War Room Lounge v68: The insidious rumour of Belgium

[Trotsky]

I have heard that about the Chinese, that as tourists and students they can be very problematic. I haven't experienced it myself though.

It's a real phenomenon. There has been an historically unprecedented increase in wealth in China, so there is an entire new upper middle class of travelers. Just in the past two decades, the amount of Chinese citizens with passports increased from around 2% to around 10%, making them by far the fastest growing country for exporting tourism. Meanwhile, China isn't an exceedingly cosmopolitan country itself, and the travelers mostly didn't come upon their wealth in international business like many Westerners, so they don't necessarily temper behaviors that are normal, even necessary, in an extremely densely population Chinese metropolis.

British used to be considered (and for my money still are) the worst tourists. Then Americans. Now it's Chinese. Next it will probably be Indians.

That said I don't think he was talking about tourists, I think he was talking about the non-whites who live in Brussels.

Yeah, I forgot to address that little snag. When he called it "high diversity," he wasn't saying there were a lot of foreign tourists.

 

[Fawlty]

Captain Pedantic, you have failed us by allowing flagrant abuse of the word "acronym" in this thread. Please show us the way, ASAP.

 

[Islam Imamate]

It's a real phenomenon. There has been an historically unprecedented increase in wealth in China, so there is an entire new upper middle class of travelers. Just in the past two decades, the amount of Chinese citizens with passports increased from around 2% to around 10%, making them by far the fastest growing country for exporting tourism. Meanwhile, China isn't an exceedingly cosmopolitan country itself, and the travelers mostly didn't come upon their wealth in international business like many Westerners, so they don't necessarily temper behaviors that are normal, even necessary, in an extremely densely population Chinese metropolis.

British used to be considered (and for my money still are) the worst tourists. Then Americans. Now it's Chinese. Next it will probably be Indians.



Yeah, I forgot to address that little snag. When he called it "high diversity," he wasn't saying there were a lot of foreign tourists.

Yeah that's what I figured.

On a related note my cousin travels a lot and she says Americans are a lot more welcoming and polite than Europeans. The main exception being Germans who she says are also very nice.

 

[Gregolian]

Yeah that's what I figured.

On a related note my cousin travels a lot and she says Americans are a lot more welcoming and polite than Europeans. The main exception being Germans who she says are also very nice.

Well Germans are scared of being reminded of the time period between 1935 and 1945

 

[Fawlty]

If anybody wants a go at Sarah Palin, she's single now.

 

[Trotsky]

Yeah that's what I figured.

On a related note my cousin travels a lot and she says Americans are a lot more welcoming and polite than Europeans. The main exception being Germans who she says are also very nice.

Every people has their own sort of personality and it makes different impressions on you depending on your own culture imo. For instance, France has a reputation of exporting very considerate and well-behaved travelers, but it also has a reputation for particularly inhospitable and haughty to foreign travelers, especially if they don't seem to respect the country. With Americans, idk. I think there's probably a starker contrast between rural and urban Americans, for instance, than there is for rural/urban Europeans. But that would just be my guess.

 

[Gregolian]

If anybody wants a go at Sarah Palin, she's single now.

 

[Andy Capp]

It's a real phenomenon. There has been an historically unprecedented increase in wealth in China, so there is an entire new upper middle class of travelers. Just in the past two decades, the amount of Chinese citizens with passports increased from around 2% to around 10%, making them by far the fastest growing country for exporting tourism. Meanwhile, China isn't an exceedingly cosmopolitan country itself, and the travelers mostly didn't come upon their wealth in international business like many Westerners, so they don't necessarily temper behaviors that are normal, even necessary, in an extremely densely population Chinese metropolis.

British used to be considered (and for my money still are) the worst tourists. Then Americans. Now it's Chinese. Next it will probably be Indians.



Yeah, I forgot to address that little snag. When he called it "high diversity," he wasn't saying there were a lot of foreign tourists.

