A family of drunken tourists has been terrorizing New Zealand
January 17, 2019 10:33 PM Subscribe
For weeks, a terrible family of unruly tourists has wrought a trail of destruction from Auckland all the way to Hamilton. A large man in red shorts and a white tank top, a woman in a unicorn onesie, and a small, angry boy are the unwilling public faces of this terrible family who number about 12, according to multiple witnesses.
Then, on Tuesday afternoon, an alert: Immigration had served a deportation notice. Apparently, the government can kick someone out of the country on the grounds of bad character, and clearly our officials agreed with the public at large: We were dealing with a bunch of real bad eggs. The bad family didn’t care; they were already cutting their vacation short, John Johnson told the Herald. “We’re here to see the Hobbits,” he said. “I’ve been looking at the Hobbits my whole life, since I’m born, that was originally what our plans was, but it’s all been f–ked up now.”
“I’m no one famous,” he added plaintively. “I’m just a fat kid from England on holiday.”
Then, on Tuesday afternoon, an alert: Immigration had served a deportation notice. Apparently, the government can kick someone out of the country on the grounds of bad character, and clearly our officials agreed with the public at large: We were dealing with a bunch of real bad eggs. The bad family didn’t care; they were already cutting their vacation short, John Johnson told the Herald. “We’re here to see the Hobbits,” he said. “I’ve been looking at the Hobbits my whole life, since I’m born, that was originally what our plans was, but it’s all been f–ked up now.”
“I’m no one famous,” he added plaintively. “I’m just a fat kid from England on holiday.”
They have been accused of purposely contaminating meals with both ants and strands of hair to get out of paying the sometimes hundreds of dollars’ worth of food they’d ordered, leaving a shit-filled baby onesie on a plane, and walking through a Burger King drive-thru.
-I like how this sentence ramps up.
posted by es_de_bah at 11:15 PM on January 17, 2019 [55 favorites]
-I like how this sentence ramps up.
posted by es_de_bah at 11:15 PM on January 17, 2019 [55 favorites]
Daddy jerk do doo do doo do do
posted by Jon_Evil at 11:21 PM on January 17, 2019 [29 favorites]
posted by Jon_Evil at 11:21 PM on January 17, 2019 [29 favorites]
Every one in that family tortured their teachers, and then their teachers got it from their supervisors for not meeting test score targets or for generating complaints.
Half of them at least are,someones coworker, torturing them everyday, making "the team" fail. Making people compensate for them.
They are many someones neighbor. Ruining the peace of having a flat or a home.
Think of the swath of misery they generate.
Down. The. Well.
posted by Anchorite_of_Palgrave at 11:30 PM on January 17, 2019 [37 favorites]
Half of them at least are,someones coworker, torturing them everyday, making "the team" fail. Making people compensate for them.
They are many someones neighbor. Ruining the peace of having a flat or a home.
Think of the swath of misery they generate.
Down. The. Well.
posted by Anchorite_of_Palgrave at 11:30 PM on January 17, 2019 [37 favorites]
I was so prepared for them to be American that I feel strangely triumphant and inexplicably proud upon reading that they are not (not too proud, though, with the dumpster fire of an administration that we are currently dealing with). We did it, guys! The bar is set very low, indeed.
posted by sprezzy at 11:32 PM on January 17, 2019 [57 favorites]
posted by sprezzy at 11:32 PM on January 17, 2019 [57 favorites]
I almost felt let down that they're not americans...
>I was so prepared for them to be American
Anyone have that feeling in MetaTalk where someone links to a shitty MeTa from a few years ago as an example of crappy behavior and you click through and desperately search for your handle whispering 'Don'tbeinhere, don'tbeinhere'?
The main article gave me the same feeling, only I was muttering 'Pleasedon'tbeCanadian, pleasedon'tbeCanadian'.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 11:41 PM on January 17, 2019 [34 favorites]
>I was so prepared for them to be American
Anyone have that feeling in MetaTalk where someone links to a shitty MeTa from a few years ago as an example of crappy behavior and you click through and desperately search for your handle whispering 'Don'tbeinhere, don'tbeinhere'?
The main article gave me the same feeling, only I was muttering 'Pleasedon'tbeCanadian, pleasedon'tbeCanadian'.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 11:41 PM on January 17, 2019 [34 favorites]
I'm guessing they're pissing away their postcode lottery winnings. Would you mind if we didn't actually have them back? It's just that they're not that rare here at home and we're already just a teeny bit tense over our coming Brexitapocalypse. Thanks in advance!
posted by dowcrag at 11:41 PM on January 17, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by dowcrag at 11:41 PM on January 17, 2019 [4 favorites]
I now know I’m acclimated and that NZ is my home because I am concerned and fascinated that the unruly tourists are heading towards Wellington. My friends are keeping me apprised of their proximity. They’re in Levin?!? Ack!
