“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.” -Mark Twain
Exactly, and the beauty of social media is that it’s a lot cheaper than travel making it possible for millions of people to get exposure to other cultures for free.
I know many people who are infatuated with travel and rush around the globe visiting places two weeks at a time. If you really want to understand a place stay there a minimum of six months, otherwise you will just be getting the Readers Digest version. I have seen hoards of travelers descend on a location at one time and all that they do is change the character of the place by their presence. This is especially true for cruise ships. Also all of this excessive travel has a huge carbon footprint.
I think it comes down to “exposure” to different people and cultures. If you only go places that cater exclusively to tourists, or you never leave the resort or whatever, then you aren’t really getting that exposure. At the same time, you can have some profound realizations in very little time-- I mean basic shit like “oh wow these people are just want to live their lives like everybody else!”
Funnily enough people I know were treated better than they expected in Paris, and worse than they expected in Barcelona. Came out of Europe thinking all the racists were in Spain.
Reminds me of this quote:
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.” -Mark Twain
Nice, thx for that. Made a meme of it here: https://lemmy.ml/post/24890041
Exactly, and the beauty of social media is that it’s a lot cheaper than travel making it possible for millions of people to get exposure to other cultures for free.
I know many people who are infatuated with travel and rush around the globe visiting places two weeks at a time. If you really want to understand a place stay there a minimum of six months, otherwise you will just be getting the Readers Digest version. I have seen hoards of travelers descend on a location at one time and all that they do is change the character of the place by their presence. This is especially true for cruise ships. Also all of this excessive travel has a huge carbon footprint.
I think it comes down to “exposure” to different people and cultures. If you only go places that cater exclusively to tourists, or you never leave the resort or whatever, then you aren’t really getting that exposure. At the same time, you can have some profound realizations in very little time-- I mean basic shit like “oh wow these people are just want to live their lives like everybody else!”
Nonsense. Talk to anyone who has visited France or Paris specifically.
Funnily enough people I know were treated better than they expected in Paris, and worse than they expected in Barcelona. Came out of Europe thinking all the racists were in Spain.
May also not apply in Italy
Didn’t Twain specifically go to Palestine and say “damn based empty desert”? Or have I been dershed once again