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Is there anywhere you would refuse to visit (including American states, if you are from the US) because of moral or personal convictions? I have a very well traveled friend that refuses to go to several Asian countries because of animal cruelty issues and sex trafficking. It got me thinking.
It’s not a moral thing, but the I95 corridor between NJ and Massachusetts imprinted itself really negatively on my brain while growing up. I’m not even from the South originally. I realize a lot of it is silliness now, but it’s still an area I have no intention of going to unless I REALLY have to.
Other than that, no. I’m not a person who thinks in moral terms, but if I were to do so, places like N. Korea, Iran, and possibly Cuba and Venezuela might make my list of moral no-no visits, but as it is, the insanity and danger are the draw. It’s one thing to see it on the news or in a doc, quite another to actually be there.
We're trying to avoid spending money in Alabama this year for political reasons. (And we're a household who normally has no issue with visiting places where we really disagree with the local political scene, I mean we've had tons of fun while coexisting with FLDS families in Utah, but the state of Alabama has done some things that have gone way too far.)
Some cities in Alabama are actually “blue” in this predominantly “red” state, if that’s the concern: Tuskegeee, Selma, Birmingham, Huntsville, and Montgomery.
Have been to Birmingham and Montgomery. The former actually has a day’s worth of decent attractions, the civil rights based ones and the art museum. The art museum has the best and most extensive collection of Wedgewood porcelain I’ve ever seen. Montgomery has a couple interesting attractions, including museums dedicated to Rosa Parks and Hank Williams, some MLK Jr. and other civil rights based attractions, one of the Confederate White Houses (another is in Richmond), and some other things. Its capitol building, though, is arguably one of the plainest I’ve ever seen, especially inside.
The only places I wont go to are areas of war. Otherwise, anything goes as encountering those with other laws or views enhances my education and understanding of different countries and people.
My view pretty much. I'll only limit my travel out of fear for personal safety. I leave the politics to the politicians.
Some incredibly sad, and dare I say it closed minded 'justifications' here. Really quite lame actually.
Now I fully agree on people not wanting to travel to certain places based on safety grounds. But to rule out an entire country because you think it has animal cruelty is a joke. Does that person think that everyone there supports animal cruelty for example?
Refusing to visit a country due to 'sex tourism'? Come on seriously? whats it got to do with you? your tourist dollars arent going into the pocket of the pimps, prostitutes or gang leaders unless you're taking part. Its still technically illegal, and just like ALL over america and EVERY country, prostitutes will continue to ply their trade.
I wonder if people who condemn an entire country based on some small things realise just how similar to fundamentalist lunatics they sound.
A lot of people wont visit Myanmar (aka burma) because of ethnic cleansing happening against the Rohingya people. I went last year. Its an amazing wonderful country with amazing, friendly people. The guy cooking me breakfast in the morning, my hotel owner, the tuk tuk driver, the tour guide, my boat captain, all those people earning a living off the tourist money had absolutely nothing to do with the crazy politics of the country happening 1000 miles away, and are just regular people trying to earn an honest living. Sure, I dont agree with the politics of the situation, but I'm not going to let it stop me from having rich rewarding life experiences.
While I won't put it as harshly (ultimately, I don't care what others decide to do with their money), some of the responses do puzzle me. Sex trafficking is a huge problem throughout the world, to include the USA and other "first world" nations.
Then we have to look into how far back we should go when deciding to hold something against a country. Indeed, just about EVERY civilization is guilty of cruelty in war/peace, and genocidal behavior isn't unique to certain people. Hell, I have had to provide evidence to many that many Native American tribes committed genocide against other Native American tribes, to include the Iroquois Confederacy, which completely wiped out the Erie People!
To close, I am concerned how these decisions to not travel will impact the neediest in the blacklisted countries, many of whom rely on tourism dollars and would sell themselves to the highest pimp if they aren't able to make an honest living via, say, tourism.
The strip isn't actually inside Las Vegas! It's outside the city limits in an unincorporated part (Paradise) of Clark County.
Fair enough . . . I didn't realize that but good to know! It is weird, however, how the hotels on the strip (to include the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, where I stayed last month) have listed addresses of Las Vegas (the Cosmopolitan's address is 3708 S Las Vegas Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89109). In any case, I'd imagine that folks who refer to Las Vegas' supposed vices won't make the distinction between the strip being technically in Paradise vs. Las Vegas
What alarms me is when people say they wouldn't visit an entire region, i.e. the middle east or asia because it has nothing to do with a particular regime or philosophy. At that point it's just based on fear and/or xenophobia.
I knew that one was coming.
And it honestly doesn't matter because people can spend their tourist dollars however they see fit. People who are trying to protect themselves and heed travel warnings are always labeled as xenophobic, prejudiced or fill-in-the-blank. Bottom line is, my money is my money.
I don't plan to ever leave the U.S. or even contiguous U.S., but even if I did, I would ABSOLUTELY NOT visit somewhere that same-sex sexual activity is still illegal and/or slavery is still permitted (for that matter, I don't think those federal governments even deserve help from developed countries). Same-sex marriage being illegal, extremely poor environmental policy and segregating by race/religion/gender/sexual orientation would be severe deterrent to me too.
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