just was thinking about something that i find troubling. there is a lot of politics in skateboarding, especially in my local scene. for example, let me tell a story about a man, a man who doesn't skate, who opened up a small shop for snowboarders and surfers but carried skate products in it. this guy is so out of touch that his own shop employees had to talk him out of stocking rollerblades time and time again. over 10 years later, this man, being the excellent businessman that he is, had started carrying wakeboards, moved to a much bigger location, opened a women's clothing shop next door, started a generic, expensive skatepark, combined it with a fresh new coffee shop, and even threw in some arcade games to round out the whole circus experience. not only that, but he recently bought up another skatepark that was independently run (not by anybody cool, mind you) for years prior. he never got any real love in the past because he's a fake, never cared a bit about skateboarding, but since skateboarding became so popular and he can throw money around like water now, everybody has migrated their local support over to his shop, trying to be a part of "that crew" because a couple of respectable people in the scene were bought out by this man at a vulnerable time. what's even funnier is how pompous and arrogant most of the people who are down with "that crew" act now. maybe not as funny as the fact that most will talk shit when nobody is looking or hearing, but smile and kiss ass when somebody might be listening. i swear to god it's like high school all over again.
now that a new shop has opened up in a neighboring town, this man i have been telling you about has phoned up his skateboard supplier and told them that he will quit doing business with them if they supply this new shop. now he thinks he's the fucking sam walton/bill gates of the skateboard industry. i have taken a platform before about the way that he handles his business and it resulted in my alienation from some of the people i used to skate with who i thought were real cats, down for skating and against those who try to exploit it/us. turns out they're all just as fake as him, a bunch of mindless clones content with playing follow the leader the rest of their life. if any of you are reading this, you know exactly what i mean by that. you're a bunch of fucking followers. ask yourselves why you lurk at that particular shop all day, why you buy product from that particular store, why you sold the fuck out. you know why and so do i. i burned all my bridges because i couldn't stand the amount of fake bullshit that began to pile up when all this started, and observing things from the outside since then has done nothing but reinforce the way that i feel. yeah, keep it real y'all.
the bottom line, don't do what's cool because the people you know are doing it, don't support wack motherfuckers with your money. know who's a snake and who's for real, and know that for every dollar you give to some asshole who has never put in a real day of work on a skateboard in his life and never once produced a quality product, you are selling out the blood, sweat and years of not only yourself, but those who have paid their dues before you. we all deserve better than that. don't support "vertical urge" when you come to my city.
you wonder why i'm jaded and cynical all the time? one reason i'm cynical because skateboarding politics have become so gay that i can't even get a board from a shop within 20 minutes of my house anymore and still feel good about myself.
i'd like to know if there are others who share my feelings about this, whether specifically or in general.
Topic: classic story, nonskater banks off your blood sweat and years (Read 6999 times)