The group think on politics and covid here on the board is pretty amazing. This culture of trying to shame people for having different beliefs or thoughts is a dead end.
Skateboarding has always been about about individuality and challenging the system, and I believe strongly we should be questioning all the narratives that we are being fed. I don't trust either side as I think there is really only one side, and that's money.
Kook me all you want, but we should be capable of discussing challenging ideas without piling on and name calling, making assumptions, etc.
I'll listen to you the opinion you've formed on politics, man. You seem to be above name-calling which is honorable, and you appear to like Gene Parmesan, for whom I also have an affinity.
Covid, on the other hand, is a pretty simple situation: there's a deadly, plague-level virus that has caused a pandemic around the world and it needs to be taken seriously with people wearing facemasks and distancing socially, as well as isolating where necessary, in order to save lives. Nothing is more important than saving lives. That's pretty cut and dry.
Skateboarding is somewhat about individuality because it's not a team sport per se in that you can do it all by yourself. Saying it's about "challenging the system" is a bit of a stretch though; it's really just a scooter with the handlebars taken off.
Not sure what that has to do with questioning any narratives other than the "don't skateboard here" and "wear a helmet" narratives. But okay.
So you do a lot of research and listen to both sides of the fence. Admirable.
May I ask why is it that, after all that research, you have not come to any conclusions that would align you with a particular viewpoint? Do you do so much research that you have just confused yourself to a point of no return? Or have you pinpointed your position so exactly on such a wide array of individual issues that you remain a free agent of sorts, meandering between sides where you see fit?
Without posting a video, please explain your position clearly why you feel Trump is a "symptom" of two terms of the Obama administration and not the cause of...whatever it is you think folks falsely believe he is the cause of.
I think most people on the left recognize that Trump is not the cause of the world's evil; they just see him as an opportunist who is stoking the racism, homophobia and xenophobia of middle America and capitalizing on it to the country's detriment for his own personal gain (to feed his pocketbook and ego). I can't tell if you agree with that or if you are offering a different take.
But, again, I'm here to listen to you, geneparmesan, without any name-calling.
Edit: And Black Lives Matter was founded as a movement in July 2013 after George Zimmerman was acquitted in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, but started to gain traction after the killings of Michael Brown and Eric Garner.