fundamentally after all these years, especially because of the increase in experiences that people make through mass tourism.
Their behaviour towards tourists has apparently always been motivated by the fact that lots of locals thought, that if they had good connections to tourists, they could make it to Europe. Then they could profit from the flowing “milk and honey” and all the money lying on the streets, without having to work too much.
This might sound stuck-up, arrogant or racist, but it is not. I got to know the country and its inhabitants over many years and I had lots of conversations, I invited locals to Europe and more.
Even their own experiences in Europe, even as tourists, have not altered the basic behaviour and the inner attitude of many locals from Sri Lanka. If anything, it was strengthened. I would cautiously call it “cultural discrepancy”.
To sum it up briefly:
Many locals from Sri Lanka (and probably many other nationalities in Africa and Asia) seem to admire Europe or the “Western world” (we can also see it in the current refugee crisis).
They obviously thought that all Europeans were rich. Who else could afford to go on holiday on the white sand beaches of Ceylon, unless they are Croesus?
It seemed as though you could find money on the streets in Europe. Even members of the government offered homes and other benefits to immigrants and refugees.
Even if one didn’t realise that you have to work in Europe too and that life is not super easy and convenient for everybody. These well intentioned warnings were immediately dismissed, these people didn’t believe they were true. It just couldn’t be!
Those people who originally come from near the equator could not imagine the cold, bad weather. Just like I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to live near the equator, before I (like I described earlier) experienced it first hand.
It makes sense that anyone who was unemployed and didn’t have a lot of money (there were and are lots of people) tried with all their might to get to the place where they imagined flowing milk and honey.
I have to admit, I would want and do the same thing.
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