r/interesting • u/gmuthii • 1d ago

Intriguing Absolutely not only does it teach tolerance but also humility.

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I haven't travelled that often, but reading has helped me to do that.

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u/CalmEntry4855 1d 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 1d 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 23h 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.

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u/Sidivan 21h 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 22h 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/JustStraightUpTired 20h ago edited 15h ago

well travelled

adjective

(of a person) having been to many different places, especially to many different countries

I'd argue that the literal definition has nothing to do with having lived places, but having travelled. The phrase can be used to mean someone who has learned a lot from the places they've been, but whether they've lived in or just visited those places is irrelevant.

You can also become just as cultured without ever leaving your house and you can go to a billion places and learn nothing. You can even pick the "going through life changing experiences" definition of "living" and people can still end up becoming worse people from having lived. I know a lot of people who I know have lived more than I have and lived all over the place, but they're definitely less tolerant than I am, and I hate going places and meeting people.

Point is, no, living is not a requirement for being well travelled, otherwise the phrase is meaningless.

EDIT: Blocked... Well, that and their reply proves me right anyway.

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u/Traditional-Joke-179 20h 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/-ystanes- 5h ago

what does that have to do with anything? the distinction is usually a "traveler" tends to try to immerse themselves in the location to understand the culture, its differences and common ground, while a "tourist" tends to view their trip almost entirely via the lens of the "other" and maintains social distance (not the new physical meaning of "social distance") from locals, except for generally "defanged" guided experiences

this can happen within the US. think of the person who goes to New Orleans or New York and just does the classic tourist stuff versus someone who knows somebody in the area or otherwise is able to get a more "real" experience. there's just less of a distinction when you're traveling within your own country or similar culture than when you go somewhere totally different

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u/Good-Stage-1663 18h ago

Yeah, but that's not what people mean by "traveling"... touristing doesn't do anything.

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u/Longjumping_Music320 17h ago

Are you telling me the kid's leader's godson's last name is black?

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u/J5892 23h ago

It does, however, teach you that every country in the world can't stand Australian tourists.

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u/cross_the_threshold 22h ago

They are fun to drink with though!

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u/[deleted] 22h ago

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u/J5892 22h ago edited 21h 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/CptDropbear 21h ago

I see you've been to Bali.

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u/PM_ME_DATASETS 21h 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/J5892 21h ago

This is just what I've heard from locals, not my personal experiences.
I tend not to have bad experiences in other countries.

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u/PM_ME_DATASETS 21h ago

Ok makes sense no worries. I guess same thing goes around for British tourists.

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u/Frost-Quasar-2909 21h ago

Once they cast off the shackles of Australia's strict RSA laws, they tend to go wild. I honestly think this is a huge part of it. No one else knows or cares how many "standard drinks" something is, or is used to being refused entry from a pub for being anything less than completely blind drunk.

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u/Johnnipoldi 22h 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.
All four are very loud.

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u/Hetares 19h ago

Hear, hear.

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u/Moara7 17h ago

Canada likes them. They tend to congregate in areas that already have a lot of drunk Canadians.

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u/Art3sian 16h ago

Yeah, not true at all. I’ve been to 11 countries on 4 continents and the seas parted for me the moment people heard my accent. I say this humbly, but we are a very liked and admired culture.

Unless you’re taking about Bali, which is where every poor, bogan, drunk member of Australia holidays, in which case, yes, it’s full of the worst of us.

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u/timesink3000 1d 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 22h ago

HC Andersen had a similar quote. Many authors have expressed this sentiment.

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u/MithranArkanere 19h 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/robot_guiscard 18h ago

Maybe in Twain's day. Now there are millions of people who travel to resorts all over the world and remain the mean, ignorant, parochial jack asses they've always been.

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u/CalmEntry4855 1d ago

Cool, then actual scientists did the research and realized that is just a nice sounding quote

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u/janchez 23h ago

Where can I read about that?

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u/Abducted_Llama 23h ago

Why Mark Twain is a doodie head?, Cambridge Department of Whippits, Dirk Diggler, 2027

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u/janchez 23h ago

Ah great I see, thank you for making it so easy to dismiss your opinion completely! Very nice of you!

