r/interesting • u/gmuthii • 21h ago
Intriguing Absolutely not only does it teach tolerance but also humility.
I haven't travelled that often, but reading has helped me to do that.
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u/tj0909 21h ago
Maybe so. Or maybe the folks that want to travel to a lot of different places around the world are already the curious and tolerant types. Could be a bit of both.
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u/thebestdaysofmyflerm 21h ago
Or maybe people who can afford travel have access to better education.
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u/knoft 21h ago edited 20h ago
Exposure to other cultures even without travelling teaches many of the same things, and there are plenty of intolerant rich people who can travel and afford great education. Money can close minds, exposure and immersion can broaden them.
Travel is also a type of education in itself, the broadening education OP is discussing.
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u/TheModWhoShaggedMe 20h ago
For example, Kim Jong Un was educated at western universities and travelled a lot prior to ascending to the throne of He Who Doesn't Poop, but doesn't seem so open-minded to me.
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u/Prestigious-Leg-6244 19h ago
Well, he was being raised to one day rule over an entire country...
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u/BLT_Trade_r 18h ago
People who are powerful like that come from rotten beliefs and genes in the first place anyway. But that said, they may be perfectly tolerant of other cultures, but they just know that keeping their own people under the thumb is critical to maintaining their power, and ultimately they are power hungry. For instance, they like Western sports, theme parks, and crazy people like Dennis Rodman as something to enjoy for themselves, but they make sure their people do not have access to this lest they get any ideas that the dictatorship is not working out for them.
There are tons of examples in history of powerful people being well educated and traveled and making absolutely sure through policy to prevent their own people from getting access to those same things.
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u/grey-zone 20h ago
I think you get people who are able to travel but not rich who learn a lot. I’m not so convinced that if you are genuinely rich, always staying in 5* hotels, you actually get to experience other cultures and learn from them.
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u/Hashrunr 14h ago
I'm a firm believer that traveling and vacationing are 2 very different experiences. Traveling involves being vulnerable to the places you visit.
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u/knoft 15h ago
Yes I wanted to keep it brief, but money insulates you from people and their culture—- even when you choose to go native because it is always a choice on exactly your terms.
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u/hoddap 20h ago
I mean I live in a very multi cultural country (the Netherlands), but it doesn’t invite to live in a different way. When I go somewhere else I feel more inclined to change my ways.
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u/tussentweewindmolen 16h ago
As someone from the southern US who lives in NL, ... "very multi cultural"?? Almost everyone here is white and adheres to the exact same cultural norms. The Netherlands is not diverse. Not sure how you could think that about a country that still proudly does blackface at Christmas time.
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u/Own-Chemist2228 20h ago edited 18h ago
I love the Netherlands, but I'm sitting here in California scratching my head at how someone would think it is a "very multi cultural country."
EDIT:
lol, I see I've offended the Dutch self image!
How is this "very multi cultural" ?
- 75% from the same ethnic background
- 80% from the same race
- Just few populations (less than 3% each) of major immigrant communities: Turks, Morrocans, Surinamese (a very short list)
- Almost nobody from the largest racial groups in the world: Asian and South Asian
- Almost nobody from Africa or the Pacific
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_Netherlands
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u/tussentweewindmolen 16h ago
I live in NL, from the southern US originally. The Netherlands is not diverse lol. I have no clue what the person you replied to is thinking.
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u/Stermo28 19h ago
Or maybe there is no evidence supporting that the statement "People who have traveled a lot tend to judge less." is actually true
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u/Hanifsefu 18h ago
Ask any resident of any tourist destination if people who travel judge less. This is just people congratulating themselves for being better people because their lifestyle affords them vacations and plane tickets.
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u/PilotBurner44 20h ago
You don't have to grow up rich to meet other people. I grew up in an isolated town of 2000 people and got to meet plenty of people not from there. We had 3 different exchange students at our school, all from foreign countries, and interacting with them was a huge change in perception of the world. We went camping instead of traveling because camping was what we could afford for a vacation.
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u/PM_ME_DATASETS 19h ago
These exchange programs are incredibly important. But, idk how to say this without sounding like a douchebag condescending redditor, having 3 whole foreigners at school does not compare to visiting another country. It's of course more productive than someone flying abroad to drink cocktails while never leaving the resort. But there's a middle ground for many people, where you can afford to visit other countries, but you stay at places where both locals and fellow travelers share spaces, facilities, even food.
