Hitting It Out of the Park

Gee, and it seemed like such a good idea at the time...

Readers here may recall an article I posted here a few weeks ago about a crackerjack plan by the National Park Service to put up signage that would ask visitors to report what they thought in the park showed American history in a negative light.  Sort of act like Minutemen Watchdogs.

When contacted by NPR, the Department of the Interior, which oversees the National Park Service explained: "The effort ensures public lands reflect an accurate portrayal of American history and heritage."

Because, of course, visitors on vacation from across the country and around the world are all considered experts in American history and heritage -- rather than are there to learn about it.

Anyway, NPR thought it was worth checking how things was going with the whiz-bang idea.  And so they took a look at many dozens of comments submitted during the week of June 4 to 12 about the signs in parks throughout the U.S.

It turns out that visitors had a mind of their own. 

"The point of going to a park is to enjoy nature, not to whistleblow something that casts the American people in a bad light," said Evan Sutterfield, a San Francisco school teacher on his summer break.

"I think you need to tell the whole story," said Russ Harwell, visiting from Charlotte, N.C. "If you're gonna write it out of history, then you're doomed to repeat it."

Linda Mosinian from Milwaukee, Wis. wrote: "I think this is a waste of time." 

In none of the submitted comments that NPR reviewed did anyone, they said, "suggest that the parks need to change their depictions of people or history."

Some did at least say that politely.  Like --

"The park rangers and volunteers go above and beyond to tell the full American story," stated a comment about Catoctin Mountain Park in Maryland.

And as it happens, some even said that national parks should reflect even more of the country's difficult history. "Need more history on how black and indigenous people have been exploited," one comment stated.

Furthermore, as NPR wrote, "Accuracy isn't a given, because feedback can be submitted through a general website or email address accessible from anywhere in the world.

That was reflected in a statement from Clara Wooden, a member of the board of The Coalition to Protect America's National Parks. "What would stop somebody with an agenda from posting fake comments? People at both ends of the ideological spectrum can game the system without even setting foot in a national park."

If you want to read the full article, you can find it here.