This ridiculous Facebook page has over 28,000 members. I hesitate to even post the link to it.
The problem, of course, is that given the critical mass of the group, many overlanders and vehicle-based adventure enthusiasts might be compelled to join in, to post, to share. I recommend that you do not.
The page’s theoretical rules include:
“A place to exchange all typesof ideas, ask questions, share your vehicle builds, show off your trips. All types of 4wd vehicles and all types of trailers. As casual place to chat around the campfire. Be nice no flaming and trolls will be blocked and deleted..” [sic, throughout]
I joined this group in its early days, engaged with it fairly regularly, and actually learned some things from some of its members. But the paradox of social media success has reared its ugly head.
The paradox is this. As the completely random and unknowable owners of the page realize their expanding power over a growing number of members, the rules change - the more people that join, and the more diverse the views, the more they clamp down on dissent from what they deem acceptable conversation.
What should ideally grow organically to be a multi-faceted forum for discussion across a wide range of issues becomes a one-note (“post pictures of yer’ rig!”), politically charged horrorscape of useless meme generation and aggressive dunces with more bandwidth than sense. Increasingly, I have been ignoring this group.
Two nights ago, I made the mistake of engaging with the horde on some admittedly politically divisive issues regarding public lands access. This is a discussion that I have had in the past on this particular Facebook group with good results. Those conversations were civil, productive, and not at all angry - even though many of us disagreed with each other vehemently.
This time around was different. Sparing you the details - my basic argument was that a person can advocate for wilderness protection and motorized vehicle access at the same time, and that this is not a contradiction. In fact, it’s probably a good idea to do both.
Long story short - even though I never directly flamed, trolled, or attacked anybody else on the page, I was told by the moderators that my support for keeping some wilderness roads closed, and other areas completely roadless was, in fact, “an insult to everyone in the group” (?). I was called an asshole, and threatened with banishment. I left the group altogether instead.
You might be saying to yourself right now, “Hey, mtdrift, are you new to this whole Internet thing?”
I assure you I am not. That was more of a lament than anything else. I just hate how those types of forums inevitably devolve into slime pits, and real opportunities for meaningful exchange are scuttled. I love 4x4s, and wheeling, and getting off road, but I really hate being associated with halfwits and raging, aggro dicks (I’m going to insult them now) who can’t hold more than one thought in their heads a time. It does nothing good for the off-road community.
And, that’s all just a very round-about way of saying thanks to everyone here for not being that way, even when we do occasionally delve into discussions of topics on which we may not necessarily agree. I wish there were more of us.
Anywaaaaaaayyyyyy. Not too much to report from Botswana recently, other than some more depressing stuff in addition getting yelled at by bad people on the Internet:
The wildly unpredictable oven in our flat over-cooked my roast on Thanksgiving.
This cat only has one ear.
We haven’t been camping in weeks, we’ve been feeling a little homesick (especially over the holiday), recently I had to throw out a whole refrigerator’s worth of food after we lost power for 36 hours, and the air conditioning in the Pajero still continues to blow hot.
On the flip side, there is much to be thankful for in addition to my homies here on O&E.
The bread I baked, and the side dishes I made for TG all turned out awesome (Yorkshire pudding!). We killed a few bottles of wine with another American expat and generally had a jolly old time.
Follow up x-rays on Wednesday showed excellent progress on the ankle, and Julie’s cast is coming off in just two weeks. The university semester is over next week, and my new job with Overland Expo is going great.
I managed to nail down the most difficult-to-obtain campsites for our long trip next month (I’m really excited about these ones - they are flung out way into the farthest reaches of the middle of nowhere, two of the most remote sites in all of Botswana). They are located in the Kaa region of the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park in the far southwestern part of the country. There’s a whole lot of nothing out there.
I shared the general outline of the trip in my last post, but I’m working up another one that will dive into the details, now that the final pieces have fallen into place.
A little teaser - I can’t say too much just yet, but it looks like we won’t be taking the Pajero on this trip. More on that development later...
Speaking of the big Mistubishi, it’s been raining off and on here for a few days, so I think we might go out this afternoon and see if we can get it dirty.
Go forth and explore, my friends!