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The original topic was whether or not Skateboards are toys. They are.
in my original post i stated that the rhetorical act of calling a skateboard a toy serves no other purpose than to humble skateboarding and skateboarding culture, or otherwise downplay the exceptionality of skateboarding. in my opinion, that is lame and it is something that I won't personally participate in doing.
*The original topic between myself and Barkley.
The actual original topic was whether or not gatekeeping and lamenting other people not skateboarding the way you want them to makes sense. I said that it doesn’t because skateboarding isn’t that serious and kids doing what kids do has no actual effect on how you skate. I also had the audacity to call a spade a spade and say that skateboards are toys, which you took issue with.
The fact that you think that toys cannot be exceptional, or that it downplays the act simply because it is done with a toy says a lot more about you than anything. People have done amazing things with other toys and said toys have amazing cultures surrounding them. Something being a toy doesn’t take away from it at all unless you have some hang up on playing with a toy, be it because it’s “unmanly” or “not worthwhile” or “nerdy”. If that’s the case, the problem would lie with you.
That said, I did say that you can call it whatever you want if that makes you feel better about it. I never said you had to call it a toy. It’s just that it will still, in fact, be a toy, and that’s fine.
Anyway we’re detailing the thread pretty hard so we should probably stop.