LSky

My problem was with thursdaysd, "I don't throw paint around, but I don't feel any need to be polite to people in fur coats." It's that holier-than-thou attitude that riles me.

I'm not in support of fur coats. Heck, I don't think people should cage birds but I wouldn't be rude to someone who has a caged bird or wears fur.

I'll bet you weren't rude to your houseguest either. Maybe a little bewildered but to be rude because of a fashion choice is silly.

I've never owned a fur coat, even if I needed a coat every winter it wouldn't be my choice. It's best to have a versatile traveling coat.

thursdaysd

Recognition that wearing a fur coat is no longer just a "fashion choice", if it ever was, is presumably why the OP, if she is not a troll, asked the question.

Wearing a fur coat is both an in-your-face statement of the wearer's wealth, which is at best in bad taste (and for a traveler is also stupid, as it marks her out as a particularly juicy pickpocketing target), and an in-your-face statement of the wearer's views on the relationship between humans and the other inhabitants of this planet, views which are increasingly unpopular.

This may not be true in a small collection of very cold places where it is part of the inhabitants' ethnic heritage. But that is not the issue here.

StCirq

No, I wasn't rude to my houseguest, even though I suffered from embarrassment at many of her antics in Europe, including the time when my other guest and she and I went to dinner at Les Trois Aces (the three aces) in Le Bugue and she wiggled her butt at the maître d' and said "WE'VE got your three asses!!!" Dear God, she was clueless!

suze

I'm not getting into the politics of wearing fur, but like StCirq mentions I just don't think it's a practical coat for traveling. And if it's 50 degrees would be too hot anyways.

LSky

"in-your-face statement of the wearer's wealth.... an in-your-face statement of the wearer's views on the relationship between humans and the other inhabitants of this planet, views which are increasingly unpopular"

I see, so what ticks you off more; the wearer's wealth or their unpopular views?

Are you also rude to people who wear large diamonds? Drive excessively large automobiles that guzzle gas? Live in large homes with swimming pools and maintain lawns in arid areas?

How do you choose whom to hate?

Your very frequent presence on a travel website (European no less) suggests that you are not struggling as to whether you should pay your water bill or electricity first. That, in itself is a testament to your own wealth.

How many computers and electronic devices do you own? I'm sure you're aware that the rare earth elements used to power the batteries of these devices are also detrimental to the planet. Yet, here we are.

We can only walk our own path. I live on this planet too and worry about these things. It’s easy to see the faults of others but let’s focus on sweeping our own path first. When you choose the hermit’s path, please be sure to let us know. Oh wait! That means you’ll have to give up the old computer.

thursdaysd

LSky - I don't know why you feel obliged to support the OP, who appears to be long gone. She apparently though I was rude because I suggested she might be a troll. I didn't think I was rude, but I also didn't feel a need to apologize. I still don't. I, too, am now out of here. (If she was a troll, she appears to have been successful.)