What will happen? Will someone snap a piece of public art in half? Oh never mind. A local guy did that already. In reality, they’ll fit right in with everone else having a big night out on Courtenay Place.
posted by lemon_icing at 11:45 PM on January 17, 2019 [2 favorites]
What will happen? Will someone snap a piece of public art in half? Oh never mind. A local guy did that already. In reality, they’ll fit right in with everone else having a big night out on Courtenay Place.
posted by lemon_icing at 11:45 PM on January 17, 2019 [2 favorites]
“Drunk Brits terrorise NZ” may simply be revenge. Would be better if they all had working-holiday visas.
posted by pompomtom at 11:54 PM on January 17, 2019
posted by pompomtom at 11:54 PM on January 17, 2019
I wonder how much of this is now a viral snowball effect, where any rude behavior by a foreigner in the country is attributed to them.
posted by runcibleshaw at 12:28 AM on January 18, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by runcibleshaw at 12:28 AM on January 18, 2019 [3 favorites]
Inside joke here: Auckland to Hamilton is less than an hour and a half drive.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 12:29 AM on January 18, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 12:29 AM on January 18, 2019 [2 favorites]
>>...I was so prepared for them to be American,
>... 'Pleasedon'tbeCanadian, pleasedon'tbeCanadian'.
Please don’t be British, please don’t be Brit... fuck.
posted by faceplantingcheetah at 12:36 AM on January 18, 2019 [40 favorites]
Brexit is seeming less inexplicable to me now.
posted by talking leaf at 12:37 AM on January 18, 2019 [28 favorites]
posted by talking leaf at 12:37 AM on January 18, 2019 [28 favorites]
I'm pretty sure the Trump family is still in the states right now, otherwise I'd be sure it was them. Also, do they think hobbits are real?
posted by sexyrobot at 12:40 AM on January 18, 2019 [5 favorites]
posted by sexyrobot at 12:40 AM on January 18, 2019 [5 favorites]
Somewhere, everywhere, reading this story, a bunch of fame-hungry jerks are getting excited as they realize that this is their ticket to the big-time. "oh yeah, hold my beer and watch this!"
Tourist destinations of the world be warned, this is the tip of the jerk-berg.
posted by Anchorite_of_Palgrave at 12:50 AM on January 18, 2019 [11 favorites]
Tourist destinations of the world be warned, this is the tip of the jerk-berg.
posted by Anchorite_of_Palgrave at 12:50 AM on January 18, 2019 [11 favorites]
It’s cutesy to think that this is a wild family with a wild little boy. But I would bet one hojillion dollars that the boy is being physically and mentally abused on a daily basis, and now he’s effectively beyond help, and will grow up to be an abuser himself.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 1:21 AM on January 18, 2019 [17 favorites]
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 1:21 AM on January 18, 2019 [17 favorites]
Would that we all could march aggressively through life with the bolshy swagger of an angry, shirtless 9-year-old, unafraid to pull the finger at anyone who got in our way.
I feel like the last couple of decades has shown us amply where that confidence leads....
posted by GenjiandProust at 1:24 AM on January 18, 2019 [27 favorites]
I feel like the last couple of decades has shown us amply where that confidence leads....
posted by GenjiandProust at 1:24 AM on January 18, 2019 [27 favorites]
I almost felt let down that they're not americans
I knew immediately they were not Americans, because even shitty Americans are not nearly this creative.
posted by TinyChicken at 1:56 AM on January 18, 2019 [14 favorites]
I knew immediately they were not Americans, because even shitty Americans are not nearly this creative.
posted by TinyChicken at 1:56 AM on January 18, 2019 [14 favorites]
Is there a way to view Slate articles without open-endedly consenting to all surveillance-based advertising, other than writing a notarised letter to the address given as their privacy regulator and asking to be retroactively opted out? And if not, are they not in violation of GDPR?
posted by acb at 2:30 AM on January 18, 2019
posted by acb at 2:30 AM on January 18, 2019
acb: Just stick 'outline.com/' before the URL.
posted by postagepaid at 2:36 AM on January 18, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by postagepaid at 2:36 AM on January 18, 2019 [3 favorites]
act: I concur on outline.com. See also the Ghostery browser extension.
posted by pompomtom at 2:52 AM on January 18, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by pompomtom at 2:52 AM on January 18, 2019 [1 favorite]
Initially, and somewhat bigotedly, witnesses to their trail of destruction referred to the group as Irish travelers, but one family member later claimed in an exclusive interview with local reporter Belinda Feek that they were from Liverpool.Er, that's not mutually exclusive, there.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 3:40 AM on January 18, 2019 [8 favorites]
That article (in pharm's link) is uncomfortably racist all through, but it's correct that the group coming from Liverpool in no way means they can't be Irish Travellers. I thought it was strange that the Slate article put it that way.