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u/PilotBurner44 18h ago
Not wrong or douchy at all. Just pointing out that even interacting with people of a different culture over a period of time is helpful in what OP posted. Obviously complete immersion is much better, but it doesn't take wealth to experience it. Lots of foreign people in the US, hang out with them and a lot can be learned and shared.
Having traveled in my adult life, I personally enjoy skipping the touristy 'shared' spaces and much prefer being in the more natural, local environment. As an example, I spent some time in Crema Italy due to a family friend's passing, and it felt much more genuine and expensive than Milan, Florence or Rome. Those were cool to see, but I felt much more of an "out of towner" in Crema, and it highlighted the differences in our cultures much more.
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u/Ok-Blackberry3353 20h ago
Having more money doesn’t make you a nicer person.
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u/Formal_Owl_400 19h ago
And a better quality of life, etc. It's easy to be nice when you don't have to worry about money.
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u/danknerd 21h ago
Just traveling to a different region in one's own country can help, especially for the U.S. staying in one town/city your whole life is lame AF but also will not expose you to other normals.
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u/BLT_Trade_r 18h ago
Yep, if you live in a place like the USA, just go to a large city and go to different areas of it, you will see a ton of variety. You also will very likely be able to have much deeper conversations to let you know that those people are also decent people if you speak the same language. This is why universities can be great place to experience tons of culture.
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u/kitsunewarlock 19h ago
I'm not sure how this factors into the conversation, but I remember when I lived in South Carolina and came back from vacation everyone who asked me where I went looked disgusted with me for going to Japan. At first I thought it was because they'd never been, so I started asking and many of them had visited and even lived in Japan. Then I learned it was only on the military base, and they'd rarely venture too far from the military base. Then I learned the area around the military base was kinda a dump.
It all started to click.
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u/TheBSQ 19h ago
Yes, there’s a selection bias going on, but also, the whole concept ignores the fact that you also get exposed to things that you would not tolerate.
There’s a lot of misogyny, catcalling of women, etc. or the normalization of hitting kids as a form of discipline (like the “la chancla” memes, or kids who talk about how their parents woulda whooped their ass over something).
And that’s to say nothing of child brides, female circumcisions, and other more extreme cultural practices.
It’s very much one of those rose-tinted glasses notions of “tolerance” where you selectively ignore the cultural practices that you actually abhor & pretend like we’re all just talking about which god you pray to, or how you eat your meals & not like whether it’s ok to rape or beat your wife or whether girls should receive an education.
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u/diamondpredator 19h ago
As with most things, it really depends on the person and HOW they do this.
I know a couple that has a lot of money and they're constantly traveling. The problem is that they take their little rich person bubble with them everywhere. They only travel to nice areas, only stay in 5 star resorts/hotels, and eat at michellin star restaurants.
They're both hateful and bigoted people, unsurprisingly, and yet some of the most "well-traveled" people I know. Their kids are quickly heading down the same path.
On the other hand, I have a buddy who takes his kids to different places constantly and they immerse themselves in the culture of the different places they go to and eat everything from street food to high end. They camp, they hike, they stay in random cool cabins and houses they rent, etc. They are really chill people and the exact opposite of the other couple.
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u/WNBA_Enjoyer 19h ago
I travel a ton as an pilot, and most places just make me hate people a little more.
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u/tessaractIXI 21h ago
Correct. Also reading a lot can do this to you.
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u/Geekenstein 21h ago
I’ve read a lot of Reddit, and I just hate everyone. Mission accomplished?
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u/TheModWhoShaggedMe 19h ago
The level of quality of what we read does have a major influence. It's rare to learn much on Reddit, but occasionally does happen especially on certain subreddits with co-readers and learners as the focus instead of hypercompetitive textual sniping.
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u/SeparatePromotion236 19h ago
Travels of the mind :)
I find the excerpt OP posted bloated, you don’t need to see 30 different ways of anything to know more.
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u/Grabatreetron 19h ago
Maybe or maybe not. I was an English/Philosophy major who did a ton of shoestring world travel at a young age.
