[pct-l] This odd PCT-L experience continues...

[O.d. Coyote]

Here¹s some e-mail I received privately last night, in its totality, from
list-member g l, in response to my attempt above (³replies to g l, and
Jeffreyn²) to explain my position.  She then wrote me off the list:

³I wear my "emotionally held" response proudly and consider it just as valid
as your "pseudo-intellectual" BS.  I won't be drawn into an endless  debate
with you (who is the one with the closed mind, incidentally).  Get over
yourself and give credit where credit is due.  We are all aware that, as in
all areas of life, there is always someone who has done more, had more and
known more.  (I do not consider you to be in the latter group).  That in NO
WAY diminishes those that have hiked thru blisters, dehydration, poison ivy
and oak, lightening strikes, hurricanes, sun burn, hypothermia, tendonitis,
hunger, heat rash, life-defying fords, lost trails, dangerous human
encounters, stolen gear,  etc, etc.......even with a map and guidebook.  I
suggest you stop "living in your head" and try operating from your heart and
gut on occasion.  If you dared to succeed at that "journey" (I doubt you
have the courage), you may wind up being interested  in hearing about others
life adventures, as I was in your experience on the costal trail,
originally.......instead of judging us as "wanting" and not measuring up to
your pitiful and transparent standards.  I will leave the rest of the hiking
community to feed on you from this point on........²
______________________

Whew.... Apparently, this is how someone behaves when they¹re operating with
their heart, as she prescribes.  Once again, I know there are good, solid
folks here, but there sure are some screwballs - people with whom there¹s no
sense talking.  Unfortunately, the distance hiking community (in its
totality, good and bad both) is something which, over the last 10 years,
I¹ve become increasingly embarrassed to be part of.  It can't be counted on
to behave itself well.  It used to be, when a person went on a long hike,
they stepped away from the madness of society to do something apart from it.
Now, the various elements of social madness are in full flame among my
fellow trail hikers - moreso than in the non-hiking world, apparently.  I¹ve
never had an episode like this result from sharing my story and thoughts
with non-hiking people I¹ve met along the way.

Below is my response to Paul Magnanti¹s post, above (titled - ³(no
subject)²):
___________________

Hey Paul - 

My point was that it's bad form to use PCT-L to laugh at, or make fun of, or
cuss at other hikers behind their back.  Particularly when your information
source is as bad as Reinhold is at that task, so that you're not even
working from good factual awareness of things.  I'm not angry at you, or
anybody about this, but I am disappointed and saddened.  I just hope a
result of this is that some list members get a glimmer of an idea not to use
PCT-L to do it to someone else down the line.

Is it too much to ask list-members to keep their gossip and insults among
themselves, without picking on innocent people who were simply walking by?
Judging from the responses I've received, both at the list and privately,
that's more than many distance hikers are willing to do.  Whatever.

My future long walks will be done by "stealth hiking" (something I decided
to do before I joined this list, and for reasons beyond this experience) -
telling other distance hikers I meet that I'm only out for a week, not
signing in registers as one, and maybe going by various names, so they'll
ignore me.  None of that is difficult, and I like the payoff, but it is
weird.  It's one more level of amusement to play in, with the added benefit
of a greater chance for being left alone by the "tar-baby" distance hiking
community.  I never thought I'd see the day when civilians (non-trail/hiking
people) could be counted on to act more straightforwardly and less
obnoxiously than fellow distance hikers.  But my experience with this and
elsewhere tells that it has clearly arrived.

Things run full circle.  When I started distance hiking, there was no such
thing as a "distance hiking community" - just loose friendships between
folks who met on the Trail.  I never bargained for such a thing, and it's
never played a role in my enjoyment of the activity.  I've tried to
co-exist, but it's like a kudzu vine that's grown over the tree of distance
hiking itself so the entire tree is covered.  Now, it¹s become too much of a
drag on enjoyment of the activity.  I'll apparently need to take special
camouflage measures, while outwardly acting like the community doesn't
exist, to best ensure I can go about my hiking business unmolested by it.
Being a member of the distance hiking community has become an exceedingly
poor thing to take pride in.  So very, very strange.

After living out of my pack for so long, I've got a serious backlog of
things to do now that I'm home again, and this has been one of them.  I
found the thread Reinhold started last Thanksgiving, in early January at the
Santa Monica library, on a layover day, and tucked it away as something to
deal with when I got home.  I don¹t do correspondence, except with home
base, when I¹m on a long walk.  I'll probably stay on this list a week or
two, then unsubscribe.  Internet chatterboxes are too much of time-wasters
for me to participate.  Once every couple of months, I scan through a few
like this one to see what the topics are about; but I¹ve got too many other
things to do than invest much time in them.    I subscribed here last
Saturday to address this issue, and will shortly get on to other things.

If you could find your way not to join in this sort of activity the next
time an opportunity arrives, Paul, that would be good.

-  O.d.
________________________

Folks, the matter I¹m raising here isn¹t about me.  I am simply an example.
It¹s about how the distance hiking community behaves.  I hope other
list-members get a handle on the obnoxiousness of using PCT-L to tee up
innocent passersby to bat around among yourselves.  Please don¹t do it.
That¹s my message.

There are those fires in SoCal, understandably a topic of more pressing and
wider concern right now than anything I¹m saying.  But it does strike me
that the topics I¹ve raised were something people here were far happier to
talk about behind my back last November, without knowing any solid facts
what I believe, than anyone is now when I¹m here to talk about them, in
front of me.  They are no less relevant now, than they were then; they
aren¹t time-dependent issues.  Why do people prefer gossiping about shadows
of things instead of interacting directly with the maker of that shadow?
Makes me wonder what anyone means when they tell me (as several have, thru
private e-mail) to ³get a life.²  A hard-to-deny conclusion is that this is
a place where various people are happier to do the opposite. 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.backcountry.net/pipermail/pct-l/attachments/20071022/55ec2793/attachment.html