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Title – ‘Yom Kippur riot’ in Israeli citySource – www.bbc.co.uk
Date – 9th October 2008
It would be wrong of me to write in this blog that the riot that started with someone driving a car on the Yom Kippur religious holiday in Israel was simply the result of a cultural faux pas. There are clearly very serious tensions and deep rooted problems in this part of the world and the fact that it was a person of Arab origin driving on a Jewish religious holiday undoubtedly contributed in a very substantial way to the resulting riots.
But this situation illustrates in the strongest way how cultural awareness and cultural sensitivity play a very important role in safe travel.
Learning about other cultures should be one of the main reasons for travel and accepting the cultures of the countries you visit is imperative. You don’t have to agree with local cultures, but when you visit another country you have to respect them or go home. You simply can not expect to force your own culture on your hosts and far too often I see tourists trying to ‘impose’ on their hosts the ‘right way’ to do things or how to think. I use the word ‘impose’ rather than ‘teach’ because they tend not to suggest their way is right so much as tell their host that the host’s way is wrong.
There is nothing wrong with having an open discussion about cultural differences, many people across the world want to talk to you about how things are in the UK, but be sensitive to their beliefs and their way of doing things and do not assume that what we think ‘works’ at home should work around the world, because that is simply not true. I personally believe that if all the world followed the British model, the world would be a much much poorer and less interesting place.
At Beyond The Blue we run Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness workshops (GYITSA) for those planning travel to any part of the world. We provide not only practical advice such as guidance on Travel Equipment, but also Cultural Awareness to give candidates an introduction to the culture of the countries they intend to visit so they can travel pre-warned and prepared and enjoy all the positive experiences that independent travel has to offer without, so many of the pitfalls.
Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com or join us on Facebook. For a complete list of Blog entries visit our National Press Archive page.
Date – 9th October 2008
It would be wrong of me to write in this blog that the riot that started with someone driving a car on the Yom Kippur religious holiday in Israel was simply the result of a cultural faux pas. There are clearly very serious tensions and deep rooted problems in this part of the world and the fact that it was a person of Arab origin driving on a Jewish religious holiday undoubtedly contributed in a very substantial way to the resulting riots.
But this situation illustrates in the strongest way how cultural awareness and cultural sensitivity play a very important role in safe travel.
Learning about other cultures should be one of the main reasons for travel and accepting the cultures of the countries you visit is imperative. You don’t have to agree with local cultures, but when you visit another country you have to respect them or go home. You simply can not expect to force your own culture on your hosts and far too often I see tourists trying to ‘impose’ on their hosts the ‘right way’ to do things or how to think. I use the word ‘impose’ rather than ‘teach’ because they tend not to suggest their way is right so much as tell their host that the host’s way is wrong.
There is nothing wrong with having an open discussion about cultural differences, many people across the world want to talk to you about how things are in the UK, but be sensitive to their beliefs and their way of doing things and do not assume that what we think ‘works’ at home should work around the world, because that is simply not true. I personally believe that if all the world followed the British model, the world would be a much much poorer and less interesting place.
At Beyond The Blue we run Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness workshops (GYITSA) for those planning travel to any part of the world. We provide not only practical advice such as guidance on Travel Equipment, but also Cultural Awareness to give candidates an introduction to the culture of the countries they intend to visit so they can travel pre-warned and prepared and enjoy all the positive experiences that independent travel has to offer without, so many of the pitfalls.
Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com or join us on Facebook. For a complete list of Blog entries visit our National Press Archive page.
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