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[at-l] Cell Phones -- Perception...the finale



In a message dated 1/22/2005 9:17:47 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
thornel@attglobal.net writes:
He came into this community to lay waste on the camaraderie and creativity 
it enjoyed. He waged a campaign of ultra-purism against the AT community, 
while hiding behind a fig leaf of idolatry of Benton MacKaye. What he terms 
as trail advocacy is little more than narcissistic blather about his 
monomaniacal interpretations of an early AT proponent.
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           This is stupid and a perfect example of the point I was making.


           To anyone with an educated understanding of the AT and MacKaye's 
involvement his mention is much more pertinent than the above personal attack 
posing as Trail opinion indicates. As Weary alluded a perfectly valid and sound 
history of Benton MacKaye's involvement with the Trail he created exists out 
there in the real world. Its merit and value was enough that many people over 
the years aspired to it and put together one of the greatest volunteer 
conservation projects in the world. I honestly feel sorry for anyone whose wit or 
intellectual ability limits their references to Benton MacKaye, the creator and 
inspiration for the Appalachian Trail, to "fig leaf idolatry" or other such 
unsophisticated slanders.

         It's obvious that some people have a personal bent that precludes 
them from understanding AT conservation. This becomes clear when simple matters 
commonly understood about the Trail are referred to in overblown and hostile 
ways like "ultra-purism" etc. My impulse is to call these persons the clueless 
blowhards they are, but that would only feed the fire and it appears to be 
useless against blindness anyway. But the evidence of this is seen in the simple 
fact that these wilderness haters never mention ANYTHING about valid and known 
ATC-level wilderness ethics. So, it becomes clear that ANY wilderness goals 
or guidelines ala ATC are labeled "elitist", "ultra-purist", or "extremist" by 
persons who are more interested in guarding their own level of disconcern than 
they are the AT.

          This is exactly what I was pointing out in my criticism. I believe 
these posts pretty much prove what I was saying. The simple proof is to ask 
"OB" to describe any of the simple wilderness ethics ATC upholds as part of its 
charter and he won't be able to do it. Instead you get these hateful attacks 
for simply pointing out ATC Trail values as registered in their guidelines. 
Since those guidelines are valid and on record, and since they derive directly 
from MacKaye, I can only take this resentment over stating their importance to 
be hostility towards Trail wilderness values as I said (that is, an aggressive 
attempt to dumb down the AT amongst internet Trail groups). The most 
outstanding thing is that OB doesn't consider his efforts to be any kind of attack. My 
point stands - mention valid ATC wilderness values on the internet and you'll 
be attacked. It's ignorance - but mostly it's the AT doing what Benton 
intended...