Quote Originally Posted by Humakt View Post
Right.
Well, I'd doubt many members on this forum watch those programmes you mention by their own choice (of course, if they watch them because a spouse wants to watch them is a different matter). Bushcrafters seem to me a very conservative bunch (note the small 'c', not being political) - as a generalisation I hasten to add - so I doubt they'd embrace such 'contemporary' viewing and phenomena. I stand to be corrected though. If there is a bunch of hard-core Celebrity Come Ice Dancing In The Jungle with Talent viewers on here then they should be proud and make themselves known!
Not even a little bit conservative and don't see any reason why people who watch 'those programmes' shouldn't also love nature and appreciate the value of crafts. My grandfather was a master cabinetmaker whose marquetry work was exquisite, on the weekends he watched Bob Monkhouse and the Golden Shot and drank Watney's Red Barrel. I have two kids who frequently watch rubbish and are also passionate about the outdoors - their perfect day is a hard trek up a mountain (preferably Pyerenees but they'll settle for Pen y Fan), dinner over a fire and then watch Spongebob Squarepants on the mobile 'phone in their sleeping bags. My concern is that bushcraft (and the outdoors) should not be cast as the province of a particular type - this is precisely what the National Trust actively, albeit implicitly, does. Bushcraft is essentially the gift of knowledge transmitted across generations of working people from all sorts of backgrounds and cultures, most of whom were at home with the popular entertainment of their day. There is nothing incompatible with a love of bushcraft and consumption of popular culture - indeed, it is inherent within the roots of all crafts.