They don't understand!

[rommy]

-------

What does that mean exactly please? I am a 60 year old bloke who has a lot of experience. I have no desire to troll or accept something posted that is incorrect either. I am merely stating my opinions and think that you should apologise. Or am I not entitled to an opinion??

 

[rommy]

I really have to laugh at this accusation. I recently replied to a thread agreeing with the underdog. I then got a reply asking me to explain why. I said that I had no need, simply to read the OP's post and then read that I agreed with his points.

I then recieved a PM from that member stating that as I had merely agreed with the OP and refused to be drawn into providing him with information about the reason why - he stated that I was not even entitled to an opinion???

So come on you internet warriors - what is it?? am I a troll or not even worthy of an opinion because I am a newbie??

It appears to me that if you are not in the clique on this forum that you shouldn't post???

 

[Toddy]

Your opinion is as valid as anyone else's Rommy

I suspect though that the forum has a higher than normal percentage of folks who don't watch tv or follow football.
No reason why you shouldn't, just as there's no reason why they should.
Doesn't make for cliques though, just similar outlooks on some things.

Chill folks, it's a good thread, let it run

cheers,
Toddy

 

[hog]

One of my favourites..Thats illegal, you cant carry that.

 

[Tengu]

"I will do as I please"

 

[Echoes of the old ways]

What does that mean exactly please? I am a 60 year old bloke who has a lot of experience. I have no desire to troll or accept something posted that is incorrect either. I am merely stating my opinions and think that you should apologise. Or am I not entitled to an opinion??

Hi Rommy
I don't think anyone is saying your opinion is not valid, I'm a lot newer than you too so don't see you as a newbie.
One thought I had when you said you couldn't understand why the other poster wouldn't just carry a lighter.

senario: your in the woods miles from anywhere, it's cold damp and you unpack your kit, your lighter is broken, out of fuel, accidentally trodden on etc etc
how would you light a fire? having the knowledge and practising it to make sure you can do it is important even if you do normally just use a lighter.

the poster with no TV I think was just telling us that, and offering info about the way he does things and peoples reaction to it. I personally didn't get the feeling that he thought he was better than anyone by reading his post.

As a 60yr old bloke with a lot of experience I'm sure you've got a lot of interesting stuff to say.

 

[Echoes of the old ways]

Anyway on to the original subject.. they don't understand.

Sure they will the day they get into a situation where they need the skills and don't have them.
Know which camp I'd rather be in

 

[rommy]

Hi Rommy
I don't think anyone is saying your opinion is not valid, I'm a lot newer than you too so don't see you as a newbie.
One thought I had when you said you couldn't understand why the other poster wouldn't just carry a lighter.

senario: your in the woods miles from anywhere, it's cold damp and you unpack your kit, your lighter is broken, out of fuel, accidentally trodden on etc etc
how would you light a fire? having the knowledge and practising it to make sure you can do it is important even if you do normally just use a lighter.

the poster with no TV I think was just telling us that, and offering info about the way he does things and peoples reaction to it. I personally didn't get the feeling that he thought he was better than anyone by reading his post.

As a 60yr old bloke with a lot of experience I'm sure you've got a lot of interesting stuff to say.

My apologies, I should have made myself clearer.

If one possesses the skills to make fire - I always am in possession of firesteel on magnesium block but can also use other methods if I must. I still carry a couple of lighters and why not?

I did not mean that folks should only carry a lighter - apologies.

 

[Squidders]

In my experience people are roughly divided into two basic groups. The doers and the watchers. I am no football fan. Can't even remember what shape the ball is but I can understand people who are passionate about PLAYING the game I just cannot get my head round being passionate about being a passive, observer. We got rid of our TV years ago. Occasionally I mention this fact to the kids in one of the schools I work in. They are quite simply speechless at the thought of someone not having a TV and the best part of it is the first question they ask...


......but what do you do?

You seriously can't remember the shape of a football?

If the children at the school you work at put on a play or musical production, would you still not get your head round the parents being passionate about being a passive, observer?

How odd.

Anyway, this next bit isn't directed at you Grayfox, it's to everyone including myself to have a bit of a reality check... Every once in a while a thread like this pops its ugly head up and people start going off about "the others" like people not into our hobby are halfwits.

