The Worst Tourists in the World, and the joys of online writing

One of the weird things about writing a travel column for a venue like Yahoo! News is that so many people read it. On one hand, it’s great to have such a broad audience — but on the other hand, having a big online readership invariably means that (at any given moment) a good percentage of that audience isn’t reading very closely. Since I aim for a bit of subtlety and humor and nuance in what I write, this means that thousands of people completely miss my point each week.

When I wrote about my top-ten favorite travel destinations in America, for example, many people mistakenly concluded I was objectively declaring the definitive, end-all ten best places in America, and sent me angry emails and comments demanding to know why I hadn’t included Yosemite or Mt. Rushmore or Gary, Indiana. When I wrote about the perils of road romance, eager readers (perhaps forgetting that the article was about romantic expectations, not necessarily one specific situation) wrote in to give me advice on how to deal with a Belgian girlfriend that I hadn’t dated in years. When I wrote about travelers’ idiosyncrasies regarding souvenirs, an online discussion of the article at Fark.com devolved into a baffling argument over whether or not I was pretentious for wearing sunglasses on top of my head in my author photo.

Hence, since a given proportion of my audience each week is not really paying that much attention to the point of my article, I wrote a column this week that caters to both sides of my readership. For readers who pay attention, my latest column, “The Worst Tourists in the World,” is a light-hearted, self-deprecating take on why it’s pointless and ignorant to judge people on the basis of their nationality.

For those who don’t read this week’s column very closely, however, “The Worst Tourists in the World” will come off like an infuriatingly prejudiced invective against several major nationalities.

To test your own ability to read carefully, read the story online here.