My mood is dark as of late, which is largely a result of what I am seeing.

I have been to Europe many, many times. There are places etched in my memory, that I loved: London, Madrid, Barcelona, Florence, Venice, Paris, etc. Each of those places have changed so much, for the worse, that I no longer can reconcile my memories with the current reality. What happened to these places?

Well, firstly, they have become “diversified”. That means they are now awash with hordes of unwashed. They are everywhere – begging, stealing, loafing, committing violence, and generally being parasitic and destructive.

One tour guide we were with was pick-pocketed three times in the last year. I avoided a couple of attempts to do the same to me. Pickpocketing is in epidemic proportion. The why is easy to see – for instance, in Barcelona the penalty for pickpocketing is 50 euros – no matter how often you get caught, the penalty is 50 euros. The police will now do nothing – why would they? If they catch the pickpocket, take them to jail, do the paperwork, etc. – the criminal is released with a fine of 50 euros. In fairness, the pickpockets are not entirely limited to the hordes of unwashed that have arrived – many locals have realized that, hey, the cops are not going to act – at all – so what the hell, let’s make a grab for whatever passes by.

We met an old lady who was about to board a cruise. She had been pickpocketed – lost her money, credit cards, and most unfortunately, her passport. So no cruise for her, as without a passport, you cannot board. If it were not for the benevolence of the hotel where she was staying previously, she would possibly have been destitute on the street. This poor old lady, in her 80s, was beyond devastated. How has it come to pass that these parasites are allowed to target the most vulnerable?

A further example is that Greece has just passed a law where thieves get no jail time unless they steal over 120,000 euros. Yes, you are reading that correctly – in Greece you can steal up to 120,000 euros, and receive no jail time. You can imagine what this does to encourage the actions of the unwashed and the unscrupulous general population.

Secondly, those unwashed hordes have combined with great masses of tourists. The tourists are often ignorant, rude savages with no understanding of the cultures and history of the places they are visiting. They rocket along, taking endless selfies, one after another, waving their selfie-sticks, oft dangerously. They push, shove, screech, and generally misbehave – and leave no richer for the experience than they arrived.

We witnessed a group of blacks misbehaving. An example of their behaviour was that two of the male members of the group ran out into perhaps Madrid’s busiest street so as to be able to take photos of their group against a backdrop they fancied. Cars were swerving everywhere to avoid them, as their presence was entirely unexpected. That they survived is both a miracle and perhaps indicative that fools are not always punished for their stupidity.

We saw stupidly dangerous activities by tourists everywhere – Asians were highly represented in this. Asians were also constantly being berated by security guards, guides, etc., for improper behaviour. They will climb on anything, they will ignore warning signs, they will take selfies in the most dangerous of spots (hanging out windows of moving trains, etc.). It is like they are entirely unaware of any social expectations. I wonder if it is a result of living in places where they are always massed together when in public.

We encountered unimaginable rudeness on a daily basis. I consider that I am quite polite when travelling – I have travelled extensively, and go with the flow of the locals. On more than one occasion it got ugly when we were pushed and jostled by the ignorant tourist zombies. It was quite disappointing. I am most pleased that I managed not to have smacked any of the assholes that so richly deserved it, as it would have greatly complicated my existence. I have indeed mellowed over the years.

Thirdly, many of these nations have not advanced economically, yet they have expanded their welfare states far beyond that which is sustainable.

On a worksite we were visiting, they were doing some construction. There were a number of men, of varying ages. There were two men whose job was to bring soil and rock. They had one spoon-sized shovel between them, and one child-sized wheel barrow between them. The wheelbarrow would have been perhaps 1/5th the size that I personally use to do the same tasks. There was no powered equipment of any kind. There were perhaps 10 men “working”. They could have all been replaced by a small bobcat or mini-loader and one man. It was stunning in its inefficiency, and that is saying something, given I am familiar with how inefficient building sites can be.