On Vulgar Tourism

From nudity in Cortina to bathing in fountains, passing through flip-flops and tank tops shamelessly flaunted in places of worship.

That summer brings with it a certain tendency toward inhibition, freedom of movement, and transgression is a well-known fact. Yet stumbling every day upon episodes and gestures worthy of a red card gives pause. It is a long wave with atavistic roots, drawing without doubt from malaeducación, relying almost always on incivility. In these cases, we are not treading the slippery ground of clichés but facing pure reality. A reality that, aided by the ferocity of soaring temperatures, gifts us with pearls of unparalleled indecency. As if to say: here, I make the rules. But overturning the codes of good manners has never been easy.

For the moral insurrection that daily brushes the pages of impatience is always ready to stigmatize—not with the vain pretense of educating, but rather to defend and reclaim the civility of good manners. Which ought to rhyme with courtesy and grace.

Even if the paradigm shift seems hard to implement, like a well-cut suit in the wrong size. It is, without doubt, a cultural leap that must involve knowledge of places, works, and history, in order to respect through study and awareness. Banish once and for all blasphemous behaviors, affectations, and all those tons of selfies that flood social media pages. Then summer comes to an end—and forgive me, Michael and Johnson Righeira.

Photo credit: Wikipedia

Instacult by Mauro Lama