[at-l] Thru-hiker's Handbook

[thornel@attglobal.net (W F Thorneloe)]

I've never met Osama bin Laden, but I have an opinion of him.

Your point is well taken, though. While many on the list and involved in 
the AT have limited experience with WF, he does seem to attract a heck of a 
lot of opinion. It really is unfortunate for both the trail community and 
for him.

I once hosted travellers from Georgia, while it was still a Soviet 
republic. One of the guests was wife of a democracy group/party who was 
pretty famous and respected. She was also active individually in the 
politics of the region. After the fall of the USSR, her husband was a high 
elected official killed in an assassination attempt on the current 
president and him, with my former guest severely injured.

When I've met other Georgians and mentioned her, there are one of two 
reactions - she is either Satin or Mother Mary, nothing in between. There 
appears to almost a litmus test regarding how someone reacts to her name 
and reputation and how someone is treated within their culture.

That sort of litmus test doesn't do anyone much good. There are those who 
react as if WF is an all powerful omniscient authority deserving election 
to Godhood. There are others who react as if he is the malevolent scheming 
Anti-Earl. This divisiveness is a reason discussions of WF are rarely 
encountered and long tolerated. I suspect it is a pretty heavy burden on 
WF, and hope he can shoulder that burden or find a way to lighten the load.

OrangeBug

At 04:16 PM 3/21/2002 -0500, DTimm65344@aol.com wrote:
>One of these days, I'm hoping to meet WF so I can determine what opinion of
>him to have.  Having never met him, I currently have no opinion on him.  It's
>very frustrating having no benchmark by which to assess him, but that's why I
>don't participate in these discussions.