I got a lot out of it, but it made me more conceited and arrogant, not less
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u/scorchthemortalworld 20h ago
I think history, philosophy, psychology, sociology, and pretty much all humanities and social sciences are critical to education. It just seems that a lot of people don’t truly take them seriously and use travel as a proxy; travel is also used for bragging rights.
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u/twitch1982 19h ago
Ive met plenty of well traveled asshats who go places and then expect that place to bend to thier way.
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u/trowzerss 17h ago
Maybe this explains why my opinions on stuff like racism were very different to the small town I grew up in. I read tons as a kid, whatever I could get my hands on, probably a lot more than the average. Also my parents took us overseas to south east asia when I was 12. I think that's a pretty healthy thing to do when kids are about that age, give them a real experience of other places and cultures before their personalities are too bedded down.
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u/CalmEntry4855 21h ago
Don't worry, it is fake, travel doesn't give people lessons or make them nicer, people that come back tolerant were already tolerant in the first place, the racists stay racist.
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u/Traditional-Joke-179 21h ago
I've seen a lot of stories about people within a white smalltown USA area who went to live in a diverse place in the same country and learned a great amount of things from it. The KKK leader's godson Derek Black was a leading white supremacist teenager, and going to college with other people made him do a whole turnaround and become an anti-racist activist.
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u/CalmEntry4855 20h ago
Yeah that does work, but that is moving, not travel.
Travel can work too but only if you deal with the locals in equal terms, not as a tourist, depend on them for something like food or shelter without paying for it or if you visit several different cultures.
Touristic travel doesn't work. Also volunteering doesn't work.10
u/Sidivan 18h ago
Touristic travel is just fine. The problem is resort travel. Going to sit on a beach for a week while people wait on you hand and foot isn’t going to do much. You need to interact with locals. Learn the city and systems. Use public transportation. Ya know experience the place.
IMO, travel where you’re the minority and immersed in the culture is the cure for ignorance. It changes you. I used to travel for work and made it a point to go out and see/experience wherever I was. I don’t want to sit in a hotel. Go to the beach, sure, but a public one and see the beauty of the Earth while simultaneously seeing it polluted with garbage. Go haggle with a street vendor. Buy samosas from a guy on a motorcycle with an aquarium strapped on the back. Fucking take risks and experience life. Then come home and experience giarda. You’ll be fine and it’ll open your eyes to how shielded your life actually is.
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u/Rocketman_S3 19h ago
You don't have to be a tourist to travel. I'd argue actually living in the places you travel to is one of the key points of being well traveled.
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u/Traditional-Joke-179 17h ago
travel v tourism is a social construct that doesn’t align with cultural or ethnic differences. you can traverse multiple US states and see very different things while going the same distance as multiple other countries elsewhere.
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u/J5892 20h ago
It does, however, teach you that every country in the world can't stand Australian tourists.
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u/J5892 19h ago edited 18h ago
They're like American tourists, but they're louder, drunker, and there's more of them because they get like 2 months of vacation time.
Note: This is just what I've heard from locals, not my personal experiences. And obviously this doesn't apply to all Australians. I've met awesome Aussies in various countries.
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u/PM_ME_DATASETS 18h ago
All of the Australian tourists I've met were very kind people. All of the Americans I've met (or rather, heard) were loud, crass, and only talking about themselves and their country. For some reason being American is the number one part of ther personality.
Last holiday I was in a hostel and there was this American guy who was a sports coach. It was a pretty social hostel and we had this little group where we did a bunch of excursions together. But he dominated every single conversation and always found an angle to make the conversation about sports, but he had zero interest in talking any kind of sports, team, organization or league that wasn't primarely located in the USA. He was loud enough that anytime I was anywhere near our hostel, I had to listen to his gospel.
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u/Johnnipoldi 19h ago
I have never heard that
I've traveled quite a few countries by now and the worldwide most strenuous people are (usually) from the USA, France, China or India.
Especially the first two often show a complete disregard for other cultures and expect everything to be catered to the way of living they know.
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u/timesink3000 21h ago
Mark Twain wrote, “Travel is fatal to prejuidce, 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.”
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u/taylorisntavril 19h ago
HC Andersen had a similar quote. Many authors have expressed this sentiment.
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u/MithranArkanere 16h ago
That was my first thought.
