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To some people, freedom means being free to do anything they want, including vandalizing public property, harassing others, and generally behaving like an a-hole. If it wasn't for these people, we wouldn't need park rangers (at least not ones with arrest powers; they'd just be there as guides/teachers). (We'd have little need for police, either.)
As always, it's a small percentage of the population which causes disproportionate harm.
To me freedom means being able to do whatever you want, whenever you want as long as you don't harm other's and respect the property of other's.
It sure would be great if we didn't need the police, criminal justice system, and prisons. But for as long as mankind has been around there's always been and there's always going to be people that just don't give a rat's ass about the consequences of their actions. Some people are just down right evil from birth. Some are brought up that way. You can pass all the laws in the world but nothing will ever change that.
Acting like the girl wouldn't have fallen were the government not shut down.
Acting like the guy wouldn't have fallen were the government not shut down.
Acting like the tree wouldn't have fallen on the lady were the government not shut down.
The media is trying very hard to blame anything and everything on the government shut down, despite the fact that people die in National Parks when there is no shut down:
...between 120 and 140 people typically die at national parks each year, not counting suicides, according to numbers maintained by the National Park Service...
Please note the second graph:
Cause of death between 2003 and 2007
Falls: approximately 175 people.
Okay, so how many people ruin National Parks when there is no shut down?
Zion’s delicate desert ecosystem has been battered by tourists, some of whom wash diapers in the Virgin River, scratch their names into boulders and fly drone cameras through once quiet skies. The park has about 25 miles of developed trails. But over time, rangers have mapped about 600 miles of visitor-made paths, which damage vegetation and soil and take a toll on wildlife.
The story is similar at parks from Yosemite in California to Acadia in Maine.
MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK, Colo. (CBS4) – Like other places as of late in Colorado, Mesa Verde National Park is “seeing a growing number of instances of intentional damage.”
The park posted several examples to Facebook Friday, showing how people have rubbed their names into sandstone, dug up an archaeological site, and even painted some rocks for an apparent scavenger hunt.
One of the most disappointing places to see vandalism is in our national parks. In places like Zion National Park, vandalism destroys the natural beauty that should be enjoyed during a visit.
I strongly urge OHV to fund this effort on the part of Death Valley National Park, as the damage caused by illegal off road vehicle use in the park is extensive, reprehensible...
I have lived and worked in Death Valley for 11 1/2 years. I've been very frustrated by tracks visible for years after someone drives off-road in the park, especially in places like Badwater Basin salt pan and the Racetrack...
The repeat damage to Racetrack Playa from people driving on it is inexcusable and must be stopped...
The sad affects of ignorant OHV users has led to damage that should be restored...
In September/October 2014, Casey Nockett went on a vandalism spree where she painted a blue-haired profile of a woman’s head on a rock viewpoint overlooking Crater Lake, OR, as well as painting and marking up rock formations at Yosemite National Park, CA, Canyonlands National Park, UT, Rocky Mountains National Park, CO, and elsewhere. Her defense was “It’s art, not vandalism. I am an artist."
Quote:
The epidemic of vandalism for last year alone includes:
February 2016: The rusty red rocks characteristic of Cocinino National Forest, Sedona, AZ, were desecrated...
April 2016: Three completely inebriated men, after shooting some rabbits and tossing around some empty beer bottles, jumped a fence and trespassed into a protected area at Devil’s Hole, Death Valley National Park, CA, where they proceeded to create havoc by churning up the sediment as they trampled through the water refuge housing the only population of an endangered species of pupfish...
May 2016: As two people spray painted “Evans 16” on rocks at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon National Park, AZ...
May 2016: Petersburg National Battlefield, VA, a 2,700 acre Civil War site marking the deaths of over 1,000 soldiers during the siege of the Confederate capitol, became pockmarked when vandals ripped up and dug into the hallowed ground in search of ‘collectibles’...
June 2016: On Chilnualna Falls Trail, Yosemite National Park, CA, a common place for mountain lion sightings, some visitors apparently thought that they were very erudite and clever to paraphrase Julius Cesar by writing “I came, I saw, I vandalized National Park property” on the boulders along the trail...
June 2016: The Roosevelt Arch, in the Fort Yellowstone National Historic Landmark District, MT was marred when a man carved his initials into the basalt archway...
July 2016: National Park Service Rangers reported 11,000 cases where they had to deal with vandalism, illegal camping, theft, harassment of wildlife, and other infractions at ten popular parks. One visitor reportedly wanted to give a wild grizzly bear a cookie...
August 2016: Native American petroglyphs at Capitol Reef National Park, UT were ruined by vandals who gouged “Dallas, TX” into the delicate red rocks...
September 2016: The Samuel Colt Mounument, Coltsville National Park, CT, was the victim of theft of the bronze coat-of-arms embedded into the structure...
September 2016: Ten miles of tire tracks were etched into the pristine landscape at Racetrack Playa, Death Valley National Monument, CA...