Wherever they're from and whatever their ethnicity, I feel sorry for New Zealand having to deal with them. I remember when I worked in a fish and chip restaurant and a family of similar size and behaviour came in for an extended lunch: no fun at all for me, though they seemed to be enjoying themselves.
posted by daisyk at 3:43 AM on January 18, 2019 [6 favorites]
Wherever they're from and whatever their ethnicity, I feel sorry for New Zealand having to deal with them. I remember when I worked in a fish and chip restaurant and a family of similar size and behaviour came in for an extended lunch: no fun at all for me, though they seemed to be enjoying themselves.
posted by daisyk at 3:43 AM on January 18, 2019 [6 favorites]
I guess that the Slate journalist thought their sources were talking about travellers who happened to be Irish, and had probably not heard of Irish Travellers as an ethnic group. *thinking-face emoji*
posted by daisyk at 3:46 AM on January 18, 2019 [20 favorites]
posted by daisyk at 3:46 AM on January 18, 2019 [20 favorites]
dowcrag: I'm guessing they're pissing away their postcode lottery winnings
As an aside, I find it massively confusing that there's a real lottery called the 'postcode lottery', since that term always stood for something a lot more negative (quality of available NHS care varying by location). It would make more sense if the proceeds from the one were used to alleviate the other! Britain is strange sometimes.
posted by daisyk at 3:52 AM on January 18, 2019 [3 favorites]
As an aside, I find it massively confusing that there's a real lottery called the 'postcode lottery', since that term always stood for something a lot more negative (quality of available NHS care varying by location). It would make more sense if the proceeds from the one were used to alleviate the other! Britain is strange sometimes.
posted by daisyk at 3:52 AM on January 18, 2019 [3 favorites]
America has its problems, but if I learned one thing from Geordie Shore, it's that there ain't no trashy like English trashy.
posted by emd3737 at 3:59 AM on January 18, 2019 [7 favorites]
posted by emd3737 at 3:59 AM on January 18, 2019 [7 favorites]
Christchurch what an assholes.
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 4:16 AM on January 18, 2019 [45 favorites]
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 4:16 AM on January 18, 2019 [45 favorites]
I feel bad for folks that have to deal with shitty tourists, and I've lived and worked in enough tourist destinations to know just how shitty tourists can be, but the range of prejudice and stereotyping that surrounds this story is super unpleasant.
posted by Rock Steady at 4:18 AM on January 18, 2019 [20 favorites]
posted by Rock Steady at 4:18 AM on January 18, 2019 [20 favorites]
I live in Niagara Falls, Ontario Canada, so I'm pretty familiar with tourists who are like this. It makes you mad when a person uses the excuse of their being on vacation to skirt around shitty behaviour. Nothing I read in that article is surprising to me. I expect this kind of behaviour from tourists, just assume people always going to be loud and abnoxious and terrible. At least this way, you'll be surprised when they aren't.
posted by Fizz at 4:36 AM on January 18, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by Fizz at 4:36 AM on January 18, 2019 [2 favorites]
Yeah, if they were Americans, they'd be in Florida or Vegas.
posted by octothorpe at 4:40 AM on January 18, 2019
posted by octothorpe at 4:40 AM on January 18, 2019
Anyone have that feeling in MetaTalk where someone links to a shitty MeTa from a few years ago as an example of crappy behavior and you click through and desperately search for your handle whispering 'Don'tbeinhere, don'tbeinhere'?
I've finally gotten to the point that I can look at some of my drunk commenting from my first few years on the blue.
From the article: “We’re here to see the Hobbits,” he said. “I’ve been looking at the Hobbits my whole life, since I’m born, that was originally what our plans was, but it’s all been f–ked up now.”
Not sure if he means Lord of the Rings filming sites, or thinks that there are actual hobbits in NZ.
posted by Halloween Jack at 4:43 AM on January 18, 2019 [1 favorite]
I've finally gotten to the point that I can look at some of my drunk commenting from my first few years on the blue.
