A looser by Indonesian standard

By Indonesian standards I’m a lonely guy.  Extremely lonely. After reading today’s article by Elske Schouten, who is an impressionist journalist active as a correspondent for the NRC newspaper in Jakarta, I suddenly know  I’m in the danger-zone.  Of becoming a sorry nobody.Or depressive. Or suicidal even.

She tells she’s got over 400 Facebook-friends and still can be  considered to be a dramatic underachiever. The usual number of friends in Indonesia has to be counted by the thousands according to her.  Well, that is quite similar to the number of guests at an average wedding after all. Compare that to my handful of friends…

Facebook apparently is one of Indonesians’ main hobbies.  And more specifically, next to publishing one’s pictures,  assembling ‘friends’  is what it really is about. And generally speaking Indonesians do it successfully. Very much so. Which only fits with an important traditional national trait: the sophisticated social ability of making friends easily. Which may be handy in a  society in which who you know is as or even more important than what you know.

Over 32 million Indonesians are on Facebook now. By which it is world’s runner-up after the US.  And once more Indonesia proves it is a country of miracles. Because that figure exceeds the mere 12%  (= less than 30 million) of all Indonesians who have access to internet.

Well, I’ve got a Facebook- account too. However, like I said,  after opening it I failed miserably.

Now of course I’ve stayed 100%, no 99%, passive all the time.  And for a reason.  I did so because I got some doubts about Facebook. Suddenly there were photos with a tag including me.  Nobody asked for my permission. Which, being really ugly, I would have refused.

Moreover I dislike Facebook because  it  turned out to be primarily a commercial rascal. His name? Mark Zuckerberg . If we do not explicitly and specifically  forbid in advance, each and every bit of information we leave behind he can and will use for selling it to any individual or  organization that shows interest. In other words: Facebook users are just commodities to be processed, marketed and sold.  An since I don’t want to go along with that, I don’t provide any information that touches on my privacy.

So, here I am. Desperate. I have to pay the price. Only a handful of friends I’ve got. Which means I’m dead de facto already..

Post Scriptum: By the way, did you see this video in which John Stewart on Huffington Post blasts Facebook?  Look, laugh  and shudder at it: