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Comment by dayvid | Hacker News Reader

Yes, I've traveled to a good amount of countries and the overwhelming corruption or culture which doesn't support fair enterprise is soul crushing. You can say America has it to some extent, but in a lot of places you really don't have a chance at all unless you're born into the right family.

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Travel is such an important part of a well-rounded education because it forces things into perspective. I’m glad it’s becoming cheaper. I dream of the day all kids can do it.

Cheap travel is a horrible thing for the world. Mass tourism has destroyed a lot.

Another, less pleasant way to say this:

You don't want everyone to travel - many people don't have a sense of respect and "light foot" that it takes to travel to foreign places without degrading or damaging them.

I want everyone to travel. It might take a while, but travel is one of the most effective ways to teach people how to have respect for others and behave better. How else will they ever learn?

Tourists might be annoying but scolds, killjoys, and condescending elitists are far worse.

Not everyone has to do everything.

Not everyone wants to (Openness), or could reasonably do a good job of respecting the host culture and environment (Agreeableness and Conscientiousness).

This amounts to “only rich people should be able to travel”

Probably only rich people can afford to travel in a sustainable way. I’m thinking specifically if the carbon costs are priced into airfare (for example), flying may be out of reach for many of us.

This is why there is a global pushback against “climate elitist” policies like carbon tax and congestion pricing

I, for one, will never vote for making my flights more expensive

There are ways to do it where you can get broad buy-in.

For example, say you added a $X / mile flight tax that collected $50 billion dollars in a year. You then take that money and divide it up evenly among all tax payers. Around 200 million people file taxes each year, so that would be a $250 refund to each filer. For people who never fly, that's free money. For people who fly infrequently, they probably break even. People who fly all the time pay a lot more. You reward non-flyers and penalize frequent flyers.

But you're right. We're all selfish. I want you would stop flying because it's bad for the climate but I'm not going to stop because my personal utility from flying is very high.

Rationally yes, but it’s the same deal with the carbon tax where people smell elitism and start seeing red. At least the Canadian version paid out a dividend, and we all know what’s going to happen to that one come next election.

Wait until you hear what the Soviet Union did to its own lands without any tourists whatsoever.

>> [Them] "A causes B"

> [You] "But C also causes B!"

Whataboutism.

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