As if the author of this story knew anything about visiting Colombia.

“Just uh.. you know.. don’t get kidnapped or anything.”

Another ridiculous generalization which perpetuates the constant maligning of a country of beautiful people and beautiful places. I’ve visited Colombia many, many times and it is with first-hand knowledge that I can say that I’ve never feared for my safety there.

It is true that rebel forces such as the FARC, ELN and AUC commit kidnappings to fund their civil war with the Colombian government, however, these kidnappings are almost always of Colombian nationals of known wealth, not tourists. This is very rare.

To insinuate that a common tourist faces a kidnapping risk is completely unfair and irresponsible journalism based on stereotype which is commonly presented in the media. To say that a common tourist faces the possibility of being victimized in random crime would also be irresonsible. I have easily as much risk here in Houston, Texas of being victimized in random criminal activity as I would any of the major cities of Colombia.

I’ll also add that Bogota, Colombia is a more modern metropolis than Houston is in many ways. What I’ve always found there were beautiful, very well educated, good-natured, extremely friendly and generally happy people who aren’t spoiled by their society as we are here in the U.S.

It’s no myth.

Freaky. It should be called “The Columbians Strike Back”! And it could say “A long time ago, in a ‘Coffee n’ Kidnap House’ somewhere in northern Columbia, the epic story of a supplier gone mad unfolds.”

Or…wait….oops….I thought you were talkin’ about pot. gg I’m stupid….sorry Evil Monkey…hey, from now on, you can call me M Master.

Again, my reply was a direct response to the last sentence written in the original article. It is a classic stereotype, among many others which are constantly perpetuated in U.S. media. It’s nothing more than ignorance but I really can’t blame the writer for their ignorance because this is what they’ve been fed for years.

Parque 93 and Zona Rosa are NOT dangerous places to be, even at night. Not only are they frequented by embassy employees, but U.S. soldiers, U.S. tourists, German, British, Italian, Swedish, etc., tourists – and these are both thriving party spots at night and popular shopping areas by day. The worst thing you’ll see there on any given afternoon or evening is someone panhandling. These people are just to be ignored. I know too much about the panhandlers than to give in to them. The baby in the woman’s arms is not hers – it’s borrowed. Somebody else will use the little cutie the next night to pull on someone’s heartstrings. Just move on and enjoy yourself.

U.S. State Department advisories are almost always over the top, and to be taken with a grain of salt. It’s still a good idea to read them if you are traveling abroad to any foreign country, so you’ll know what to be aware of, as reports of these occurences have been noted. Updates to their advisory web pages are not done with any regularity, however.

The original article, last sentence still constitutes irresponsible journalism based on stereotypes and should not be taken seriously. Your chances of being kidnapped as a tourist in Colombia are next to nothing.

Going there as part of an operation to control drug production and smuggling, wearing camoflage uniforms and crash-landing your plane in the Andean jungles will have the opposite effect, as we know from what happened in 2002.

Showing large amounts of money in public wouldn’t be advised either – but then, is that advised in any large city in the world?

Anyone who has been a tourist in Colombia, even once, as the author of the original article may have been, but I highly doubt it – would not have written this maligning statement, and you can argue that it wasn’t stereotypically, debasing and maligning all you like. It is what it is. BS.

What you will experience in Colombia is great food, smiling people who warmly greet you on the street whether you know them or not, great music, culture, inexpensive shopping, beautiful scenery and a way of life that is uncorrupted by U.S. commercialism, like Panama for example (once a part of Gran Colombia).

Go and enjoy and you will become just another that discovers that what you heard on the news all these years was just more of the same ignorant stereotyping. And then you will want to go right back.

Ok, let me just say this: Colombia has the highest number of kidnappings per year in the world.

Because I think you might be slow, let me say it one more time, and make sure you pay attention: Colombia has the highest number of kidnappings per year in the world.

Any reasonable person would look at that and say, “3,000 kidnappings per year. Probably millions of tourists, tens of millions of citizens. So infrequent it probably doesn’t register on most people’s radar.” As the country that holds the title for the highest number of kidnappings per year in the world, whenever someone needs something nonchalant, amusing, and slightly insulting to say about Colombia, it’ll probably have to do with kidnappings or cocaine. No, it’s not a complete and well-documented socio-political statement about the country. Yes, it’s a stereotype, and yes, we all realize it’s probably not indicative of the country as a whole, but it’s what we use.

Keep in mind, I’m not just picking on Colombia. We do this with every country all the time. We make jokes about the Japanese obesssion with schoolgirls and their affinity for making good cars. We make jokes about China propping up the US dollar. We make jokes about Candadians and their hockey and cold weather. We make jokes about British citizens’ bad teeth. We make jokes about nobody forgetting Poland. We make jokes about the Irish getting drunk and getting in fights, and about the IRA. And don’t think we’re alone. Canadians make jokes to their friends about not getting shot when they travel to the United States. Other countries around the world laugh at us whining about “high” gas prices. People laugh that we re-elected george bush, that we’re all a bunch of nascar-watching hicks, or that we’re all soulless capitalists. Everybody does it, and those who say they don’t are liars.

The above was a long-winded way of saying “lighten the f up.”