From the article: “We’re here to see the Hobbits,” he said. “I’ve been looking at the Hobbits my whole life, since I’m born, that was originally what our plans was, but it’s all been f–ked up now.”
Not sure if he means Lord of the Rings filming sites, or thinks that there are actual hobbits in NZ.
posted by Halloween Jack at 4:43 AM on January 18, 2019 [1 favorite]
Really, is this behavior all that bad said the Australian frantically setting all photos of his last trip to Phuket to private
posted by um at 4:44 AM on January 18, 2019 [11 favorites]
posted by um at 4:44 AM on January 18, 2019 [11 favorites]
Hobbiton is inn Matamata, the movie set from the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings movies.
posted by Ideefixe at 4:45 AM on January 18, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by Ideefixe at 4:45 AM on January 18, 2019 [1 favorite]
I'm from Jersey and this sounds like every Benny family from New York that invade the shore every summer, down to the shit filled onesie left behind.
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 4:46 AM on January 18, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 4:46 AM on January 18, 2019 [4 favorites]
Drunken hobbit fanciers.
posted by betweenthebars at 5:03 AM on January 18, 2019 [9 favorites]
posted by betweenthebars at 5:03 AM on January 18, 2019 [9 favorites]
daisyk, thank you for your comment. I had never heard of Irish Travellers before this thread.
posted by eirias at 5:05 AM on January 18, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by eirias at 5:05 AM on January 18, 2019 [3 favorites]
I was just in Ireland (Dublin) and the Home Counties U.K. (Ipswich, London, Southampton). I saw/heard many references to this news story. In both places, it seemed to me, one reason it became a hot story was because it legitimized hate speech against travellers in everyday conversations.
posted by Morpeth at 5:25 AM on January 18, 2019 [10 favorites]
posted by Morpeth at 5:25 AM on January 18, 2019 [10 favorites]
Derail, but there's just been an I'm a traveller: AMA on Mumsnet which people might find interesting. It mostly kept out of racist territory, though the OP has some views about the difference between Irish Travellers and Roma Travellers which cross some lines.
On preview, Morpeth, none of those three places is in the Home Counties. Though I don't dispute your point about hate speech against travellers.
posted by paduasoy at 5:29 AM on January 18, 2019 [4 favorites]
On preview, Morpeth, none of those three places is in the Home Counties. Though I don't dispute your point about hate speech against travellers.
posted by paduasoy at 5:29 AM on January 18, 2019 [4 favorites]
80 cats: I'm curious to know what a "Benny family" is in the US context. In 1980s Britain, "Benny" used to be a semi-affectionate term for anyone who was good-hearted but a bit dim -a usage derived from this UK soap opera character.
What does it mean in America, and what's the derivation there?
posted by Paul Slade at 5:31 AM on January 18, 2019
What does it mean in America, and what's the derivation there?
posted by Paul Slade at 5:31 AM on January 18, 2019
"Benny" is a term used by local all-year-round Jersey shore people for summer visitors, often from the city and suburbs of NY, Philly and north Jersey. The awful reality show Jersey Shore was an extreme example of these characters.
posted by mermayd at 5:38 AM on January 18, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by mermayd at 5:38 AM on January 18, 2019 [2 favorites]
What the hell, that kid's not nine, he's like four or five. Seven at the absolute outside. If he's nine, he's been starved all his life.
posted by Don Pepino at 6:04 AM on January 18, 2019 [5 favorites]
posted by Don Pepino at 6:04 AM on January 18, 2019 [5 favorites]
I’m going to straight up admit a whole lot of ignorance regarding the social, political, and ethnic background of the various ethnicities / social groups that have been attributed to the tourists (and I’m not sure what is accurate - have heard several) . But as a Kiwi living overseas it has been very disconcerting reading a lot of traditional / social media commentary on the tourists from back in NZ. In my head I’ve been asking “how would this sentence sound to me as a Kiwi if the words Gypsies / Travelers was replaced with Maoris or Aborigines ”. And it hasn’t been pretty, even if the individual actions by these tourists have been incredibly shitty.
posted by inflatablekiwi at 6:13 AM on January 18, 2019 [20 favorites]
posted by inflatablekiwi at 6:13 AM on January 18, 2019 [20 favorites]
Ported. Cavorted. Reported. Deported.
posted by pracowity at 6:33 AM on January 18, 2019 [10 favorites]
posted by pracowity at 6:33 AM on January 18, 2019 [10 favorites]
Grew up and worked as a bus boy, waiter, bell hop for 6 years in a tourist town (Virginia Beach). I could tell you some stories ...
