I’ve never been. Seen it on TV and thought it might be nice to visit but I don’t want to get shot by racists or police or a wandering Dick Cheney. What’s it really like?
There’s a lot of people. The place was kind of dying but the reintroduction of wolves has been helpful. People throw shit into the springs and treat wildlife like a sideshow.
Still everyone loves the parks because it is all part of US nation building and engineered nostalgia. In the US there are no 700 year old cathedrals like in grandfather Europe so the national parks are meant to turn stolen landscapes (some 27 tribes have ancestral ties to yellowstone) into the cathedrals of American empire. Seeing the parks is effectively an American pilgrimage, especially for middle income white suburbanites, and the wealthy with their mega RV busses in private encampments near the parks. Now they tirelessly try to be “inclusive” but ultimately poor folks can’t easily make such a pilgrimage.
The parks are also a symbol of problematic understandings of the land and nature with many myths including pristine, untouched beauty (as is shown in the text) which both serves to erase Indigenous people that managed the land for millennia and promotes terrible ideas about conservation. The parks exist so white people can find the American God in the mountains and rejuvenating their little imperial souls as they throw shit into geyser.
Also they become so baffled when they get lost in the woods and die that there are thousands of videos on YouTube of people crying over conspiracies that must be happening in the park.
There is so much to say but I can only regurgitate things I have learned from my partner who is studying the parks for their graduate work. Also I have been to many parks including Yellowstone several times, mostly in my youth.
undefined> Also they become so baffled when they get lost in the woods and die that there are thousands of videos on YouTube of people crying over conspiracies that must be happening in the park.
Oh is this where the legends about bigfoot and yogi bear come from?
I’ve never been. Seen it on TV and thought it might be nice to visit but I don’t want to get shot by racists or police or a wandering Dick Cheney. What’s it really like?
There’s a lot of people. The place was kind of dying but the reintroduction of wolves has been helpful. People throw shit into the springs and treat wildlife like a sideshow.
Still everyone loves the parks because it is all part of US nation building and engineered nostalgia. In the US there are no 700 year old cathedrals like in grandfather Europe so the national parks are meant to turn stolen landscapes (some 27 tribes have ancestral ties to yellowstone) into the cathedrals of American empire. Seeing the parks is effectively an American pilgrimage, especially for middle income white suburbanites, and the wealthy with their mega RV busses in private encampments near the parks. Now they tirelessly try to be “inclusive” but ultimately poor folks can’t easily make such a pilgrimage.
The parks are also a symbol of problematic understandings of the land and nature with many myths including pristine, untouched beauty (as is shown in the text) which both serves to erase Indigenous people that managed the land for millennia and promotes terrible ideas about conservation. The parks exist so white people can find the American God in the mountains and rejuvenating their little imperial souls as they throw shit into geyser.
Also they become so baffled when they get lost in the woods and die that there are thousands of videos on YouTube of people crying over conspiracies that must be happening in the park.
There is so much to say but I can only regurgitate things I have learned from my partner who is studying the parks for their graduate work. Also I have been to many parks including Yellowstone several times, mostly in my youth.
undefined> Also they become so baffled when they get lost in the woods and die that there are thousands of videos on YouTube of people crying over conspiracies that must be happening in the park.
Oh is this where the legends about bigfoot and yogi bear come from?
Bigfoot comes from Native origin stories