My experience has always been if you’re not looking for trouble, you probably won’t find it, and if you don’t act like a dick, you won’t get treated like one. It’s the dumb shits who act like they’re better than people with less money and arrogantly flaunt their status that get messed with.

If you’re not stupid about where you go, treat people like human beings and get to know them on a friendly level, you don’t need some guide. The overwhelming majority of people are civilized, even if they don’t have very much. And many poor people wish that more people would realize that and not feel like they should be scared or they’re about to get robbed. That was one of the main themes of Basquiat’s works.

Take this part from the article, for instance: “It was shocking,” says fellow Toronto resident Yanik Baron. “The living conditions are worse, the comunidade makeup is more complex than I could have imagined . . . and the people in there are nicer than you would imagine. Real people, trying hard to make a living outside a system that merely pities them.”

That’s important. This guy learned something, he gained some appreciation, and him being able to see the poor as normal human beings is probably going to make him more inclined to help people when he gets back home, or maybe just shy away less from being acquaitances with someone less fortunate (but do you have poor people in Canada?). And I’m sure the people he met enjoyed being able to show their culture to someone one and to show that there is more to them than just their poverty.

In the western world, the media hides the real face of poverty as much as they can. They don’t want the middle and upper classes to realize just how inhumanely and sickly the elites are taking advantage of so many people all across the globe, because if most people took time off from their daydream lives to see what was really happening, they wouldn’t stand for it. Seems like it’s that way all over: “Historically, the Brazilian elite have tried to ignore us. Block us from view. Pretended we’re not even part of the landscape,” Quirino says.

These global elites are the sick monsters, not poor people. It was a revelation for people in the US to see just how poorly people were living in New Orleans when Katrina was the big story (it still should be). The US may be a wealthy country, but the poor here are desperately poor. The high infant mortality rate here is criminal. So people seeing the human side of poverty firsthand (you can’t really understand someone else’s experience from TV or a book), as well seeing the true depths of the struggle, is a good thing.

What sounds bad to me from the article are the companies that are now coming in to promote it like a dangerous expedition. Obviously, nothing I wrote above applies in that situation. That’s ignorant and offensive, and it’s going to have so many negative effects that are just going to set the residents back. But that’s what big money does. Anyone taking a “tour” on a premise like that is a dick and deserves to get messed with.

Orlando & that whole surrounding area is sick w/ crime (i.e. Crime Hills).
& Like DA’REALESTWRITIN’ pointed out, its a show for them. Hopefully they get a sense of gratitude for their place in life & a inclination to give back to better their society, but I doubt that happens.

” I think rich people & poor people shoud switch places [every few weeks], that way they can see how hard it is…”
-Tupac

Yeah my dude, thats what im talkin about. Take em on down the Trail, LMFAO.
Like I said, *click click*

1 hunned.

Or maby they just wanna get robbed
half way across the globe, any tourist is a easy target for any pickpockter.

THAT WHITE DUDE: I don’t see anything hypocritical about suggesting that it’s not cool to take ghetto tours. There’s a lot of ways people can get involved with these communities and actually contribute something, as opposed to just doing random tourist drive-bys.