The Ugly Tourist
First published in 1958, The Ugly American was a national bestseller for its exposé of American arrogance, incompetence, and corruption in Southeast Asia – 5 years before the Vietnam War began with the assassination of President Diem. In that year Marlon Brando played the lead in the movie version.
Since then the term “Ugly American” has been loosely bandied about meaning any American who is traveling. In fact it is taken for granted that Americans will be rude and loud so don’t even give it another thought. besides being stereotypical it is no more true that the adage that all Canadians are nice.
Hey, I played The Ugly Canadian last month in Orlando. We left Disney MGM Studios in a driving rain and there are no shelters over the waiting area for the parking lot trams. A full tram was idling while several staff workers in rain slickers made sure everything was safe for the driver to proceed. They seemed to be confused and, with the cold rain leaking through my supposedly-waterproof jacket, I yelled, “Come on! Let’s get this bloody show on the road!”
I couldn’t help it. We all were shivering cold and my shoes were full of water. But the staff weren’t to blame and I knew it. The rain made the visual checks difficult so they had to take extra time to make sure everyone was safe. I guess I was mad at the designers.
So, if I can blow up and be a door knob so can anyone else. Be kind to the staff guys everywhere. They work really hard for your enjoyment. Don’t be an ugly tourist and have to blog about it like me.
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