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Last updated on June 6th, 2017 at 08:15 am
Instapundit marks the death of Reason:
WHEN REASON DIED AS A LIBERTARIAN MAGAZINE: It was at 1:17 p.m. Pacific Time today, with this post by Tim Cavanaugh, savaging a man who patronized the tourist industry in Thailand instead of donating money.
An Instapundit reader points out that declining tourism cost San Francisco after the ‘89 earthquake. Tourism will help rebuild Thailand and other countries ruined by this disaster; it’s indirect charity, and should be encouraged rather than sneered at. Like New York after September 11, Thailand is open for business.
In another Reason dispute, Hugh Hewitt challenges the magazine’s Matt Welch over views expressed here. It’s a regular Reason-o-rama wrestlemania!
UPDATE. Sydney Morning Herald letter writers encourage anti-tourism:
I think the story Tragedy? We’re here for the bar girls and the beer made me sicker than I have felt in a long time. It makes me wonder what kind of people there are in this world of ours.
What are the hotel chains in these areas thinking when they continue to welcome people there on holiday when there are desperate people all around the area, people who need food, housing, medicine? Sure they should open their doors, but perhaps to those people who are in most need of shelter, food and help. – Elizabeth Finnemore, Mt Tamborine
Men will be men. Even a huge disaster won’t stop them from doing what they enjoy most about Thailand: having cheap girls and alcohol. The sleaze factor is still alive and thriving there. – Jenny Zahos, Belfield
- “Audtralian”, jeez, what a screw-up. I even previewed my comment and I didn’t catch that. Sorry to all “Audtralians”.Posted by David Crawford on 2005 01 01 at 07:56 PM • permalink
- Hewitt offers advice! Of course it is a free blogosphere, and anyone can write anything they want, but ridicule follows obvious distortions, and it is best to have a lot of cattle before you complain that others are wrongly wearing big hats.
Other than that, I don’t understand his blog, except he has a book on blogs.
Commenting is more of an art form. You don’t see books on comments for that reason.
- I wouldn’t even say it’s indirect charity. If you hire a taxi or tip a waiter, that money goes directly to the people, not to the government.
I lived in Phuket for two years. If I had the money to go there now, I’d be there, spending it. They depend on tourism. Most of Phuket is open for business, and in need of that business. I urge those of you who might be thinking of not going to think again.
- Kathy, I saw your comment at Reason.com but Alan Dawson was dead on with his. Before making value judgements ask the Thai’s what they want. Then he gave the following link
Clearly the Thai’s are desparate to resume business and some manner of normalcy. The sympathy “out of respect we’re going to boycott your country” is simply wrong-minded as you pointed out.
PC run amok.
Posted by Mike SC USA on 2005 01 02 at 02:03 AM • permalink
- They should change the name to Gut Feeling.Posted by Jim Treacher on 2005 01 02 at 06:59 AM • permalink
- I should also point out the comparison to Bali. The hardest part for the residents of Bali post-bombing is that all their incomes decreased.
You can forgive people for not visiting Bali after the bomb. They were afraid for their own safety. There is no reason at all not to continue to visit Phuket now, apart from the threat of disease which should quickly pass.
The left wing fuckwits that ask people to stay away for “moral reasons” are nearly as harmful as the tsunami itself.
Why do they hate human beings so much?
- One final point: This post appeared in the “Hit And Run” blog, not Reason magazine. Reason continues to be the #1 magazine promoting libertarian concepts worldwide.
Like any other blog, editorial control at Hit And Run is limited. Reason readers have already begun to argue the case in the comments there.
- Like any other blog, editorial control at Hit And Run is limited.
The thing is, near as I can find out, Tim Cavanaugh is Reason’s web editor, so for all intents and purposes he is that “editorial control” on Hit&Run;. If he can’t be trusted not to wildly contradict the ideological bent of the print magazine (which is what they make money on, after all), Reason has a problem.
I suspect the problem is that libertarianism of the type that Reason (presumably) seeks to promote is simply a very narrow concept…veer a bit to the left, and you get half-baked leftish touchy-feely nonsense like that Cavanaugh post, veer a bit to the right and you end up with the moronic paleo-libertarianism/near-anarchy espoused by several prominent Hit&Run; commenters (the type of which ended up trolling a thread at the old Spleenville site at one point, I recall). In that, Reason pretty much mirrors the trainwreck that is the Libertarian Party, I suppose.
- I don’t see any reason to “boycott” tourism there, but what apalled me is the attitude of some of these people. “*yawn* it has nothing to do with me…it’s probably an exaggeration. pfeh”.
These people weren’t visiting out of some sense of love for the place or a desire to help a return to normalcy, they simply don’t care. They’re like teenage Valley Girls with their daddy’s credit card, and only barely exhibit souls.
Posted by Aaron – Free Will on 2005 01 02 at 02:11 PM • permalink
- “A week or two of lost tourist dollars will set back the economy less than it will show a decent respect for the dead.”
This seems a very indulgent viewpoint from one of the sympathetic comments on that site. Is the writer really sure a two-week show of respect has more long term benefit than a resumption of business?
http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,11816699%5E911,00.html
It says that, so far, there were 130 people believed to have been killed in Phuket from the tsunami.
Yes, it definitely is a tragedy for those 130 people whose lives were ended so quickly and horribly, and for their families. But Phuket is not Aceh or Sumatra in Indonesia, nor is it Sri Lanka.
The reason Phuket has gotten so much play in the media is that it is the easiest place to get to for western reporters based in Hong Kong, or Singapore, or Bangkok. Plenty of flights in, lots of hotels rooms available, etc.
Hell, most of those reporters could’nt find Aceh Bandu (the capital of Aceh province) on a map, even if you gave them grid coordinates. Whereas, damn near every western reporter based in south Asia, or SE Asia, has probably been to Phuket once or more times.
Finally, to put the death toll, of 130 people killed, in Phuket into perspective, try this. There were 176 people killed in a fire at a Buenes Aires, Argentina, disco.