Five of the worst photo choices:
your bare butt atop Machu Picchu or at Angkor Wat. If you visit Krakow, I will assume you made it out to Auschwitz without you posting a pic of your dumb grin by the morbid ‘‘Work Sets You Free’’ sign at the infamous concentration camp.
Our (brilliant) guide at the horrific World War II site described his almost daily act of telling off tourists acting inappropriately at one of the most important locations of the last century. I had thought it went without saying that you’d adopt a more solemn tone but apparently visitors even lurk in the rubble, so perhaps a few photos are the least of his worries.
Yes, I know, it made sense to you at the time: why not interrupt that stream of beach and hotel view photos you’re posting with some darker, grey memorials, just to show the rest of us at home that it wasn’t all shopping, snoozing and cocktails in the sun. You learnt some facts! In between selfies. Maybe. Something about a massacre? If your main concern at a culturally sensitive site is finding your best angle or the right lighting, perhaps it’s best you stay at home. Or at least do me a favour and when asked by locals where you’re from, just say Australia.
There will be those that say, since a picture speaks a thousand words, surely a selfie in front of a historic site can help spread knowledge about horrific atrocities. A picture does speak a thousand words, but in this case, all it says is the tasteless tourist is a bit of a narcissistic voyeur perhaps looking for validation in the wrong kind of way. The world may be connected like never before, but social media posts like this show a total lack of connection with the world right in front of you.
Selfies strip sites of gravitas E8
1. Handstands at the holocaust memorial. Berlin has thousands of square metres to perform basic gymnastics but one tasteless tourist thought the Holocaust Memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe would suit best. If Facebook had a dislike button … 2. Malaysian police arrested four Western tourists who had been accused of angering spirits after they posed for a picture naked at Mount Kinabalu, in Borneo, considered a sacred site. They faced fines and a few days in prison. 3. In 2014, one Alabama teen got her 15 minutes of fame after posting a smiling selfie at Auschwitz, only to find many of her followers weren’t fans of the idea. 4. Two United Kingdom tourists were arrested by Peruvian police for attempting a naked selfie at Machu Picchu in March last year. The ancient monument has seen a spike in streaking in recent years. 5. A group of Brits on a stag do decided to visit the 9/11 memorial with an inflatable doll to pose for selfies. Police were quick to escort them away. Email if you have a travel issue you’d like Josh Martin, a London-based travel journalist, to write about.