Destinations known | American digital nomad’s deportation from Bali reminds tourists to check their privilege
- The public shaming of an American woman who tweeted about her ‘elevated lifestyle’ on the Indonesian island has raised many issues
- Among them, racism, gentrification and tourist privilege reign supreme
Twitter is a fickle mistress, a media platform on which reputations are made and livelihoods are lost, sometimes simultaneously. Such is the case for American Kristen Gray, who was so busy living it up on the Island of the Gods, far from the political, cultural and public health crises of her homeland, that she composed a 20-thread tweet “to gush about her new life”, according to online news site Indy 100.
Gray, who is LGBT and Black, has locked her account and the thread is available only in the form of screenshots. Over the course of those 20 posts she explained that she and her girlfriend booked one-way tickets to Bali after struggling to find work in the United States, initially intending to stay for six months but extending when the pandemic hit. “This island has been amazing because of our elevated lifestyle at a much lower cost of living,” she wrote. “I was paying $1300 for my LA studio. Now I have a treehouse for $400.”
She also lists “Some majors [sic] benefits of moving to Bali”, among them: safety, low cost of living, a luxurious lifestyle, the island’s Black community and its LGBT-friendly outlook. Then she promoted her e-book, Our Bali Life is Yours, “available for just US$30”, which included “direct links to our visa agents and how to get into Indonesia during COVID”.
It was not long before Indonesian internet users reacted, and guess what? They were outraged.
At best, Gray was accused of being tone deaf, with many pointing out that her US$400 “treehouse” was out of reach for anyone earning the minimum wage, which is less than US$180 per month, according to local government data. She was also called a coloniser and a gentrifier, and told to check her privilege.