They are the ones pushing humanity forward... you think your nice ripstop tarp and posh knives with S30v steel came from some happy bloke in a cave? No, it came from a massive collaboration of normal people working together using accounting to pay cleaners and structural engineers to make the factory that our so-called primitive materials came from.

Our leisure time is a direct result of the masses going about their, and our business. An ISP couldn't function without a billing team, your bank, the telco, computer manufacturers and every one of those needs people who need food and all these other people "who just don't understand" just so we can put a post on a bushcraft forum.

The reality is that not acknowledging all this means that we are out of touch and ignorant and we should be ashamed for rejecting the technology that allows us to indulge our hobby.

I'm sure that your average bushman would look at the British climate and think we're mad to stay out when the weather is crappy... I'm 100% certain he would understand our motivation to be outdoors but would still call us mad for staying out on a January night.

The above post isn't a troll I can assure you but a bit of a rant about the attitude we have of everyone else while at the same time we rant about their attitude toward us.

Next time your old-school leather pouch is delivered by dhl... think about how low tech that actually makes that pouch.

Feel free to flame me as you like.

 

[The Big Lebowski]

I support my local football team. Just as you had that smile, I bet it never matched the one I wore standing at Wembley alongside my sons and seeing our local team get to the Premiership for the first time in the clubs history!

Not a footy fan personally, but i can only imagine your grin

Something i look forward to myself one day as a father, many times over... In the bigger picture of life, thats what its all about!

Regards, al.

 

[m.durston]

i'm lucky in that at work most people know about my various hobbies and dont think its strange for me to go wild camping with my mate (who used to work there) and my two eldest kids. in fact quite a few saw it as a good bonding exercise to have with the boys much like a father taking his kids to a football etc.
i've taken my leatherwork in a few times to show and i received good comments about it, but when i told my boss how much my latest knife was (swc woodlore) it did provoked the usual 'are you mad?' comments to which i replied 'same as you mate for spending umpteen pounds on a pc and god knows how much in shop brought points for his world of warcraft account. but as has been said before, each to their own i suppose.
my other hobby (airsoft) does still attract a few comments like, 'alright michael ryan how many did you bag this weekend' etc. funny thing is i managed to convert 3 people at work to airsoft and they have never looked back!

 

[salad]

The people at my work want me to them spoons

 

[stovie]

...I've got a thick skin...

 

[law4dkr]

My fiancee always goes on at me for 'wasting' money on kit 'I'll never need' and moans when I watch any outdoorsy-type programs. I always tell her that when the plane crashes and we're stranded on a desert island and she whinges at me she's hungry and how do we get something to eat I'll say "I don't ****** know, you wouldn't let me watch Ray Mears!" lol

 

[Wayland]

In my experience people are roughly divided into two basic groups. The doers and the watchers. <Snip

I tend to think of people as drifters or swimmers, some people are happy to float through life without much of a struggle, others push themselves at every opportunity.

Like most people I fall somewhere in the middle, I'm quite content to see what life brings but I'll work damned hard for something I really want.

Snip>
Anyway, this next bit isn't directed at you Grayfox, it's to everyone including myself to have a bit of a reality check... Every once in a while a thread like this pops its ugly head up and people start going off about "the others" like people not into our hobby are halfwits.

They are the ones pushing humanity forward... you think your nice ripstop tarp and posh knives with S30v steel came from some happy bloke in a cave? No, it came from a massive collaboration of normal people working together using accounting to pay cleaners and structural engineers to make the factory that our so-called primitive materials came from.

Our leisure time is a direct result of the masses going about their, and our business. An ISP couldn't function without a billing team, your bank, the telco, computer manufacturers and every one of those needs people who need food and all these other people "who just don't understand" just so we can put a post on a bushcraft forum.

The reality is that not acknowledging all this means that we are out of touch and ignorant and we should be ashamed for rejecting the technology that allows us to indulge our hobby.

I'm sure that your average bushman would look at the British climate and think we're mad to stay out when the weather is crappy... I'm 100% certain he would understand our motivation to be outdoors but would still call us mad for staying out on a January night.

The above post isn't a troll I can assure you but a bit of a rant about the attitude we have of everyone else while at the same time we rant about their attitude toward us.

Next time your old-school leather pouch is delivered by dhl... think about how low tech that actually makes that pouch.

Feel free to flame me as you like.

Very true, It's all too easy to look at something in your hand and forget how it got there.