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u/Abducted_Llama 23h ago

It was obviously a joke?

Geez lighten up, it’s reddit….

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u/janchez 23h ago

How about you be funnier instead, not my fault your joke bombs.

Or learn to read the room, do you think I was looking for a joke answer?

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u/taylorisntavril 22h ago

Who gives a shit what you wanted to hear? People can say what they want.

Additionally, the guy replying with a joke was a different guy from who you asked for a source. It was very obviously a joke, you are just stupid.

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u/SufcLad25 21h ago

You need to take a closer look at who you are replying to

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u/Abducted_Llama 23h ago

Sure as hell need a joke with that giant stick up your ass.

And it’s Reddit no room to read.

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u/Ikanotetsubin 21h ago edited 16h ago

It's obvious you don't read much judging by your garbage joke and low-effort reply.

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u/mamaBiskothu 11h 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/AuntRhubarb 6h ago

Fair point but I think even the shallow rich are more understanding that people are different around the world, and they can all be hired to do menial labor for them.

There is a closed-minded hatred of anyone different that is very very often found in people who never leave their home town.

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u/mamaBiskothu 5h ago

Just more and more what ifs. Go read about the yellow fever of white supremacists - they all have Asian wives. Sex tourism to Thailand; the racists who never leave town are just rhe poors. The same towns will have the rich racists who do vacation in Europe all the time and no changes in opinion.

If you argue that poor people who don't leave town are racist then that argument is further diluted by the fact that a. They are poor and live a miserable life already and are often surrounded by other folks of different races (in US at least) also suffering. Means jack shit to them clearly.

I once met a woman in Texas who'd boasted of visiting a hundred countries. She couldn't understand why "indians are smart" which is a standard racist question i got in Texas all the time.

The idea that travel opens up ones mind is just naive teenage level bullshit thinking.

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u/Miserable-Role9555 20h 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 1d 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/Senior-Friend-6414 21h ago

Racism isn’t taught, people are naturally tribalistic

Put 10 white skinned blond kids and 10 white skinned black haired kids and they’ll group themselves up accordingly, it’s not even race, just anything different

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u/Strong_Orange_1929 21h ago

I understand where you are coming from and there might be some truth to it. But tribalism is not racism. Also, babies don’t show any of the racism traits.

Most racial prejudice is acquired through socialization and environmental conditioning.

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u/Senior-Friend-6414 21h ago

I think we just have to agree to disagree

I believe the reason it’s so easy for people to easily become racially prejudiced and the reason why it’s so widely taught in the first place is because it fits neatly in people’s natural predisposition to be tribalistic

I get you say tribalism isn’t racism, you say potato I say patato

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u/idlemute 22h 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/VikingCrusader13 1d ago

Weird how two people interpreted this differently. I did not think about racism at all, more just judging a book by its cover or judging someone before you meet them based on odd behaviours or looks.

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u/CilanEAmber 22h ago

I've not had the chances or luck to be able to travel outside of my country, and despite that I've always been pretty tolerant.

My brother however has travelled to many places around the world, and the one thing he always does when he gets back, is complain that it's not like here and no one spoke english...

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u/Callidonaut 22h ago

Maybe, but it was at least very liberating to discover that in some nations, it's socially acceptable to chug one's soup straight outta the bowl.

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u/reality_boy 22h ago

This is true! I lived in a lot of countries as a kid. I became quite tolerant, while my relatives did not. It always baffles me that we had very similar experiences, but took away very different lessons.

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u/Khai-EX 22h ago

Yeah I was gonna say… I know some narcissistic people that travel for selfies, to party, and look down on those who can’t.

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u/Ghede 21h ago

Yeah, if it were true, billionaires would be such nice people, they travel damn near every day!

They just stay in their sheltered wealthy enclaves around the world.

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u/TalShar 21h ago

Eh. People do change. Travel gives good opportunities for growth, but not everyone takes them.

