This is the quote that zings: "She is a cosmopolitan of the first order. Now that she has sampled enough from the travel trough, she is here to scold others who dare do the same. Better to stay home, she says, after spending almost a half century doing the opposite."
“After all, you say to yourself, the whole point of travelling is to break out of the confines of everyday life. But, if you usually avoid museums, and suddenly seek them out for the purpose of experiencing a change, what are you going to make of the paintings? You might as well be in a room full of falcons.”
What an immensely irritating sentiment. Anyway, I look forward to my next trip.
I can relate to the COVID thing. I hadn't really traveled to somewhere new since 2011 and employment circumstances (or lack thereof) seemed to point to 2020 as a chance to see a bit of the world. Now, maybe because I'm older, I don't have a huge drive to see the world, though I still want to see Istanbul and London (mainly to catch a Spurs match before Sonny retires). But there's also so much of the United States I haven't seen.
a lot of the U.S. I want to see too, including the Grand Canyon, Great Plains, Yellowstone ... I'd say if you want to do Europe, try to knock out a bunch of countries in one trip.
I wonder if Agnes Callard ever read Donald E. Westlake's 1975 comic mystery, "Brothers Keepers." A cloistered order of monks is devoted to meditating on the sinfulness of travel. Problem: their monastery is located on Park Avenue right near the Waldorf and their property is threatened by a greedy real estate developer. To save their monastery, will the monks have to ... travel?
Callard is the personification of the AWFL. Affluent, white, female liberal. She weeps for the minorities and migrants, while they deliver her food and provide landscaping services. She travels extensively and internationally, but scolds you for even thinking about it. She writes a philosophically tired essay (why bother? in the long run we're all dead ... huh?) that wouldn't get through Rhetoric 101, and hers gets published in the New Yorker.
It's all so hypocritical and tiresome and clownish. And people wonder why Donald JaMarcus Trump won. These detestable creatures are the only ones with a voice among the Ruling Class.
Barkan, I'm going to personally order Combo #3, extra MSG, and enjoy the all star break - even though someday I will exit this mortal coil. I'll raise a glass (of something bad for me) to this great rebuttal essay while I'm at it.
Well, Callard's piece seems to have elicited the desired response (clicks, interest, outrage) but it's just sad there wasn't an editor there to stop the piece from existing.
Why are academics like middle school mean girls? Callard wrote that the enlightenment of having "travelled" is over-stated. You agree heartily. Then you pick away and make snide comments about her phrasing. Perhaps y'all think that philosophy is useless, so you might as well just turn it into a Reddit comments section. But what if we took the love of Wisdom seriously? This society really needs that.
Well, I think the main point of Agnes refers to the "pressure" of society about travelling and the "ticks" that must be accomplished while doing so. In the piece she refers that travelling is fun, but it doesn't make you any better than the guy that have never left the country. You just had a good time, you didn't become enlightened or smarter.
From reading the Callard article I don’t get that she thinks we shouldn’t travel, but that we should think about how we travel and what we are likely to gain from it. As European I take issue with the idea that you should “knock off” as many countries as you can in one go. Each European country is unique and deserves more than just a couple of tick boxes. The USA is an amazing combination of cultures from around the world made into something unique and deserves much study by itself. But there is the carbon impact of travelling, flying is a high impact activity. Take the shortest flight you can, New York to Dublin for example, and do the rest of your travelling overland or by ferry, you’ll see more and get a much better feel for the countries you’re in.
I have no idea who this Callard person is, but I personally don’t care about her assumptions about why I travel. I would guess that she is actually angry at what SM has done to her friends, making them all sound like spiritualists in order to get the likes when they post about their vacations. Maybe she just needs better friends.
This is the quote that zings: "She is a cosmopolitan of the first order. Now that she has sampled enough from the travel trough, she is here to scold others who dare do the same. Better to stay home, she says, after spending almost a half century doing the opposite."
That statement is genius!
