Don´t hate the player, hate the game

Many people hate tourists, and I get where they´re coming from. They disturb the peace of your hometown, block the narrow streets, make you cringe internally when they pose before monuments, or hurt your eyes when they walk around in I❤️Prague t-shirts and buy the most useless, unoriginal souvenirs.

But I came across two philosophies that changed my opinion completely. First of all, isn´t it lowkey cute that these people paid a lot of money to come to see the place where you grew up? They admire all the buildings you pass without noticing them. They take photos of lamp posts, trees, windows, even bins, for fuck sake,

A few weeks ago, I went to the central library and noticed a massive queue outside. I wondered what was happening, only to realise that there´s the famous infinity book tower in the central library. I walked past all the people to get my books and leave. The same thing happened a week later. And then it hit me. These people wait hours to get a precious few minutes in there, take a picture and leave. And I have the luxury of coming there anytime and admiring it endlessly.

I´m lucky enough to study at a university with a base in Prague's centre. On my walk there, I pass all the historical monuments that have stood there for hundreds of years—monuments that people have come from around the world to see with their own eyes.

Tourists help me appreciate my hometown. Even though I can´t help but roll my eyes at their behaviour from time to time, when I hear a foreigner in the underground trying to pronounce the names of stations and butchering them completely, I can´t help but smile.

Secondly, when we judge people or disapprove of their behaviour, it´s often based on jealousy. For example, when we see someone posing for a selfie in the middle of a crowded bus, we think, what a showoff! Or when there´s an empty dance floor and somebody is dancing there, we feel secondhand embarrassment for them.

But what we really feel is envy of those who have the balls not to care about other people´s opinions. We minimise ourselves so as not to stand out, and when we see carefree, spirited people, we are thrown off by their naturalness.

So next time, you see a group of East Asian tourists snapping photos of Orloj, as if it´s an Olympic sport, don´t judge them too hard. And if someone poses in the most tacky way next to a blooming cherry at Petřín, smile.

Tourism harms our planet and steals the mystique of locations, but don´t hate the player, hate the game. Consumerism is your enemy, not the Argentinian granny who visited Prague with her daughter and spent 14 hours on a train because of it (I still think of her occasionally).

Love,

Book and Tea Girl