That quote from his dad, "this tsunami of hate", isn't the best terminology when your son's travelling to Thailand. I've lost sympathy for him after he claimed to be 'distraught', if you stick any writing in the public domain you have to expect the possibility of drawing flak.
Guardian readers do seem to hate themselves a bit, though (via Gogarty, in this case).
the quote that "being young, bright and middle-class is considered a crime in this country" is the one that got me..
he's talking about the bilious inverted snobbery displayed so clearly in the comments people left.
vimothy said:Guilt is exactly what it is, IMO.
would you say that was the kids fault? or that a lack of imagination (from a 19 year old! shock horror) deserved 400 incredibly unpleasant personal attacks?
It's not the class aspect of the gap-year-travelling idea that bothers me - I'm as middle class as you like - it's more the stunning lack of imagination it betrays.
It's the privileging of this guy's experience when it is so banal and mundane that irks me.
No, of course not, and the more thoughtful complaints were rightfully aimed at the Guardian itself. I think that there is a story in there somewhere but a large part of the herd missed the important bit in their scramble to call him Nathan and mention his friends called Rupert and set him up with fake facebook accounts and the like."or that a lack of imagination (from a 19 year old! shock horror) deserved 400 incredibly unpleasant personal attacks?"
Exactly. You're presuming quite a lot here:I dont know your friend,
!but most of the time i loathe these types even more than Max. Max knows that what he does, millions have done befor him. But people like your mate often think they are real explorers, who know the world, and feel the need in every conversation to let everybody know they've been places, though in the city where they live, there are many places they would never go. No, to "explore" you have to travel half the world, it cant be around the corner.
Whether you like it or not, you are a tourist, and when travelling in the third world, to many people you represent an opportunity to make money, and other people simply are not interested in you. I'm not in the habit of speaking to all kinds of people who visit the place i live in (i have a job, and i like to spend time with family and friends), and i'm pretty sure that goes for most people everywhere. The "friends" you make on these far and away travels are either people who want to make money out of you, or people just like you, students (either native or tourists) whith a lot of time and a reasonable amount of money (the fact they speak english alone assures they are the better educated).
tourism is fine by me, just dont pretend to be a traveller or explorer, wherever you go
As Tom PR said, 100pc
But what happened to the guardian? Why is it a mecca for the disillusioned, the bitter and the broken?
A genuine question: how come the blogs, as they call them, are full up with right wing comments (check out the one supporting Hillary Clinton from a - GASP- feminist perspective today)? Have these cunts got nowhere better to go?
he only got there about a week ago. gap years are not by definition banal and mundane.
all aside from the fact that for him, he probably is exploring. it's all relative maaan.
this is all tapping into something else that irritates. information is so easy to access that everyone is suddenly an expert on everything. all from the comfort of the sitting room. we have nothing left to learn from each other anymore, only inanimate objects. the resultant state of general jadedness, disinterest and lethergy is one of the most unattractive human traits imaginable.
i never said i dislike your friend, i said i often dislike people who make travels like he does, after which i described a typical "traveller". i do believe your friend is a nice guy,