I have the same argument when people tell me how much damage I'm doing to the environment putting sticks into my hobo stove while they use some high tech. gas stove.

They all have to be made somewhere, including the steel pots I use, and the gas has an eco. footprint too.

We live in a privileged society at an amazing time, they do not understand but neither do we.

 

[Squidders]

I have the same argument when people tell me how much damage I'm doing to the environment putting sticks into my hobo stove while they use some high tech. gas stove.

They all have to be made somewhere, including the steel pots I use, and the gas has an eco. footprint too.

We live in a privileged society at an amazing time, they do not understand but neither do we.

True that.

 

[Emdiesse]

So I was just talking about Bushcraft with someone and this was sorta how it went

First they thought I was suggesting that I wanted to uproot from my modern life and live in the woods somewhere.... No, they don't get it.

Then I suggest that do they not care for the skills that we once depended on.... No, why should they, they can get places by car; They can get food from supermarkets; and so on...:11doh:

But wouldn't it be awesome if you could walk outside look up at the sky and be able to differentiate between clouds so you can identify if it's going to rain, snow, thunderstorm, etc? What about being out at night and being able to find north with the stars...... No, I can just watch the weather in the morning, and if a cloud is black then it's rain and to find north I would use a compass...:yikes:

Fair enough I say, but what about when you build a house, build it without foundations and it'll fall apart. So do you not think learning a few skills from the past could help you in your daily lives? No, because they say nothing will ever so so disastrously that they will need to know these skills.

They have a point, it is fairly unlikely. So I suggest that I find it interesting, if not fascinating how we are capable of living with just the essentials..... However that is still strange to them why that would be of an interest to me.

...
...
...

Then they caught me using a microwave to heat up some soup.... You can't do that, they said, you need to make a fire first...

THEY JUST DON'T GET IT.
Modern technology is great, makes things easier, makes things safer, makes us live longer...
Primitive technology is great, it's amazing how we need so little.
What's so hard in that?

 

[paolo]

That's a nice thread...
I think there are two main reasons why people have this kind of reaction.
The first is that they simply don't know, they don't know what we're doing, why and so on, and it's not so strange that someone could be suspicious or distrustful about something that's so unusual for him.

My wife was like this, but the first time I went harvesting hop and bladder campion shoots, and she came with me, I had to grab her arm to go back home because she was still looking around after sunset.. Now it's the same for mushrooms and wild berries..
She never slept outside except for our first holiday, (in a tent, in a camping) but last year she slept in a swag in the Australian outback, and she enjoyed it..
A friend of mine has asked me to show how to light a fire with flint and steel to his 10 years old child after a little bit of talking ..
If it's like this, you only have to explain "what and why" and say "do you want to try?" with a smile: if they say yes, they probably they'll be like you soon, or, at last they will not see you anymore like someone strange.

The second reaction is because they are too close minded, and if it's so :sadwavey:
Some of my colleagues think I'm some kind of crazy because I have a lot of knives and they usually say to my wife "aren't you scared with all those knives around your house?"

But you can't get blood from turnips, as we say here, so if someone doesn't want to learn... who cares?

 

[bojit]

One thing that i have noticed that most people haven't said is that going out for a walk in the woods or wherever
lighting a fire and making a cuppa and something to eat , is that it is FUN!!

We eat through nessesity but doing it in pleasent surroundings can make it more enjoyable, whether up a hill in the snow or in a posh diner or McDonalds.
but it is fun to do it somewhere different , or out of the norm.

I think that all of us whether bushcrafters or not , we all are into so many different hobbies and sports that is what makes us all unique .

Wouldn't life be so boring if we all were the same .

You only get one life so you may as well have some fun while you are here!

Craig...............

 

[Harvestman]

It is quite interesting to see where this thread has gone from my initial posting. My intention wasn't really a 'them and us' sort of thing (a few people have suggested I am sneering/laughing at people who don't share my hobbies).

Actually my initial post was more about how people don't seem to think before they ask a question, i.e "It's january, and I'm going camping" "Won't you be cold?" Do they seriously think I would do something that would be unpleasant or uncomfortable without making the preparations to mitigate against that? No I wouldn't. I'll make sure that I'm not cold, so that I can enjoy myself.

Maybe I didn't express myself clearly. Still, it has been an interesting read. Thanks guys.

Threads evolve.