I wonder how they'd feel if tables were turned - farmers all photographing young people on their laptops in cafes etc.
Since westerners were a rare sight in many of the villages I visited, my friends and I found ourselves constantly being photographed, with the local teens and even older adults alike all posing in selfies with us in the background. I’d say we were photographed roughly 20-30 times per day, for the the month we were there. I’m not kidding.
I’m sure we looked like clowns to them with our height and big noses. I found it hilarious and am glad I brought some amusement to these folks.
Side note: I see every person on this thread thinks they aren’t part of the problem. It’s the other people of course! Tourists complaining about other tourists has a real irony to it. Rich people getting mad they have to share the worlds treasures with a growing population of other rich people. Boo boo. A certain percentage of the population is always going to be assholes, whether they live in a place or are just visiting. Instagram isn’t the root cause to why people suck, this too shall pass.
That's even more depressing (if true) than this abomination of "social networks" that we are seeing right now.
But still, even if your point might be true, we should stop giving people easy ways to be degenerates. There should be repercussions or something, but good luck codifying it into a law :)
It's a difficult problem.
You don't always need laws to stop bad behavior. Influential social shame and scorn are often just as effective.
We're literally talking about behavioural modification here. FB + INSTA may not make people assholes, but they certainly reward certain classes of asshole behaviour.
They're not unique in that, but other asshole-promoting loop systems have been around far longer, so we tend to assume they're how things are rather than questioning them.
Which is why "This too shall pass" may not be a valid assumption.
It depends on what problem you're referring to. People going onto private property and damaging locations are a special kind of asshole. They're not regular tourists.
I wondered if we could get a contest running: for every "influencer" picture, see who can find the most unflattering backstage picture for that set. Maybe once people realized that behind each "young and carefree" photo there's a professional photographer, lights, a mobile wardrobe, a ladder, and hundreds of people doing the same, then the madness would stop.
But then I realised that I just re-invented the paparazzi. And if they haven't changed people's perception of Hollywood glamour, neither will this plan.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/mariahoxley/whys-she-so-small
Of course a lot of "tourist attractions" are like that day-in, day-out.
If you go to China, Chinese tourists will want to take pictures of you (assuming you're white). And they really like taking pictures of white kids.
It's kind of funny, but I've never seen anyone react by thinking the Chinese are all selfish jerks. That just wouldn't make sense.
How would you feel if hoards of Chinese people came over to photograph you in your native environment, say, stuck in traffic on your commute, or late to drop your kids off at school, or while they're standing in your front garden while you're up a ladder trying to clear the guttering?
Perhaps you'd tire of that more quickly?
I think the problem in this subthread started when jwmoz decided the "equivalent" of tourists coming to your fields, trampling your crops, and cutting and taking bunches of produce for themselves was tourists coming to a Starbucks and taking pictures.
It is less about a global power imbalance and more about a situational one.
Which is exactly what happens in many countries. In the Netherlands this is a common (and recent) issue with Chinese tourists visiting folkloric villages that have normal people not living there who are not part of the tourism industry as well — like picturesque canal-strewn Giethoorn.
easy, they'd say "thanks! Follow and subscribe!!"