I Know What I Like

The internet’s strength is its weakness. This is no more apparent than when it comes to recommendations. They are available for everything, a cyber extension of the traditional testimonial of the printed advert and media: worldwide web word of mouth. A personal recommendation is every bit as powerful as an advert alone or the superlatives of a brochure. Which brings me to holidays. Planning a holiday nowadays has taken on the guise of researching for a degree. Source material, be it recommendation or other, is to be sifted and interpreted. Which bar, which restaurant, which excursion, which hotel, which resort, which country?

The bar or restaurant recommendation is hardly critical. It is also generally very useful, even if it is subjective: it facilitates decision-making once in the resort. If it turns out not to be to one’s taste, the investment has not been great. A resort on the other hand. As with all recommendations, the resort recommendation can be both for or against: it has the power to persuade a purchase or to deter.

Recommendations are subjective, an expression of personal taste, attitude or experience. They can also be prejudicial. Recently I read a remark in response to an enquirer who was looking for advice on resort choice in Mallorca. The remark concerned Alcudia. It went something like this: Alcudia is a single long street with a bridge, and bars few are far between. It misrepresented not only The Mile (to which the description applied) but also the whole of Alcudia. The enquirer seemed to take the non-recommendation at face value. I thought about correcting this impression, but I stopped when I realised I would have been responding to something which had offended me. It was as though my territory had been invaded. And herein lies the rub. Take a different example. Magaluf. Nowhere in Mallorca arouses a greater divide of opinion. There is no grey with Magaluf. Get a negative comment about Magaluf, and there is a howl of protest, defending the place. Territorialism and defence. It is as though one’s territory or choice has been attacked – the choice of where one lives, works or chooses to go on holiday. The leap to defence is a basic instinct.

In the case of some recommendations, there is a sense of “I know what you’ll like”, despite the fact that the one doing the recommending has little clue as to what the other person really likes or dislikes. It can stem from the same mindset as the need to defend: it is essentially the same side of the coin.

A holiday is a hefty investment. The recommendation is very useful, no question about that, but the choice cannot or should not be based on one opinion or on limited information. The strength of the internet lies in the breadth of opinion, the weakness – if it is allowed – lies in the subjectivity and prejudice that can inform opinion.


To matters political for those of who have been following the Unio Mallorquina succession issue. Surprise, surprise, Miquel Nadal, having dropped out of the running, complaining that he could not work with other runners, has been named the new president, and his rivals, including Alcudia’s mayor, Miquel Ferrer, have secured senior roles, Ferrer as secretary-general. Politics: the same anywhere.


QUIZ
Yesterday – David Cassidy, and the original was by The Young Rascals. Today’s title – the line continues “and I know what I like”. Who?

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