“Getting off the beaten path” is as much about expectations as places
“‘Getting off the beaten path’ is still a negotiation (even if a contrarian one) with the pre-formed idea of a place, rather than with the place itself. And soon enough, it becomes incorporated into the approved, expected experience: witness the advertisements for SUVs and sporting gear that now use that phrase as a slogan. Indeed, the presumption of location-aware technologies is that place can be a sort of consumer artifact, a packaged item in a showroom awaiting evaluation and purchase.”
–Ari N. Schulman, “GPS and the End of the Road,” New Atlantis, Spring 2011
October 24th, 2011 at 7:36 am
Sounds like an interesting article–of course, SUVs, snow mobiles, quads, dirt bikes, jet skis, power boats and all that other junk have done much to ruin the quiet places on earth that can best be encountered on foot, skis or by paddling. I know, I’m a bit of a snob when it comes to how to get off the beaten path (which quickly becomes beaten with 2 ton 4-wheel drives running over it).