Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Does it still exist if we can't buy it?

Next, we headed into town to shop. I suppose this is the heart of tourism- a field trip for shopping. Guy Debord has called tourism "a by-product of the circulation of commodities... a chance to go and see what has been made trite." I thought of this when we entered a store with a kitschy Asian theme where there used to be a museum (according to our guide book). There was furniture from Malaysia, Chairman Mao bookends, Ganesh notebooks, everything translated into the language of ironic modern condescention. Your culture is our knick-knacks. Does it still exist if we can't buy it?

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