These guys are posers.
posted by sudogeek at 6:37 AM on January 18, 2019 [2 favorites]
These guys are posers.
posted by sudogeek at 6:37 AM on January 18, 2019 [2 favorites]
I feel sorry for this family. Agree with their actions or not, no one deserves to be treated like this, in my opinion. And the insinuation that the small child has been physically and mentally abused every day of his life is awful. "Oh, but they throw trash on the ground. They must beat their children." Wow.
posted by bradth27 at 6:40 AM on January 18, 2019 [5 favorites]
posted by bradth27 at 6:40 AM on January 18, 2019 [5 favorites]
there ain't no trashy like English trashy
Can we not? Please let us not do a race to the bottom with comments about various groups being various sorts of shitty (unless it happens to be in service to Wordshore's competition). Individuals such as this family doing specific shitty things? By all means, let us carry on. Thank you, OP.
posted by Bella Donna at 7:08 AM on January 18, 2019 [8 favorites]
Can we not? Please let us not do a race to the bottom with comments about various groups being various sorts of shitty (unless it happens to be in service to Wordshore's competition). Individuals such as this family doing specific shitty things? By all means, let us carry on. Thank you, OP.
posted by Bella Donna at 7:08 AM on January 18, 2019 [8 favorites]
From The New Zealand Herald's exhaustive list of the family's infractions, this is my favorite —
posted by octobersurprise at 7:14 AM on January 18, 2019 [6 favorites]
Jan 14: The group check out of Ibis. The owner of Coffee Club next to the hotel reports them to police saying they were abusive and didn't pay for a piece of chocolate cake.
Withnail: Cake and fine wine.It's also ... uh, fitting, that they were cheeky at Nandos.
Waitress: If you don't leave, we'll call the police.
Withnail: Balls! We want the finest wines available to humanity. And we want them here, and we want them now!
posted by octobersurprise at 7:14 AM on January 18, 2019 [6 favorites]
So often people who are shat upon throughout their lives, given an opportunity to shit upon, take it thoroughly in hand, or rather, trouser. It's classism, and soundly within the British remit.
posted by seanmpuckett at 7:20 AM on January 18, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by seanmpuckett at 7:20 AM on January 18, 2019 [2 favorites]
The immediate labeling of these people as "Irish Travelers" is pretty disgusting, and there is a strong element of class prejudice to much of the commentary, but don't make excuses for this terrible family's behaviour.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 8:14 AM on January 18, 2019 [17 favorites]
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 8:14 AM on January 18, 2019 [17 favorites]
I feel sorry for this family. Agree with their actions or not, no one deserves to be treated like this, in my opinion.
They seem to have defrauded, stolen, and threatened their way up and down the island, and in result got a number of news stories documenting this. I don't consider that particularly awful treatment.
posted by tavella at 8:19 AM on January 18, 2019 [23 favorites]
They seem to have defrauded, stolen, and threatened their way up and down the island, and in result got a number of news stories documenting this. I don't consider that particularly awful treatment.
posted by tavella at 8:19 AM on January 18, 2019 [23 favorites]
You have the choice to be part of an international mob of thousands of people insulting strangers you’ve never met, or not.
posted by vogon_poet at 8:21 AM on January 18, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by vogon_poet at 8:21 AM on January 18, 2019 [4 favorites]
Yeah, if they were Americans, they'd be in Florida or Vegas.
...not to derail, but I think Las Vegas residents are a lot less weird than Nevadans generally. People in Las Vegas are there to work. Working conditions are better there than any place within a three hour drive of the city. If you're really disruptive and drawn to the glitz of Vegas, you'll probably make your way to Los Angeles instead, where your potential marks aren't a) casinos or b) tourists already getting scammed by casinos.
Americans have a lot of racism, but we don't have a lot of Romani or Irish Travellers, so we don't have this awful subtext lurking under discourse all the time. It gives us a rare breather on this one. The most racist person I've ever known (frat boy at Duke) said some anti-Roma things (but we were in Europe, so maybe he thought it was water cooler conversation). I think if I grabbed the next 10 people on the street and asked them about "Gypsies" I might get some references to fortune tellers and Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame, which...is maybe not bad, actually. (As someone of Middle Eastern heritage, I'd much rather revert to the days when people's only references were Aladdin and shitty Harlequin books.)
