Terry,

Had you said the ones in my neighborhood did so-and-so I would have assumed you knew this from experience. It does not, however, mean all are like that any more than all white males are insensitive boors. 'Tain't so! Perhaps I should have said 'All generalisations are false, including this one.'

But as you have seen on this thread, travellers, like all people come in many flavors. To paint them all with the same brush is hurtful and unfair. This applies to a rosy-hued brush as well as a demonizing one. You will bump your nose on reality either way. But I'd much rather make the mistake to the good than the bad, and who knows? We might all be surprised when someone behaves better than even they themselves expected! (There have been studies done with teachers being told their students were either above or below average, when they weren't. In either case the teacher got what s/he expected.)

Cami Su