Spend money (waste fuel, and worse: waste precious time) to go to touristic places so they can take the exact same picture/video everyone else has taken, and share it on the exact same social networks everyone else has done. Why not just buy a postcard or repost a photo already shared. Why not, you know, look around and suddenly realize there are many other things worth looking at… things that may not even be that remote from where they live.
For me, that’s one of the most extreme demonstration of generalized craziness, if not worse. Or maybe it’s just me who’s crazy (or worse)?
The point of a photo is to remember something you did. Not generally the photo itself.
Why then share it? I don’t share the (very few) photos I take.
Resharing someone else’s photo is not even similar to going somewhere and capturing the moment.
I should have added a ‘\s’ to my sentence ;)
When you’re old those photos might be all you have left.
Sure, memories are priceless and they may differ for everyone. I mean, I’m old(er) and I much prefer words to images myself (I’ve been journaling for almost 50 years). Also, I don’t care to remember seing the Eiffel Tower (even less so since I live in Paris, which is a privileged place to observe tourists), or NY, or Bangkok, or any other place in particular. I wish to remember people.
Note that I simply answered the OP question (what is the craziest thing you have seen a tourist do). I may be wrong, like I hinted to in my previous comment, but to this still is the most mind boggling stupid thing I can see people do over and over again every singled day… the moment I pass in one of those few Parisian streets full of tourists ;)
The craziest thing you’ve seen is people behaving the same as a photographer who came before then? You sound mad about other people being excited that they finally saved enough and took an opportunity to enjoy themselves. People go to places to see things because that’s what tourism is. Do you not try to do things yourself because others have done it before you? Did you know that tour groups are a business formed to do exactly what you think is crazy?
There is a remarkable detachment between you and the people who are trying to have fun.
The craziest thing you’ve seen is people behaving the same as a photographer who came before then? You sound mad about other people being excited that they finally saved enough and took an opportunity to enjoy themselves. People go to places to see things because that’s what tourism is. Do you not try to do things yourself because others have done it before you? Did you know that tour groups are a business formed to do exactly what you think is crazy?
There is a remarkable detachment between you and the people who are trying to have fun.
Let me recap your reply:
Do you not try
Did you know
There is a remarkable detachment between you and the people who are trying to have fun
and
You sound mad about other people
Pardon me, but who exactly sounds mad, here?
It’s possible I’m over-interpreting the way you answered and maybe, like me, English is not you native language and you may not master it enough to express all the nuances of your deep and rich opinions and thoughts. It is such a pain, it happens to me all the time too.
So, to make it clear, I answered a question without worrying much about pleasing anyone, yourself included hope you won’t mind me saying so. And I answered what I thought was the craziest thing I see tourists do.
What I never tried to answer is this question you pulled out of the fleshy sitting part of your anatomy:
The craziest thing you’ve seen is people behaving the same as a photographer who came before then?
To put it politely, it’s quite unfair to change the question and then criticize my supposed answer to it. What was it you were saying? Oh, yeah: there is a remarkable detachment between you and the actual facts.
So, once again, I was only talking about tourists doing tourtisty things, and nothing else. I was not talking about people in general or crazy things in general. But since you asked, let me tell you you probably don’t want to know the craziest shit I’ve seen people do. And, no, they were not mere tourists behaving like mere tourists. Unless the tourist you know have a tendency to end up in jail, too?
That said, I’m grateful for the time you spend trying to help me realize the absolute dick I was by daring sharing my unflattering opinions on tourists behaving like tourists. Allow me to oblige in return. I insist.
To recap, all I did is express my personal unflattering opinion on a question about tourists, right?
To which you answered by expressing your own and rather unflattering opinion on the kind of person I must be, right?
But then, if 1. makes a dick out of me, what does 2. make out of you? Right.
So, to summarize, it seems we both have diverging personal and unflattering opinions. That’s great! I am always so happy to meet people willing to discuss without anger or being dismissive to one another, even more so when those two persons have slightly diverging opinions on very delicate topics.
Once again, from one dick to another, thank you very much for what I consider a very enriching discussion.
People share photos to seek validation that they are interesting and are doing interesting things. Is this very classy? Not really, but it’s true. It’ll always be true. I don’t really think there’s much point in judging people too heavily for it. We’re all just apes enslaved to whatever acts cause our body to release good chemicals.
I think there is a point at which it may be unhealthy if someone is only doing things for validation without taking any personal satisfaction at all, and tourism especially should be done respectfully and after a certain amount of tourists are in an area I do think it defeats the beauty, but I think deep down we all know why tourists are a thing, and why sharing pictures online is a thing.
Thx. Agreed. And yes, we all know why it is a thing.
When I answered to Chico Suave’s slightly less amiable comment I wanted to share a few links to what I consider interesting reads. Then I read your comment and thought maybe they would be read with a lot less hostility if I shared them here.
They’re in no order of importance and they’re a bit redundant too (there were many more, hopefully anyone will find one more exciting to read) and they may help better understand my opinion on tourism in general (and their photographic laziness in particular). It may also be worth saying that we do our best to put our money where our mouth is as, both my spouse and I, we decided some 25 years ago to quit traveling by plane to fancy places (at the time we realized the ecological crisis that was to come and because it suddenly seemed to us an inexcusable waste of energy just to satisfy our mere ‘leisure’ needs), and soon after that we also quit flying for work. No revolution mind you, and no ‘no fun allowed’ either, we made all our ‘touristic’ activities local and all our work travels/meetings virtual.
