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I'm Tainted

After 40 years of not hearing from an old childhood friend I was contacted by the person. In my brief responce I mentioned that I now live in "Beautiful Central Colombia". Wrong thing to do? I've sent 3 responces. Not one answer. I've lost family too. Intentional Ignorance? The clueless have no sence of inquiry and are simple lemmings following the pack. I'm soooooo better off living here! Viva Colombia.

By Lowell on Oct 18, 2008, 08:59 in Friendly Talkzone.

Lowell says on Oct 18, 2008, 09:00:

Next level please

Alfred E. Newman. "What. Me Worry?"

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Sam Salmon says on Oct 18, 2008, 09:13:

Some people live in fear and *want* to live in fear.

Their ignorance is a comfort to them, for instance there are old friends who wouldn't return my emails after I sent them the pics I took in Colombia.

Having never been out if Canada the world 'outside' is to them a dangerous place and the less they hear of it the better.

' a la orden!'

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Fathertickingtimebomb! says on Oct 18, 2008, 10:47:

Perhaps he is extremely jealous and irritated that he did not have the foresight or the balls to move. Perhaps among the pics you sent was a beautiful young lady and he is angry he does not have one of his own. Perhaps he feels as though he has already made his bed and wishes he hadn't...

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Simon says on Oct 18, 2008, 12:05:

Lowell,

Maybe your friend is just a bigoted POS. Fok him and all the other anti-Colombians!!

"DON'T FOK WITH COLOMBIA!!"-----Simon

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ujay says on Oct 18, 2008, 12:08:

may be he had enough of you at school ,and thinks thank fuck your in colombia ,or they just dont care to e mail you ,nothing to do with colombia just you.

http://www.jukelightning.com

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papiChulo says on Oct 18, 2008, 13:45:

classic ujay... jejejej

avoid the unhappy and the unlucky

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pedro (☼Travelguide writer) says on Oct 18, 2008, 14:28:

He's just not that into you?

que nota!

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dwmte7 says on Oct 18, 2008, 15:52:

damn pedro....let's hope not. sounds painful

dwmte

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adrimm (☼Travelguide writer) says on Oct 19, 2008, 13:09:

After telling a coworker about my vacation a few years back - someone with a post-graduate background who I would have expected would have wisdom to realise that there is more to reality than what makes Hollywood film plots and newsheadlines.

"You couldn't pay me enough money to go there" (and this is shortly after another co-worker e-mailed out the NYTimes "Bogota not just for the Brave" article to the entire office).

I think I've now perfected the art of combining a look of pity with an-office-appropriate amused/slightly-snickerish/laugh.

Reality scares people, that's why there are resorts.

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Simon says on Oct 19, 2008, 14:21:

"You couldn't pay me enough money to go there"

What an ignorant POS! I would have put that MF'er in their place!

"DON'T FOK WITH COLOMBIA!!"-----Simon

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manINred says on Oct 19, 2008, 17:27:

"You couldn't pay me enough money to go there"

Hey, many once thought amongst those lines, with good reason too. I know there was a time when I thought that. I would still be hard-pressed to justify bringing certain people there.

Times have changed though, but old stereotypes die hard.

And as Simon alludes to, ignorance is all too prevalent in this world.

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adrimm (☼Travelguide writer) says on Oct 19, 2008, 19:19:

ManInred, I disagree.

a) It is totally innacurate to form opinions based on media & film plot lines, to do so one of the most obvious signs of ignorance. Do you think everyone in Africa is starving? Or that 10 years ago you'd see fighting on every corner of Belfast? No, I thought not.

b) It is wrong to blacklist the entire country based on limited information. While their numbers may not be huge there *have* been foreigners living, travelling, working in Colombia over the last decades, and parts (ie Cartagena) were always safe enough for the cruise-ship crow to visit - who in my books are probably the next lowest denominator in tourism to the resort-hounds. Yes, those outside of select places may have had some curtailing due to circumstances, but it was doable, and like visitors today, they were hardly on their own. Most Colombians have always been helpful to foreigners.

c) One of the surest things in life is change. Nothing stays the same forever. To remain so rigidly stuck in a belief in the face of evidence to the contrary is narrow.

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Mongo says on Oct 19, 2008, 19:25:

Lowell, if they are that ignorant and ill-informed, then you're better off without them!

"Here in Colombia, it's about adding life to your years, not years to your life." Brian Andrews

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papiChulo says on Oct 19, 2008, 19:26:

so Canadians aren't like Bob and Doug MacKenzie and Julian, Ricky and Bubbles from Trailer Park Boys?

avoid the unhappy and the unlucky

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manINred says on Oct 19, 2008, 19:28:

"It is totally innacurate to form opinions based on media & film plot lines, to do so one of the most obvious signs of ignorance"

Who said people are basing their opinions on that? It is a fact that Colombia has been one of the most dangerous countries in the world in the 1990s and while much safer, Colombia still remains with many dangers that other ''tourist/retirement option countries' that one might want to visit don't. Just look up the statistics. So don't make such assumptinos, I don't know where you read that i'm basing this on media, from what I wrote.

Point b), it is not bad to blacklist countries based on high homicide rates and a civil war, which is what many people did in the 1980s and 1990s. Do some reading, speak to Colombians, they were often the most wary of travelling within their own country.

As for your point c) that strengthens my point. I said old stereotypes die hard but that Colombia is changing.

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manINred says on Oct 19, 2008, 19:30:

and to answer your rather rude rhetorical question: I don't think that all African children are starving. But I do think that I am much more likely to come across a starving african child than a starving australian child. Which is the very point.

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Lowell says on Oct 20, 2008, 07:44:

Mongo - I'm so much better off now than before. I was always the "Black Sheep" person. So be it. Even with all my present family problems, I still think that I'm better off here.

Alfred E. Newman. "What. Me Worry?"

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