I visited Thailand for a few reasons, but definitely being able to afford a lavish vacation was part of the draw. But as it turned out, I got to know a few locals and really fell in love with the country. Sadly, I haven’t had a chance to go back because the flight is so long and expensive.
I was on a sort of cultural tour. Yeah, we visited a clothier and a jewelry store and super-upscale restaurants, but we also visited roadside booths, temples, a school, a Karen tribe, and walking markets. And I’m a bit of an introvert, but I made a real effort to interact with and get to know some of the locals.
Going there changed me. Not in any way that is easy to describe. I didn’t go a nazi and come back a communist or anything. But that experience has kinda echoed forward through the rest of my life. It has reframed my thinking about some things.
Anyway, I would just suggest that while you’re probably largely right, sometimes folks get enlightened by the experience through no intent of their own.
cinoreus@lemmy.world 6 hours ago
I don’t think they would readily socialise with locals like she did
sad_detective_man@sopuli.xyz 5 hours ago
They do. They kind of change personalities when they get out of the country. Don’t know if it’s no longer being surrounded by clones to reaffirm their convictions or just the experience of being in a culture that operates on different rules than “most confident person in the room is automatically right and also a super genius”.
But I’ve seen literal chuds suddenly get very stealthy about their shit when they’re not in Murica no more