Exactly. Americans sewing Canadian flags to their bags wasn't always because of unpopular wars. At one time, it was practically universally understood that Americans were the most obnoxious tourists. I have been gradually getting swamped with all the anti-Chinese tourist animus and it's a little hard to not agree, having occasion nowadays to interact with them, but thanks to Sherdog, I have a ready mantra to help keep me falling prey to my own and other biases.

Different culture. Hard to judge.

 

[Fawlty]

We gotta hooker her up with Dinesh D'Souza now. Let him lay a full Indian Rope Trick across those gilfy glasses.

 

[Fawlty]

Different culture. Hard to judge.

That's what the lab told me the last time I went in for my bacteria tests.

 

[Higus]

from my understanding, it's predominately Chinese from the mainland. apparently, there was an explosion of the Middle class in China. and people who lived liked Paupers, came into a lot of money.

Umm, there's a bit more to it than that.

 

[Andy Capp]

Captain Pedantic, you have failed us by allowing flagrant abuse of the word "acronym" in this thread. Please show us the way, ASAP.

Sorry to disappoint but there's only one of me; like the mods, who are many, I can't be in every thread at once. This ain't the Justice League, Sherbro.

--Captain Pedantic​

 

[Social Distance Warrior]

Umm, there's a bit more to it than that.

Oh I know...that was just the cliffs, of the cliffs.

 

[Trotsky]

Exactly. Americans sewing Canadian flags to their bags wasn't always because of unpopular wars. At one time, it was practically universally understood that Americans were the most obnoxious tourists. I have been gradually getting swamped with all the anti-Chinese tourist animus and it's a little hard to not agree, having occasion nowadays to interact with them, but thanks to Sherdog, I have a ready mantra to help keep me falling prey to my own and other biases.

Different culture. Hard to judge.

Yeah, conservative Americans really don't appreciate the history of shame in being an American traveler (mostly because they're demonstrably incapable of shame or introspection). It's really hard to explain traveling to places like Cuba, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Iran, etc. as an American to someone who is going to scoff, say "you didn't do those things, though," and call it something like "white guilt" or liberal pussification.

 

[Andy Capp]

Sorry to disappoint but there's only one of me; like the mods, who are many, I can't be in every thread at once. This ain't the Justice League, Sherbro.

--Captain Pedantic​

@Fawlty
Besides,
"If it is important to you to distinguish between acronyms (NATO, NASA) and initialisms (FBI, TGIF) then by all means, do so. But if you are speaking to or writing for a general audience, it’s not an error to generalize all words and labels created from initials or parts of words under the broad term acronym.""

--Captain Pedantic

Please try to make sure you really need me next time, OK? I could be washing my uniform right now.​

 

[Higus]

Oh I know...that was just the cliffs, of the cliffs.

I think it's probably worth pointing out that it wasn't just a new class of nouveau riche that came about, but also that anyone with a cosmopolitan background during that period was probably wiped out. Anyone that could have instilled traveling norms to the current generation either fled the country or worse.

 

[Islam Imamate]

Well Germans are scared of being reminded of the time period between 1935 and 1945

Actually I think they're the most open to talking about the black marks in their history. More so than Americans' I'd say.

Yeah, conservative Americans really don't appreciate the history of shame in being an American traveler (mostly because they're demonstrably incapable of shame or introspection). It's really hard to explain traveling to places like Cuba, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Iran, etc. as an American to someone who is going to scoff, say "you didn't do those things, though," and call it something like "white guilt" or liberal pussification.

Usually the same kind of person who insists that Muslim denounce this or that terror attack. Collective responsibility for thee, individualism for me.

 

[Higus]

If anybody wants a go at Sarah Palin, she's single now.

That family is FUBAR. It feels bad to make fun of them at this point.

 

[Andy Capp]

Shit, just learned Rusty from the Friendly Giant died today. RIP.

 

[Fawlty]

That family is FUBAR. It feels bad to make fun of them at this point.

I'm surprised the grandkids aren't pregnant yet.