cherson@fsleng.DEC (04/02/85)
>Hedonism is paradise. It is on Negril Beach, 7 miles of white sand. It >also has many portions that are nude beach. The people are fantastic, >everyone is friendly and warm to tourists. Food is inexpensive (outside, >Hedonism gives you free food I think), and you don't have to leave the >beach for anything. I think this should be filed under the heading of wretched excess, to say the least. Let's all prance around nude on the beach of an underdeveloped country and act so free, while Jamaicans experience incredible unemployment, exploitation of their dwindling resources, rising prices, etc. In short all that a third world country experiences in this age of enlightenment. I was in Jamaica in 1972, and it still is by far the most distressing "vacation" I've ever had. Sure, it was fine if you restricted yourself to your beachside resort, sealed off from reality. But once you stepped outside of that world, well quite another story. Many people would come up to me and ask for an address in the states, so they could have a sponsor who would help him/her get off this "paradise". I was there with a friend and was scheduled to stay for 7 days, I couldn't take it that long and left without my friend on the fifth day. Jamaica is very beautiful physically and it is quite a shame that it's physical charm conflicts with it's sociological despair. I couldn't enjoy a vacation where I couldn't interact with the citizens of a country in an equal manner and that's what turned me off in 1972. The tourists that come to Jamaica are there for the sun & fun, so they restrict themselves to their resorts and inure themselves to the world outside. I enjoy going to many nude beaches but I have a politically aware conscience and find the practice of naturism in third world countries that are on the verge of blow-up, disgusting and arrogant. I'm sure that others will argue that tourism brings in valued foreign currency, etc., but I can't buy that as justification for such places as "Hedonism". All they are to me are exercises in disparity. Maybe the owners of Hedonism could spare some of that free food and bring it over to shantytown? D.C.
cherson@fsleng.DEC (04/12/85)
In reply to Sanjay Tikku: I was not trying to stress the poverty factor in my first message about my reaction to Hedonism. Rather I stressed the exploitation factor in relation to Jamaica. By the way I do not flaunt any class privileges in inner-city ghettoes and barrios in America, either. David Cherson