Everyone Back Off Glenn Taylor (The Guy Who Toppled That Ancient Rock)

A few days ago a video of a Boy Scout leader (Glenn Taylor) toppling an ancient rock formation at the Goblin Valley State Park in Utah went viral. People were (and still are) outraged. Here are my opinions:

Every time someone destroys an ancient rock formation, a geological fairy loses its wings. Just like every time someone sells an artefact on the black market, an archaeological fairy loses its wings. And every time someone asks an archaeologist if they study dinosaurs, both an archaeological fairy and a palaeontological fairy lose their wings. True story.

Seriously, though, as someone who has a great appreciation for old things and has worked for the U.S. Forest Service, I was also angered at this guy’s behaviour. Destruction of our national and state parks and forests is a big problem. It’s particularly enraging when we’re talking about deliberate destruction, as opposed to natural erosion and the wear and tear of human visitors.

And then, of course, there’s the gender issue. Yes, that’s right, the gender issue. Taylor, along with the other men who were there, say that they only toppled the rock formation because it looked to be dangerously positioned. They were worried it would fall and harm the kids. The thing is, it’s a particularly masculine form of hubris that makes someone see a rock, think there might be danger, and decide to tip it over.

They seemed to have no awareness that there are people whose jobs are all about ensuring the safety of public trails at state parks. Chances are if that huge rock was there, people with a lot more geological knowledge than these Boy Scout leaders have determined it’s safe. And yet Taylor and the other men didn’t even consider that possibility. What’s more, they don’t think to report what they thought was a safety hazard. Instead they had to take action, right then and there, to fix what they perceived to be a problem. This is the same nonsense that is behind mansplaining, and the tired trope of men refusing to ask for directions when lost.

Advice for men: Recognise that sometimes you don’t know everything and you might need to call in the help of an expert. Trust that the expert knows what the heck they are talking about.

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Okay, now that all that’s out of my system: I think everyone needs to to back the heck off Glenn Taylor. Yes, he destroyed an ancient rock formation and should be fined for it. Yes, he acted with a specifically masculine form of hubris when doing so. And yes, he and his fellow Boy Scout leaders were kind of stupid for videoing it. But folks, come on, now. He destroyed a rock formation because he thought it was dangerous; he didn’t injure or kill anyone. He didn’t even injure or kill any animals. Heck, he didn’t even indirectly cause a situation which lead to the injury or death of any people or animals.

ABC just published a story about how Glenn Taylor filed a lawsuit in 2009 due to having been injured in a car accident. The implication being that if he really had hurt his back, he shouldn’t have been able to push over a big boulder. It’s so purely speculative and tabloid-y; it’s kind of disgusting. I mean, someone had to actually spend time digging into Taylor’s life to find that nugget of information. Imagine if journalists spent their time actually, I dunno, investigating the actual news!

And then there’s the comments section of that ABC article; when I last checked it, it had 3800 comments. 3800! So this is what we are focusing our attention and collective outrage on? Not war, inequality, starvation, etc. Not even on actual ecological issues, like pollution, oil spills, and global warming. Nope, we’re focusing our attention on a guy toppling a rock. What the heck, folks?

If you like this post, I encourage you to Like it, Tweet it and otherwise share it and comment on it. Or you can do all those things even if you didn’t like it. Either way, BRING ME MORE READERS.