SO on December 18, 1999, that Julia "Butterfly" Hill finally came down from that redwood she had been protecting from those evil loggers. She went up on December 10, 1997 and spent the intervening chunk of her life suspended about 180 feet off the ground in a tree. Now that demonstrates determination. It demonstrates belief in a cause. It demonstrates courage.
It also demonstrates stupidity.
Now I can certainly appreciate her steadfastness. Heck, I wouldn't want to see a 1,000 year-old tree cut down either, but I'll admit that I'm a little too self-centered to sacrifice two years defecating in a bucket with no cable while suffering in the cold. It takes some pretty solid guts and dedication to be willing to do something like that. I kind of envy the fact that she believes in something that much.
But, of course, you know that the other shoe is screaming earthward.
WHY, IN THE NAME OF SWEET SCREAMING JESUS ON A CRUTCH DID SHE NAME THAT FUCKING TREE "LUNA"?
I mean, of all of the hippie, earth-worshipping crap to call a tree, why did she give it such a hackneyed and creatively vapid name?? AUUUGH! That just drives me NUTS! LUNA!! What the HELL does the moon have to do with a tree? If she had a brain at all she would have named it Yggdrasil, which is the name of the tree in Norse mythology that holds the earth in its boughs and binds the land and the heavens. Seems a bit more apropos, hmm? Granted, that may not be good for a sound bite with all of the barely literate journalists out there, but still...LUNA?? BOB is a better friggin' name!
AAAAAUGH!!
And THEN there's all of the peripheral (and apparantly obligatory) nature-loving hippie crap! She is, of course, a vegetarian (probably vegan). I haven't been able to find out anything about her personally, but I bet she's a lesbian, too, and probably part of some kind of earth-worshipping Wiccan cult to boot. Ol' Butterfly no doubt has some hang-ups about sex. She's probably done her share of weed and other drugs, too. That would explain how she came to live in a tree for two years...
I can understand the cause and all that, but why the hell does all of that other crap have to go with it? Actually, you can apply that to just about any other activist group. It's not just a goal they're after, it's a lifestyle. I suppose it's the the same mentality that pushes people into fraternities and cults and such. Heck, just ask the Nazis. Yep, hippies, skinheads, religious nuts, militant lesbians, vegans...they're all cut from the same cloth. Seeing as I've never felt the compulsion to immerse myself in a group identity, I suppose I'll never get it. It sucks being fanatically moderate.
It's ashame ol' Butterfly is a nutcase. She was cute. I can show her MY pinkwood! She'll be wantin' to live on the end of that sucker as long as she can, that's for sure.
I KILL me!
