Last week I travelled, with my wife and parents, to Las Vegas. As those of you who know me are aware this is not unusual for me, as the wife and I head out to the desert around 2-3 times per year.
For my parents however it was a different story. 45 years ago they eloped, drove to Vegas, got married, and left. They haven't been back since. In short, they were a little gobsmacked by the whole ordeal.
Las Vegas is not a mecca for cheap buffets, entertainment and gambling any more. Today it's a high-end, high dollar, food, booze and boob fest where you can get pretty much anything you want, provided you have enough money to pay for it. As a matter of fact, I believe that recent numbers have shown that gaming revenues make up around 35% of the casino/resorts total revenue now. What this means, on the Strip at least, is that gambling is just about the worst way you can pass your time.
In the interest of greed (and, to be honest, a little bit of corporate stupidity) the major strip casinos shot a middle-finger to serious gamblers by tightening their slot machines and making pretty much every blackjack table under $25/hand pay out at 6/5. Unless you're willing to bring a bank roll of around $4000 to the table (you need to be able to ride out the swings) that's not an option for most people. And, if you're ever tempted to play 6/5 blackjack, just don't. Trust me on this the house edge will not work in your favor. (If you want to play blackjack hop on the bus and go down to Freemont street, where most $5 - $10 tables pay 3/2.)
Regardless of where you go the one thing you are not going to get away from is the selfie taking mob.
They are everywhere.
Watching the fountains at the Bellagio? Good luck getting to see things with all of the selfie sticks in the way.
Want to get a picture of the Chinese New Year Display at the Wynn? Please wait 10 minutes until all of the people taking selfies get out of the way.
The problem with selfies, as opposed to just standard pictures, is that in order to take a good one you have to be obstructing the view of pretty much everyone else. That means they can't take a picture unless you are in it.
This was bad enough when people used to hand their cameras to others to take group shots. Sure you had to wait from time to time and then, inevitably, the person given the camera would have no idea how to work it, but you waited nonetheless and, eventually, the group moved out of the way and everyone could take their picture.
Today however anything of which you might want to take a picture of is blocked by a perpetual train of vain people standing at odd angles trying to get the perfect shot of themselves, backed by something they'll only vaguely remember when they get home.
And why do you want a picture of yourself anyway?
Think about it. I know what I look like. I see myself every morning in the mirror. And don't tell me that you want a picture of yourself because "I want people to know I was there". That's just a load of crap. Who cares what other people think. You KNOW you were there because you were there. The pictures on your phone should be of stuff, not you and your hair halfway blocking out the stuff that caused you to want to take the picture in the first place.
Then we come to the elephant in the room. Safety.
Let's face it, this wave and epidemic of selfie taking has gotten way, way too dangerous. It's to the point that some selfie takers can be classified as a public nuisance. I've seen people stop in the middle of the road with traffic oncoming, in the middle of a busy sidewalk, intersection, suddenly in front of a massive crowd. You name it, people stop there. And selfie sticks? Last week in Las Vegas I got hit no less than three times by someone not paying attention. Twice in the arm and once in the head. The time I got hit in the head the offender got mad at me for messing up their shot. I honestly believe the police would have let me off had I spiked him and his phone into the Canal at the Venetian.
When it comes down to it I understand that there is a certain demographic that is going to fight giving away their selfies with all the fervor of the NRA. Those people we might not be able to reach. But that doesn't mean that the sane among us, the adults in the room, shouldn't be able to band together and start taking back our right to walk in a straight line without having to play dodge-camera or almost get impaled by a selfie-stick. At a minimum, we can not join into those kiddie games and go back to taking pictures of stuff like respectable tourists.
But, most of all, we can all do society a solid by making a mockery of those who think selfies are the highest form of the photographic arts by repeatedly, and consistently, refusing to acquiesce to their narcissism.
In other words, don't make way for their obsession.
It's for the greater good y'all.