So if anyone is interested, about tourism (there are others, I simply grabbed the first few not obviously AI-written results I could find):
And if anyone is interested in trying to make…less touristic images (not that I’m a pro myself, far from it but isn’t it exciting to try to do better?) a few quick/easy suggestions:
Have you never traveled anywhere, and taken a picture while you were there? I bet you have. We’re all tourists sometimes, even if you’re usually the cool one who lives in the cool place Paris that other people go to, at some time somewhere you were a tourist too.
Spend money (waste fuel, and worse: waste precious time) to go to touristic places so they can take the exact same picture/video everyone else has taken, and share it on the exact same social networks everyone else has done. Why not just buy a postcard or repost a photo already shared. Why not, you know, look around and suddenly realize there are many other things worth looking at… things that may not even be that remote from where they live.
For me, that’s one of the most extreme demonstration of generalized craziness, if not worse. Or maybe it’s just me who’s crazy (or worse)?
Edit: added a missing word.
The point of a photo is to remember something you did. Not generally the photo itself.
Resharing someone else’s photo is not even similar to going somewhere and capturing the moment.
When you’re old those photos might be all you have left.
Why then share it? I don’t share the (very few) photos I take.
I should have added a ‘\s’ to my sentence ;)
Sure, memories are priceless and they may differ for everyone. I mean, I’m old(er) and I much prefer words to images myself (I’ve been journaling for almost 50 years). Also, I don’t care to remember seing the Eiffel Tower (even less so since I live in Paris, which is a privileged place to observe tourists), or NY, or Bangkok, or any other place in particular. I wish to remember people.
Note that I simply answered the OP question (what is the craziest thing you have seen a tourist do). I may be wrong, like I hinted to in my previous comment, but to this still is the most mind boggling stupid thing I can see people do over and over again every singled day… the moment I pass in one of those few Parisian streets full of tourists ;)
The craziest thing you’ve seen is people behaving the same as a photographer who came before then? You sound mad about other people being excited that they finally saved enough and took an opportunity to enjoy themselves. People go to places to see things because that’s what tourism is. Do you not try to do things yourself because others have done it before you? Did you know that tour groups are a business formed to do exactly what you think is crazy?
There is a remarkable detachment between you and the people who are trying to have fun.
Let me recap your reply:
and
Pardon me, but who exactly sounds mad, here?
It’s possible I’m over-interpreting the way you answered and maybe, like me, English is not you native language and you may not master it enough to express all the nuances of your deep and rich opinions and thoughts. It is such a pain, it happens to me all the time too.
So, to make it clear, I answered a question without worrying much about pleasing anyone, yourself included hope you won’t mind me saying so. And I answered what I thought was the craziest thing I see tourists do.
What I never tried to answer is this question you pulled out of the fleshy sitting part of your anatomy:
To put it politely, it’s quite unfair to change the question and then criticize my supposed answer to it. What was it you were saying? Oh, yeah: there is a remarkable detachment between you and the actual facts.
So, once again, I was only talking about tourists doing tourtisty things, and nothing else. I was not talking about people in general or crazy things in general. But since you asked, let me tell you you probably don’t want to know the craziest shit I’ve seen people do. And, no, they were not mere tourists behaving like mere tourists. Unless the tourist you know have a tendency to end up in jail, too?
That said, I’m grateful for the time you spend trying to help me realize the absolute dick I was by daring sharing my unflattering opinions on tourists behaving like tourists. Allow me to oblige in return. I insist.
But then, if 1. makes a dick out of me, what does 2. make out of you? Right.
So, to summarize, it seems we both have diverging personal and unflattering opinions. That’s great! I am always so happy to meet people willing to discuss without anger or being dismissive to one another, even more so when those two persons have slightly diverging opinions on very delicate topics.
Once again, from one dick to another, thank you very much for what I consider a very enriching discussion.
I have no problems being a dick.
People share photos to seek validation that they are interesting and are doing interesting things. Is this very classy? Not really, but it’s true. It’ll always be true. I don’t really think there’s much point in judging people too heavily for it. We’re all just apes enslaved to whatever acts cause our body to release good chemicals.
I think there is a point at which it may be unhealthy if someone is only doing things for validation without taking any personal satisfaction at all, and tourism especially should be done respectfully and after a certain amount of tourists are in an area I do think it defeats the beauty, but I think deep down we all know why tourists are a thing, and why sharing pictures online is a thing.
Thx. Agreed. And yes, we all know why it is a thing.
When I answered to Chico Suave’s slightly less amiable comment I wanted to share a few links to what I consider interesting reads. Then I read your comment and thought maybe they would be read with a lot less hostility if I shared them here.
They’re in no order of importance and they’re a bit redundant too (there were many more, hopefully anyone will find one more exciting to read) and they may help better understand my opinion on tourism in general (and their photographic laziness in particular). It may also be worth saying that we do our best to put our money where our mouth is as, both my spouse and I, we decided some 25 years ago to quit traveling by plane to fancy places (at the time we realized the ecological crisis that was to come and because it suddenly seemed to us an inexcusable waste of energy just to satisfy our mere ‘leisure’ needs), and soon after that we also quit flying for work. No revolution mind you, and no ‘no fun allowed’ either, we made all our ‘touristic’ activities local and all our work travels/meetings virtual.
So if anyone is interested, about tourism (there are others, I simply grabbed the first few not obviously AI-written results I could find):
And if anyone is interested in trying to make…less touristic images (not that I’m a pro myself, far from it but isn’t it exciting to try to do better?) a few quick/easy suggestions:
Have you never traveled anywhere, and taken a picture while you were there? I bet you have. We’re all tourists sometimes, even if you’re usually the cool one who lives in the cool place Paris that other people go to, at some time somewhere you were a tourist too.