“After all, you say to yourself, the whole point of travelling is to break out of the confines of everyday life. But, if you usually avoid museums, and suddenly seek them out for the purpose of experiencing a change, what are you going to make of the paintings? You might as well be in a room full of falcons.”
What an immensely irritating sentiment. Anyway, I look forward to my next trip.
Thanks for taking the time to address that piece! I definitely needed your counter essay.
Excellent Ross:
Donnie
thank you Donnie! hope all is well. Yankees gotta figure things out...
They have some hard decisions to make.
I can relate to the COVID thing. I hadn't really traveled to somewhere new since 2011 and employment circumstances (or lack thereof) seemed to point to 2020 as a chance to see a bit of the world. Now, maybe because I'm older, I don't have a huge drive to see the world, though I still want to see Istanbul and London (mainly to catch a Spurs match before Sonny retires). But there's also so much of the United States I haven't seen.
a lot of the U.S. I want to see too, including the Grand Canyon, Great Plains, Yellowstone ... I'd say if you want to do Europe, try to knock out a bunch of countries in one trip.
Nicely said. I responded to Callard as well.
https://open.substack.com/pub/jsbiehl/p/death-trip?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=b7s3t
I wonder if Agnes Callard ever read Donald E. Westlake's 1975 comic mystery, "Brothers Keepers." A cloistered order of monks is devoted to meditating on the sinfulness of travel. Problem: their monastery is located on Park Avenue right near the Waldorf and their property is threatened by a greedy real estate developer. To save their monastery, will the monks have to ... travel?
Callard is the personification of the AWFL. Affluent, white, female liberal. She weeps for the minorities and migrants, while they deliver her food and provide landscaping services. She travels extensively and internationally, but scolds you for even thinking about it. She writes a philosophically tired essay (why bother? in the long run we're all dead ... huh?) that wouldn't get through Rhetoric 101, and hers gets published in the New Yorker.
It's all so hypocritical and tiresome and clownish. And people wonder why Donald JaMarcus Trump won. These detestable creatures are the only ones with a voice among the Ruling Class.
Barkan, I'm going to personally order Combo #3, extra MSG, and enjoy the all star break - even though someday I will exit this mortal coil. I'll raise a glass (of something bad for me) to this great rebuttal essay while I'm at it.
You win this round in the comments.
Well, Callard's piece seems to have elicited the desired response (clicks, interest, outrage) but it's just sad there wasn't an editor there to stop the piece from existing.
If anyone has trouble with the New Yorker paywall, it's free here
https://archive.ph/MzNEA
Why are academics like middle school mean girls? Callard wrote that the enlightenment of having "travelled" is over-stated. You agree heartily. Then you pick away and make snide comments about her phrasing. Perhaps y'all think that philosophy is useless, so you might as well just turn it into a Reddit comments section. But what if we took the love of Wisdom seriously? This society really needs that.
Well, I think the main point of Agnes refers to the "pressure" of society about travelling and the "ticks" that must be accomplished while doing so. In the piece she refers that travelling is fun, but it doesn't make you any better than the guy that have never left the country. You just had a good time, you didn't become enlightened or smarter.
From reading the Callard article I don’t get that she thinks we shouldn’t travel, but that we should think about how we travel and what we are likely to gain from it. As European I take issue with the idea that you should “knock off” as many countries as you can in one go. Each European country is unique and deserves more than just a couple of tick boxes. The USA is an amazing combination of cultures from around the world made into something unique and deserves much study by itself. But there is the carbon impact of travelling, flying is a high impact activity. Take the shortest flight you can, New York to Dublin for example, and do the rest of your travelling overland or by ferry, you’ll see more and get a much better feel for the countries you’re in.
I have no idea who this Callard person is, but I personally don’t care about her assumptions about why I travel. I would guess that she is actually angry at what SM has done to her friends, making them all sound like spiritualists in order to get the likes when they post about their vacations. Maybe she just needs better friends.
" I am not a Major Leaguer, let alone someone who was ever considered for the draft."
The order of this is reversed, it makes no sense this way.
Good work.