Originally Posted by
lpkdz
I feel like this bit of critique from Avi class is something I encounter a lot in the teaching environment, and that is a very problematic trait in a learner:
"She talks when she should listen and is strongly defensive from the start. Remember respect is earned and never given. By having such a large social media presence, you set yourself up for added criticism and comment, silence your critics through action and decisions, not words."
I'm not teaching in the outdoor realm, but am a nurse and often teach new nurses. New hires coming through an ICU setting that are overly confident, won't listen to feedback, and think they know it all on the first day are SCARY! They are almost guaranteed to be the ones that make the biggest mistakes. Absolutely yes, respect is earned and not given... you can literally kill someone if you fuck up as a nurse, so you don't pass orientation until we can be certain you are safe and will ask for help if you don't know how to do something. This is not all that different than the decision making required to pass an Avi 3 class. I am a strong, outspoken, opinionated woman, but I read her instructor critique as a legitimate concern. The reason she took the class was to learn, but it sounds pretty clear that she wasn't being a good learner, male or female. In the nursing realm, it's the men I have the most issue with this personality trait, but gender aside, it doesn't make it any less dangerous. Also, give some respect to guides. The training and certifications required to be a guide are difficult and take a huge amount of time and experience to accomplish. Just because she has the skiing skills to ski with guide doesn't put her on the same knowledge base as a guide. That's no disrespect to CG, it's just a fact. I ski and climb with guide friends, and would never presume to be equal to them in terms of overall knowledge just because in some arenas I may have the skill to keep up.
The second part of the critique makes sense to me as well. As everyone has said before, having a large media presence lends itself to criticism and trolls. That does not mean that criticism and trolling are acceptable, but the more attention you give to trolls the more power they hold, and the more they have to gain from their shitty actions. I'd wager that 99% of the people on this thread, or in the world that know who CG is would not have wasted time disputing her accomplishment... but now here we are wondering about it. No benefit has come from bringing light the handful of assholes questioning. I don't doubt that Angel Collinson has trolls and people who give her shit all the time. Rather than waste time giving the trolls power and casting doubt, she just skis like a badass and does her thing. Her accomplishments speak for themselves, and anyone who disputes it can suck it. To each their own I suppose, but I feel like in the long run this just invites more feedback, trolling, and criticism.