The Backpacker Moral Code

[tom]

Once upon a time people hit the road to find out who they were and who everyone else in the world was. They left their home countries and ventured out into the unknown, braving new cultures and concepts, learning to blend organically into foreign societies as they went.

Now, thanks to the "Lonely Planet":http://www.roadjunky.com/guide/865/lonely-planet-travel-guides and the rest of the middle of the road, bourgeois guidebooks, every traveler and backpacker hits the road with a firm list of principles and concepts about how to behave abroad.

The traveler's moral code these days consists of various sententious notions such as:

One must support sustainable travel
i.e. plane journeys must be kept to a minimum, water filters carried instead of buying plastic bottles of h20 and as much time should be spent in eco-friendly destinations as possible.

One mustn't haggle too much
i.e. Every market experience is a cultural exchange, not a financial transaction, don;t try to drive the price down too much.

One must never give money to children, only perhaps school pens and sweets
i.e. money would only encourage the kids to beg for life and reduces the backpacker's interaction with the locals to a series of handouts.

Nauseous Hypocrisy

It's not so much that this kind of thinking is altogether wrong - it is sickening to see an Israeli traveler bargain over the last 5 centavos with a poor Brazilian - but it's the self-righteous air that accompanies these traveling saints that makes them unbearable. There are no rules, there are just situations. What a traveler should do in any given scenario is just to stop, look, listen and then go with their gut feeling - not consult the backpacker's bible first.

The reality is that on the road there are plenty of people willing to charge ten times the price to naive travelers, everyone catches planes because they're convenient and some kids could really do with the money. There is no one right response.

Rumour has it that forthcoming editions of the Lonely Planet will have cut-out halos for the holier-than-thou traveler...

[ohio]

I don't know, tom. Travelers have a responsibility in what they do. They should leaves things as close to the way they found the as possible to save the experience for the next traveler. You especially shouldn't leave trash in a national park or beautiful place. Well, it doesn't really matter, karma catches up with everyone in time....

[jim]

Quantum theory... an observer by nature changes reality.

I think what Tom is saying is that it's not as simple to reduce the ethical do's and dont's as a traveler to a simple list. ... it's all relative...

One's head might explode trying to imagine all of the implications of the purchases we make in today's world, with depleting resources, exploitation, cruel animal farms, etc... truth is you just don't know what the effects are of, say, buying a bottle of coca-cola. Think too hard about and you'll be up in the woods drinking spring water and clothing yourself with pine needles in no time.

[pear]

My mom's friend travels all over the place, but won't buy bottled water or clothes because she doesn't want to pollute or accidently buy anything made by child labor...

Then she comes back home, jumps in her Yukon, drives it all over town and waters her lawn everyday, no matter if it's her day to water or not.

To say the least, she puzzles me. And I think this is the kind of traveler Tom is talking about. The American who thinks they are somehow saving an entire country by only staying in eco-lodges. Sure, try to do the least amount of damage as possible, hopefully like you'd do at home, but don't be arrogant about it.

[rocco]

When I read this thread, before reading the author's name, I knew it was you, Tom!
Ethics and travel, what a complex matter! In my experience as a so called "expedition leader" in some of the remotest corners of Africa I think I've seen it all, from the Swiss guy who takes it all off and uses soap in a waterhole in the middle of the Sahara desert among 50 touaregs (p.s.: this guy is still alive 'cause I was there) to the wealthy lady who bargains to the cent for a hamer leather skirt, just to show her friends she's more clever, to the assault photographer who only aims at stealing "authentic" shots, to the travel journalist who pays 15 Mursi warriors 100 bucks to pose naked on a tree with their weapons in order to make it "more real", to the German and Russian babes in topless on the beaches of Egypt or Zanzibar and, on the other side, from the wannabeamissionary lady who pretends to visit every school/dispensary/church during the tour, kissing and blessing all the children she finds on her way, displaying pityful comments, stupid theories on the origins of poverty and wealth and handing pens, books and second hand clothes, to the Italian gynecologist who visits every pregnant woman she finds in the bush and then pretends to introduce her to the westwern standard of hygene, to the one who believes any sad story he's told and gives money to whoever asks some. The list could go on. I can tell I do not like the aggressive/raptor/euro-centric attitude of the formers, nor the afro-centric/sympathetic/on-the-side-of-the-natives approach of the latters who dress their attitude with a sense of superiority, believing they know what's right and wrong.

Away from any possible generalisation, the traveller should adapt to every different situation and behave accordingly. There's no rule, there can't be. Using water filters may help, as well as trying to favour locally run business when choosing a hostel/hotel/restaurant, but it is the concept of travelling for pure pleasure which can be immoral in countries where the problem of most people is to make breakfast and dinner match. The fact that in this era whoever has money can get access to any kind of travel is the critical point. The selection once made by the harshness of the road does no longer exist. More than once I said to some of my clients after whitnessing some of the things listed above "the fact that you have the money to be here doesn't mean you deserve to be here". There are just people who should not be given a passport.

[ohio]

Well, there is some shit on that travelers get involved in that's just wrong. For example, child sex tourism in SE Asia, or paying $100 to blow shit up in Cambodia with a bazooka. Well, you get the point. Generally, the same rules apply whether you're travelling or staying home. Really, I'm not sure that I meet that many travelers with the holier than thou attitude. The guidebooks are a little ridiculous about it, and only a complete moron would actually believe that they're doing something constructive or right by respecting the "authorities" in some third world corrupt government or national park or whatever. Well, I really do think people get what they deserve in the end, good or bad.

[markymark]

i think that there is a code of ethics that everyone should have as an intrinsic part of their humanity, whether you're traveling or not. some people use religion for an excuse to be humane, but i don't think you need anything other than some concept that other people exist in this world and your decisions affect everyone. you need to tailor your viewpoint for where you are in the world, but you should still try to be responsible.

that said, i think people travel for different reasons and shouldn't feel obligated to follow guidelines printed up by lonely planet or the holier-than-thous. as ohio said, there aren't a ton of them, but those people piss me off - pretentious bastards. when everyone is throwing trash out the window of a nicaraguan bus or chinese train, whatever it may be, don't join in the fun since you already know you shouldn't.

the jury's still out on blowing shit up in cambodia though...

[Ali Baba]

Are you familiar with Aristotle, Tom?

He said that when considering what is right/wrong one should look into their heart and ask him/herself "Do I want to be the type of person who..." He said there are no absolutes but you should try to achieve a balance between the vice of excess and the vice of deficiency. This balance varies between people and places and may never be fully realised as you learn from each experience and attempt to better yourself.

[tom]

Ali Baba, did you do a line of coke a few days ago? You went on a posting spree, us poor road junkies can't think that fast to reply to so many intelligent comments.

I like the Aristotle line. I always tell hippies that when they shoplift and blow off the karma on the supermarket chain. @Yeha, but do you want to think of yourself as a thief?"

Rocco, can't believe i didn't read your post until now, just hilarious.

[Kieran]

haha, people can be very hypocritical at times, like my mum for instance, she recycles when shes at home, cycles to work, and generally looks out for the world. yet, she only takes package holidays, which usualy included guided trips in a 4x4 which well damages the earth as we all know...god knows how many bottles of water she buys...and then thinks shes "doing good" by sending a guy from Gambia money..when maybe all he really needs is someone to talk to.
It does make me wonder some times. How much and what will it really take for people to start seeing that they need to do what they feel is right..not what society says we should do..