Fluorescent Orange Dots...too much for one person

[zippetydude]

Wow, kind of a vicious tone to this thread that is in my view unwarranted. I'm the one who cleaned up most of the last dots, and I still don't hate the guy who did it. I consider him ill-informed, maybe selfish, and most probably clueless. But using obscenities or terms that are judgmental of him as a person in general to describe whoever it was seems to me over the top.

I mean, seriously, no one here has ever tried to help out and later realized they had actually messed something up? Perhaps where I see this so differently is this is not the same as deliberate vandalism, where the intent is to damage or destroy. Yes, we see the result as damaging the wilderness and destroying the view. But if that had been the intent, wouldn't the person have just put a bunch of idiotic gang symbols or written obscenities instead? Before anyone jumps on me and says I'm siding with the spray painter, go back and read the second sentence of my post.

Ken, I realize you are not taking the opposing point of view, you are merely attempting to understand that point of view. I don't think that promotes you to war criminal status just yet. In fact, I'd guess you probably have a good track record of maintaining a cool head in the middle of a storm, and I appreciate calm, reasoned thought.

I'll be out of town this weekend, but I'll be back the following week. I hope all who hate those dots turn their anger into healthy energy and get out there and remove those dots. If any dots are still there when I get back, I'll clear 'em. Till then, ease back my feisty friends! This is a positive, cooperative and supportive group. Let's accentuate that and get some work done!

z

[Ed]

I fully understand and sympathize with the anger and outrage. Sure, the intent was not malicious, and ignorance was a factor. But I would be willing to bet that this individual has a pattern in his life of willfully taking strong actions without consideration of the impact on other people.

[cynthia23]

That's probably true, Ed. But I'm actually also rethinking my original certainty that it was some (very) stupid person marking the trail for his friends. Because it was so weirdly and excessively done, I am almost thinking (now) that it WAS done with malice, as some kind of (very) bizarre provocation, or even--who knows--to get attention on this board.

Or, it could even be that the person is truly mentally ill (I mean, beyond the mental illness implied in doing this to get attention.) Maybe we're dealing with a schizophrenic. Let's face it, it wouldn't be the first time one was loose on Skyline. Does anyone remember that very very odd dude from a year or so ago who had the machete? The guy who didn't seem to speak English, who would wander up and down the lower portions of Skyline hacking wildly at vegetation supposedly 'grooming' the trail? ( but if this is somebody on the board, and you're NOT crazy--err, sorry. You sure SEEMED nuts.) Anyway, it could be another character like that, somebody who is in a delusional state.

[zippetydude]

Ed: I would probably feel that level of anger if he were chopping down trees or killing animals. Defacing rocks is ridiculous and irritating, but I don't quite get to outrage.

Cynthia: I had forgotten about that guy, I'm not sure what to do about something like that. Perhaps carry a machete and challenge him to a duel? I guess that might work since I am not left handed. Either.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7zvffHu_wo

btw, what's with the multiple dots? Did they put 3 at the 3000 foot level and 4 at the 4000 foot level, or was it at weird, random intervals?

z

[Hikin_Jim]

I think he was sketching out an artwork, and we're supposed to fill the rest in.



HJ

[cynthia23]

HJ. And ditto on the clip, Zip.

[scotts]

God hiked skyline. Was a little confused.

Forgot to turn off his GPS track.

Blasphemers.

Wait. This isn't a TR.

nevermind

[Ed]

Defacing rocks is ridiculous and irritating, but I don't quite get to outrage.

Sorry, I don't agree. Defacing rocks in a natural setting is the same to me as taking an axe to somebody's antique furniture.

[cynthia23]

That's an apt and interesting analogy, Ed. I think maybe why this makes me and so many people so angry is that it's as if somebody came in your house and trashed it. Or your church. Skyline is very much a shared home, so it's, well, outrageous when somebody comes along and treats it like his own personal garbage heap.

[scotts]

Agreed. Defacing rocks with spraypaint goes against the wilderness conservation ethic. We are talking about a real, public good here, priceless beyond any work of human art.

No doubt there are many in this land who would as soon ride the world on dirt bikes spraying jets of napalm behind them as they scream towards the apocalypse of their craven and crabbed vision, hooting and hollering all the way.

In fact, that's business as usual. We see the destruction everywhere.

So no, all views aren't equal, it's not all good, and we do need to take stands with as much clarity as we can garner.

I think terms like "outrage" and 'hate" have been thrown around a little loosely here. Sure, there has been hyperbole. But the outrage committed was with spraypaint, and it deserves public evaluation and clear condemnation.