See Mo' Evil

By Outside Online
Mar 22, 2008

Comments (8)

In her April 2008 article, "See Mo' Evil," Outside senior editor Stephanie Pearson rebuts Nobel Prize Winner Aung San Suu Kyi’s call for tourists to stop visiting Myanmar. What does Pearson think is the best way to respond to a travel boycott in a human-rights-violating country ruled by an oppressive regime? Go there and check it out.

Tell us what you think in the comments section below.
Is it wrong to travel to a country run by an oppressive regime?

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Comments

[kevin]

Quite unbelievable to me that the author would recommend that tourists travel to BURMA (please do not further your misguided comments and empathy for the regime by calling it Myanmar). More unbelievable to me that Outside, in other articles as well, refers to it as Myanmar. Having been a follower of events in Burma for some time (through the Irrawaddy publication), and having close friends cover events within Burma for several years,it sickens me that the author fails to see his/her own countradictions within such a short article. (negating the argument from the US Campaign for Burma with more examples of dictator/human rights abuses) Thank you for re-enforcing the perception that blogs are just a place for OPINION, NOT FACTS!!

[Lee-Sean]

Every country in the world, including the US, is guilty of human rights abuses to one extent or another, so I wanted to be totally consistent, then I wouldn't travel anywhere. With all the photos, video and reports of human rights abuses in Burma, I don't think it is necessary to go and visit to "see for myself." I find the whole idea of "disaster tourism" a little bit distasteful. I guess it is ultimately an individual choice. Personally, I would respect the wishes of Aung San Suu Kyi and avoid traveling to Burma until there is real substantive change.

[Jim]

I lived and worked in Burma in 1996 and 1997. I was amazed at the difference between what I was told as to how horrible the government was and how the people out and away from the cities looked at the government.

Now that you have an author looking at letting people do the politically incorrect thing and actually go see for themselves, try reading a little history about WHY the government took the power away from the socialist female president!
The gov't threw out the communist/socialist regime founded by her father,then allowed free elections.

She ran on her father's name, basically that of George Washington, and won handily. She immediately began the process of turning the country back to communism/socialism. The military knew that wouldn't work as it hadn't inthe past and acted.

Go see for yourself. Just perhaps the squeakiest wheels in Burma (karins) were the people who attacked the centralized government first and have been doing so ever since?

They got their butts kicked and have been squealing for help and welfare since.

[Rich Cook]

Great article with a great world view. I whole-heartedly agree with the author's viewpoint that going and seeing for yourself is the only way to truly know what the reality is for any country under oppression. If we don't travel to these places then the only "information" we have is from the despots themselves, warped PR.

[Eric]

What about including the USA, where it's legal to discriminates against gays, lesbians, & transgender people, by firing them for just being themselves, where there are no hate crimes to protect them (as there is for gender- or race-based hate crimes) and where they can't get married like straight people can? Don't believe me? Try being gay in Arkansas, Texas, Florida, etc., where gays are bashed, beaten, killed, and otherwise discriminated against.

[Eytan Levy]

I have to agree with this article. I don't think it's solely a matter of educating oneself, as enough information comes through to incriminate the regime, but I feel that the more travelers, the more difficulty the regime has. If there had been 100,000 innocent tourists in the city during those protests, things would have been quite different. I recently went to Belarus and it only reconfirmed how much you can learn if you go, and how much you tell others about what you learned. In some ways it breaks down borders. You just have to be careful, experience the real country, and spend wisely.

[Mary]

I appreciate this author's global vision and good intentions but most of the Americans I meet travelling overseas do not share her sensitivy and I assume at least half don't share her political view.

I wager half the people who fit her category of vocal concerned citizens are already aware of the situation in Burma. Creating a vibrant tourist industry would not alter the minds of this current government in Burma. (Look at China as a great example.) Tourism could assist Burma's economy greatly given its poor alternatives but I don't want to be part of creating another Bangkok or Langkawi and keeping the current government flush with funds.

[Douglas]

The question of whether to travel to Myanmar/Burma is a debate that is indulged in only by people outside the country. I have lived in the country for four and a half years and I have not met a single person from ANY walk of life (or any political affiliation, including members of Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD) who wants foreign travellers to stay away. In fact, the reality is quite the opposite, and people here were especially happy to see foreigners carrying their cameras around during the protests in September.