Rich Tourists Now Staying in Luxury ‘Shanty Towns’ So They Can Pretend to Be Poor

[Courtesy Flush]

http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/11/29/rich-tourists-now-staying-in-luxury-shanty-towns-so-they-can-pretend-to-be-poor/

Emoya Luxury Hotel and Spa created a fake shanty town so that its wealthy clientele can pretend to slum it “within the safe environment of a private game reserve.”

But don’t worry, even though the “Shanty Town” has intricately designed, colorful iron shacks, outdoor bathrooms, and battery operated radios, things aren’t too realistic for comfort. “This is the only Shanty Town in the world equipped with under-floor heating and wireless internet access!” its website boasts.

[Turbineguy]

1. Good idea!

That way when they go back home and advocate for austerity they will really know what the fuck they are talking about.

Remember National Lampoon's album where they fasted for two hours so they could see what it was like to starve in a famine?

[LuvNewcastle]

2. Some rich person should switch with me for a couple of weeks.

I have heat and internet access, and my neighborhood is sort of like a game preserve.

[kentauros]

4. I think you're on to something there!

Set up a website, and a DBA such as "Switch with the Rich", "Rich Switch", or "Life Swap" and start attracting clients

[Courtesy Flush]

6. Exactly

I think some of them would rather we not see what's behind the curtain.

[LuvNewcastle]

7. I'm sure there are some goofy rich people who would do it.

I'll rent this place out as a time-share. "Observe the nocturnal animals in their native habitat."

[Warpy]

3. It's sheer luxury compared to the real thing

I'd like to see them cope with pallets on a dirt floor, four kids to a single mattress sized hard pallet, not even cloth separation between "rooms," and forget all that sheetrock on the inside, the tin is the same on both sides with the wind, dust, and rain leaking through, along with being able to hear a neighbor fart in his sleep three shanties away.

This reminds me of the "rural village" Marie Antoinette constructed at Versailles, aristocratic dandies playing at being poor.

[Courtesy Flush]

5. And even if it were real

Would it matter? A wealthy, well educated, well fed person spending a few days in a real slum would come out thinking it wasn't half bad. They would not know what it's like to have no future, or no hope, any more than a weekend of camping would teach them what it was like to be a caveman.

I had a teenage foster child who spent the night in jail. He said it was great. Being a tourist in a bad place gives you very little perspective compared to having it be your only option for years on end.

[Warpy]

8. That's true, but it would be a lesson in discomfort

as they had trouble walking and were sleep deprived and had choking coughs from the smoke of a cooking fire.

They might develop a whisker of compassion at that point, which is why this "shantytown" doesn't expect them to do it realistically, any more than Marie Antoinette's version had them cooking their own lunches rather than having them catered by the palace kitchen.

[GreenPartyVoter]

9. And that's just it. They don't understand the desperation or the fear because in the end

they are going back home to a comfortable house, all the food they want, and financial security.

[rdharma]

10. ErrrMerrrGerrd!

"Now you can experience staying in a Shanty within the safe environment of a private game reserve. This is the only Shanty Town in the world equipped with under-floor heating and wireless internet access!"