The Overlook: Othering in the Outdoors

[Backpacking Light]

BPL columnist Ben Kilbourne was on a trail run when he suddenly found himself in a mask-related confrontation. What happened next got him thinking.

• The Overlook: Othering in the Outdoors

[Jeff McWilliams]

Welcome to tribalism in America, where how you respond to being caught up in a pandemic has become a political statement instead of it being about how we look out for each other’s safety and well being.

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[Scott Chandler]

How in the world do we deal with this…lunacy? How do you reason with someone like this? How do we deal with this unreachable anger? How do we discuss issues when they have a completely different set of facts — “facts” not usually backed up with…well…facts.

[Jeff McWilliams]

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[Kattt]

So let’s stop making masking wearing political. I encounter dozens of people daily that don’t wear masks, almost all of them college students. Every time you have that urge to make it political stop and think: do I want to do this? Am I helping anything?  What are the broader consequences of “othering” someone?
If we want things to get better pointing fingers and getting angry will not help; taking conscious daily steps to try and stop this polarization is the only thing that will help. Resist the polarizing.

[Kattt]

…Or let’s get outraged and angry and get even more polarized. That always helps. Carry on.

[Dave @ Oware]

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[Jeff McWilliams]

Kattt,

In the original author’s case, Ben said nothing to the guy about face masks.  He didn’t make mask wearing political, the other guy did.

What do you suggest?

This isn’t like seeing an obese guy walk out of McDonald’s with a super-sized BigMac Meal, where his actions more or less only affect him.

In the case of wearing a mask and avoiding large group gatherings, these actions impact the health of those around you.   Like this for example: https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6945a5.htm

This isn’t a “My body, my choice” decision.  Their actions affect others.

 

[Kattt]

Oh I am not at all suggesting the author did something wrong and I am really sorry he had to go through that. I should have made the latter part clear!
I am looking at what this article will do; will it better or make the “othering” worse? Maybe neither. Reading the replies I am concerned that the take away is anger and division and more politics- not less.
I worry.

[Kattt]

“This isn’t a “My body, my choice” decision.  Their actions affect others.”

for sure. I wore a mask when Fauci et all were still recommending against it.

[Paul Wagner]

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[John Vance]

In terms of mask wearing, I have adopted the mentality that if you wear a mask you are, ahem, covered and other non mask wearing individuals can exercise there decision as well with little to impact on you.  If you don’t choose to wear a mask then you should have no justifiable opinion on either those who wear them or those who don’t.

And while we are at it, if you didn’t participate in voting and were eligible to vote,  you shouldn’t have the right to share your opinion concerning elected officials.  😉. Just sayin’.

Like Katt, it feels as though the division just gets larger in spite of how you decide to act or react.   It’s a sad state of affairs.   On a positive note, I live in the same valley as the author and it is wonderful to have close access to amazing mountains.  I can walk down the street, hit the trails and hike for miles.

And I grew up Katt’s neck of the woods at the base of the Santa Cruz mountains.  Miss the redwoods for sure.

[Matthew / BPL]

Ben, Thank your for sharing your story and bringing up the concept of the Other. I am of the opinion that most fear and anger relates to fear of the Other. Last January I created a piece consisting of a distressed mirror that says OTHER. The viewer is encouraged to see their own image in the word and consider that they are the Other as well. If we are not to be feared, then perhaps we shouldn’t fear the Other…

I hadn’t considered the idea of the Other in relation to politicization of masks. Thanks for bringing it up.

[BlackHatGuy]

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[Luke Schmidt]

Shame that happens.

I try to get a balanced look at the news and I guarantee if you look enough you’ll find morons on both sides of any issue. When I hear “All (fill in the blank) are a bunch of nasty (fill in the blank)” I know that’s probably not someone I can have a real discussion with.

Anyone in Behavioral Health can tell you there is a logic behind even the most crazy behavior (and most voters are not crazy). If you don’t like how tens of millions of people voted you might want to ask what is the logical reason from their point of view. My personal view is if you can’t think of a logical reason why a person would vote for the OTHER side, then you are the one with the problem. It means you are too blind to see the flaws and tradeoffs in your side. Or it means you think you are so smart that anyone who disagrees is dumb or evil. Either way its not pretty. Lets be humble.

[Jerry Adams]

I’ve been hiking a lot during the pandemic.  I’m guessing I’ve passed 400 people

I’ve usually taken a mask with me but never wore it.

90% of the time I get off the trail more than 6 feet when someone passes

A few times someone stopped and got off the trail less than 6 feet so I walked by, leaned off the other direction, not perfect.

Once, the people stopped for a break, at a place where the trail was traversing a steep area.  I did pretty good walking around them but it was difficult.  What is wrong with people?

Given that you nominally need 15 minutes of exposure closer than 6 feet, passing someone on a trail is low risk, this is all a non issue.

In July, I think more than half the people wore masks, but a lot of them put the mask up only as they passed – I question if that’s effective.

In September 1 out of 100 wore a mask, 1 held up their mask as they passed.  (I was 12 feet off the trail).

In October maybe 10% of the people wore masks.

No one ever had a negative comment, just tried to make the most out of the situation.

 

[Jerry Adams]

Early in the pandemic I didn’t post any trip reports, I was violating Governor Brown’s stay at home order.  I sympathize with her orders.  Her actions have resulted in low infection rates.  I don’t think I ever violated the spirit of her orders.

Later, I posted a couple trip reports –  I thought the information would be useful to people thinking about hiking.  Someone told me I just killed 10 people.

Ahhh… the internet…

 

[Kattt]

I posted this in chaff but it seems pertinent to the OP  write up.

https://beyondconflictint.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Beyond-Conflict-America_s-Div-ided-Mind-JUNE-2020-FOR-WEB.pdf

[Jay S]

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[Dan]

I realize this is not the main point of this thread, but there is so much misinformation on the mask topic, or more likely people are just lacking self-awareness and convincing themselves that their uninformed opinion is right, instead of following the actual science. You need to wear a mask … period. Your excuses for not wearing one aren’t valid.

If you ran into me on a narrow single-track trail, you’d be more likely to get a piece of my mind if you WEREN’T wearing a mask. Not because of your perceived politics or religion, just because you’re putting me and others at risk by being irresponsible. Sorry, but I’m not totally protected by wearing a mask, you also need to wear a mask.

Virtually everyone is wearing a mask where I day-hike on a daily basis. 99%. And I have no qualms about reminding someone politely if I notice that they have “forgotten” their mask. Call me names if you want, I don’t care. I’ve been around long enough to have developed a thick skin.

[Eugene Hollingsworth]

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[Luke Schmidt]

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[AK Granola]

I feel sorry for the angry guy. A beautiful trail, mountains to look at and a friendly greeting from a stranger. How can these things not make you happy, but instead make you angry? How does it feel to go through life angry all the time, even out in nature (where most of us go to get over being angry, or worried, or fearful)? He must have cortisol levels at the top of the chart! There’s probably not a right response; I’d have just sped up and left him in the dust.

[Paul Wagner]

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[Eugene Hollingsworth]

From Karen: I feel sorry for the angry guy….How does it feel to go through life angry all the time…

It feels like crap. And the angry guy will never know that until he decides to replace that angry tank with a tank of laughter and trying to leave other people with a better day then they had. Then the angry guy may even fear that angry emotion.

 

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