The New Yorker:

Alt-travel influencers claim to show an unvarnished look at some of the world’s most dangerous places. But what are they leaving out?

By T. M. Brown

Three hostages kneel in front of a camera, their hands tied behind their backs and their heads covered with black plastic bags that obscure their faces. Looming behind them is a group of bearded, glowering militants, dressed in tunics and turbans, some holding assault rifles.

“We have one message for America,” the man standing in the middle says, with one hand resting on the shoulder of the kneeling figure in front of him, the other hand jabbing the air to emphasize his speech. To people of a certain age, this scene is immediately recognizable. The intense stares, the polemical script, the stillness of the kneeling bodies—it was all eerily reminiscent of the videos of Daniel Pearl and James Foley being beheaded by Islamic figures.

Thankfully, this video took a different turn. The speaker removes the bag from the face of the man kneeling before him, who then proceeds to flash a Hollywood smile and give an emphatic thumbs-up. “Welcome to Afghanistan!” he says straight into the camera, after which a montage of Westerners posing for pictures in mountain glens and doing pullups on the barrels of tank guns starts to play.

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