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Homogenisation is real and I do think it's a shame for the traveler but I can't get too mad because unfortunately it does seem to be something generally attendant to prosperity. This is especially true of poorer countries, and it would feel a bit wierd to moan about the rest of the world being insufficiently varied for my leisure pursuit.
I don’t agree with this. Homogenisation is a side of integrating into the global market economy. However a lot of countries achieved this integration without getting richer and better off. I have travelled in plenty of poor but modernised places and plenty of poor but not so modernised places. It was very clear for me that the people generally had a nicer life in the second ones.
What are some examples?
Most of Africa, Latin America, Arab countries without infinite oil. Iran. Afghanistan. Don't know that much about Asia. Even much of Turkey is in this category in a way even though we are somewhat wealthier. Many of these places uprooted the poor, parochial but somewhat functional traditional lifestyle of their populations in a quest of modernization and industry. Tens of millions flowing into massive and honestly horrible cities as cheap labour force. The expectation was that industry would make everyone better off eventually, and these transitionary problems would be resolved through wealth. Just like in Europe.
However this obviously failed and many of these countries are actually actively de-industrializing for decades. Their connection with the global market economy turned into acting as resource extraction centers and cheap low quality immigrant labour breeders. They are dependent on commodity price super cycles, IMF loans, remittances, tourism and bare minimum of low efficiency industry for items difficult to import from China. Politics are at a total mess as the pie doesn't grow and the only way to lead a good life is to leech off the society somehow. All the millions who left poor but resilient lives in the country with strong traditional communities, honest labour, security, clean water and local food sources are now leading poor anonymous lives within crumbling city neighborhoods rife with crime and drugs, pollution, water you would rather not even brush your teeth with, and have to feed themselves with cheapest shittiest industrially convenient diets (sugar and grains). There are very few good jobs typically only in extractive industries such as mining or drilling if you aren't well-connected. The political elites have resigned themselves to steal as much as possible and send their kids to the first world.
P.S. I am not idealizing the traditional country life by the way. It was also quite suboptimal in many ways and people left for a reason, often voluntarily. I am simply saying that the replacement hasn't left these societies much better off.
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