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I guess the surprise would be that some people are running around nude. I wasn't prepared for that. I don't really care. Nudity doesn't bother me.
What I couldn't get over was this one man I met with a pierced penis. That still gives me the creeps just thinking about it. Ouch....
I would say it's okay to go to a gathering maybe once for the experience but I don't care to do it again. Too primitive for me.
When you google in "Rainbow Gathering" they have an impressive website. And they have quite a few fuzzy feel good stories about them, their past gatherings, what their philosophies are, etc.
But when you go to page 5 is where the controversy starts. The controversy starts when the USFS had to use paint ball guns to ward off rock throwers. The USFS wanted to arrest someone for just cause. They were outnumbered, most likely 25 to 1, and had to resort to getting the paint ball guns out to defend themselves. Were any of the forest servive employees physically assaulted other than having rocks and sticks thrown at them? As far as I know, no. When you are going up against that group of people, you BETTER have some help.
It's not that common to see a forest service employee armed, but a lot of them are these days, and one of the chief reasons is the marijuana and other drug trade brought in by illegal aliens, who are armed to the teeth protecting their operations. I'm hoping the good folks in New Mexico just think back a few weeks and recall just what the forest service employees do for the land and for the citizen. Regarding the serious fires that occured in the Timberon area in southern New Mexico I would think that the general public would be appreciative of the forest service efforts. I would hope they would anyway.
What the rainbow people do is plan their gathering months in advance. And they go to various parts of the country on BLM land, but mostly on Forest Service land. I hope someone who is in the know on this can correct me if I'm wrong but I believe that the USFS requires a permit for groups of 100 or more people. It doesn't cost a huge amount of money but it does require a permit. The rainbow people say they don't need one. They base that on the fact that they aren't an official organization, there is no "clear cut" leader of the organization, therefore they are not required to buy a permit.
And that's when the ACLU gets involved. They say that few people are staying in their gathering area more than a few days at a time, that most of these people have real jobs, and they accuse the forest service employees of being boogeymen because of the alleged harrassment the Rainbow gatherers are supposedly receiving. They may start the gathering with only 75 people or so, but hordes of people show up later.
You know, when I go camping in an area in the National Forest I expect to pay, and I do pay.
Double H makes a good point. I have a number of friends and acquaintances who are Forest Service, BLM, and Division of Wildlife (Colorado) employees. All of them lament how their jobs have changed in the last 15 or 20 years. Most of them went to work for these agencies out of a real love of the land, flora, and fauna found in the Rocky Mountain region. Their college degrees reflected that--range science, forestry, wildlife biology, and the like. The ones I know who still work in the field now spend much of their time doing law enforcement--and not just, "Excuse me, you are camped illegally here" kind of stuff, but rather dealing with serious criminal activity. Law enforcement training is becoming the norm for these folks, and--as Double H said--more and more of the Forest Service people do their work armed.
I was aware of the "paintball" incident at a recent Rainbow gathering in Colorado. The Forest Service people were just trying to do their job, and the Rainbows were deliberately trying to provoke a violent incident. Personally, I think the Rainbows who were inciting that mess should have been arrested, tried, convicted--and allowed to "enjoy" some "quality time" at a different type of federally-managed facility. I have serious differences with the Forest Service in many matters of policy, but they were in the right on that deal.
I'm not ashamed to say that some of the most upstanding, dedicated, and intelligent individuals I know work for the Forest Service and BLM--really good folks for whom I have a great deal of respect.
If the Jefferson Airplane and Quicksilver Messenger Service were there, it might be worth going. However, it still might be fun to go, just to see what sort of people would be there. Way back when, I was a 'freak', but never a 'hippie'. If you remember the 60s, you weren't really there.
I was only a kid back in the 60's so I missed Woodstock and all the fun stuff back then but I'm really into the bands and music.
In a way, I think that if people were hippies today, there would be more happiness and love in the world, not a bunch of killing and crime.
Maybe not getting enough sex and drugs gets people uptight and turns them to crime.
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"Summer of Love"
However, it still might be fun to go, just to see what sort of people would be there. Way back when, I was a 'freak', but never a 'hippie'.
If you remember the 60s, you weren't really there.