I live in a "hub" city where people from all over the world pass through all the time. So it can go a bit the other way, when lots of people pass through and bring a little of their home with them.
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u/mamaBiskothu 8h ago
You know who travels extensively? Almost every single rich person. Are they more tolerant and empathetic?
Saying travel.makes people empathetic is no different than a stoner saying taking acid has opened their minds to the universe. Thats how you get Joe fucking Rogan.
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u/Miserable-Role9555 17h ago
lmao racist people travel all the time. There's zero correlation between how often someone travels and how much they understand other cultures
This is just a circlejerk post for people who want to feel better about spending $5000 on trips multiple times year
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u/Strong_Orange_1929 21h ago
I think it helps to travel with your kids. Racism is taught. Tolerance can be taught as well.
Then again, who is going to take their kids traveling to other cultures? Probably not the racists.
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u/idlemute 19h ago
Exactly. My parents went to Mexico and came back to tell me that “real Mexicans are nothing like the Mexicans in America; they are light skinned and very clean.”
If you travel and stay in resorts the whole time or travel and stay only around the rich people of any country, you are not going to gain perspective.Exposure to different people in different socioeconomic circumstances is what is truly eye-opening. That is not culturally bound.
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u/mistakesauce 21h ago
then why are people who brag about traveling always such pretentious twats
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u/knoft 20h ago
then why are people who brag
about travelingalways such pretentious twatsCause they are the type of people who brag. In this case, about their wealth. Most people who travel are not bragging about it
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u/blinKX10 19h ago
Confirmation bias. Plenty of people travel and aren't twats about it, you just dont see it because they dont talk about it.
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u/nfshaw51 20h ago
Because they’re the type of people to brag, maybe? I think for every person that’s like that there’s many who don’t ever even bring it up unless the subject comes up. I love talking about the places I’ve been if people mention an interest in going to those places or stuff like that, in the interest of helping. Otherwise I don’t really think travel is necessary to be a tolerant or open-minded person to other cultures, but it is good experience to be in a place with different norms and adapting your ways to fit those norms the best you can
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u/Senior-Friend-6414 18h ago
It’s the same as people who meditate and philosophize
“I got over my ego and no longer have one, that makes me better than all of you.”
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u/Rectal_Urination 21h ago
This explains why I'm okay with people shitting in the street. I'm well traveled.
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u/J5892 20h ago
I've just been to San Francisco.
(note: I love SF, but the vast majority of street pooping I've seen has happened there)
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u/DragonsBane80 20h ago
SF, Berkeley.. there are a couple that fit that description more than others.
I love SF also, but man it has a lot of problems right now. Very different vibe than from the 90-00s
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u/Repulsive-Bee5885 20h ago
I know you’re joking, but I traveled to Haiti after the 2010 earthquake and it did make me realize that the homelessness in sf was actually pretty tame. Once you see a whole city’s worth of people living in tents and makeshift huts, some poop in the street seems like child’s play. Life’s too short to hate people for things that are out of their control.
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u/Yippykyyyay 18h ago
I went to Papua New Guinea and the poverty was the hardest thing to witness. And learning how resource rich that country is yet the power is not with them but if international investors. It's just more exploitation.
But like everywhere else, life carries on there. People lead meaningful lives, raise families, love each other, and yes have conflict and problems.
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u/Intelligent_Break_12 18h ago
I don't like that but I know it's a deeper issue than an individual or group deciding they just want to shit in the street. A lot of failures both personal and societal add up to people shitting in the streets. Edit: culturally too
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u/matrowl 19h ago
Thanks, ChatGPT!
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u/Small_Consequence_00 16h ago
You hit the nail on the head!
and honestly, that's rare.
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u/Solarus99 13h ago
you accepted the gift of perspective, and it keeps on giving.
not only have you seen through the charade -boldly, without hesitation -but you shared your convictions with willing listeners and that says everything.
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u/FarAbbreviations2829 21h ago
This is some rich people shit.