...on the other hand, maybe I'm underplaying the racism here because a) the disruptive family seems to just be plain British, so "Irish traveller" claims are ugly but irrelevant and b) the concept of a "rude family" terrorizing an entire nation is very funny to me, sorry, if my country worked better we'd be in constitutional crisis right now. I wish we could deport a single rude British family and become sane again.
posted by grandiloquiet at 8:24 AM on January 18, 2019 [4 favorites]
...not to derail, but I think Las Vegas residents are a lot less weird than Nevadans generally. People in Las Vegas are there to work. Working conditions are better there than any place within a three hour drive of the city. If you're really disruptive and drawn to the glitz of Vegas, you'll probably make your way to Los Angeles instead, where your potential marks aren't a) casinos or b) tourists already getting scammed by casinos.
Americans have a lot of racism, but we don't have a lot of Romani or Irish Travellers, so we don't have this awful subtext lurking under discourse all the time. It gives us a rare breather on this one. The most racist person I've ever known (frat boy at Duke) said some anti-Roma things (but we were in Europe, so maybe he thought it was water cooler conversation). I think if I grabbed the next 10 people on the street and asked them about "Gypsies" I might get some references to fortune tellers and Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame, which...is maybe not bad, actually. (As someone of Middle Eastern heritage, I'd much rather revert to the days when people's only references were Aladdin and shitty Harlequin books.)
...on the other hand, maybe I'm underplaying the racism here because a) the disruptive family seems to just be plain British, so "Irish traveller" claims are ugly but irrelevant and b) the concept of a "rude family" terrorizing an entire nation is very funny to me, sorry, if my country worked better we'd be in constitutional crisis right now. I wish we could deport a single rude British family and become sane again.
posted by grandiloquiet at 8:24 AM on January 18, 2019 [4 favorites]
So often people who are shat upon throughout their lives, given an opportunity to shit upon, take it thoroughly in hand, or rather, trouser.
And, much like elephants, some people are just jerks.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 8:26 AM on January 18, 2019 [6 favorites]
And, much like elephants, some people are just jerks.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 8:26 AM on January 18, 2019 [6 favorites]
Can anyone who has not felt it ever know the bone-scraping helplessness, the spittle-flecked impotent rage, of living and working in a resort town? The people you serve each day will never return, or will return years hence. Shame is a stranger to them, and well do they know that their behavior will forever escape judgment. They will cast down their dirty, old panties in your fitting rooms; they will pass out drunk in the accessible bathroom stall, and lock the door; they will leave a trail of puke across the store and tell no one; they will laugh as their toddlers poop in dead center of the toy isle.
It is not possible for me to have even the finest grain of sympathy for what this family is experiencing. There are so many other families, and individuals, who will never hear so much as a word of just criticism for their outlandishly terrible behavior. This family is my Wicker Man; I must warm myself at its flames, or die.
posted by the liquid oxygen at 8:35 AM on January 18, 2019 [47 favorites]
It is not possible for me to have even the finest grain of sympathy for what this family is experiencing. There are so many other families, and individuals, who will never hear so much as a word of just criticism for their outlandishly terrible behavior. This family is my Wicker Man; I must warm myself at its flames, or die.
posted by the liquid oxygen at 8:35 AM on January 18, 2019 [47 favorites]
Me: Oh, no. What country are they from?
“I’m just a fat kid from England on holiday.”
Me: *sigh of relief* For once they aren't from the US.
posted by Catbunny at 8:36 AM on January 18, 2019
“I’m just a fat kid from England on holiday.”
Me: *sigh of relief* For once they aren't from the US.
posted by Catbunny at 8:36 AM on January 18, 2019
At the risk of continuing to participate in all the (frankly pretty problematic) national stereotyping: I'm pretty down on a lot of Americans domestically, but I have to say all the Americans I've run into travelling have been almost universally chill. I don't spend a lot of time in clubs or resort towns tho.
Also I don't think anyone was talking about Las Vegans, but rather the Weekend in Vegas jerknozzle tourists who frankly are justifiably maligned.
we don't have this awful subtext lurking under discourse all the time
I beg vehemently to differ.
posted by aspersioncast at 8:43 AM on January 18, 2019 [2 favorites]
Also I don't think anyone was talking about Las Vegans, but rather the Weekend in Vegas jerknozzle tourists who frankly are justifiably maligned.
we don't have this awful subtext lurking under discourse all the time
I beg vehemently to differ.
posted by aspersioncast at 8:43 AM on January 18, 2019 [2 favorites]
Las Vegans
This is a group of tourists I am having a hard time imagining being difficult.
posted by e to the pi i at 8:59 AM on January 18, 2019 [4 favorites]
This is a group of tourists I am having a hard time imagining being difficult.
posted by e to the pi i at 8:59 AM on January 18, 2019 [4 favorites]
I beg vehemently to differ.
