US war on terror is a war on tourists, too

America is rated the world's most unfriendly destination for foreign travellers in a recent global poll. The War on Terror (which includes a $15 billion fingerprinting program that humiliates every visitor to America's shores and has yet to catch a single terrorist) has destroyed America's tourist industry, killing $94 billion worth of tourist trade, and 194,000 American jobs.

And this is no accident, folks. They're going to roll up your country, your history, and your aspiration - close the shop and put it away.

In related efforts...

[HomelessInLaJolla]

The decrease in tourism also aids the demands for stricter immigration policies. The less welcome we make the tourists feel the less likely they are to go home and encourage their communities to emigrate here.

Analogy

[RM6f9]

So, G.W. Bush does to America as Mapplethorpe did to art.
yep, my grandkids will learn it just like that.

Yeah, Serrano

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

Piss Christ.

True...

[jawtheshark]

I have been to the US three times, and I'd love to show California to my wife. Alas, I refuse to go to the US (and give them my Euros) because of how I will be treated at immigration. (Okay, that and your foreign policy) Heck, I was there shortly after 9/11 and as a single (yet, white and blonde) guy was stopped and searched at every single checkpoint.

There is no way in hell, I'm accepting that a second time...

Many of my fellow Europeans feel the same...

Re:

[Scott Lockwood]

You're not alone. Some of us are looking at ways to get out!

Re:

[jawtheshark]

Well, I guess that it should be possible to emigrate to Canada or Europe. Don't ask me what hurdles they'll put in your way though. An American wanting to leave the Greatest Country on Earth is definitely suspicious....

Re:

[Scott Lockwood]

Why? Because we all should WANT to support fascist neo-nazi's like Bush-tard? No thank you. I spent 8 years defending this country. It took him less than that to completely ruin it.

Re:

[jawtheshark]

Watch your blood pressure.... I was just musing. Today, I was just talking about that with my dad. I told him that I expected it to take up to 8 years after Bush to get foreign relations back to normal. He said, probably a bit less, but not by much.

I'm sorry

[Scott Lockwood]

You're right. It's just so damn hard to sit idly by and watch this. It really, really makes me want to scream, and puke, all at the same time. What with the goings on at the Air Farce academy, and then this [thisamericanlife.org], I'm about sick.

Re:

[metlin]

Well, consider a brown dude of East Indian ethnicity who fits in the prime age group then. I get stopped at every check point.

It's gone beyond annoying, these days I'm openly pissed off at the TSA bastards.

Re:

[jawtheshark]

I understand, and you have all my sympathy.... :-(

Re:

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

Half of my family is derived from the wrong part of the planet.

I understand the bitter joke: "I was randomly selected... again."

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

When they performed "secondary search" on my 5-year-old boy, they earned my undying hatred.

I always see lots of talk about this

[iminplaya]

But it seems that not everybody [hotelmotel.com] is so pessimistic. The poll seems somewhat limited in scope. As much as I wish that people would keep their money, it doesn't seem to be happening. Or the department of commerce is lying like a sack of...potatoes. Maybe instead of asking the tourists, they should ask the hotels, "How's business?".