As for taking the State Department travel advisories with a grain of salt: Yes, that’s true. It’s best to corroborate stories with other sources, and if you want, I welcome you to post what Fromer’s travel, Rick Steve’s Travel, National Geographic, Condi Nost, or other countries’ travel advisories say. You know what else needs to be taken with a grain of salt? Individual people’s opinions of where they’ve traveled or lived. A Colombian national saying “oh it’s great here” is really saying “As a Colombian who speaks the language fluently, understands the cultural norms, jokes and slang, fits in with the culture and knows a lot of people in the area, it’s great here.” That person is a far cry from the non-Spanish-speaking American cowboy in a t-shirt depicting the american flag saying, “yee haw, let’s get us up to that volcano on car-tuh-gee-nuh!”

Oy.

First, let’s address this business of personal attacks. You don’t resort to them? Really? What use does your mention of Mensa serve? It’s immaterial to the argument that Colombia is a safe place. By saying you’re in Mensa, you’re declaring yourself a de-facto “expert,” and passive-aggressively proposing that your interpretation of the facts is more valid than mine, constituting a personal attack. Furthermore, you claim that people who use stereotypes are “[...] ignorant or ill-informed.” There, again, personal attack. Point #1 defeated.

While we’re on the subject, let’s talk about this “Stereotypes Suck. Period.” business. We don’t have time to get to intimately know everyone we pass in life. We don’t have time to analyze every piece of data and prioritize facts and fully evaluate everything about every decision we make in life. Our brains, however, are very good at creating abstract models based on information, be it past experience or learned knowledge. It’s a concept called pattern recognition. When we’re walking down the street, we’re flooded with information. The cars, their order, cleanliness, licence plates, tabs, window clarity, whether or not the tires have valve stems. The light sources, what fuels them, how they’re linked together, how they’re activated. The buildings around you. The people who made it, the materials it’s made from, how well they’d fare against some actions. The street, the cracks in said street, the pavement expansion grooves, sidewalks, curbs, litter, boundries, underground access covers. Who owns the property, their history, property lines and potential border disputes. We simply can’t analyze, process, and prioritize all of this. Attempting to do so would send your brain into shock. Therefore, your brain says, “when walking, it’s important I don’t fall, and that I head towards my destination.” And it does that. Defining things that will make you fall is a stereotype. True, every single one probably won’t make you fall, but you can’t analyze every single one.

Lest we conclude this section without an ironic twist, your rhetoric question of people who use stereotypes being “ignorant or ill-informed” is a stereotype in and of itself. You assume people who use stereotypes are ignorant or ill-informed. And in your perception of pattern recognition and selective application of data, you use this stereotype, and whenever it works out for you, it just reinforces your use of it. Also, your assumption that Mensa members are smart is also a stereotype. They are just people willing to pay 50 dollars per year and scoring in the top 2% of a test that measures a specific kind of intelligence (funny enough, they’re usually tests of pattern recognition and synthesis). Musical geniuses that are just normal at pattern recognition won’t make it into your little club. Are they therefore of inferior intellect? Point #2 defeated. QED.

I agree everyone should take everything here with a grain of salt, but to me, that’s just common sense. Putting complete faith in anything human is setting yourself up for failure or disappointment. And that’s a stereotype you can count on

EvilMonkey: (only person I’m responding to)

Since you felt the need to ask, the Mensa referense is in response to your assertion that I am “slow”, and held no other implications whatsoever. What you derive from that is purely based on assumption. Your “defeat” is empty.

The statement: “Nothing personal, I assure you but who exactly is “we”? The ignorant or ill-informed?” was not a personal attack. It was a simple question based on your attempt to lump the masses together to validate your own opinions. Defeat? Hardly.

The remainder could fill a hot air balloon and set it aloft for a good year or more.

I never expect people with certain attitudes to make much sense; debating them becomes pointless and tiresome. So I am saying ‘whatever’. I don’t feel any urgency to prove my system of beliefs to you or anyone else. My experiences are my own and they allow me to live without the need to bow to fear-mongering “journalists” who have nothing better to do than spin the same stereotypes and myths for effect.

Later days… OAO

Quite amusing.

You actually proved 2 points for me.

First, I said earlier, Colombia under President Uribe has drastically improved it’s crime situation in the last 2-3 years. Look at the date on the BBC article: it’s in 2002, the year Uribe took office. Since then, he’s made tremendous strides in improving the country.

Second, You just said that Mexico overtook Colombia as the kidnapping leader. That means until very recently, in this year, Colombia was the kidnapping capital. Whether it’s one or one million, they were the leaders. Regardless of whether or not it’s likely to happen to the average traveler, as the holder of that title, people are going to make fun of it.

And, sure enough, look at travel advisories to Mexico, and they tell you to watch out for crime in Mexico City, and that kidnapping is on the rise.

To Whom It May Concern,

I believe that you my good man merely wish to lull me into a false sense of impregnability and thus at your behest at some point forward to accompany yourself on a sabbatical to Columbia at which point no doubt under the most rational-sounding methodology you shall indeed ask me to venture to some rural road late at night and in doing so prove my disbelief of this much-maligned country’s nefarious reputation. At this point you and your devilish thugs shall no doubt kidnap me and demand from my estranged-though-loving family a magnificent ransom which they will have no respite from but to bestow. Well fie on you my good man fie on you indeed. Quid Pro Mexico.

PS: I’m a doctor.