We are all travelers in the wilderness of this world, and the best we can find in our travels is an honest friend. (Robert Louis Stevenson)
Last month I wrote how the Spirit of Adventure is hijacked by money and horse play. “If we want to change corruption in Washington we should start in our neck of the woods,” I offered.
But what happens when you actually pair Washington DC and Adventure, like, you know, a smelly cheese and old wine?
Below two examples that come to mind.
The president who starred in an adventure reality show
The most recent happened only last December when Bear Grylls, perhaps the most outed adventure hoaxer of all TV history, got a call from the White House. Would Grylls host President Obama in an episode of his “survivalist reality show” as part of an effort by the White House to “highlight the perils of climate change”?
Even Bear thought it was a hoax, “we didn’t take it seriously at all,” Grylls said according to the papers.
The episode indeed took place with both personalities “bemoaning the rapid retreat of a vast glacier,” reported NYT.
How hard was it then to vet Grylls and perhaps find a morally better fit for the presidential appearance? A few Google strokes would have done it, only truth wasn’t on top of the priority list.
Instead, explained New York Times the White house reasoning, “[a] benefit of these appearances is that they reach people who do not watch TV news broadcasts or read newspapers.”
The president candidate who was named for a bee
Another example is when possibly our next president, Hillary Clinton, claimed she was named for Hillary, the Everest climber.
Media said that, Mrs. Clinton confessed that her mother, Dorothy Rodham, had read an article about the intrepid Edmund Hillary, a one-time beekeeper who had taken to mountain climbing, when she was pregnant with her daughter in 1947 and liked the name.
“So when I was born, she called me Hillary, and she always told me it’s because of Sir Edmund Hillary,” Hillary said according to the source.
The trouble with that?
Edmund Hillary’s autobiography notes that at the time of Hillary’s birth, he was earning a modest income from bee-keeping.
Unpairable presidential candidates
I haven’t been able to find adventure-related hoaxes on the part of either Bernie Sanders or Donald Trump. Either they are more truthful or not into the outdoors much.
Related:
Dog Elected Mayor of Town in Minnesota
Previous at Explorersweb:
Oh Bear! Survival of the fittest – in Bass lake Chalets?
ExWeb interview with polar skier on Bear Grylls’ cold water survival episode
What do Bill Clinton and New Zealand have in common?
Previous by Tina:
Elon Musk: “I didn’t start SpaceX to go to Space myself”
Explorers vs Payloads: The Difference and Why it Matters
“Flight of the Century”: Chat with Broad Peak Birdman Antoine Girard
Climbers banned? Sherpa outlawed? Nanga safe? Pythom Q&A with ACP
Interview: Amazon legend Desert bound
Editorial: The Guinness Book of Crap Records
Tina’s Lab:
Success: Jupiter’s first date with Juno
Space: Dispatches from the Garden of the Gods, 5-part series