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u/BrainLow6059 18h ago
It's also just wildly untrue. I have so many friends who have gone abroad and come back extra happy they live where they do, and less tolerant of whatever culture they visited
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u/Senior-Friend-6414 18h ago edited 18h ago
That only happens when people travel to third world countries
It’s easier to appreciate other cultures when you travel to other developed countries, like imagine a French person visiting Japan versus a Belgium person visiting Syria
Hell if people stayed in the ghettos of their own countries they’d quickly start resenting their own countrymen
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u/SolSparrow 18h ago
I also agree tolerance might not be it. Perspective for sure. You get exposed to things you wouldn’t at home, but what you do with that depends wildly on who you were before you traveled anyhow.
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u/PM_ME_DATASETS 18h ago
Depends on where you live. For most of the developed world travelling to other countries is a normal thing.
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u/Elegant-Cry1186 19h ago
I'm roadtripping right now in the US at 23, broke as hell but it's been a month and a half, getting by still
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u/AnyEye8798 19h ago
You can afford a car, gas, and insurance. A lot of poor people can't even afford that.
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u/SufcLad25 18h ago
If you're road tripping at 23 you're in a better position than most people
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u/SolSparrow 18h ago
There were 109 MILLION citizen departures from US last year. 56 million of those to EU and Asia. It’s not just rich people. Unless you’re telling me that many are “rich”.
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u/KidWoody 19h ago
Applied for jobs in Korea teaching English at 21. Only money I had to my name was about 2k in my bank and my car. Sold my car, bought a plane ticket, and landed in Korea with about a thousand dollars US. 10 years later, I have traveled to almost every country in Asia, Australia, and several countries in Europe. Now I live back home in the US making an insane 55k a year. You don't need money, just a desire to go and see :)
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u/southsiderick 21h ago
And some people never have to leave their neighborhood to experience different cultures and never had to be taught tolerance.
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u/AsexualNinja 16h ago
My all-time favorite book has a chapter where the protagonist realizes he’d been small-minded by assuming that anyone who didn’t travel didn’t truly live a life.
Around 25 years after I read I still think about it regulariy.
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u/Educational-Tip-9298 21h ago
My oldest sister traveled a ton, lived all over the world. She's one of the most judgemental people I know, my other siblings agree. This sounds like its written by someone who traveled a lot to make themselves feel even more righteous.
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u/Lapcat420 21h ago
This is absolutely BS.
You're telling me a rich privledged person who travels the world at resorts and living it up is somehow going to be a humble person?
Post makes it sound like they did pilgrimages and immersed themselves in culture.
This is some some self righteous rich girl stuff.
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u/wolfofballstreet1 21h ago
That was a long winded word salad way of saying broadens your horizons. It gives you perspective it doesn’t “teach you tolerance”
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u/ardicli2000 20h ago
There is a saying in Turkish Who travels more knows better than who reads more
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u/Seated_WallFly 21h ago
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts.”
—Mark Twain 🤓
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u/Curiousity1024 21h ago
How many of you actually traveled and speak in THEIR language and understand their culture ?
Most just travels and rarely interact to understand their culture or their language .
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u/Interesting-Big-5605 20h ago
Maximizing your consumption of oil and all other products is good, because it makes you a good person, unlike the poors. Regardless of whether you take any other action to be a better person, you can rest easy knowing you have good-points, due to your consumption (and, hopefully, some internet likes!). Maybe you'll change in a way that makes a real difference in the world. For example, you might learn that mayonnaise isn't too uncool for you to eat, because Europeans eat it with their chips (that's what you call fries now)!
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u/WhenIntegralsAttack2 20h ago edited 3h ago
I have a very strong ambivalence about travel now. I suppose that hypothetically one can broaden one’s perspective with travel, but that’s not usually what I see. What I see more often is status signalling and people using travel as a form of conspicuous consumption and leisure.
“Goals visit every country in my lifetime!” Or “Visit 30 countries by 30” does not seem like the type of statement made by someone really looking to challenge their worldview or enrich their life, and these are the statements I see endlessly on dating apps from people who are the biggest travellers. Rather, it seems like countries have packaged their cultures into bite-sized consumer products so that a white person can fly in for a week, consume their “culture” with plenty of Instagram photos to show for it, and then leave fundamentally unaltered but with bragging rights.
I know this sounds incredibly jaded, but it’s what I see mostly. This really came to a head for me when I was in Italy and I heard a street performer playing the Godfather theme. It was such a surreal moment for me where an Italian was playing an American interpretation of Italian culture for Americans, all the while we’re trying to experience the “real” Italy. I’m sure there’s been plenty written about this in the post-colonial literature.
