51–60 of 86 posts
What the hell did I just read.
I'm at a point in my life that I'm able to travel and see the world beyond my town. I don't like being a jerk and try very hard to not be a jerk. This piece makes me feel like a jerk for being curious.
However, this does remind me that people in other countries kind of suck just as much as Americans. We're often led to believe that Europeans are enlightened and superior to the illiterate, xenophobic, simpletons in the US. It's a good reminder that intolerance, prejudice, and willful ignorance are universal attributes.
As an American who likes to experience new things, this makes me very sad. I'm at a point in my life that I'm able to travel and see the world beyond my town. I don't like being a jerk and try very hard to not be a jerk. This piece makes me feel like a jerk for being curious. However, this does remind me that people in other countries kind of suck just as much as Americans. We're often led to believe that Europeans a…
I bet you wouldn't even hold up a line of regulars with your curiosity.
If you try very hard to not be a jerk, that's already better than baseline. This piece wasn't aiming squarely at the American Tourist but aiming a bit at everyone including the writer.
What the hell did I just read.
Around 5000 words on the impact of tourism on de-industrialised cities and how property prices and rents drive new businesses. Some of it seemed reasonable to me (we have some of the pastiche 'experiences' being built in my city and I actually rather like the new mock hutong with the glazed green roof tiles and lions), and some of it seemed a bit clumsy and patronising.
The homogenization, and subsequent impoverishment (at least with regards to the quality and diversity) of the world appears to be, sadly, inevitable. It takes real, constant effort to maintain "the old ways" while tradition is so easily erased through globalization and, ultimately, technology. I don't think we'll lose _all_ diversity of culture, as there will always be stalwarts to uphold institutions (even espresso…
Which ironically is why they are being inundated by tourists looking for something “authentic”.
By the way the “Ugly American” tourist was a thing many decades before 2020.
The homogenization, and subsequent impoverishment (at least with regards to the quality and diversity) of the world appears to be, sadly, inevitable. It takes real, constant effort to maintain "the old ways" while tradition is so easily erased through globalization and, ultimately, technology. I don't think we'll lose _all_ diversity of culture, as there will always be stalwarts to uphold institutions (even espresso…
I haven't been to Europe since before 2020. I assume we're not nearly as welcome over there now?
Which is the feeling this article is trying to capture.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Most Europeans can separate Americans from their government, but a person's views and behavior matter. Paying customers are always welcome but obnoxious ones, regardless of culture, might get an eye roll or worse.
Yeah but that doesn't mean we also don't dislike people from the US. It's a shock to many but there are Europeans who dislike both US politics and the average US citizen who flashes cash, doesn't learn the language, doesn't research where they're travelling, shouts all the times, spends 1 night per city, and is the kind of traveller in the article, etc etc. Loudly proclaiming you're anti Trump is not a skip-the-line…
> The cold brew order is no new behavior. We know what it is. The American empire is just the fourth incarnation of what started as Roman, became Christian European, and then predominantly British. We know what it is. We still have it in our veins, the disdain these tourists are showing. Their carelessness and abstraction. They are the rulers, the ones who believe they are giving meaning to reality for the first time…
The Marshall Plan was the smartest foreign policy decision the US ever made.
Turned enemies into allies and got the world acting in our interests without the overhead of running actual colonies.
I kinda disagree with the general sentiment of the article. IMO the author mistakes a low context social style for imperial tastelessness. I, a Korean, lived in the US for a decade so I do have experience with this "imperialism" the author tries to illustrate. However, the American behavior the author is describing is more attributed to how American social norms don't force anyone to "read the room" and "know your pl…
Actually I do not find American tourists obnoxious and ham fisted at all. Demanding? Maybe. That other word is specifically reserved for the drunk English bachelor partying in Southern Spain and Zakynthos. The American tourist is a bit naïve, like Twoflower, albeit without the sentient pearwood Luggage.
As an American who likes to experience new things, this makes me very sad. I'm at a point in my life that I'm able to travel and see the world beyond my town. I don't like being a jerk and try very hard to not be a jerk. This piece makes me feel like a jerk for being curious. However, this does remind me that people in other countries kind of suck just as much as Americans. We're often led to believe that Europeans a…
I bet the ones who never travel or leave their own country annoy him, too.
Of course at the end he confesses he’s the annoying tourist when he travels, too.