How to Talk to Locals: A Contemporary Summary

Goffman, the sociologist, proves to be an interesting discovery. His analysis of the front and back regions, emulated by bankers with their back office, situates modern man within performance and authenticity, as ideal categories of course. The roundabout way of my coming there, through tourism, offers further complexity in the form of the back region now being staged for tourists, e.g. a taverna with fishing nets.
It seems to me the issue is connected to contemporary avoidance of direct contact. Society is increasingly becoming voyeuristic and ready-made so such routes are positively discouraged. That is, direct contact, in every possible sense, is the most labour intensive contact. Check FAQ first. It is noteworthy that, in ancient times, when an individual wrote to another asking spiritual direction, the helper was culturally obliged to help. Today if one accosts a stranger, he/she is considered an absolute nut.
A further result of shunning the traditional is a sort of a devaulation of reality. If we cannot find the authentic as tourists or are overwhelmed by culturally produced images and experiences, we feel less real or inadequate.
"The [intellectual] idea is that a false back region is more insiduous than a false front". And the outcome is superficial, and more than that.
Well, this, more or less, is the academic view. I find the most revealing facet to be the statement that real experience is, more often than not, random and contains an element of surprise. And it usually takes a lifetime.