Patagonia Invitation

I hope Chouinard takes Bishop's offer. And if he does, I hope when he preps for his testimony that he isn't relying on his PR person who came up with the public announcement so stupidly proclaimed, “The President Stole Your Land” following the monument decisions. That false statement does more damage to the argument of public lands than anything I've seen in a while.

It is great that companies are getting in the fray. That is good news. Bad news is when one of them wants to be the big player representing the Outdoor Rec community and says something so factually wrong. We complain when the anti-public land crowd is twisting facts. Even worse when pro-public lands groups do it, as now all the arguments are deflected by using the rebuttal that one of the big sticks in the pro-public land campaign is either so uninformed as to say something like that or is not uninformed and intentionally misleading people. I'm not sure which it is, but both are bad outcomes.

Then, we have this issue of Rob Bishop's House Natural Resources Committee using taxpayer money to take a swipe at Patagonia. If Bishop wants to go after Patagonia personally, I'm fine with that. Using his Committee and taxpayer-funded platforms to do so is typical of the incestuous and blatantly inappropriate manner in which the Utah delegation operates. This tweet below should piss off any taxpayer, whether you are R or D or I.

Bishop Patagonia.PNG
 
"Along with its post to Twitter, the House committee sent out a newsletter Friday that some saw as a call for individuals to boycott the company. The email, posted to Twitter by David Feinman, the director of government relations for the Conservation Lands Foundation, contained the subject line: “The Source (Patagonia: don’t buy it)”.
Click to expand...

DQjoIUgXkAARNKS.jpg
 
Any update on this?

Regarding the "Don't Buy It" email... It seems highly inappropriate for a government agency to call for a boycott of a private company. But I could be wrong.
 
grizzly_ said:
Any update on this?

Regarding the "Don't Buy It" email... It seems highly inappropriate for a government agency to call for a boycott of a private company. But I could be wrong.
Click to expand...

The House Committee on Natural Resources is a committee within the Legislative branch, not an agency. Impartiality rules do not apply to the Legislative branch, because they are elected officials and are expected to reflect the views of their constituents.

Most federal agencies fall under the Executive Branch of government, which does have an impartiality rule. If someone in the Executive Branch did that, it would most likely be considered an ethics violation and they would face disciplinary action. Heck, if someone buries their SUV in a mud hole on public land, as a government employee you're not even technically allowed to recommend a tow company because of impartiality rules.
 
Eh, I don't love that response. I think it's just defiance and more finger pointing and it kidna stirs the pot too much and accomplishes nothing, even if the finger is pointed correctly.

Also not a fan of this line: "A macabre celebration of the largest reduction in public lands in American history." More subtly misleading verbiage from a company I would love to support, but just cannot get behind because of what I view as border line extremism on this playing field. He does have a point, and I can't blame him, but it's Yvons cultish environmental following is what he's trying to please here, I wish that company would change tactics a little.
 
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You don't have to let Chounard, Rinella, Newberg, BHA, TRCP, RMEF, or any other entity speak for you on public land issues; if you speak for yourself. That said, partnerships among groups w common interest speak w louder voices than individuals. Clearly the Trump administration's twitter fanaticism and use of public funds to advance partisan causes has nestled in @ Congress' House Committee on Natural Resources.
 
He's not a politician and doesn't need to act like one. He's just calling a spade a spade. Though I do agree the one sentence on largest reduction of public lands is not accurate.
 
While I appreciate Chounard and Patagonia taking a public stance on the issue I am not impressed with the substance and performance so far. The "trump Stealing your Lands" and "A macabre celebration of the largest reduction in public lands in American history" are not accurate and easily refuted. Stuff like this makes it easy for many to dismiss him and his viewpoint as "left wing liberal".

A lot of the coverage of him on social media sings his praises while perpetuating these same inaccuracies and is not helpful IMO also.
 
Chouinard is an idol to his followers, and he's very good at marketing his company. I've read a lot about him over the years, I grew up not far from where their original shop is. I think it's great someone can go from nothing to the Forbes Billionaires List on their own merits. However, I've slowly come to see a lot of his statements as nothing more than marketing opportunities, he knows who buys his stuff. Regardless of how much of their gear is still made overseas, people still believe Patagonia is better or more environmentally-friendly than their competition, whether it's true or not. Outside Magazine wrote an interesting article a while back about how well Patagonia sells to 'environmentalists' based on their 'activism', I think that's all this latest statement by Yvon is, another marketing opportunity...
 
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Its too bad someone claiming to represent the side that is correct and has the facts on its side chooses to go forth with such fact free nonsense.

Look at a comment thread- if you can stand to - on this topic on social media. The Utah folks all profess its great how trump is returning the lands to the state's control. The Patagonia crew is furious that Trump is reducing public lands. Neither seem to know that they are both wrong. As I recently saw someone say " Ignorance is only bliss to the ignorant."
 
MTGomer said:
The Utah folks all profess its great how trump is returning the lands to the state's control. The Patagonia crew is furious that Trump is reducing public lands. Neither seem to know that they are both wrong. As I recently saw someone say " Ignorance is only bliss to the ignorant."
Click to expand...

Still federally controlled, still public and open to all. State of Utah got no control of anything through Trump's action on monuments.
 
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