biffmalibu
Since 30 Jun 2011
40 Posts
Mosier, Oregon
|
 Tue Jun 10, 25 8:00 pm Keep Rowena accessible! |
 |
|
A friend and I noticed a kiter land at Rowena and walk through the forbidden zone to get to his Mercedes motorhome van. He was greeted by a local guy Mosier. We observed the local guy did not talk to him at all about avoiding the clearly-marked forbidden zone. So I resolved to talk to him about it and approached him. I educated him about the history of negotiations between the state parks and Natives, negotiations that served to keep part of Rowena accessible while the rest of the area (forbidden!) was to be restored, naturally. He asked me if I worked there. I said no, but I am a regular user. And I would like to continue using it. He first justified his trespass as done for safety reasons. I mentioned it is a clear case of the classic "Tragedy of the Commons", where one or few individuals consume resources because they can, at the expense of others. I suggested he look it up when he got home. I also understand that the Natives ultimately hold the Trump card in such negotiations. And that they would be mighty pissed off if they observed his trespass. I expressed this to the man.
He then proceeded to further justify his trespass as further necessary, because he has a chronic injury to his foot. Well, my moral compass is not broken, and I detest bullshit as well as condescension, so I called bullshit on his "violin" that he was playing. If you can't handle the necessary conditions for access, you should probably choose someplace else you can handle. Then the local guy proceeded with more condescension toward me. I don't know what his motivation was, but I have rarely observed so much felching of a clear violator of the Commons. It was condemnable. My friend took a photo of the guy's van, just in case. And the local got right in his face too. Again, I don't know what motivation there could possibly be.
Are people with lots of money really morally superior? Is that what it is? I don't subscribe to that. I will call this shit out every time, until the day I die. And I will call out the felching too.
It is not easy to speak up when the Commons is being abused. It takes uncommon courage to do it alone. I was sticking up for all the users of Rowena, the CGW2, and the Natives. We are fortunate to have access there! I know there were extensive talks about access to Rowena, and it was in serious jeopardy! This included a lot of provisions in order to continue access. I educated this guy about as well as I could, and I called bullshit when appropriate. Yes, it was appropriate. Getting support from people who use this access is crucial to maintaining access. The felching I observed from a local was surprising and disgusting.
My moral compass reads accurately. It is not broken!
 |
| |
Picture80.jpg |
|
|
