HikeArizona.COM

Nice video. The paragraphs written about it were pretty awful. I hate that term "thrill seekers." Obviously the person doing the writing knows absolutely not a single thing about running rapids in Grand Canyon.

@azbackpackr
I've never run rapids in the grand Canyon but I did do some in Utah. I thought it was pretty thrilling and talking with people in the canyon who've done it they've said things ranging from thrilling to scary to fun to boring depending on the person and the rapid.

BobP wrote:@azbackpackr
I've never run rapids in the grand Canyon but I did do some in Utah. I thought it was pretty thrilling and talking with people in the canyon who've done it they've said things ranging from thrilling to scary to fun to boring depending on the person and the rapid.

I agree. I think running rapids in Grand Canyon, and rowing them, is very thrilling, very exciting and fun. I just have a problem with that label, "thrill seekers" because it shows no breadth of understanding of why people love Grand Canyon, love to go on river trips. It makes it sound as if they only go to seek thrills. It's shallow and judgmental, and it's very bad journalism.

@azbackpackr That's right. Besides, you don't have to on the Colorado to feel the thrill of getting flipped off a raft.

big_load wrote:@azbackpackr That's right. Besides, you don't have to on the Colorado to feel the thrill of getting flipped off a raft.

Oh, yeah! I had forgotten about that incident! Yeah, well, Alex, it was time to try out for the swim team!

azbackpackr wrote:Nice video. The paragraphs written about it were pretty awful. I hate that term "thrill seekers." Obviously the person doing the writing knows absolutely not a single thing about running rapids in Grand Canyon.

I saw this link a few days ago and thought the exact same thing. It's written in such a sensationalized manner. When I read it I thought they made out to be that the video footage, and hence the occurrence of a raft flipping in general, was a rare and earth shattering event.

People talk about bias in the media. This is a good example of it. It's probably rarely intentional, but when somebody who sits behind a computer all day typing stories about things they've never done--or more accurately could never even conceive of doing themselves--they are unable to view it from any other perspective.

This writer might also think that running in the park at night is "thrill-seeking". It's all foreign to them.

It doesn't get me all worked up and upset though. It's natural human behavior. Recognize it, accept it, and move on.

AAAAAAHHHH, I'm all worked up! AAAAHHHHH!!! AHHHHAAAAAhHHHHHHHH!!!! ARRRRGGGHHHH!

The person doing the writing probably never went to journalism school, where I am pretty sure he/she would have been taught to avoid trite labels such as "thrill seekers" and also to do a bit better research.

Most newspaper descriptions of backpacking have the same character. Journalists seem to confuse it with mountaineering and treat it as a death-defying pursuit.

big_load wrote:Most newspaper descriptions of backpacking have the same character. Journalists seem to confuse it with mountaineering and treat it as a death-defying pursuit.

Ah, the mercenary spirit! Make it sound death-defying and thrilling so we can sell a lot of ads!