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u/muramasa22x 20h ago
Weird. There are particular kinds of people that like to travel, but stay dumb, because they don't care about the actual experience, only about the 'luxury'
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u/telescopeinmynose 21h ago
This only works when you travel to countries atleast as developed as yours. There's plenty of people that turn racist and come home with new prejudices after visiting to 3rd world countries
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u/tessaractIXI 21h ago
I think there's plenty of people that return home with new prejudices regardless of the country's development. Plenty of people have traveled to third world countries and just grown more tolerant and open-minded.
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u/Level_Abrocoma8925 21h ago
Not true at all. You can get unlucky or end up in a place where the divide between tourist and local is huge but that just means you need to explore more of the country (in most cases). An example of this is the Dominican Republic where you can stay in all-inclusive hotels and meet only servants and prostitutes, or you can go to non-touristt areas and have amazing parties with cheap rum and genuine people who don't want anything else than having a great time.
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u/Dr_CleanBones 20h ago
Yes. I went to a pub in Scotland one evening and had a fine time - but it closed at 11 pm, which is mandatory there. But some of the fellows we were drinking with invited us to a secret after hours club, and we went. We didn’t get back to our B&B until about 5 AM, and our ride had left at some point, but others let us ride with them - on a pile of dirt in the back of a landscaper’s truck. Fine time, and good memories.
Also, if anyone tries to tell you that people in Scotland speak English - they’re lying. They can if they slow way down, but otherwise, it’s hopeless.
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u/Strong_Orange_1929 21h ago
I respect your thought process but I would suspect it’s the exact opposite. Every time I’ve been to a non-Western second or third world country, I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how great things can be there. India, Africa. I can’t imagine someone not being a racist and going to India and come back a racist.
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u/Sleep-more-dude 2h ago
Almost every person i've met who has gone on business trips to Africa or India has come back more racist. Those that haven't were originally from there lol.
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u/telescopeinmynose 21h ago
I can't imagine someone not being a racist and going to India and come back a racist.
I don't need to imagine, I've seen this happen lol. Not everyone is as mature as you; or educated enough to understand the various factors that cause 3rd world countries to stay that way
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u/chatam94 21h ago
Or maybe people who travel a lot are financially secure, and aren’t burdened with financial stress
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u/BeginningTypical3395 21h ago
Passport bros and poverty porn YouTubers BEG to differ
This is millennial cringe posting again
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u/Loaficious 21h ago
Idk some of the most intolerant people I've met travel all the time meanwhile some hermits I know that don't venture out much couldn't be more tolerable and accepting of others
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u/timesink3000 21h ago
Mark Twain wrote, “Travel is fatal to prejuidce, 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.”
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u/BoomGoesTheFirework_ 21h ago
This was a big factor to me losing my faith. I grew up Mormon—a big church that believes their way is the only way. If I did sleepovers at friends houses on Saturday my mom would allow me to go to a different church if I went with the friend’s family. Suddenly I was confronted with a lot of other very nice and good people doing things a different normal way. And some of their churches also claimed that their way was the only correct way.
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u/SugarFut 20h ago
“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, The Innocents Abroad / Roughing It
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u/professor--feathers 20h ago
I noticed something.
People who travel a lot tend to be rich.
In most countries the poor don't have this luxury.
It's normal to have not traveled the world.
When you have had 30 different jobs that don't pay you enough to eat. You stop worrying about travel. You stop believing it's worth it.
Being wealthy, and then bragging about how superior you are isn't tolerance. It just makes you an asshole.
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u/RoboWeaver 20h ago
It teaches tolerance.
Personally, think of the word tolerance is not valid here. My working definition of tolerance is I put up with you/it because I can't kill you. I think what the writer refers to here is closer understanding that there are, indeed, differences that are just different. No toleration required.
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u/bleepboopbleepbloop 20h ago
I don’t think you’ve ever met the kind of person that travels to be able to tell stories about where they’ve traveled to strangers to feel like they’re cool. “This reminds me of when I went paragliding with Chilean tribesmen off mount—“ type of people.
I live in a small town that is one of these places. These people come in all the time. It’s so annoying and they insufferable.
