What a celebration! Killing an OHV park

[Red_Chili]

The Wilderness Society is crowing about having participated in stopping an OHV park (they call it an ORV park, a pejorative that is usually a tell-tale giveaway - when you hear 'ORV', you know where it came from). They do not want OHVs in the forests, and they do not want them in parks either, not anywhere even CLOSE to a national monument.

Maybe in the highway medians?

Um, there's lots of monuments near Moab, folks.

MOTOTRAX STOPPED IN ITS TRACKS
A proposal to build an off-road vehicle park next to Sonoran
Desert National Monument in Arizona has been stopped by the
Bureau of Land Management. Last summer, hundreds of WildAlert
subscribers wrote the BLM opposing the project, which would have
built a hundred miles of ORV trails, grandstands and a water
park right next to the Monument.

Think about that as you prepare to vote.

 

[Hulk]

ORV =
Off Road Vehicle?
Outrageous Radical Voldemort?

 

[MDH33]

The Wilderness Society is crowing about having participated in stopping an OHV park (they call it an ORV park, a pejorative that is usually a tell-tale giveaway - when you hear 'ORV', you know where it came from). They do not want OHVs in the forests, and they do not want them in parks either, not anywhere even CLOSE to a national monument.

Maybe in the highway medians?

Um, there's lots of monuments near Moab, folks.



Think about that as you prepare to vote.

Thanks for posting this Bill.

However, I'm wondering what you mean in regards to your comment about how this should be considered when we vote this month?

After reading the other "information" on the Wilderness Society site, I was more alarmed by the lengthy article about Public Land and drilling in Colorado. Hundreds of thousands of acres of Public land being leased to Oil and Gas in Colorado with an estimated 23,000 new drilling sites proposed within the next 20 years. This is more "close to home" than an OHV park being shot down in AZ, and should have more of an impact on how we, as Coloradans, should vote, IMO.

I enjoy the public lands in Colorado, Utah, and the rest of the West for many reasons and not just for driving my Landcruiser. Hunting, fishing, camping, backpacking, skiing and wheeling are all activities that are impacted by the loss of Public land. It seems closure of some areas to OHV's is a small price to pay if it means that these areas can remain open for other outdoor recreation and not locked up, closed or trashed for extraction.

I understand the need for drilling. But currently it's not being done in a manner that takes into consideration the value of the land being "used". Some areas are more appropriate than others, but currently public land that is worth being protected for public recreation is being slated for extraction and this is really going to change Colorado and our opportunities to enjoy our Public Lands, and not for the better.

Many of the Monuments and areas in Utah and Colorado that we enjoy may soon be off limits, not only to OHV's but to all use. Not because of radical environmentalists locking them up as Wilderness, but because the government that we elect has more of an interest in making corporations very rich.

Rant off.

 

[Red_Chili]

Consider the source of the drilling info. They live to make a big splash.

Access to public lands will be more dramatically affected by creation of new wilderness, new roadless areas with tight control, and closure of trails rather than maintenance, than by any mining or drilling. Not to discount your concerns - they are valid, and I have also raised them elsewhere - but to put them in context.

Think that's an argument for a Republican ticket? Not necessarily.* Consider the individual's stand, affiliations and values. Think a Democrat ticket is automatically pro-environment/anti big corporation? Again, it won't hold, and for the same reasons. Ya gotta do the same homework, don't buy the company line.

But hey, you DID think about it, so goal met!

*a case in point: Wayne Allard (R) has been very unresponsive IMHO to OHV concerns, but has designated tons of wilderness in our state and claims to be pro-sportsman (likely true) and pro-recreation (one wonders about acceptable forms of recreation) and pro-small-town (even though those small towns depend on tourist dollars, and to not a small extent on motorized recreation). I don't see a lot of distance (in OHV concerns) between him and Mark Udall (D, and a rather liberal D at that). So don't vote knee-jerk!

 

[Red_Chili]

ORV =
Off Road Vehicle?
Outrageous Radical Voldemort?

I know you're joshin', but yeah, Off Road Vehicle, designed to affect people's thinking about OHVs, that all they do is go off the roads they should be on.

Like I said, they are masters at manipulating impressions, they live for the big splash. I suspect they learned it in marketing school.

 

[Hulk]

OHV = Off Highway Vehicle.
How is that better?
Seems like six a one, half dozen a t'other.

How about we take it back:
ORV - Outside Recreation Vehicle

 

[Red_Chili]

OHV? Naw, I go off-highway all the time.
But never off road or off trail. SeewhutImeanVern?

I like your redefinition. But ORV was never ours to take back, eh!

 

[Hulk]

OK, let's redefine it based on our own interests. Kind of like the gay community did with the word "queer" -- formerly a pejorative, now more accepted.

From Merriam-Webster:
usage Over the past two decades, an important change has occurred in the use of queer in sense 2d (d (1) often disparaging : HOMOSEXUAL (2) sometimes offensive : GAY ). The older, strongly pejorative use has certainly not vanished, but a use by some gay people and some academics as a neutral or even positive term has established itself. This development is most noticeable in the adjective but is reflected in the corresponding noun as well.

I realize this is probably a very strange comparison, but it certainly can take the wind out of your opponent's sails when you redefine their sharp language and start using it on your own terms.

Yeah, I work in marketing.

 

[Hulk]

Here's another example. Liberal used to be a descriptive noun. Rush Limbaugh and other blowhards have redefined it to the point where it is now more of an insult. Read here for an even more elaborate discussion of this tactic.

My point is that language is powerful. If we take ownership of the language, we drive the conversation.

 

[Hulk]

FYI, that last link is from Henrietta Hay:
Henrietta Hay is a (formerly sports-car-driving) liberal in a conservative town. In Grand Junction, Colorado, she writes a weekly column for the local Daily Sentinel. In spite of (or because of?) her renegade views, her column is the most popular feature in the paper. Oh, and she's 92 years old.