The image has been spreading for a few weeks and has found its way to Reddit, Imgur and Viralnova. The background is that the farmer’s wife died and he sold his possessions and worked really hard to put his son through university. And now he has, with the son wearing what some people claim to recognise as the gown for a doctorate. As happens so often with images that get shared a lot, there were many troubling aspects to how and why they have been shared. But this one in particular hits a whole heap of points:
- The source of the image is erased. Luckily, you can drag an image file into the search box for Google Image Search and search for where an image comes from. There were some others watermarked as coming from Hmong Narak, although I couldn’t find the particular post there.
- This is an interesting erasure. This website and Facebook page is apparently for Hmong people to post selfies and photos about their lives. If anyone has any more details, please let me know in the comments (I couldn’t find Narak in an online Hmong dictionary). In the shared versions of the image, the farmer is described as a “poor farmer”, “poor farmer in Thailand” or I think “Thai man”. The photo is apparently from “rural Asia”. Not to perpetuate the idea of some continent of Others wallowing in poverty, while erasing the specific ethnic group who are experiencing such things or anything. After all, that might raise some questions about the relationship between ethnicity and access to education.
- Speaking of ethnicity, if you’d like a good barf, do check out some of the comments which mention how much this proves that “Asians” value education. Because apparently you have to live in a particular continent to realise that going to university might be important. Also there’s no such thing as Hmong culture, because they must have just inherited the general Asian vibe. From living in Asia.
- There was also talk of how lucky it should make everyone who went to school feel. Which lands us squarely in First World Problems territory, with all its crappiness.
- The most troubling part of this is that it’s being framed as an awww moment, an inspiring story and even a tearjerker. And sure, there is of course the tale of incredible sacrifice. If you look at the other pictures you’ll see the love between the father and son is apparent and incredibly touching. Still, any time we fall for a poverty “success” story, we inadvertently reinforce the neocon idea of pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. I mean, if this “poor farmer” could work himself to the bone to pay for his son’s education, shouldn’t all poor people do it? What are all these working class parents complaining about, especially in “first world” countries where we know they have it so good — amirite? To sharpen things, how inspiring would you find a story about a Hmong family in dire poverty who won the lottery and can now afford things? I don’t find these stories inspiring because they highlight how crappy the baseline is and how few are able to substantially improve their circumstances.
- There were some comments about the farmer and how it looks like he’s had a hard life. It’s a bit presumptuous to read too much into the photo. But let’s say he’s endured decades of extreme poverty for his son. The interesting question would then be why it’s so hard for him as a Hmong man in Thailand to farm for a living and put his son through uni. To answer this question though, you’d have to look at the history of the Hmong and of violence, genocide at the hands of both Western and Southeast Asian powers, refugees, corruption and ethnic+agricultural policy in Thailand and beyond. In other words, you’d need to look at all the reasons why this picture is not of some generic farmer suffering from the hardship of “poverty” as if it were a force of nature, but as of a man who’s had things done to him. Historical things. Deliberate things. By people. Such questions are much more dangerous than the inspirational interpretation though.
0 Comments