Jakarta – Pelita Harapan University Communicologist Emrus Sihombing said the diction “The idiot-asshole who conveyed Rocky Gerung to President Joko Widodo has gone too far in the current era of denocracy.
This was said by Communicologist Emrus Sihombing during a dialogue on TVRI Wednesday 2/8/2023.
According to him, Indonesia adheres to democracy based on Pancasila values. It contains the words just and civilized humanity, so that the democracy we recognize is a civilized democracy.
Civilization itself is in accordance with the values that exist in Indonesia, including ethics, politeness and respect for others, said Emrus.
“I saw a diction that emerged this weekend that was inappropriate. This is an example of democracy going too far, such as the diction ‘stupid bastard’. Of course, what is conveyed in diction does not fit at all,” said the UPH Conunicologist.
He added, we must separate productive criticism from criticism wrapped in an agenda.
I saw Rocky Gerung when I studied his track record in the digital world, he often expressed unproductive criticism of President Jokowi, he explained.
From the point of view of communication science, of course the message is very inappropriate, the application of science cannot be separated from the values that apply in society, in relations between people, he concluded.
In communication, no communication messages are conveyed that are free, they must be bound by certain values, said Emrus.
Then Emrus said that the diction ‘Bastard-Stupid’ was a form of expression of friendship, was President Jokowi there, even though it was a public space and those present were other people. So if you say it is an expression of friendship, I argue that from the point of semiotics of communication.
I think that is demeaning to others. Not only President Jokowi, but he also demeans his viewers and demeans himself. Whereas in communication we should have an egalitarian position and there should be equality, said the UPH Postgraduate Lecturer.
The dictions that have been built by Rocky Gerung so far have positioned himself as superior and others as inferior, others as inferior to him, he emphasized.
According to Emrus, all this time he has also continued to seek justification, even though in KBBI, the meaning of ‘bastard’ is a criminal, is it appropriate to address the Head of State?
From a communication point of view, you should be able to state facts, data, and weaknesses, don’t mention the person’s name. Call it the program. But when the word ‘stupid’ is said, that’s personal, right, that’s not good, explained Emrus.
“I see that when the ITE Law is used, it is very likely that Rocky Gerung will be processed in court, and later there will be debates there with experts and experts proposed by prosecutors and Rocky Gerung’s defense lawyers,” he said.
Apart from that, we can also conduct a survey of the public ‘do you think the word Bastard is something that is unethical?’ We can do a survey, added Emrus.
The criticism made by Rocky Gerung was very out of manners and had gone too far, emphasized Emrus.
According to Emrus, we must be able to differentiate openness in communication, but we do not agree with openness that discredits others.
The meaning of openness is to be open about facts, data and evidence. It doesn’t mean that we give expressions that make other people uncomfortable, because humans when communicating with others cannot be separated from certain values. Because of that every country has a foundation and values that are used, he said.
I think that what was conveyed by Rocky Gerung is not very good, especially now that he is justifying it, even though if you check the meaning behind it with the narration and context he communicated, besides that President Jokowi was not there to say it was friendship, then it was self-defense, he concluded.
“He forgot that in communication messages, symbols and meanings can change. So the meaning should not be interpreted in terms of its history, but a shift in meaning and context of communication must be seen, he said.
“I see the context of the communication that Rocky Gerung made there was absolutely no context of friendship,” said Emrus.
Emrus stated that this was a communication message that was carried out by Rocky Gerung unproductively and that the most dangerous thing was in the context of education, is such a message an educator’s message? However, he works as an educator.
“I see that the account has been accessed by more than 1 million people, if the audience follows it and imitates it, then obviously that’s not good,” he said.
“I don’t think it’s wrong for Rocky Gerung to apologize to the public and to President Jokowi. What he said was offside, outrageous and an uncivilized message,” he said.
We have chosen that our country is a democratic country, one of the criteria is freedom of opinion, but in this freedom it is not without limits, but it certainly has value because at least there are norms that we respect together and are formed in a society because actually the meaning of a symbol is social meaning, so we interpret something because of the social process that occurs, concluded Emrus.
