Appalling tourist behavior, cont.

A 22yr old German tourist. Why am I not surprised?

He should be made to pay the damage.

Agreed that something needs to be done.

I feel like they need to take his passport away. Then if possible he needs to try to repair the damage that he caused.

But I think that he needs to be publicly shamed. I feel that he should be required to wear a dunce cap and have to sit in the area of the damage that he caused with a sign around his neck saying something like "I'm the dunce who did such and such".

I believe that the Puritans did something like this but didn't other groups also.

I feel like they need to take his passport away. Then if possible he
needs to try to repair the damage that he caused.

But I think that he needs to be publicly shamed. I feel that he should
be required to wear a dunce cap and have to sit in the area of the
damage that he caused with a sign around his neck saying something
like "I'm the dunce who did such and such".

Sigh. The idiot is a German citizen. He has free travel through the EU by virtue of his citizenship.

You think that an untrained idiot should be allowed to attempt the complicated restoration work that requires a skilled stone mason?

And sitting atop the damaged area will possibly further damage it and postpone restoration. Not a very good idea IMO.

Punishment needs to be swift, severe and widely publicized to hopefully act as a deterrent. Hit 'em hard in the pocketbook with a large fine. Possible jail time. Possible community service involving hard manual labour springs to mind.

I do not understand this.

Phil, public shaming doesn't work any more. Nobody cares.

If a protestor defaces or attempt to deface art, make them clean up the mess followed by 30 days of janitorial work at the museum during the day and jail at night. You don't want to do that? Fine. 60 days of jail only with a $20,000 fine.

If it is unwise to have them clean something of value, then they can clean toilets at museums.

People will act like jackasses if they are allowed to do so with impunity. Catch and release won't work.

Oh, and the offender will pay whatever costs are associated with incarceration, which can be surprisingly expensive.

I'm not surprised that the culprit in this case was only 22 years old, as this type of behaviour seems to be more common with younger people. As I recall, it was a younger Russian tourist that defaced the Colosseum in Rome recently. I can't imagine an older person (like myself) climbing a statue for a selfie or carving my initials in a historic monument. Doing something like that would be completely against my values.

I suppose it could be worse though..... a couple in China recently carved a section out of the Great Wall with an excavator, as they wanted to create a short-cut to move their equipment.

I did research on public shaming after my posting and as a rule, it is a very bad idea. It is NOT recommended. I have never liked the public shaming that has become acceptable the last few years but I thought that this was a good reason for using it.

My post was somewhat tongue in cheek even when I posted it. but agree that something needs to be done.

How is one so disrespectful?

BigMike, I like your idea.

As far as age goes, persons 22 have fought and died in battle even before 22. Some persons age 22 have children and are good parents (not always but often) Some persons age 22 are teaching school and working in health care.

There are a lot of jerks age 22 but also a lot of very responsible and caring persons.

It is up to the parents and society to teach generations coming up behind us.

One August when the Louvre was filled to the gills, I saw several young tourists climbing on the statues to take photos with the gods and goddesses. The few guards were overwhelmed with the bad behavior.

I worry that it will be a spiraling effect. If people doing such things aren't swiftly and sternly punished, more and more people will follow their example. I think punishment needs to be financially harsh, but I also think non negotiable incarceration is warranted, as money alone may not deter people, but the real chance of having freedom taken away may shock the disrespect out of them.

I also worry that if punishment doesn't change soon, access to such amazing historical beauty will be further withheld from us because it will be easier simply to put it behind closed doors or fences rather than to try to protect it out in the open from fools. It could change the travel industry and access to historical sites as we know it.

It's not just the young. Several years ago we watched the 50ish American woman directly in front of us on arriving at on the viewing platform of the Duomo pull out a Sharpie and reach up to sign the wall. Her excuse as we forcibly stopped dear was that there was graffiti all over. We tried the public shaming bit too, but other than getting looks from some people on the platform no one cared to join in on the admonishment.

Public beatings would do the trick

Larry wrote " as we forcibly stopped (her).

Yay! Finally! A round of applause for you sir!

What really amazes me, in a bad way, is that EVERY SINGLE TRAIN STATION has miles of graffiti. I could not believe even Venice, when we returned to our accommodation after dark, all shops had metal rolldown shutters, and every single one was covered with graffiti.
Yet in all our travels we have never seen anyone actually applying the graffiti....weird.
And these are not tourists.

This is kind of related

Years ago, I was an intern at Parks & Recreation Planning Dept. And we had nice tables and benches in our parks but. they kept getting stolen during the night

So cameras were put in and it was shocking to see middle class looking families show up during the night and steal the nice benches and tables. The entire family including the kids were showing up to steal the tables and benches. It was a family affair

So tables and benches that were nowhere as nice had to be used with concrete blocks and chains that were attached to.poles hammered into the ground. They. could not and did not get stolen but they were nowhere as nice and not as comfortable.

There has to be consequences for bad behavior.

.

An article in my newsfeed (I cant link) suggests that the increase in bad tourist behavior is linked to a disconnect between travelers and the local community and culture that lives there and needs to be respected. It blames "disneyification" (a real word - ask google) for making people think that places are packaged and promoted as solely existing to be their playground. Not much different than what we see in our US communities.

Now, no solutions were proposed, but it would certainly feel better to know there were strict consequences.

There are already harsh punishments for defacing public monuments in Italy. Art. 518-XII of the Italian Penal Code, recently modified after the monuments' defacing in Europe by climate activists, provides the following:
Anyone who destroys, disperses, deteriorates or renders any cultural heritage asset or landscape wholly or partially unusable or unenjoyable is punished with imprisonment from two to five years and a fine ranging from Euro 2,500 to Euro 15,000.

I don't know the extent to which this law is enforced, but maybe we need to reintroduce medieval torture instruments.