Traveling has always been a unique experience. It gives people the opportunity to see the customs of a foreign country and feel the unique charm of different cultures. However, there is often a silver lining between too idealistic imagination and cruel reality.
Recently, a travel dispute in the romantic city of Paris sparked a fierce confrontation between travelers and local residents, and even set off widespread public opinion on the Internet.
The trigger for this "Paris controversy" was what a million-dollar Chinese Internet celebrity saw and heard while traveling in Paris.
The blogger, affectionately known as "Xuzhou's big cousin" by netizens, spits on the environment and public facilities on the streets of Paris in his video.
What made the eldest cousin quite criticized was a series of problems such as poor subway facilities, garbage everywhere on the streets, and expensive fees.
The eldest cousin described Paris as a backward city with anomie of public order, which naturally aroused the strong displeasure of a local French blogger "Marga".
Ma Jia immediately tried her best to correct her hometown in her video, and refuted her eldest cousin's accusations with reason. It's just that her explanation was not widely recognized by netizens, but was criticized as far-fetched and self-talking.
Let's first take a look at how the big cousin complains about Paris in the video.
The eldest cousin was first surprised by the facilities of the Paris Metro. It turned out that the car door of the Paris Metro actually needed to be opened manually, and you couldn't get off the train without actively opening the door.
To make matters worse, he searched the entire platform when he got off the train and couldn't see the elevator, so he had to walk up a long flight of stairs to get out of the station.
In addition, the eldest cousin complained that Paris was full of garbage and that the city center was even full of disgusting stool smell.
An ordinary toilet trip between the two of them costs more than 30 yuan. What he couldn't tolerate even more was that the elevator in the hotel was so small that it could only accommodate two people, and he could only take it in batches with his luggage.
The eldest cousin sighed helplessly, even the food delivery elevator used by ordinary restaurants in China is bigger than this.
In the face of this fierce "criticism" from Chinese tourists, Ma Jia naturally could not sit idly by. She decided to use her own video to refute many of her eldest cousin's accusations one by one.
It's just that Ma Jia's unreasonable and tortuous explanation is more like forcibly "exculpating" his hometown in the eyes of netizens.
For example, Ma Jia claims that the manual opening of the subway is not backward, but allows tourists to experience the retro romance of a hundred years ago; The same is true for the worn-out carriage seats.
As for the homeless people lying in the station, Ma Jia went so far as to say that it reflected the "relaxation" of European life.
What's even more outrageous is that Ma Jia has a big brain hole for the lack of elevator facilities in Paris. She claimed that the reason why Parisians don't install elevators is because of the need for fitness and weight loss, otherwise where would there be so many hot supermodels?
Logically speaking, Ma Jia's arguments are really far-fetched.
However, when she defended the hotel's small elevator "around the world", it made people laugh even more.
Ma Jia said bluntly that the hotel elevator design is so compact in order to increase the romantic atmosphere between lovers and stimulate the spark of love! This remark is simply ridiculous.
Obviously, Ma Jia is trying to justify her hometown in an idealized and romanticized way.
In her eyes, the stereotypes that tourists criticize may be unique to Parisian cultural symbols that should not be erased by modern aesthetics. However, netizens didn't buy it, and left messages saying that she said: "Good guy, you are more ruthless than your eldest cousin, you are yin and yang!"
It is true that while trying to justify Paris from start to finish, Maja has inadvertently exposed the environmental problems that exist there. In a way, she is more like she is consciously or unconsciously confirming what her eldest cousin has seen and heard.
This kind of self-contradictory approach does make people feel that some of her defense rhetoric is equivalent to nothing.
So, in this "Paris dispute," who is telling the truth and who is talking in their dreams? In fact, there is no absolute right or wrong in the views of both sides, and the key lies in how we view the problem.
As far as the eldest cousin is concerned, he lives in a modern metropolis and has long been accustomed to the standards of modern civilization, even taking them for granted. And when this expectation is disappointed, he will naturally feel disappointed and unhappy.
Many of the situations he criticized may indeed have violated the basic requirements of modern public order and efficiency. For example, excessive fees, outdated public facilities, and so on.
For Ma Jia, she tried her best to correct the name of her hometown out of a sense of family and country. In her view, Paris is not a "backward" city, and some of the traditional practices there are just a unique cultural atmosphere.
With the help of these symbols, she hopes to preserve the unique charm of the city of Paris and avoid being lost to the tide of modernity.
From this point of view, some of Ma Jia's claims are not entirely reasonable. For example, interpreting the dilapidated facilities as "retro romance" and the charging behavior as "relaxing life" can be said to be a deliberate effort to correct the name of her hometown.
However, this does not mean that the big cousin's accusations are completely unreasonable. Paris really needs to modernize more to protect the public interest and improve the quality of life of its citizens.
No matter how romantic a city is, it should not be reduced to a "backward den" with a dirty environment and expensive fees. Only by truly civilized and orderly and beautiful environment can Paris demonstrate its unique charm as the center of European culture and art.
We've all been travelers, swayed by strange customs in a foreign land. However, when we contrast idealized imagination with harsh reality, disappointment and helplessness often arise.
For the "war of words" between the eldest cousin and Ma Jia, we cannot completely dismiss the views of either side, because they represent different aesthetic orientations and values.
Perhaps, Ma Jia is trying to maintain the image of Paris out of love for his hometown. The eldest cousin hopes to use the video to directly report what he has seen and heard, and attract the attention of relevant departments.
In any case, the two sides should listen to each other's views with an open and inclusive mind, and seek balance and understanding, rather than-for-tat and contradictory rhetoric. After all, appreciating beauty is both an ability and a literacy. Each of us should be open-minded and empathetic to listen and interpret the views of others to reach a consensus.
As Ma Jia said in the video, Paris, as the cultural and artistic center of Europe, does contain a romantic atmosphere. But at the same time, it also needs to improve its public facilities to create a more comfortable environment for citizens and visitors.
As far as China is concerned, our living environment has been improving, and many of the problems that were once criticized have now been better solved. With their own diligence and wisdom, the Chinese have worked hard to create the prosperity and development of the country and society. No one can deny this.
Therefore, travelers and residents should not rest on their laurels, but should learn from each other with an open and inclusive mindset. It is only through friendly exchanges and mutual understanding that we can promote the integration of civilizations and jointly build a better world.