THE THINGS YOU SEE! with (TRUTHFUL) PHIL BIANCHI
Lazy Pigs and Vandals The message of don’t trash the bush, take your rubbish home, respect the environment, leave only footprints has been belted out ad nauseam, yet it doesn’t seem to be getting through to some. These people don’t give a hoot.
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hy do people vandalise? I’m not going to turn this article into an academic discussion, but safe to say it’s out of frustration, to draw attention to a cause, to make money, or a game. Vandals work alone or in a loose or organised group. By the way, Dr Google tells us Vandals were an ancient Germanic people associated with the senseless destruction and sacking of Rome, under King Genseric, in 455AD. Sounds like some of us may have a strong genetic link. I have a home spun theory. Humans are mammals, and some say we are the top of the animal hierarchy because of our intelligence, mathematics ability, etc. I beg to differ. Maybe so with some. In any sectors of the mammal kingdom males fight each other for dominance over the herd and then get to mate with the females, thus perpetuating the strongest genes. Things are different for humans, with no head-butting or seeking to overthrow the alpha male. I feel however that some human males have what I call the ‘Biggest Willy Syndrome’. They need to show off in front of fellow males and try to outdo each other in daring. It’s almost, "Look at me I’m tough and brave". Hence with some, we have vandalism, fighting and other reckless behaviour. It’s like they’re thriving in being pigs and suffer from the malady antiestablishmentarianism. A sign
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| Western 4W Driver #124
saying ‘Please don’t …’ with some is almost a guarantee that they will. Okay, enough of the bush psychology. Here are numerous examples of what I have been confronted with over the years in the world of 4W driving. Some years ago at Durba Spring on the Canning Stock Route, a group of yahoos on motorbikes jumped into the pools, washed themselves with soap and generally behaved like idiots. In doing so not only did they spoil everyone’s peaceful camping, but they also made the water impossible for use. What were they thinking? In mid-June 2022 the Canning Stock Route re-opened after being closed due to COVID for over two years. Within a month, yes only four weeks, travellers had already left rubbish, not buried their poop, left toilet paper and wipes blowing around, burned sleepers from a recently restored well and used a well lid as a bbq plate and chopped down live trees in camping areas. How lazy, disgusting and repulsive are some of us?
Garbage on the CSR.
In July 2022, while on a trip out to the Great Victoria Desert, I stopped at old Yeo Homestead on the Anne Beadell Hwy. I found toilet paper blowing around, despite there being a long drop Parks and