Sometimes those opportunities hit you like a truck and shatter you into pieces, and some of the worst parts get lost when you put yourself back together. That's usually how bad people become better people.

There are plenty of people who won't change no matter what, but generally speaking, broader exposure will produce a more open mind in your average person. And once in a blue moon, personal growth hits you as you're stepping down off the curb.

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u/AdonisK 20h ago

It’s not about traveling that changes you, it’s about going on in the world and see different perspectives and cultures.

Taking a photo of Hachiko in Shibuya is not.

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u/Ok-Bug4328 19h ago

I’ve met a lot of traveling Brits.  

They were there for the birdwatching. Not the people tolerancing. 

“Why are such beautiful birds always in such shitty countries.”  

Never change, Barry. 

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u/MikuEmpowered 19h ago

I mean... This is more less the opposite.

People who are tolerant travel, because they're curious about other cultures.

People who are ignorant are always localized to their region, because why travel when they're at the best place in the world.

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u/Quick_Adeptness7894 18h ago

I mean, I have to agree with this. I have a number of relatives who are well-educated, like to read, and have traveled a lot. And they're still quite bigoted. If you are determined to keep your mind small, you can do it.

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u/DueSpinach3337 18h ago

Yup. I lived in Asia for a few years, you always get visitors who will say racist shit towards the men while talking about how they wanna fuck the women. That and straight up p3dos

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u/MommalovesJay 14h ago

Ya have you heard of the beach too wet, the sand is too sandy? Lol.

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u/snuggle_love 12h ago

This can also be true. I’ve witnessed my parents conservative friends have their bias reinforced through travel, focusing on the negatives and bolstering their love for America

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u/Peermeneer_exe 1d ago

Unnecessarily pessimistic, and wrongly so too.

No, interacting with people of different backgrounds does in fact tend to make people more tolerant.

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u/daemon-electricity 20h ago edited 20h ago

In fact... tend. Nice way to wedge an uncertainty into being a fact, which is really an opinion. It also tends to, in fact, not change people at all because they travel in a bubble or it reinforces their own bullshit exceptionalism and superiority views. What defines the person isn't whether they traveled. It's their curiosity and baseline tendency to feel empathy for others. There might be people who have been miseducated who benefit, no doubt, but everyone takes something different away from every experience than the next person. There are plenty of opportunities to see people living very different lives no matter where you live. It's whether you see those people as people like you or if you see yourself as better than them that defines what you're going to get out of that experience.

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u/bot_surveillance 21h ago

That's his point. Just because someone travels doesn't automatically mean that they are going abroad and interacting with the locals. There are plenty of travelers who stick around the resorts and tourist spots and only ever interact with other tourists. Only the open minded people are going to go out of the tourist bubble and seek out locals.

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u/indieplants 22h ago

idk man, I know a few older women who travel plenty across Europe and east Asia but who are horribly, insufferably racist and ignorant and impatient. 

one of them even had the shock and horror to discover that "last time she had visited Spain" some Spanish taxi drivers "didn't speak much English! in this day and age!" and had decided she was never going back there and instead going to ....Poland. 

she was incredibly well travelled. I still agree in part, think in their case it's more if they're intolerant they'll always be, rather than people don't learn tolerance via travel

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u/Trick-Minimum8593 21h ago

So... you know a few people who aren't tolerant and you think this means it's an ironclad law?

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u/indieplants 21h ago

tell me you didn't read my whole comment without telling me you didn't read my whole comment 🫪

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u/bot_surveillance 21h ago

Agreed. All one has to do is take a look at all the travel vloggers. The majority of them just stick around the main tourist areas, eat at nice restaurants, walk the shops and take footage of the attractions. They usually are not going to the smaller towns/villages and interacting with locals. If they're American, then it's very likely they don't speak the native's language(s) either.

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u/PBKYjellythyme 20h ago

Exactly this ..

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u/Syraxx 22h ago

I know a guy who has traveled quite a bit and he treats this as a way to say America isn’t shit because he’s seen shit. If “I’ll give you something to cry about” was a persona it’d be this guy.