We all have happy and unhappy people in our lives. Despite experiencing various degrees of pain and suffering, happy people are nonetheless grateful for what they have, and try hard to present a good disposition to those around them. For unhappy people, it hardly matters what good luck they have in friendships, love, money, or health, they’re either perpetually mopey like Eeyore the Donkey, or angry like Alec Baldwin.
It appears Eeyore and Alec mated, and produced a perpetually mopey and angry site called Everyday Feminism. Case in point is writer Emily Zak, who wants you to know in her Twitter profile that she’s a “raging bisexual.” Be sure to check out her piece, “Outdoor Recreation Isn’t Free – Why We Need to Stop Pretending It Is.” She’s not talking about the cost but the fact that God’s great outdoors are oppressive (emphasis mine):
As with travel, marginalized groups face a lot of barriers to outdoor recreation. This leaves the different types of outdoor fun to privileged folks.
Take race, for one. A 2016 study shows more than three in four US young adults who participate in outdoor activities are white. Nearly 80% of National Park visitors are, too. In fact, I’m white. So were most of the people I raft-guided with.
I’ve built trails, sprayed noxious weeds, and cleaned up camping sites with a ton of white people over four seasons with the US Forest Service and a state park.
Like a lot of white people, I learned to ignore the whiteness of myself and other outdoor enthusiasts around me. I didn’t hear backpackers saying overtly racist things or see jerks physically blocking people of color from the trails, so I paid the homogeneity no mind. It’s easy to overlook inequality when it’s systemic. It’s even easier when we benefit.
Ambreen Tariq runs Brown People Camping (NOT RACIST), an Instagram account that promotes diversity in public lands. She says she can feel like an outsider hiking and camping as a Muslim woman of color and immigrant.
I sincerely don’t understand the whining. The piece screams The Onion, and each and every attempted point challenges the limits of coherent thought. It’s as if she had 20 minutes to finish a high school writing assignment from a Mad Libs machine that spit out “Victim Groups” and “The National Parks System”.
On a side note, I have to admit I had a hard time reading the column because of the “Healing from Toxic Whiteness” seminar banner ad which, it seems clear, is trying to shame Caucasians into eschewing our inherent pigmentation. Would you be okay if we identified as Rachel Dolezal?
Here’s another gem: “As Tariq notes to Outside, ‘It’s hard to see yourself in the outdoor community if you don’t physically see others like you, and you definitely aren’t seeing it in advertising.‘ ”
If a white man or woman so much as hinted at these words, every Leftist would screech “RACISM!” from the highest mountain — pardon me — skyscraper.
Here’s the truth: Some people just don’t like the outdoors. A good friend of mine — sorry to say she’s white — hates camping. Despite my protestations, she refuses to go with us, but for no other reason than she likes the comforts of home or at least a hotel. While I give her a hard time because I believe she’s missing out on a great deal of fun, it’s her choice. More power to her. But if anyone in America wishes to go hiking or camping, go. Nothing is stopping you. No one is stopping you, least of all the white man.
Emily, I believe you and your site are racist, misandrist, and xenophobic, and you suffer from fabricated
class envy. Grow up, be grateful that you live in the greatest and most free nation on earth, and choose to be happy – indoors or out.
photo credit: vwcampin Autumn Camping via photopin (license)
