Tosh.O does a bit called "Is it racist?" where he shows various video clips to his audience and then asks "is it racist?"
This is the SGMDF version of that.
Last month, the High Country News published an Op-Ed by the founder of Melanin Base Camp that argued that the failure to geotag outdoor locations on social media is racist. The premise is that the backlash by predominantly white folks against geotagging on platforms like Instagram is just an thinly veiled effort to keep POC out of wild places.
The Op-Ed is here: https://www.hcn.org/articles/recreation ... geotagging
So what do y'all think? Is it racist?
Is it Racist?
I had to look up what "Melanin Base Camp" was - I thought maybe it was the place near Everest Base Camp where you would go to have your sunburn treated.
Then I had to look up what geotagging was.
Then I had to look up what POC meant.
What's Instagram?
Now I need a nap.
Then I had to look up what geotagging was.
Then I had to look up what POC meant.
What's Instagram?
Now I need a nap.
No kidding, I had to look up all of those terms, too. Somehow, we have logged several thousand miles of hiking over the last twenty years and been to some amazing places without consulting a single geotag. The people steeped in internet social media don't realize that there are these things called guidebooks.
I find the claim of racism ludicrous. There are plenty of people including myself that are unhappy with the Instagramming and social media plugging of hikes. I have seen notable upticks in hikes that were hiked infrequently such as Iron Mountain and Rattlesnake and much more popularity in hikes that were already getting a lot of attention such as Cucamonga and Baldy. Part of the wilderness experience is getting away from people.
The claims about indigenous people is simply inaccurate as these are areas that are set aside for wilderness and having them trampled over by hundreds of people on a weekend makes a mockery of that designation. The history of these areas and their prior use has no bearing on the current situation. I also do not think that there is some white privilege conspiracy to hiking. My intro to routes and hikes was HPS and Chris Brennan, nobody in a cabal indoctrinated me or helped me. I hiked alone, read up on routes, and printed out maps. If minorities want to hike it has become easier then ever. If there is a bias it is a general one that people that aren't really interesting in hiking get involved due to FOMO and ruin the experience for the serious hikers. In the end I've made peace with it because it is great exercise and the beauty of many of these places should be available to all and if this creates that awareness, then fine. In addition with a little creativity you can still have all the isolation you want.
The claims about indigenous people is simply inaccurate as these are areas that are set aside for wilderness and having them trampled over by hundreds of people on a weekend makes a mockery of that designation. The history of these areas and their prior use has no bearing on the current situation. I also do not think that there is some white privilege conspiracy to hiking. My intro to routes and hikes was HPS and Chris Brennan, nobody in a cabal indoctrinated me or helped me. I hiked alone, read up on routes, and printed out maps. If minorities want to hike it has become easier then ever. If there is a bias it is a general one that people that aren't really interesting in hiking get involved due to FOMO and ruin the experience for the serious hikers. In the end I've made peace with it because it is great exercise and the beauty of many of these places should be available to all and if this creates that awareness, then fine. In addition with a little creativity you can still have all the isolation you want.
Hardcore environmentalists often have a malevolent view of people in general, but they don't strike me as typically racist. And people who just want a clean, peaceful wilderness, like myself, don't care what color is your disrespectful ass. So when the reverse racists come around talking about "white privilege" and "thinly veiled motives," acting like they know my history and my mind, I feel a little sorry for them and then go about my business. It must be torture constantly worrying about the secret motivations in other people's heads. I have enough trouble sorting out people's explicitly stated reasons for what they do.
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Uncle Rico
- Posts: 1394
- Joined: Thu Mar 20, 2008 7:48 pm
I'm disturbed by the whole premise of the Op-Ed. That premise is that everyone who ventures into the outdoors has a moral obligation and duty to publicly share location information so that self-absorbed, selfie-taking "influencers" with no outdoor ethics or respect for LNT principles can descend on those locations en masse to feed their vanity and leave litter, graffiti, and destruction in their wake. Following that premise to its logical conclusion, if you take pictures of a hike you do, but don't post it to social media anywhere, you are a racist because you are acting as an elitist gatekeeper by withholding information from POC who won't then be able to locate the places you've been. Similarly, if you take a hike, but don't take your camera, and thus have no pictures to post, you are also a racist because, well, you are once again "hiding" outdoor locations from other folks to whom you have moral obligation. It just becomes absurdist.
Btw, the whole idea that POC can't find outdoor locations without the assistance of white people strikes me as pretty racist in and of itself. The subtext is that POC are too lacking in ingenuity, knowledge, creativity, adventurousness, or whatever to find outdoor locations on their own. They have to rely upon white people for that. I think that's bullshit and way more offensive than someone refusing to geotag a location to prevent a bunch of drunk assholes with beer bottles and spray paint from ruining some of our best places.
Ok, rant over. I've probably said too much already.
Btw, the whole idea that POC can't find outdoor locations without the assistance of white people strikes me as pretty racist in and of itself. The subtext is that POC are too lacking in ingenuity, knowledge, creativity, adventurousness, or whatever to find outdoor locations on their own. They have to rely upon white people for that. I think that's bullshit and way more offensive than someone refusing to geotag a location to prevent a bunch of drunk assholes with beer bottles and spray paint from ruining some of our best places.
