A friend of mine returned from holidays recently, from Asia. The usual small talk ensued – how was your trip, what did you do, where did you stay, etc. While there were some amusing anecdotes, the banality of the excursion struck me as rather at odds with what you would expect a decendant of the great European societies that produced such radical free thinkers and explorers as Galileo, Marco Polo, Leif Ericson.
Whatever happened to the “Mysteries of the Orient”? The magic and excitement of visiting a foreign culture, immersing yourself in social customs so alien that your mind and senses are alive and alert, in case you commit some unintended faux pas, and bring dishonour, shame, or even punishment upon you and yours?
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I hardly call myself some sort of V for Vendetta-like reactionary (as much as I think the “wearing a mask while blowing up parliament schtick” is pretty cool), but this is truly, utterly getting beyond the joke.
