Hey guys. Going through the search forum, I haven't seen this topic discussed so I wanted to see what experienced travelers such as yourselves thought of this topic.
I'm putting this topic out here because I had an interesting discussion with a close friend about this subject that I never really thought heavily about before. I will give you his situation. He is in the middle of a Europe trip and it's the first time he's really been out of North America. He has been to Portugal, France, and Italy on his trip so far.
I was telling him that I thought Italy and Germany were two of my most desired countries to see every inch of. He responded by telling me he doesn't really have a desire to visit Germany because he affiliates them with the history of World War II and the Nazis. He made the argument that by visiting that country, he felt like he was supporting a history that he disapproved of and was just contributing to the country's income and separated Japan from this by making the argument that they have done a lot more positive for the world post-WW2 and did not do as much damage in WW2 as Germany.
My response to this was that my belief is every superpower did not become a superpower without doing terrible things and that Germany is far from the only country to have an ugly war history. I used Cambodia as a big reference and that I had a desire to visit the country just to see the aftermath of a population genocide for myself. But I can think of plenty of countries that have an ugly war history such as China, Japan, England, THE UNITED STATES, Columbia, Russia, and even the two countries my friend is currently in: France and Italy.
I thought he had a pretty weak argument for not wanting to see Germany but I want to know if anyone else actively avoids a country because they don't like their political history. I'm not talking about countries that are currently not the safest places or even war zones such as Syria and Afghanistan, but places that are rather safe and even desirable to visit such as the United States, Italy, England, Germany, Japan, etc. just because they don't approve of a side they took in war or something along those lines with no other reason.
I'm putting this topic out here because I had an interesting discussion with a close friend about this subject that I never really thought heavily about before. I will give you his situation. He is in the middle of a Europe trip and it's the first time he's really been out of North America. He has been to Portugal, France, and Italy on his trip so far.
I was telling him that I thought Italy and Germany were two of my most desired countries to see every inch of. He responded by telling me he doesn't really have a desire to visit Germany because he affiliates them with the history of World War II and the Nazis. He made the argument that by visiting that country, he felt like he was supporting a history that he disapproved of and was just contributing to the country's income and separated Japan from this by making the argument that they have done a lot more positive for the world post-WW2 and did not do as much damage in WW2 as Germany.
My response to this was that my belief is every superpower did not become a superpower without doing terrible things and that Germany is far from the only country to have an ugly war history. I used Cambodia as a big reference and that I had a desire to visit the country just to see the aftermath of a population genocide for myself. But I can think of plenty of countries that have an ugly war history such as China, Japan, England, THE UNITED STATES, Columbia, Russia, and even the two countries my friend is currently in: France and Italy.
I thought he had a pretty weak argument for not wanting to see Germany but I want to know if anyone else actively avoids a country because they don't like their political history. I'm not talking about countries that are currently not the safest places or even war zones such as Syria and Afghanistan, but places that are rather safe and even desirable to visit such as the United States, Italy, England, Germany, Japan, etc. just because they don't approve of a side they took in war or something along those lines with no other reason.
As far back as I could remember, I always wanted to be a player.
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