...along the Hanging Lake Trail, Glenwood Canyon, CO, vandals spray painted rocks and trees at the edges of the trail...
So, the thread and the agenda it is trying to push, is BS. This happens whether or not we have a government shut down. This happens with Rangers, it happens without Rangers. The left can take their agenda and shove it.
The people saying that this was staged can also shove it.
The fact is, we have plenty of people in this country who don't give a damn about our National Parks, and use them as if they were their own playground, exclusively theirs, and not belonging to everyone else in the country.
The fact is, the visitor turnout in National Parks has gone through the roof, and people always destroy whether intentionally or not.
This is not because of a government shut down. This is not because someone staged this. This is not either of those things.
I wonder why, when people see headlines like this, that they never, ever, EVER look to see how things are, normally, before bleating on about something that the media claimed in order to push a very clear agenda. The media definitely has an agenda. Don't be a stupid, idiotic, moronic, dumb ass sheep and fall for their crap. Find out more information before regurgitating what they said like a lemming being led off of a cliff, and stop acting like everything is staged just because you a) understand that the media is pushing a narrative but b) don't understand that we have some real pos in our society.
This. Happens. All. The. Time. Rangers or no Rangers, shut down or no shut down. Can people please stop acting so fricken STUPID!
What losers to get in there and do damage like that.
I doubt the Rangers could have stopped them if they were on duty. It takes the general public to care for and watch out for special places like Joshua Tree.
Near me I took a Dune tour in the National Seashore and the driver told us about the time some idiots got in there and were riding their fat tired bikes up and down the fragile dunes. The Rangers were notified but the jerks took off before they could arrive.
We have to police ourselves and have respect but some people just don't care.
I totally agree. I can't believe people actually went in there and cut down Joshua trees! I thought it was nice that the park was left open with a skeleton crew so the public could enjoy it but, obviously, there are a lot of disrespectful people out there. A lot of people don't appreciate what the US has to offer but once it's gone, it's gone. This is so disheartening.
Acting like the girl wouldn't have fallen were the government not shut down.
Acting like the guy wouldn't have fallen were the government not shut down.
Acting like the tree wouldn't have fallen on the lady were the government not shut down.
The media is trying very hard to blame anything and everything on the government shut down, despite the fact that people die in National Parks when there is no shut down:
So, the thread and the agenda it is trying to push, is BS. This happens whether or not we have a government shut down. This happens with Rangers, it happens without Rangers. The left can take their agenda and shove it.
The people saying that this was staged can also shove it.
The fact is, we have plenty of people in this country who don't give a damn about our National Parks, and use them as if they were their own playground, exclusively theirs, and not belonging to everyone else in the country.
The fact is, the visitor turnout in National Parks has gone through the roof, and people always destroy whether intentionally or not.
This is not because of a government shut down. This is not because someone staged this. This is not either of those things.
I wonder why, when people see headlines like this, that they never, ever, EVER look to see how things are, normally, before bleating on about something that the media claimed in order to push a very clear agenda. The media definitely has an agenda. Don't be a stupid, idiotic, moronic, dumb ass sheep and fall for their crap. Find out more information before regurgitating what they said like a lemming being led off of a cliff, and stop acting like everything is staged just because you a) understand that the media is pushing a narrative but b) don't understand that we have some real pos in our society.
This. Happens. All. The. Time. Rangers or no Rangers, shut down or no shut down. Can people please stop acting so fricken STUPID!
I totally agree. Some people are very disrespectful and self-centered these days. They don't care about the animals, the terrain, other people, etc. Why destroy something that is so beautiful and can be passed on from generation to generation. This has nothing to do with politics. Has to do with spoiled selfish people. Makes me sick!
So, the thread and the agenda it is trying to push, is BS. This happens whether or not we have a government shut down. This happens with Rangers, it happens without Rangers. The left can take their agenda and shove it.
"This" being people literally making their own roads across the Joshua Tree wilderness? Nope.
Your links do prove that people are a-holish vandals when they think they won't get caught. They now have a guarantee that they won't get caught. And they react accordingly.
6 years. It went Romney in 2012, yes? The sparsely populated areas in California are predominantly red. The majority of the population in the area is known to be not Democratic/Left leaning.
Anyway, can you guys make up your minds? Left-wingers are no longer hippie tree-huggers or what?
This is why the libertarian utopia does not exist.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BentBow
Don't be so selfish ****head! The world does not revolve around you.... and have a nice day!
Said, because I am armed.
Bizarre.
Quote:
Originally Posted by msgsing
Let the anarchists run amuck. Freedom. freedom. Or something like that.
Freedumb! Freedom to destroy our national parks; to starve and to die from lack of healthcare. Yay!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dane_in_LA
We have hired professionals to take care of that. They go by the name of "Park Rangers". It's a very well-working system, right up to the point where the Chief Executive abandons his responsibilities.
Absolutely.
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