On October 23, the 25-year-old American video blogger Taylor Olivia appeared in a full-fledged protective suit at the "Golhaba Festival" scene in the village of Kanataku, Bhumathapura, India.
The festival was celebrated by villagers throwing each other dry cattle butt to celebrate the end of the lighting festival, and the locals felt that this could purify the body and the mind and bring good luck.
The blogger tweeted: "This is the most disgusting experience in my life and I will never go back again," along with a picture of myself full of cattle dirt. The video quickly hit 5 million views, but Indian netizens completely blown up the pot.
Olivia named the video on social media as "Indian Dirty Throw Festival", the title itself provoked anger.
Local villagers believe that their god Birishwara Swami was born from cow dung. In Hindu tradition, cow dung is not a dirty thing at all, but a symbol of holiness.
But the owner wearing a white protective garment, wearing glasses, and a extreme disgusting appearance, which in the eyes of the villagers was a naked insult.
Things quickly fermented, Indian netizens massively his video, someone directly shouted: "Why did you run to the village after the video began to cry?" and someone said: "He didn't come to experience culture at all, is specifically to wipe out India."
Some Indian netizens even suspected that Pakistan paid for him to shoot these videos. Although this statement is a bit outrageous, it is enough to show how angry the local people are.
Faced with blasphemy, Olivia tweeted “I’m sorry, India” on October 27.
However, this apology is not too distracted, because he is also arguing that "it is not racial discrimination to shoot a dung-throwing festival" and asking whether the New York Post report was written by Indians. This kind of apology makes more people feel that he doesn't realize what the problem is at all.
Oliveira had trouble earlier this year because of his trip to India. He claimed that he was infected with four kinds of salmonella when he ate in five-star hotels in India. This time, there was such a big noise, and many people thought that he relied exclusively on "hacking" Indian blog traffic.
This cultural conflict is not an isolated case, after all, we let the firearms, the dragon boat, these customs in the eyes of strangers may also seem strange, but if someone wears protective clothes to shoot, and then say "too low and never come again", then everyone has to blow the wool.
The festival uses dried cow’s feces, not fresh feces, which is of special significance in local agricultural culture.
The villagers viewed this as a way to celebrate the harvest and thank the land, and the result was simplified by foreign bloggers to "throw the shit game", which is indeed unacceptable.
There are Indian netizens replied: "Why don't you film the problem of vagabond feces on the streets of California in the United States?"Olivira replied: "I have photographed a lot of American cities, don't get angry guys," this attitude of salt failure has escalated the contradiction further.
From a communicative point of view, Olivia made a fatal mistake, and he regarded Huntsman as a cultural record.
With over eight million fans, he could have used the opportunity to bring the Western audience to the rural India’s true belief system, but he chose to earn traffic in the most stimulating way.
This practice is not uncommon in today's headline ecology, but the difference is that most of our creators know the four words "entry in the countryside."
It's true that bloggers want to get hits, but they can't make fun of other people's beliefs.
Relevant departments in India have expressed their intention to strengthen the protection of traditional cultural activities, which has also sounded the alarm for global content creators: it is ok to record foreign cultures, but don't regard yourself as a judge standing on the highland of civilization.
Really good content, should let the audience see after more understanding, rather than a more ridiculous talk.