[at-l] topic police... I'll say it ---- having been.....

[rafe.bustin@verizon.net (rafe.bustin@verizon.net)]

On 9 Apr 2002 at 23:53, RoksnRoots@aol.com wrote:

>     I believe I have a reasonable appreciation for wilderness, but I do 
>     not enjoy being clubbed over the head by those who feel that my 
>     appreciation isn't pure enough or sincere enough.
> 
> 
>  *** "Clubbed over the head" is simply an expression of reluctance to recognize what was 
> being attempted. It's a sensibility that makes sense within the ruleless confines of a list and 
> personal animosities that will inevitably follow. I equally do not enjoy the revered philosophical 
> origins of the AT itself being dealt with in such superficial and insulting terms. Your view only 
> makes sense if you have no respect or appreciation for what MacKaye sought or even what the 
> ATC still seeks today. To think that a word search of MacKaye would somehow prove that his 
> intention was equal to encouraging Disney World attendance is preposterous. If anything is 
> being clubbed remorselessly it is the sense of purpose of the AT and those who make it known... 


RnR, I begin to understand your predicament on this list, and why 
you are so widely dissed.

In the past I have actively defended you against your detractors 
here.  But your paragraph above -- which only proves my point, 
by clubbing me over the head just a bit more -- was the last straw.

You seem to be unable to distinguish between those who would 
agree with you, from those you have irrevocably alienated.  You 
can now count me among the latter group.  It appears that you 
seek to be come part of a group so selective that you will be its 
only member. So be it.

That you claim to know, understand, and take to heart all that the 
ATC and/or MacKaye stand for, while the rest of us completely 
misunderstand, is preposterous.

I'll have no more of this discussion -- not with you, anyway.


rafe b.
aka terrapin