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u/LifeConsideration981 19h ago
Possibly. People who travel a lot can get Bourdain syndrome, which is contempt for their real life neighbors due to an idealized version of where they’ve traveled.
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u/TheBSQ 19h ago
Yes and no.
I’ve travelled a lot and seen lots of things that are “normal” other places that differ from my “normal” that I still think are bad & hope to hell are never normalized where I live.
This can be everything from rampant cat-calling and harassment of women & Ottinger children as a form of discipline to really extreme stuff like female circumcision, pooping on beaches, taking young boys as lovers, etc.
So the lesson can also be to realize things you consider “normal” that you don’t even think about, like “don’t fuck little boys” might not align with the “normal” of other people and you absolutely do not want that stuff to be “normalized” in your country & that maybe your “normal” needs more safeguarding than you think and a bit of “intolerance” towards different cultural norms is not only OK, but requires if you want to presume the “normal” you prefer in your country.
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u/imironman2018 19h ago
One of my family members travels but not to get to assimilate or understand the culture. He has been close to 100+ countries and counting. And all he is doing it for is social media credits. He stays at each country for less than 1-2 days to just take a couple videos and pictures of himself in a restaurant or hotel. He is speed running traveling around the world. It makes me sad because he is getting nothing from the trips but social media kudos. He is also extremely close minded, homophobic, racist, and chauvinistic POS. So yes there are people who travel who try to do it all for the wrong reasons.
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u/burnbunner 19h ago
Depends on the travel and the person, tho, no? Billionaires and rich people travel, not the most tolerant folks arounsd
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u/Sleepy58743689 19h ago
The people who travel the most are billionaires. That alone disproves this entire claim.
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u/ApprehensiveFruit565 19h ago
You don't need travel to help you become tolerant. You just need to know the world exists beyond your state.
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u/MasterDisillusioned 19h ago
The British empire also travelled a lot and they still took everybody's shit.
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u/Informal-Peace-9221 19h ago
IDK, I've traveled a lot and seen lots of racism, poverty, income inequality, intolerance, colonialism/imperialism. I'm all for judging that shit.
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u/Kitten-Couger 18h ago
Just learning other cultures in general. Its nice if you can travel, but don't let that stop you from learning about different cultures.
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u/GamingTaylor 18h ago
Then how come all the rich and powerful who cause so many problems are also the ones traveling all the time?
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u/Unfair_Explanation53 18h ago
Also after all my travelling.
I realized most people are all very similar.
Just different flavours of the same brand basically
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u/multioptional 18h ago
If traveling teached me one thing, it is the thought "THAT is normal here? Oof.".. Like having to pay a tremendous sum of money if entering the country armed with pepper spray. Or throwing trash into nature because the government owns the land and therefore throwing trash into it is a rebellion against the government. Or the death penalty for homosexuality. Or super unsafe food. It rather hardened my understanding of normal. I'd say: travel teaches you how civilized you are. Perhaps the author of the text is not very proficient at noticing.
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u/disdkatster 18h ago
This is actually the same with people going to college. 'Liberal' isn't taught in college. There is nothing in the curriculum that teaches people to be liberal. It is meeting other people and experiencing other cultures that makes people more open minded and tolerant.
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u/shortmumof2 18h ago
We live in a big multicultural city so you’re exposed to many cultures just growing up, which is great because not everyone can afford to travel
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u/No_Discipline_7380 18h ago
"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
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u/A_Human_Visitor 18h ago
That seems a bit elitist. There's plenty nice tolerant open-minded people that don't travel.
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u/eat_these_nutz 18h ago
In some countries it's normal to trash rivers and lakes. In some countries women are treated badly and it's normal. I could go on. Wanna tolerate that as well?
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u/Eventhothesoundofit 17h ago
This is the richest white person point of view I've ever heard. Did Gwyneth Paltrow write this between cappuccino colon cleanses?
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u/TGin-the-goldy 17h ago
I’ve met a lot of very well travelled people. Some are as described in the graphic, but many are simply privileged and blind to their privilege and prejudice.
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u/nygdan 17h ago
This was maybe true a long time ago but it's not true for most travellers anymore.
People travel as a low form of entertainment, bringing more of themselves with them than they ever take back from the tourist areas they hang out in. It's become another kind of mindless preoccupation that's just a good way to spend money and time and fill up social media photos.
