From: eugene@wilbur.nas.nasa.gov (Eugene N. Miya)
Subject: Re: Abbey bashing.
Organization: NAS, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 92 21:06:52 GMT
Distribution: na

In article <1992Nov10.185820.25091@news.uiowa.edu>
donath@herky.cs.uiowa.edu (Matt Donath) writes:
>Could someone please explain to me why Abbey is revered for Desert Solitaire?

Sure.  Consider this part 1 of 2.
Biases: I was the student of a prof who was good friends with Abbey
(so much so that I sent Abbey a slide poking really good fun at the
Sahara Club (I mean Sierra Club)) and another friend who interviewed St. Ed
for Mountain Gazette when it was around.

You do not have to agree with everything Abbey said or believed in and
Abbey would not have wanted YOU to agree with him either.  He would certainly
not agree with all of my opinions (like nuclear power or throwing bottles
on the highway as Ed did). The worse things he hated were YES-men.
So it goes with my opinions of St. Ed.  I was fortunate enough to see
the Computer Science text book with an autograph by Abbey:
	Fuck computer science -- Ed Abbey
from the U of UT last winter.  Oh, and as Roderick Nash and Al Runte know,
my favorite quote:
        "Civilization is the kid with the Molotov cocktail,
        culture is the LA cop or Soviet Tank which guns him down." 1968

Point 1:
Ed Abbey never claimed to be an environmentalist.

Point 2:
Abbey shares aspects very similar to James Watt.  They are closer than many
people acknowledge.  If Watt had not started the Sage Brush Rebellion,
Abbey sure would have, albeit a different form.  [I know the differences,
but why give that point away.]

Point 3:
Ed Abbey was a strong believer in the rights of the individual.  He
encouraged the use of firearms for self-defense (ala Hunter S. Thompson).
He had very strong beliefs in freedom but he understood the interconnectedness
of the world.

You might ask yourself what Abbey would have done in the last election
regarding the vote.  If you understand how he thinks, you will understand
a portion of Abbey.  You could tell him, and then he would deny it.
He also distrusted business and government.  But he was also a push over.
Bark worse than bite.

>As far as I can remember, he does the following things in the book:
>
>	> Says that he'd rather kill a man than a snake and then kills
>	  a rabbit for no other reason than pleasure.

Sure Abbey's argument is based on sheer numbers.  There are more people
than snakes in the world (by Abbey's view).  The snakes need help in his eyes.
The biologist Garrett Hardin made a similar statement about a redwood and a
new born human baby and got lots of flak from humanists.  If you don't believe
in a world population problem (the US's is minor), are a devout Catholic,
one of those fusion people at airports, etc. and have a regard that we need
more people in the world, you won't understand this view.  Ditto: extrapolate
rabbits.

Ref: The Arrogance of Humanism by Enfeld.

>	> Carves initials in the Aspen trees (on severl occasions).

See Points 1 and 2.

>	> Burns out a canyon with a careless fire.

Every read of Abbey should view the E. Porter book cited in the text.

>	> Says he doesn't like to disturb a snake and then keeps it
>	  inside his trailor.

>	> Goes on several hikes without adequate water.

>	> Foolishly jumps down into a canyon and almost doesn't make
>	  it back out.

In these cases Abbey is for knowing keeping what some readers regard as
the "adventure" or "sport" in the activity. See added comment below.

Ref:  Mountains without Handrails by J. Sax.

>	> Gets enjoyment out of the death of a poor old hiker who is
>	  lost while hiking.  

"Enjoyment" is your interpretation.  He saw selection.

>	> Rails about how much he hates cities and then winds up by
>	  saying how much he misses them.

Should be noted that the environmental movement, most of his followers are
urban people as well.

>	> Escapes the solitude of the desert by hitting the bars in
>	  town once a week.

I won't debate this.  You can get drunk alone anytime.

>If I had the book in front of me I could easily go on and on about the
>mass of contradictions and the many ignominious things he does in this
>book.  I remember being sorely disappointed in it.  In fact, about the
>only thing I agreed with Abbey on was his dislike of cars in the
>National Parks.

I can also name off others.  My favorite being he and his gymp friend
setting off to float down the Colorado, Oh BTW, neither of them had boating
experience.  While is can be alarming to some, one has to realize that
many of these activities were done before the advent of modern technology.

If you are looking for consistency in thinking I offer the following:

	I hate logic.  -- Marvin Minsky, Nov. 8, 1992
			Rob Savoy was in the audience as well, he could verify
			this.  Hi Rob.  You must be back in CO.

Life isn't logical, it's far from simple, it involves tradeoffs
(I was walking UCSC yesterday with a friend who said that none of his students
understood tradeoffs, he blames computers [this was a class on optics].)

But this is not unique to Abbey:
	Always climb with someone more experienced that yourself.
Do you see the illogic of this symbolic statement?
And we had a good debate locally with the AI people last evening
(John Watson was there).  Many of the above activities are done in
defiance of logic for no purpose to further humanity.  In fact you have to
overcome certain obstacles to do them.

The only logical thing to do is stay away from these activities, refuse
withhold a portion of your income tax for other people's rescues as a protest,
etc.  You then keep your insurance rates low and stay safe.

This isn't a flame, it's just to answer your Abbey bashing.

--eugene miya, NASA Ames Research Center, eugene@orville.nas.nasa.gov
  Associate Editor, Software and Publication Reviews
  Scientific Programming
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