Ah...I meant specifically there's not a lot of anti-Roma prejudice here generally, from what I've observed at least, because most Americans don't really think of Romani people as often as they think about more visible "other" groups in this country. I'm sure if we were given the opportunity, though, we could make up for it.*
*Make up for it by being specifically offensive, I mean! We do employ an entire class of people to complain about people who complain about racism.
posted by grandiloquiet at 9:08 AM on January 18, 2019 [1 favorite]
Ah...I meant specifically there's not a lot of anti-Roma prejudice here generally, from what I've observed at least, because most Americans don't really think of Romani people as often as they think about more visible "other" groups in this country. I'm sure if we were given the opportunity, though, we could make up for it.*
*Make up for it by being specifically offensive, I mean! We do employ an entire class of people to complain about people who complain about racism.
posted by grandiloquiet at 9:08 AM on January 18, 2019 [1 favorite]
> even shitty Americans are not nearly this creative.
What a fucking weird thing to say. I mean like is your conception of American creativity that it increases with shittiness?
posted by ericost at 9:30 AM on January 18, 2019
What a fucking weird thing to say. I mean like is your conception of American creativity that it increases with shittiness?
posted by ericost at 9:30 AM on January 18, 2019
Brits are the Americans of Europe.
posted by like_neon at 10:32 AM on January 18, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by like_neon at 10:32 AM on January 18, 2019 [2 favorites]
I meant specifically there's not a lot of anti-Roma prejudice here generally
Ah, gotcha. Really though, Fox et al use "illegals" to mean basically the same thing - this whole migrant "caravan" situation is using a lot of the rhetoric you hear from e.g. Le Pen or the Lega applied to the Romani (who are, like the Central American migrants getting referred to as Mexicans or illegals, a highly diverse group after all). There are a lot of Roma in the Americas, but I think they just get lumped into the "undesirable foreigners" category by the kind of assholes prone to that sort of thinking.
So I think it is basically the same subtext, which is always at least partly predicated on the state's suspicion of migratory people.
I do still hear the word "gypped" surprisingly often, from people who ought to know better.
posted by aspersioncast at 10:51 AM on January 18, 2019 [3 favorites]
Ah, gotcha. Really though, Fox et al use "illegals" to mean basically the same thing - this whole migrant "caravan" situation is using a lot of the rhetoric you hear from e.g. Le Pen or the Lega applied to the Romani (who are, like the Central American migrants getting referred to as Mexicans or illegals, a highly diverse group after all). There are a lot of Roma in the Americas, but I think they just get lumped into the "undesirable foreigners" category by the kind of assholes prone to that sort of thinking.
So I think it is basically the same subtext, which is always at least partly predicated on the state's suspicion of migratory people.
I do still hear the word "gypped" surprisingly often, from people who ought to know better.
posted by aspersioncast at 10:51 AM on January 18, 2019 [3 favorites]
Tourist destinations of the world be warned, this is the tip of the jerk-berg.
Which is why you should never flush asshole tourists down the toilet.
posted by Gilgamesh's Chauffeur at 11:33 AM on January 18, 2019 [1 favorite]
Which is why you should never flush asshole tourists down the toilet.
posted by Gilgamesh's Chauffeur at 11:33 AM on January 18, 2019 [1 favorite]
I didn't add it to my previous comment in the thread, but given the NZ angle here, and some of the language issues - I think it bears linking to this thread previously and its awesome video on racism from the NZ Human Rights Commission and Taika Waititi. It's been a little distressing seeing friends back in NZ who were sharing and supporting that message previously, now saying "maybe we need to throw gypsies out of our country". It's making me really quite sad. This comment isn't directed at anyone in this thread.
posted by inflatablekiwi at 11:46 AM on January 18, 2019 [6 favorites]
posted by inflatablekiwi at 11:46 AM on January 18, 2019 [6 favorites]
Yes, well, a tourist family like this is nothing out of the ordinary for Mexico, regardless of where said family orriginated. And somehow the citizens of Mexico have managed to bear these visiting a**clowns with good Grace for so many years...
posted by WalkerWestridge at 11:49 AM on January 18, 2019
posted by WalkerWestridge at 11:49 AM on January 18, 2019
And the insinuation that the small child has been physically and mentally abused every day of his life is awful. "Oh, but they throw trash on the ground. They must beat their children." Wow.
