… The World Needs Less Tourists and More True Culture Lovers…
As this world becomes more interconnected and distances are
narrowed more people are becoming aware of the diversity of this planet. This is
not only a reality for developed countries or urban cities, but the entire
world is a now under the effect of media and technology that bridges distances
and supplies massive information in no time. As we bump into each other more
frequently and at a faster rate, it is to no surprise that diversity is no
longer something that we can avoid and certainly acknowledging and dealing with
cultural differences are only the basic requirements to live a somewhat
fulfilled life. While it takes much more than just tolerating cultural
differences to fully experience our human potential, this phenomena has also
created a false perspective in celebrating cultural diversity: it has created ‘Disney-Tourists.’
Certain attractions of places may be the center of attention
that draws us to visit them or be interested in that specific culture, but this
deteriorates our experience of the other. The practicing of this ancient tradition
often referred as tourism is not only deteriorating cultural richness but it
undermines our cultural endeavors altogether. Once again the reality of a fast
and interconnected world through technology has shaped our cultural experiences
to be merely data to be interchanged, in which, only certain objects or main
attractions deserve our attention.
The building of stereotypes is made this way. If you get a
glance or a shot of a different culture, the automatic response would be to be
impacted by what is different from your own. However, with time, one picks up
on the similarities. The problem here is the most people are not willing to put
in the time to really get to experience the similarities within cultures giving
that our sense of immersion in another cultural revolves around the desired to
be perplexed by the newness of the experience.
While it is true that the world is making distances shorter
and information a lot more accessible, it is also creating culture and
altogether human experiences superficial. The need to appreciate our
similarities and celebrate our differences arises from an experience that truly
affects us as individuals and not from a data-based description of what culture
is like.
What does the world need? The world needs less tourists and
more true culture lovers. The world need people who are willing to disengage from
the picture-taking and the crave for transitory newness. The world needs people
who are willing to immerge in a culture not for a week or a couple of months on
a giving vacation, but for some years, people who are willing to engage and
sustain in other people’s customs and traditions. Unfortunately, the world
tells otherwise, it points out for us what ‘should’ experience. Technology has
made of culture, a data-transition. It is to no use that we have shorter
distances if we are not truly experiencing the other.
