2 US Tourists Face Charges For Damaging Colosseum

[David2074]

Pirupi

David2074

Unfortunately the shop owners I spoke to were not going by ignorant assumptions but rather basing their opinions on observations over time. On at least one occasion I was present to witness some of what formed their opinions. Not that they necessarily thought all Americans are exactly the same any more than all folks from any country. But they did grow to expect some things to be more likely than others. On the whole I was typically more polite than average so I was probably at the other end of the spectrum from what they had some to expect.

That's often the case, though, because of confirmation bias and the fallacy of composition. People have the same ideas about people of different people for the same reasons. I've only personally known one such person who spoke at length about their biases, but they justified their beliefs based on their observations too. Bad experiences and the like. It was sad.

The thing that gets to me isn't the bias, it's that they were rude enough to comment on their own biases. It's like a backhanded compliment. Like, "Wow, you're really non-violent for a man." I'm certainly more cautious around men, but not because I actually believe they are bad people, and I would never say something that degrades their gender by saying, "It's so nice that you're not like the others." If I did, I would be the one who's acting like a jerk.

I get what you are saying but in fairness I think the comment was based on feelings brought to the surface by another American there at the same time who was being a bit of an a**. And I can't remember if it was the same incident or not but stuff like there was this pretty fat American who was both a bit rude and was wearing a t-shirt that said "World's largest supply of natural gas". A real class act. It's been a lot of years but so my memory of the specifics is hazy but I don't recall being particularly offended at the time due to the circumstances. Plus the person who said it was quite nice to me.

I can recall other times where the bias was not verbalized but was obvious in other ways. I found those situations more offensive but fortunately I didn't experience too many of them. Two dozen or so countries and my experience was mostly that if you are kind and respectful of other people they treat you the same.

[xdivision_whitey]

Pirupi

xdivision_whitey

Really wish we could flog people at times for certain times.

They're gonna be flogged financially. I'll bet they wouldn't do it again.

Just not the same.

[Texadar]

xXFurygeistXx

I think what historical sites should think of doing is getting large rocks, boulders, wooden structures installed that people can then pay to deface by carving or writing their names on. I understand that people want to be a part of history, so this would give them that chance without defacing the sites proper. The money made could then go to restoration efforts and upkeep of the site, including the hire of more people to watch and protect said sites. People get to make their mark on history without defacing the actual monuments themselves and the site gets money to help maintain these relics of our past. Win win. A few hundred or thousand years down the road, the graffiti stones will likely be looked at with the same awe and reverence as the monuments they served to protect.

People often don't understand the ramifications of such actions, and that can be said of people all throughout history. Hell, the pyramids have historic graffiti by the builders themselves in them, so the urge to deface and put one's mark on history has been around for quite some time. It doesn't excuse their actions, but it does explain their stupidity.

Ironically said graffiti ends up being more historically valuable than the buildings themselves