Ok, rant over. I've probably said too much already.
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Uncle Rico
- Posts: 1394
- Joined: Thu Mar 20, 2008 7:48 pm
At least you didn't have to Google "Tosh.O" ?HikeUp wrote: Looking up FOMO...brb
I have no idea who (or what) Tosh.O is, and I figured googling it wouldn't inform the discussion muchUncle Rico wrote:At least you didn't have to Google "Tosh.O" ?HikeUp wrote: Looking up FOMO...brb
I guess I was exercising my old white man privilege to oppress Tosh.O.
You need to be a little more woke HU and get up to speed on your TLAs. Here are some for you to work on BRB, AFK, IMO or IMHO, SMH, BTW, IDK, IRL, TTYL, OMG, OTOH, L8R, NSFW, NSFL, and FWIW. Once you got these common ones down we'll get into the more interesting less used ones.
For context I'm copying the relevant section of the linked article.
This whole "anti-gatekeeping" thing is another problem. It represents an attack on moral principles and standards themselves. If you actually stand for something, such as "leave no trace," then you're a "gatekeeper"--a terrible person who's terrible merely for wanting to protect something. It doesn't matter what you're defending. It only matters that you have something they want, and you're not giving it to them.1. Gatekeeping is racist
The #nogeotag movement is a form of gatekeeping, or elitism. It involves individuals — usually those unaffected by structural racism and privileged to have grown up hiking and camping — asserting their self proclaimed authority over who should and shouldn’t be allowed into certain outdoor spaces.
Most of the articles begin with a white writer reminiscing over a much beloved hot spring, a treasured swimming hole or a rustic hiking trail from childhood that has now been “ruined” by a sudden influx of selfie-taking hikers.
They never stop to consider that their childhood was privileged with outdoor experiences not available to the majority of working-class families in the United States. They never stop to consider that this is a privilege many people in the U.S. would like to experience if given the chance. Their lack of self-awareness is pretty stunning.
Of course, their view is the opposite. The writers are united in a belief that certain types of people are inherently bad for public lands. Those certain types of people include new and casual hikers, selfie-takers and urban hikers (code for black and brown people). The writer then explains how important it is to keep those people away from geotagged locations in the first place. It’s for environmental reasons. It’s for their own safety. Their ask is simple: stop geotagging. Show, but don’t tell. Entice, but give away nothing.
Similar to Leave No Trace hysteria, the pushback against geotagging involves ordinary people deputizing themselves and asserting authority they don’t actually have to keep the outdoors “pure” or “wild”, “pristine” or simply, the way they remembered it from childhood by excluding people they view as dirty, loud, offensive, or simply not sharing their values.
Protect public land from deforestation, uranium mining, single crop farming, oil and gas extraction — yes! These are all worthwhile causes. But protecting public lands from people of color? Seriously? Urban hikers, who are disproportionately affected by climate change and environmental racism, are frequently posited as a major threat to public lands in racially coded diatribes posted around the Internet. Yes, it is just as ridiculous as it sounds. Also, have they never heard of an image search? The digital age is here to stay folks. And we need practical solutions that don’t involve gatekeeping.
?David R wrote: You need to be a little more woke HU and get up to speed on your TLAs. Here are some for you to work on BRB, AFK, IMO or IMHO, SMH, BTW, IDK, IRL, TTYL, OMG, OTOH, L8R, NSFW, NSFL, and FWIW. Once you got these common ones down we'll get into the more interesting less used ones.
WTF? IDGAS!
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Girl Hiker
- Posts: 1318
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LMFAO!David R wrote: You need to be a little more woke HU and get up to speed on your TLAs. Here are some for you to work on BRB, AFK, IMO or IMHO, SMH, BTW, IDK, IRL, TTYL, OMG, OTOH, L8R, NSFW, NSFL, and FWIW. Once you got these common ones down we'll get into the more interesting less used ones.
Came across this article about gatekeepers to camping...who knew it was tech! Or more specifically, bots.
https://thebolditalic.com/how-tech-is-d ... 481c587d94
https://thebolditalic.com/how-tech-is-d ... 481c587d94
I could see a movie where Terminator is after someone and then is interrupted/intercepted by THREE buses who doublepark and unload touring foreign nationals who are social media-ing away. Not that it recently happened to me after I walked 1/8 mile to a viewing spot and then I was #nevermind and walked back. You look at the first movie and see that clearly the scene in Griffith Park is badly written. Just 3 guys hanging out? C'mon. Couldnt have got the future more wrong.HikeUp wrote: So racist bots are oppressing the human race now. Is the Terminator going stalk the trails now looking for Zuckerberg?
Hehehe...I wont be back...(BNT)...but its nice to know that the T1 is now empathetic to #firstworldproblems.
Hopefully he can answer too how to handle if someone has too much chips out for the amount of dip they have. But if they open another dip, they will have too much dip for their chips.
Hopefully he can answer too how to handle if someone has too much chips out for the amount of dip they have. But if they open another dip, they will have too much dip for their chips.
AW~ wrote: Hopefully he can answer too how to handle if someone has too much chips out for the amount of dip they have. But if they open another dip, they will have too much dip for their chips.
Got any more? I'm on a roll.
