If you’re a regular listener to this podcast you’ve probably heard me bash
capitalism a lot. The reality is there’s no escaping it, it’s taken over
nearly every corner of the world. That certainly hasn’t stopped me from
wincing whenever I travel to a far-away lands and am met with local trinket
shops and people peddling their wares. But who am I to judge whether this
is good or bad for a society. Oftentimes these are poor, macho communities
with substantial pressures on them. They see the money come in and out of
their world without them able to touch it. Often these countries also have
remote destinations that house incredible archeological sites, but have a
community that remains poor and helpless to take advantage of its history.
And then there’s the question: should they? And if they do, what would that
do to their culture? Would it be a positive or negative thing to suddenly
take capitalism and mix it with something like archeology?