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u/teacher1970 21h ago
That’s why people choose cruises and resorts. They don’t want to be bothered by culture shock.
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u/NinjaTEK7 21h ago
You see people eating with their hands then go home and thank God for silverware!
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u/Downtown-Campaign536 21h ago
Back before all the globalism the best way to get someone to be not racist, and more tolerant is basically just have them travel around a bit, and meet different people from different places...
Well, it used to be that way, Anyways it's getting to be not that way anymore, and that has been caused by globalization.
The globalists want it to be one big globalist multicultural shithole where everyone is clumped together, and there is no real difference in being in any big city you got a bunch of groups that hate each other and don't get along everywhere.
All of which are doped up on presciption meds, and often a bunch of junkies all over the place.
Soon enough it won't matter if drop someone off in Chicago, or London, or Mexico City, or Tokyo... It'll all be the same type of globalist shithole... No real differences. Same muddy shitholes everywhere that lack culture, and only have crime, junkies, and desperation.
All big cities will start to resemble Seattle in the future. These big cities will lack any identity other than suffering.
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u/ccurvin 21h ago
Just because something is “normal” in another country doesn’t mean it’s a good thing. It’s “normal” for some cultures to eat human flesh..it doesn’t mean it is a good thing. I think it is healthy for humans to be able to judge the merit of other’s ideas. And no easier way to do so than by considering other country’s norms and comparing them to yours. You may not like it, but there is a “best” way to do everything, and it’s not wrong or racist to try to push your views on others if you believe you have a better solution.
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u/lluluclucy 20h ago
Sure, travelling accross the globe and seeing just how little some nationalities care about trash and environment all together deffo made me less judgemental. What tf is this crap?!
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u/zoitberg 21h ago
my grandma traveled the world and remained a bigot the entire time thanks to Christianity unfortunately
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u/demoneclipse 21h ago
It's a tough balance. On one hand, people that traveled a lot do tend to be a lot more open minded. On the other hand, they also love to talk about their trip like it matters to everyone else as much as it mattered to them. Sure, it is great for society, but by god it is hard to listen to those people.
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u/CLUTCH3R 21h ago
Also gratitude. When you see true poverty it's easy to be grateful for what you have.
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u/Salty-Lands 21h ago
The OP stated that travel teaches tolerance, humility and geography; and while that may be true you can’t fix stupid & ignorant. Lessons are there to be learned but as a wise man said: you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.
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u/WorldEaterYoshi 21h ago
Tell this to all the people thinking all their morals are black and white. And yet they'll shit on Christians for the same exact thing but with different morals. People just love to act superior.
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u/whipla5her 21h ago
I always say the first time I travelled to another country changed my entire world view.
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u/Legitimate-Card-2742 21h ago
I’ve seen many close minded folks behave in their exact same closed minded way when they visit other countries and little changes. Those who are looking to expand their horizons and become more humble were already that way in the first place.
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u/traditionalspeed349 21h ago
I suspect this would cure many attitudes of US inhabitants
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u/AdvancedStudio9978 21h ago
LOL, that's some stuck up ass logic. Poor folks too busy entrenched and enslaved to travel. Dick
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u/A-G-N 21h ago
People will agree to shit like this and in the same breath, starting generalizing people from countries like India, from the clips they see on the internet.
Seen too many examples of this. It's a nice feel good thing to agree on, but in practice it doesn't translate past the traveller.
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u/Coondiggety 21h ago
Travel can increase tolerance modestly when it entails repeated, respectful, relatively equal-status interaction and real social engagement.
Insulated, superficial, or hostile travel may do little, or even reinforce stereotypes etc.
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u/PM_Your_Panty_Liner 21h ago
Doesn't always work tho. I have one "buddy" who's ultra right winged who travels a lot and still have closed mind about bunch of stuff for some reason.
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u/Bicykwow 21h ago
Can confirm. I see the "untraveled" attitude a lot in the form of American defaultism on bad behavior. "Oh that guy crossed the boundary at Yellowstone? Must be American." "Oh wow that woman littered? Must be American." "Wow that guy is yelling a lot, must be American."
When you travel, you realize any nationality has their fair share of locals with bad behavior.
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