The World Beyond BetterMost > The Culture Tent
In the New Yorker...
Front-Ranger:
--- Quote from: serious crayons on April 11, 2021, 08:45:26 pm ---Lee, did you read the profile in January of David Lesh, the guy who's widely hated -- but also, by some idiots, admired -- for constantly violating conservation laws and doing gross things in federal wilderness areas in Colorado? Had you heard of him before?
I'm trying to pare down my old magazine pile and came across that one.
--- End quote ---
Yes, I read that one right away. Yes, I know people like him but not him specifically. The classic example is Aron Ralston, he of the movie 127 Hours, who had to cut off his impinged arm in a slot canyon when a rock rolled on top of it. I also met a Coloradan at Mt. Everest Base Camp who was a self-promoter who wrote a book about his "feat" of pitching a tent and sleeping on all 52 summits of Colorado's tallest mountains--the Fourteeners. I bought the book but tired of his exploits and was relieved when he stoppd posting on Facebook. Lesh is an extreme example of the idea of manifest destiny, that Nature is there for us to tear up, use, and exploit. Fortunately, guys like him are becoming fewer. I don't really know why TNY chose to give him attention like that.
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: Front-Ranger on April 12, 2021, 09:52:45 am ---The classic example is Aron Ralston, he of the movie 127 Hours, who had to cut off his impinged arm in a slot canyon when a rock rolled on top of it.
--- End quote ---
Are you saying Ralston is an asshole like this Lesh guy? James Franco made him seem nice. Reckless for not telling anyone where he was going, though.
--- Quote --- Lesh is an extreme example of the idea of manifest destiny, that Nature is there for us to tear up, use, and exploit. Fortunately, guys like him are becoming fewer. I don't really know why TNY chose to give him attention like that.
--- End quote ---
I halfway bought his arguments that he wasn't doing that much harm to nature, that ski resorts do more (though arguably for better reasons). Mainly he seems like a guy who needs constant attention, thinks obnoxiousness is cool, and fools stupid people into thinking he IS cool. ... Wait, like Jeff said, who does that remind me of??
It is peculiar that assholes like that get profiled in the New Yorker, though. If all it takes to get published in the New Yorker is to profile some asshole I am already composing an email to David Remnick because I can think of plenty of assholes.
I wonder if there's something sexist about it. The writer is also a man (albeit a longtime staff member). There's an organization called VIDA that every year counts bylines for men vs. women in major magazines like TNY. When they started the imbalances were really extreme but they've gotten better, perhaps partly influenced by VIDA itself.
For example, in 2019 (the most recent count) TNY had 430 women's bylines and 524 men's -- 45.03% to 54.87%. Not perfect, but it's the closest they've been since the count started. In 2010, there were 163 women's bylines and 449 men's.
What they can't really count is the content of the articles. If a woman writer pitched the David Lesh story would they still buy it? Maybe. But what if a woman pitched a story about a really obnoxious woman who wasn't particularly well known even in her own state, wasn't respected outside of a small population of idiots and did really stupid things?
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: serious crayons on April 12, 2021, 11:04:50 am ---I wonder if there's something sexist about it. The writer is also a man (albeit a longtime staff member).
--- End quote ---
If you're referring to the Lesh article in particular, If I remember correctly from the article how he regards and treats women, I don't think a woman writer could have done the article.
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: serious crayons on April 12, 2021, 11:04:50 am ---Are you saying Ralston is an asshole like this Lesh guy? James Franco made him seem nice. Reckless for not telling anyone where he was going, though.
--- End quote ---
He certainly seems like somebody who has a very high opinion of himself (not necessarily warranted, I'd say, considering the situation he got himself into).
Front-Ranger:
Where in the movie was he portrayed as a sympathetic character? I can't recall a spot. Maybe when he was further along in his ordeal and he was repenting all his sins.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version