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ness
and create an economy based on recreation, tourism and "amenities," and
realized the liberal solution to the economic woes of rural Utah—to
turn it into a little urban New West population center— was creating
impacts of its own.
I've
always believed that saving what remained of wilderness is a moral and
ethical issue, not an economic one, and when the environmental
movement started promoting the economic advantages of wilderness, even
when it degraded and demeaned their own cause, I took exception and
subsequently incurred the wrath of my liberal friends as well. It was
strange to see real estate developers and environmental groups on the
same side of the fence.
(which is what I do most of the time anyway).
When
it comes to my own rhetoric, no matter what I say, do or scribble, the
Right still thinks I'm a bleeding heart lib and the Left thinks I've
abandoned my 'progressive' components and become a gun-waving redneck.
A
few weeks ago, I stuck my nose into San Juan County's latest
controversy-the "WANTED: DEAD or ALIVE" posters that circulated at some
backcoun-try trailheads and threatened the environmental group Great
Old Broads for Wilderness. My friend Bill Boyle, editor of The San Juan
Record, re-printed an essay that first appeared here in the Feb/Mar
edition, called "Rhetoric, Death, Wilderness & Candor."
My
story noted that whoever printed the posters and distributed them acted
recklessly and irresponsibly or worse. In San Juan County, hot-headed
rhetoric from both ends of the political spectrum runs rampant.
Because the political mood here is dominated by conservatives, their
rants are easier to find. But I also included some of the condescending
words that come from the left, specifically a passage or two from
author and SUWA employee Amy Irvine and her bitter personal attack on
the residents of Monticello.
The response from the left was just as I expected... nothing.
I
once noted that when a Conservative really gets hot under the collar,
he's apt to get right in your face and growl, "One more word and I'll
knock your block off!"
But the Liberal? He's more likely to sniff, "I will not even dignify that comment with a reply."
I think I'd rather get punched.
But
for the last couple weeks, Blanding's own conservative
polemicist/letter-writer, Jim Garmhausen, has been confusing me with a
combination of conflicting comments. If he thinks he can placate me by
agreeing with me, all the while making my point for me via his recent
rash of letter-writing, he is mistaken. In the same way that many of
my environmentalist pals have quit talking to me because I disagreed
with them on some issues, there have been a number of conservatives who
think I've swung to the other end of the political spectrum because of
my criticisms of mainstream environmentalists. Garmhausen even joined
The Zephyr Backbone!
Neither view is correct.
A
couple weeks ago, Garmhausen took note of my effort to be evenhanded.
"To his credit," he observed, "San Juan Record columnist Jim Stiles has
made an
RHETORIC.the Sequel— On The Great Old Broads, Jim Garmhausen and Ed Abbey
As
some of you know, I have been angering, or at least annoying readers in
southeast Utah and beyond for more than 20 years and I am proud to say
I have infuriated both ends of the political spectrum at one time or
another. When I started The Zephyr, I was determined, for
better or worse, to be evenhanded and consequently, I always provided
space for even my most vehement opponents. There has never been a
hostile letter to the editor I would not print.
Looking
back, clearly there have been times when some of my own sarcasm and
"humor" has been counter-productive and hurtful. Beyond that, I was
sometimes unwittingly creating a sympathetic backlash. Later I'd learn
that facts are more powerful than rants.
I
admit that in the early years I was more of a knee-jerk
liberal—nowadays I'm a knee-jerk for all people-—and consequently, much
of the criticism hurled at me came from the conservative wing of my
readership.
For example, in the early 1990s, when The Zephyr expressed
opposition to a proposed multi-million dollar road over the Book
Cliffs to Vernal, the local politicos were furious. When the BLM
chained Amasa's Back, it was my turn to be furious and that made the
ranchers mad. I didn't much care for a toxic waste incinerator at Cisco
and I caught hell for that too, mostly from the part of the population
who had a history and work background in mining and oil and gas
exploration. I could understand their hostile reaction, though I did
not agree with them. When people asked the Grand County road board
chairman to describe my newspaper, he said, "I only need one word to
describe it...CRAP!!!"
Real
estate developers didn't like my "anti-growth" attitude and I made very
few friends from that sector either. One Moab realtor complained that
I read too much Edward Abbey and that I wanted to roll the clock back
and live in a cave. I replied that it depended on the cave. More on
Cactus Ed in a minute.
About ten years ago, I looked around at what "my side" was doing in its quest to both preserve wilder-
I've always believed that saving what remained of wilderness is a moral and ethical issue, not an economic one...
When
I exposed the fact that many green groups are now being funded by
wealthy capitalists whose interest in being on their boards is
questionable and whose conflicted agendas reek of hypocrisy, they came
unglued.
In a Salt Lake Tribune editorial,
SUWA's executive director claimed I was the "Barney Fife of the desert"
and maintained that my "rant says less about SUWA than about Jim's own
curious little world. As its only resident, he's in charge. He gets not
only his own opinion but his own facts."
Yeesh.
But
if SUWA and the road board were being honest, they'd have to admit
that what infuriates them the most is when I quote them accurately and
I DO get my facts right.
Clearly, I can't please anyone—right or left. But then, as a writer...that's not my job.
So
here it is, Spring 2011...the conservatives and the liberals are as
happy with each other as they ever were, the name calling is getting
even hotter, the rhetoric more irrational, the country is spinning out
of control and if I really had my druthers, I'd say to hell with the
whole mess and hide out in a corn field
The
global economy is built on the erroneous belief that the
marketplace—read human greed-should dictate human behavior and that
economies can expand eternally. Globalism works under the assumption
that the ecosystem can continue to be battered by massive carbon
emissions without major consequences.
Chris Hedges
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