Very Un-Bali-like Behavior
Do Vacations Actually Do Anything?
No, according to The New Yorker.
In her recent weekend essay, “The Case Against Travel,” philosopher Agnes Callard argued that leisure travel “turns us into the worst version of ourselves while convincing us that we’re at our best,” and the odds of returning home more healed, more enlightened, and forever transformed are simply not in our favor.
It’s a good case. But, is there truth?
Let’s look at Russell Simmons.
In 2018, after being accused of assaulting nearly a dozen women, Russell Simmons “fled” to Bali. At the time, he responded with a ‘compassionate’ action plan addressing the accusations: denying the claims, but voluntarily stepping down from his executive roles to make way for “a new generation of leaders who can move culture and consciousness forward.” As for his next steps, he said he was committing himself to his continued “personal growth, spiritual learning and above all to listening.”
To find that growth, he went to Bali. There, at a hotel-retreat,