Please.
Ask yourself how he learned to threaten violence against adults. It’s because it’s been normalized for him. It’s not because the parents are reading Dr. Spock and he’s watching Mr. Rogers reruns.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 11:51 AM on January 18, 2019 [6 favorites]
Please.
Ask yourself how he learned to threaten violence against adults. It’s because it’s been normalized for him. It’s not because the parents are reading Dr. Spock and he’s watching Mr. Rogers reruns.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 11:51 AM on January 18, 2019 [6 favorites]
I luv that Debordian conclusion in Tess Nichol's essay. Is this what true freedom feels like?
posted by ovvl at 3:59 PM on January 18, 2019
posted by ovvl at 3:59 PM on January 18, 2019
Americans have a lot of racism, but we don't have a lot of Romani or Irish Travellers, so we don't have this awful subtext lurking under discourse all the time.
I cannot believe I know this but there is definitely some kind of awareness because there’s TLC’s My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding.
I don’t even know what to think about the bad tourist family.
posted by warriorqueen at 3:01 AM on January 19, 2019 [1 favorite]
I cannot believe I know this but there is definitely some kind of awareness because there’s TLC’s My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding.
I don’t even know what to think about the bad tourist family.
posted by warriorqueen at 3:01 AM on January 19, 2019 [1 favorite]
Whoops, was posting while tired the other day--my comment should have said, "Even shitty American tourists are not this creative [i.e., in their shitty behavior]." Sorry bout that!
Yeah, in case it's not obvious, I am an American living in Europe. And as such heartily sick of both crappy USian tourists and tired-ass national stereotypes, including those about Americans.
posted by TinyChicken at 3:54 AM on January 19, 2019
Yeah, in case it's not obvious, I am an American living in Europe. And as such heartily sick of both crappy USian tourists and tired-ass national stereotypes, including those about Americans.
posted by TinyChicken at 3:54 AM on January 19, 2019
As a Kiwi, its amusing and cringe-worthy simultaneously -
* Slow news cycle for local media - definitely better things to be reporting on
* Latent racism surfaces - variations of race, nationality, class, socio-economic status at work in the coverage and commentary
* As per article - we're plugging tourism hard internationally but we 'hate' (not really) tourists
* NZ is super middle-class even though it espouses egalitarianism - this leads to a passive-aggressive tall-poppy syndrome whereby you really need to fit in lest someone knock you down to size (whether down-playing success or acting up)
* NZ (and I suspect Aussies, Canadians & South Africans) often go on a Gap-year/OE and can often cause low-level localised mayhem - you do wonder if privilege allows them to get away with this stuff. Student/University towns also have a couple of areas where localised mayhem is the norm (I'm looking at you Dunedin).
* NZ twitter is split between shame (ugh, leave them alone, why are you chasing kids?) and soap-opera (they did what now?)
* No one has yet (jokingly) offered them a government grant to help tourists or offer suitable counseling (we realise you don't know how to tourist, how can we better understand you and support/help you in this endeavor?) - what kind of progressive, socially conscious country is NZ that we don't try to rehabilitate these people instead of vilifying them?
posted by phigmov at 2:42 PM on January 19, 2019 [2 favorites]
* Slow news cycle for local media - definitely better things to be reporting on
* Latent racism surfaces - variations of race, nationality, class, socio-economic status at work in the coverage and commentary
* As per article - we're plugging tourism hard internationally but we 'hate' (not really) tourists
* NZ is super middle-class even though it espouses egalitarianism - this leads to a passive-aggressive tall-poppy syndrome whereby you really need to fit in lest someone knock you down to size (whether down-playing success or acting up)
* NZ (and I suspect Aussies, Canadians & South Africans) often go on a Gap-year/OE and can often cause low-level localised mayhem - you do wonder if privilege allows them to get away with this stuff. Student/University towns also have a couple of areas where localised mayhem is the norm (I'm looking at you Dunedin).
* NZ twitter is split between shame (ugh, leave them alone, why are you chasing kids?) and soap-opera (they did what now?)
* No one has yet (jokingly) offered them a government grant to help tourists or offer suitable counseling (we realise you don't know how to tourist, how can we better understand you and support/help you in this endeavor?) - what kind of progressive, socially conscious country is NZ that we don't try to rehabilitate these people instead of vilifying them?
posted by phigmov at 2:42 PM on January 19, 2019 [2 favorites]
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posted by idiopath at 10:39 PM on January 17, 2019 [33 favorites]