[at-l] No Hunting?

[Malcolm Fuller <mfuller@somtel.com> (Malcolm Fuller)]

RoksnRoots wrote:

>>> If quoted correctly, MacKaye specifically calls for
>>> useless war energies and mis-spent efforts be directed
>>> towards building the Trail's corridor as a sanctuary
>>> from those types of urban and social stresses. An
>>> environmental army (now you know why they were afraid
>>> of him)...

>> That's correct. The "moral equivalent of war" is *the*
>> Holy Grail of socialism, because nothing outside of a
>> national fight for survival makes people so willing to
>> sacrifice their lives and personal values -- that is,
>> their sense of self -- to the "common good." Keep this
>> in mind whenever someone applies a war motif to non-
>> martial matters.

>> BTW, this is the reason why I think MacKaye's vision
>> is irrelevant to the Appalachian Trail. It has become
>> the exact opposite of a place where you check the human
>> spirit at the door.

> ***  Judging from your reaction, I would say he was
> close. MacKaye's vision IS the Appalachian Trail.

In his essay, "An Appalachian Trail: A Project in Regional
Planning," MacKaye did indeed envision a trail and shelter
system, but as part of a much larger and grandiose plan.

What MacKaye expected to accomplish by this plan -- communal
rural living and the "efficient" use of excess leisure of
tens of thousands of people; part labor corps and part adult
scouting program that would appeal "to the primal instincts
of a fighting heroism, of volunteer service and of work in
a common cause" -- has nothing to do with how the trail is
valued by most who walk upon it. It is a place largely for
individualist recreational pursuits. An exercise in freedom.
A labor of personal love for those who maintain it.

> NPS rules are letters on paper...

This much is true.

-MF