Wednesday, April 9, 2014

DESTINATION POVERTY EXPERIENCE ... BECAUSE BEING STINKING RICH ISN'T ENOUGH

Want to pretend that you're a poor black man living in a shanty town, without all those pesky poor black people to ruin your day? Then this South African luxury hotel & spa is for you.

Studio-suites at Emoya Luxury Hotel & Spa's Shanty Town

Multiple studio-suites in Shanty Town so you get the poor man's community feel

Included in your luxurious stay at Emoya Luxury Hotel & Spa's Shanty Town is underfloor heating, long-drop effect toilets, and wi-fi access. Best of all you get to stay white when you leave (membership does have its privileges).

Shanty Town is being sold as a setting where you can do team building and hold theme parties. There's no mention whether upgrades include having your village raided, and then getting carted off to jail by the make-believe secret police from the Police State Hotel & Spa down the road.

I know, I know ...

No fancy campfires here ... Hobo-like stoves provide a genuine impoverished feel (I guess). 

Seriously, are there so many clueless rich people out there that they would find something like this enjoyable? I guess there are, so I have an idea.

If you really want to be exposed to what a desperately poor man faces, pick up a nap sack, fly to Mexico, pay a coyote, and try to cross the U.S. border without your passport. If you want a real team building experience bring your employee group and become a human horde. Speak something other than English or Spanish when you get caught and you might even get the "treated as a terrorist" experience (at no extra charge).

Perhaps I'm the one that's out of touch here, but I don't get it.

After decades of growing wealth gaps and surging human inequality, is this where the human condition is heading? If so, maybe we can just skip the middle part and let The Hunger Games begin.


Sigh ...

- Mark 

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Commodifying & marketing pseudo-poverty. Now that's really a value-added product that helps enrich humanity!