[Culturechat] Rick Steves Op-Ed

[Gerald J. Clancy, Jr.]

Hate to do this but, as someone who has been abroad some 26 times and 
worked with a wide range of Europeans, I found this a very Pollyanna view 
of the world, somewhat self-serving, probably well-intentioned and 
incredibly naive. Sure, travel does enhance understanding, but the "Gee, if 
only we'd travel more, everything would be alright" view of the world 
totally ignores the political, religious, ethnic and economic reasons 
behind why people do the often bad things they do. Travel won't convert the 
Taliban. And don't even get me started on his U.N. comments.

Jerry

At 04:38 PM 10/26/2004, Brian Taussig-Lux wrote:
>This just came across my desk and I thought some of you might enjoy it as 
>much as I did...
>
>http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/columnist/2004-10-17-steves_x.htm