I'mdrunk...im 21 and im sure i'll reagret this post later...

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So I said I would make a post about my Geography and Tourism class...

Mostly I am torn between things. I want to travel, but how do I do it sustainably, responsibly, etc. The commoditization of culture is truely a frightening concept. We pay to see "Primitives" being primitive, even though the ceremony or craft that they can most of the time be completely phony! When is too much just too much! I really want people to travel, because it gives them a broader sense of existence. That other languages, customs and everything can be and usually is completely different then it is here in the US. People might actually realize how ignorant they really are and think globally. It seems tourism if carried out in a responsible fashion, taking in to account the local communities needs, wants, and privacy could actually be sustainable if done the right way, and be educational and beneficial to all sides participating. But unfortuneately it is a utopian ideal to believe that major companies would come in to a under-developed area and actually consider what the locals want, what the 1000 new toilets will do to that ecosystem will do, and whether the tourists themselves actually walk away with an organic real idea of what they have just experienced. Money as usual seems to drives most tourism these days.

I guess that I could go really far in to the detail about the pros and cons of different types of tourism, but I feel like I dont know what to say. Sometimes talking to someone else about things is easier then writing. I was supposed to write a response to a video and class discussion we had, but I just sat there. I coudlnt think of anything that hadn't been said. I nearly went bananas. In the end I printed a measely two pages worth of shit. I feel like if my teacher (who I really like) invited me to her office, I could just tell her all the things I know and feel about the video and class discussion, that writing it really didnt feel like the best communication to prove I know something.

Anyways now I am hyper sensitive to where I travel. Who will benefit and who will suffer by my coming to this country. Am I really getting an organic experience?

(Notice: I have painfully tried not to use the word authentic in this wee passage. I feel it is flawed in many ways when applying it to culture. As far as I am concerned culture is always changing, nothing is static and what was authentic in that time, may not be any longer. You cant expect under-developed places to escape globalization. Times changes, customs come and go. One doesnt go to Las Vegas to see the real Eifel tower, you go for the Las Vegas extraveganza! We can't expect things to stay the same. However this comes full circle, would it stay the same if explorers, reseachers, tourists stayed away? Again this is another reason I have a hard time in this class, it's all up in the air. But yea be careful with the word authentic, in my opinion)

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