War Tourism: Why Does this Feel Wrong Again?

When I got off the plane at Sarajevo, there is one thing running through my head, "How war torn is it going to be??" This is an unfair sort of thing to think perhaps, but being an American who has not seen the ravages of war first hand (other than in Kosovo perhaps), but has always seen it on TV, this "wanna see the war" mentality is almost like a sickening craving.

I get into a cab, and yes, the war is visible: holes in concrete where mortar shells hit, empty buildings, ruins, mass grave sites with white markers etc. Many things one would expect to see from the horrible 1992-1995 siege of Sarajevo by Serbs. (Only a few years after the Olympics in Sarajevo in 1984). My eyes fixated on those things, maybe instead of realizing the Mango, the Sisley, the Mazda dealer, the restaurants, and the bustling traffic, all very orderly.

When I get to the hostel, I encounter other travelers, begging to see the Tunnel where Bosnians smuggled goods, weapons, and people during the war. All talking about how much a disappointment certain places are because they don't have "real" handicrafts. (What, you don't like that plastic AK-47 souvenir? Let me give you a real one... But by the way, I've seen the same silk scarf in Egypt, Bosnia, China, and Turkey at this point, all claiming to be "hand made") Basically, people are trying to show each other up on who has a more "authentic cultural experience."

It got me to thinking, and writing this piece as a drank Bosnian coffee: now, is "culture" being bought and sold just like pollution credits, cigaretts, cars, and the United Colors of Benetton? So what is a world traveler to do? Suddenly culture is lost in not a "cultural" discovery, but an "economic" one--lets go see war, poverty--things we can't afford (in many ways other than what you are thinking).

Suddenly a journey means seeing that which is war torn, then saving it. If we are beyond the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, I would call this one the Age of Mechanical Reconstruction of culture, where culture is reproduced, reconstructed, bought and sold.

You know when you come to Sarajevo, you want to see and hear of war and bullet holes and mines. There is something more exotic about that than seeing maybe a Hawaiian hula girl or eating real Chinese food. Especially us young folk, we like to feel suspicious of the land we visit, trying to show one another up on who did what more dangerously by embellishing just, "How war torn Sarajevo was" or "how strange it was they have not repaired the bullet holes" when meanwhile, it is not "as bad" as we make it out to be. In fact, its safer than small town America at 10:00 at night.

The American mentality loves to find reasons to be paranoid. There is something foreign about domestic war (and even poverty). After all, we really haven't seen war since the Civil war. So that is ages (even before the real hit of "The Age of Mechanical Reproduction.") Other than pearl Harbor, 9/11 and maybe some domestic terror like Oklahoma City, we really have not seen as much as we like to imagine with our American paranoia. Instead, we have bred maybe a sicker kind of warfare of mind, drug, sex---not to mention the types of meth lab crimes and sick things you hear about that go on in the American west (tying up people in a house and watching them die?)

In our paranoia, we almost crave to see and point out the perversion of the rest of the world. We crave to point out how sad, poor, desperate everyone else is. (Why else do you watch ET or Inside Edition? You want to see some crisis fabricated. Don't get me started on Lifetime).

Should we be ashamed of our obsession with this "war tourism" or "poverty tourism" that goes on so much? Perhaps. Yet maybe before we judge others, we should look what is happening to people in downtown Brackenridge, PA.

Will I stop being cautious, paranoid, or interested in the "warzone?" No. Its almost as American as apple pie. I run into travelers here with no fear, until their purse is stolen. I am cautious, but I have fun too (it did not stop me from befriending some fellow travelers and going to certain "warzone" areas with them.. after all, its better to not be alone and be with a Mexican guy who went to Penn or a Canadian doctor).

Well, ready to take on Montenegro and Croatia. In one day. Holla.