Airports and Culture clash

Airports! What comes to your mind when you hear this word? Crowd, queues, organized management or maybe diversity, diversity in people, their beliefs. People from all around the globe travels for some reasons. So airports are something we come across very often. People at airport are found indulged in their activities. You would see just a few people actually making an effort to start a conversation with the person right next to them, be it in queue or on the plane. Why is that? Maybe because they are focused on getting their things in order or they are just excited for their trip. Though, there are those few who take time and maybe spark up a conversation with some random stranger. But is that always pleasant? Culture clash is not a rare sight at an airport. When people with different cultural backgrounds and values interact with each other, there are possibilities for a conflict to arise. Some take notice of this and might make a scene but others might use a color-blind approach where they ignore the race and move on with their lives.

People, while touring places, mainly use airways because it’s fast and comfortable. They want to go see places they’ve never been to and experience new cultures. However, other people are trying to do the same thing, so coincidentally, there will be someone coming from another culture entering the same airport. Some countries can be welcoming to tourists or others may retreat from them. Retreatism in tourism is when the hosts are either hidden away or completely ignoring the tourists. This attitude might cause someone to have a rather unpleasant trip and create some unhappy memories of the place they are visiting. This also may result in reduction of tourism revenue generated by a country and hinder its development.

Another reason someone would use a plane to travel would be to visit someone because of people do have intercultural relationships. This just means some type of bond or relationship had been created between two different cultures. Just imagine the excitement and desperation to meet someone special or the anxiety and tension regarding a foreign meeting. Following the long processes at the airport and waiting can make them a bit impatient. It is important that everyone be respectful and just mindful of whatever they say, because people can easily take offense, especially when they belong to different cultures. This happens frequently at the airport which might create a tense atmosphere around there. This might also hurt an individual personally inciting them to take such forbidden actions which may cause them to lose their freedom to fly. Thanks to globalization, cultures are being connected and both, the information and products are exchanged in different territories. People are becoming more advanced due to access of technical know-how and now they can learn about new cultures easily. It is also causing some cultures to loss some of its own history to learn others.

While travelling for first few times, the best thing a person can do is to be ‘prepared’! Prepared for any kind of possibility that might cross their way. Learning the specific communication style is imperative to know because this creates fewer misunderstandings since this will be the way someone either understand and be able to accept the way someone is talking or else they will be confused and might get angry. The way two people communicate with each other can make a huge difference. If a person is visiting anyplace with a different culture, language would be the most unfamiliar thing for him Even different generations use different forms of any certain communication style (language). This might add up to the culture clashes happening at some random airport. Even the way of expressing and gestures may influence someone’s interpretation of a message. Well, differences may also arise if one person is using a direct-approach and another uses an indirect-approach. A person using a direct approach might sound blunt and arrogant because he is always on point. This increases the chances of a large and dangerous kind of conflict. And an indirect approach is the opposite, a person wants to avoid the whole conflict and just be on their way. An additional experience a person might expect will be culture shock which is just a momentary feeling of disorientation and or being upset because of entering into a foreign place. Once again this may create negative feelings towards anything involving or relating the place and that can cause someone to act rude at anyone if they are rubbing that person in a wrong way. These are just a few solutions and possible consequences when the right steps aren’t taken in preparing someone before and while using an airport to travel through and navigating through.

Culture clashes do not always end up as a cause of mere uncomfortable circumstance. Sometimes, the danger is even higher which may even cause loss of property and life. Everyone is aware about the 9/11 incident. It was a horrifying and insensitive act that shook the world. What was the reason behind it? Culture clash! Airports also shared the blame and its security protocol was questioned and rightly so, because an attack by some terror minds from far away lands wouldn’t have been possible if some preventive action were properly executed at the airports. This incident also caused Muslims to lose their respect. They are ill-treated and experience far more prejudice than ever before. This discrimination first hurts the sentiment, and then develops a fear amongst them, which in turn, might force them to take some inhuman actions. Technology and internet services provide freedom of speech and opinion, but this is a big reason for cultural violence because mostly all the communication about a conflict is done through some modern gadgets. Even rumors over internet can form a feeling of insecurity among individuals.  It is a vicious cycle where there is no end to it. Only some peace building strategy can diffuse the conflict scenarios. 

Educating people about good things of other cultures might help them to stop resisting the ideas of other people. Even the people themselves should maintain a positive approach in understanding the ideas of other cultures. Moreover, whilst at airport, one should be prepared to interact with different people having diversity in cultures.