i think older dudes should help inform little groms about skateboarding rather than scoff at their naivety. this begs the question, are we opposed to corporate influence and/or 'sports mentality', or are we selfishly afraid of skateboardings popularity?
Both. Scoff at their naivety, so they don't think its ok to buy shit like Nikes and talk about all the stupid 2 inch high flip tricks they can do are embarassed to do so, and let them know whats cool and how to act. In the end, doing both will make lame kids who just want to be cool quit, and the cool kids will figure out what skating is all about. It preserves the culture that our generation worked hard to create (on the shoulders of previous generations that acted in similar ways). Selfishness and the narcissistic hope that the next generation will be like our generation probably are a big influence in the concept of vibing and the hate directed towards this generation. But do you know how different cities look these days compared to the 90's? Security guards and skatestoppers are common these days, and weren't when I started. You can act like the whole vibing thing was jockish, but the reality of it was that most of the vibing was meant to keep cocky jock types out, or at least make them more modest, and to level headed kids who were just looking for a good time and didn't care about what was cool in. There was no money, there was no glory, there was just a good time to be had, and that's why people did it. The reason people wanted to be pro was so that they could skate more, now the reason people skate more is to be pro, because of all the money. People who don't skate have gotten their hands in it, and their goal is to get as many people to skate as they can, without understanding what an important and holy thing they are just spreading to everybody.
Honestly though, a lot of it is just some "when I was your age" bitter old man shit. It ain't like it used to be. For better or worse, skating culture has changed, and the skateboarding landscape has changed. A kickflip now is as fun as a kickflip then, its not that skating itself is lame, but who doesn't have nostalgia for "the good old days?"