One thing that’s not obvious to first world country folks is that family commitments is a fairly tight albatross around the neck of many people you suggest “just travel”. They can’t afford to take a holiday, probably because the wages are daily, or vacation policies are just stringent, or maybe simply any vacation has to be spent with family both voluntarily and involuntarily instead. I didn’t intend to personally say you need to check your privilege but I have no other way to put it: even your reply seems to be brimming with privilege. It’s not always liquid money, it’s the lack of burdens and commitments, it’s the assurance you have when you know you can go back home and get a job pronto. It’s the lack of bad decisions in a young age some self inflicted some imposed by society and family that closes in on your freedom significantly. These are things you wouldn’t consider if you didn’t experience yourself.
Hah, somehow this is the first time someone’s told me to check my privilege on the internet! Time to celebrate :)
...Except you seem to have completely ignored the actual words in my comment. I was explicitly not talking about my experience (as you’ve astutely deduced, I’m a privileged guy from a first world country.) I was talking about the direct words of countless people I’ve hosted through Couchsurfing, the majority (!) of which were from countries that my guests themselves would describe as third world and impoverished. I’m simply repeating the words spoken to me by many a traveler down to their last pennies: their almost religious creed, which they will repeat happily, that anyone can travel no matter how broke. Whenever I would ask if I could tell their story, they insisted I should, proud of it as a giant middle finger to the cynics of the world. So when you respond with “check your privilege”, you’re really telling an impoverished Ukrainian guy whose house was bombed to pieces to check his privilege - I'm simply the storyteller for him and his compatriots, because HN rarely intersects with their world.
I would implore you to talk to the same people you claim cannot exist - the millions of impoverished travelers of the world. I don’t think I do their stories justice. But the ridiculous claim that they cannot exist, that they must live their lives without so much as a sunset (!) as you said - that to me is disgusting and strips them from their agency as humans. But hey, take it up with them, I suppose. Feel free to pick up a hitchhiker and lecture him how he doesn’t and shouldn’t exist - but don’t forget to tell him to check his privilege before you let him out.
But I didn’t say that they are all as a group incapable of travel. Of course some of them are, some enlightened souls in the maddening rat race decide they’ll exit on their own terms and travel. But most can’t. Maybe they don’t have the will and are thus deserving of their fates, but going back to the original question that began this topic, the billions of folks who can’t travel (according to you because they are too weak to decide to) have the ability to get a better idea of what else is happening with screens so their lives can be slightly more tolerable.
>But I didn’t say that they are all as a group incapable of travel.
That's true, my bad.
That said: It's not just a few people that have exited the rat race. In many impoverished countries there is no rat race even available to join if one wanted. True youth unemployment is higher than the official numbers in pretty much every country on the planet, and even by those official numbers there are several large countries with the majority of the youth unemployed.
>the billions of folks who can’t travel (according to you because they are too weak to decide to)
I never said that. In fact, I respect people who would never want to travel regardless of the opportunity - it's an unusual preference to have. Amusingly enough I believe people like this are partially necessary to preserve the magic of travel; many of the most authentic characters I meet, rich or poor, are people who are 100% their village, they were born there and will die there. Those people are often the fabric of their local community.
Worth noting, I don't disagree with your initial assertion, which I'll summarize as "if your life sucks, a screen can be a good escape." What I disagreed with is that the urban poor can't watch sunsets, or that money is a prerequisite for travel.
Anyway, to articulate my point clearer, what I dislike is stripping agency from the poor. Yes, obviously, living in poverty is devastating to your health and happiness and stress and so many other things. But it doesn't mean you can't watch a sunset, or that it's impossible to travel. So, hey, if you can and you want to, stick out your thumb and see where it takes you.
