another story for another day! ^^), but I couldn't help but feeling crushed for not achieving the first, second or third place. Well, I'm being very honest today with you, guys, I just hope that it won't come back to bite me in the ass.

Through it all, I understand that this conflict is a norm for teenagers. But I really felt the turmoil and temporary loss of identity that are just plain horrible. Fortunately, the story ends in a happy ending. I was supported by verses from the Bible and the words that I just typed on the very first paragraph of this entry. 

Maybe, I was too focused on achieving great things, and underneath all the adrenaline and drive, I have not yet the capabilities of realizing my dreams. I should be focused on the small things around me, and furthermore, instead of trying to stand out, I should try to be a part of the community.

After all, working together sounds better than working alone, and giving matters most than being given.

That is my muse for today.

Deadly Rebellion

Nobody's said being a teenager is easy. Being an adult isn't going to get easier, though, I'm certain, but all the melodramatic fun is always found in the so-called adolescence phase.

"It's tough being in a situation when people treat you like a child and expect you to act like an adult."

I'm clearly not an expert at this topic, and it's true that this is an uncommon ground to cover since I am....well...a teenager myself. And please don't assume that I have adopted a"holier-than-thou" attitude for even attempting to comment on such a sensitive issue. This is only my two-cent! :)

I turned on my TV yesterday and I was flashed with a very astonishing news: a famous boy involved in a car accident. Now, what's so surprising about that? What surprising is that the young man has yet to reach his fifteenth birthday and he was reported to be traveling inter-city in a great speed. You can see the full story here: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2013/09/09/ahmad-dhani-s-son-pile-killing-six.html

I don't really know about you, since cultures are so radically different in each country. However, I can testify that what he'd done is a very bad thing. Firstly, he was not supposed to drive even in the tamest streets, less likely in a high-way zone like the toll roads. Secondly, it just struck me speechless that he was able to drive between big cities like Jakarta and Bogor undetected. There is an unspoken implication that he has done it numerous times, especially if he dared to bring his girlfriend and friend abroad.

As a teenager myself, I can't blame him. He's just experiencing a moment of "Bad Luck Brian" (ref: 9gag) and fits exactly into the proverbial Indonesian phrase of "falling down and the ladder falls on you". Right now, the police are in turmoil on who to blame. Is it the father? Or the son?

I tried to put myself in his shoes. Let's see. According to reports, he was defying his father's wishes to attend a famous singer's wedding. Instead, he chose to be AWOL. So, if I were famous and had a lot of money, would I be tempted to submit to the desire to be "a little wild"? From what I have seen so far, the answer would be yes.

Rebellion seems to be an unavoidable phase. It is a perquisite in the manual book for teenagers all over the world. What about me? Well, I'd like to think myself as a neat stay-at-home kinda gal who sometimes doesn't even have the nerve to stare down from the second floor of the building (Hehe, an acrophobia here). According to the people I've met, it would be shocking to defy a word from my parents. But I did. I have.

I'm soooo not getting into the details of my "rebellion" since it is off-topic, but what I'm trying to say (or write) here is that no one blames the kid more than himself. Of course, after hearing the news I was a bit miffed with the father who had provided all the facilities to make the rebellion much grander than it should be. However, I think that there is no 13-year-old who would like to live the reminder of their lives with dead victims on their shoulders, unless, of course, for the cases of mental illness.

I really sympathized with what he's going through, and especially for all the victims concerned. Rather than throwing the blame around it is better to take a moment of reflection for the mistakes which were unfortunately impossible to be undone. In my opinion, rebellion is okay, as long as it doesn't cross the line. Sometimes teenagers do have to experience making mistakes to grow up becoming responsible adults.

Nevertheless, lives are lost and no amount of money could bring them back. It is indeed tragic, and the only good thing that could be learned from all of this is that teenagers and parents can see the consequences of a rebellion, so that nobody else will have to go through what they are going through.

Journalism - How do I love thee

Finally, a blog post!

Sometimes it's really hard to be an idealist in a reality-driven world. As much as I would've liked to live my fantasy of managing to post at least one entry per day, I cannot abandon school, family and other responsibilities that I harbor. Therefore, I apologize for being so late and having a potentially irregular schedule of blog update. Now, on to the post.

I've been really interested in the world of journalism, even to the point of considering it as a future career. I reckon it started when I was browsing through universities sites when I was about 15. At that time, I was in an international-program school and as a result I was deeply interested in trying out abroad universities. The country of my fixation at that time was the UK.

Have I mentioned to you before that I was an idealist? Well, I once had the nerve to check out a university that holds one of the best reputations in the world: Oxford University. You're welcome to laugh by the way :) Yet, I still haven't put aside that dream to this day. Hahaha.

Going back to the topic. I was kind of upset hearing the university's reputation of having a really tight entrance procedure. I didn't think I had enough drive to try that path. Therefore, I tried to aim a little bit lower, such as the University of Glasgow in Scotland, UK. One university called the Imperial College University also came to mind. For that one, I even talked to an education counselor.

So, there I was, trying to convince myself that it was my "destiny" (such an overused word if you ask me) while ignoring what my parents' wish for me not choosing an out-of-the-country college. I was so driven to get into those UK universities that it didn't matter to me what course I would be taking. That's the allure of foreign universities that many of Indonesian daughters and sons are caught by nowadays. I should write an opinion essay about that someday.

I was thinking of taking a biotechnology major because I felt that I had a mediocre of interest in science. I've always been an attentive student at school. Anyway, to make the long story short, I started to have more doubts when I read through the course structure. I just doubted its ability to hold my interest for long, and potentially become my life career. Boy, weren't they kidding when they said that choosing universities would be one of the hardest choices in your life!

I was browsing, browsing and browsing, when I saw one tiny ad at the bottom right corner of page, which is about BBC College of Journalism. You can click on the link to find out yourself. :) It made me feel a strange pull and I ended up opening it. Granted, it actually is not a concrete college (I mean, with building), but a sort of online guide. Nevertheless, that is the beginning of my journalism-linked interest that I can surprisingly remember with a clear clarity.

Fast forward to today, I'm now feeling elated over something that I've come to consider as "the first milestone in journalism". Insert dramatic music here. Hahaha. Here's the reason:

Yep. That's me. It's not necessarily a big deal I suppose, and may come across as significant for some people. But this means enough for my a-bit-insecure side to the point of being happy in two consecutive days :) And no, I don't get paid.....yet :)

So, my dear readers, you're just witnessing my first venture! Sorry for the overly-excitement-thing, but I can't help it!