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another one of these eh? im pretty sure you know jessee's repeated actions are more extreme and alienating to others than a couple of nieratko's jokes. what is it youre looking to accomplish with these threads? i dont think jessee is actually out on his ass sponsor wise, im sure nhs will quickly re-back him if they actually ever stopped doing so in the first place. i dont think youre trying to justify repping nazi shit either, so is it a knee jerk reaction to what you feel is people being overly sensitive?
do you think its more important that jason jessee gets a pass for saying/wearing racist shit than it is for a huge number of people to feel welcomed and comfortable within the skate community instead of having to worry about being harassed or worse for the way they were born? i know hes just one dude, but had his sponsors stuck by him(and come to think of it, the way most people in the industry responded) it would send the message that that type of hate is tolerated within the industry. i think that would cause a lot of people to feel disconnected and care less about it(industry, hopefully not the act of skating). imagine being a non-white kid hoping to go pro and then finding out the people who run everything are largely fine with others in the industry repping hate against you, itd be disheartening at the very least. i know theres lots of shitty things about it, but racism shouldnt be one.
i think some are arguing that people are overreacting to the symbol, but repping that imagery implies you're against many people's basic right to exist and that can feel very threatening to some(obviously). why do you get to decide how they should react? that remains the same to non-white/non-cis people as well. just because youre not bothered, doesnt mean everyone else should feel the same. lastly if you arent of the racist mentality(as jason says he isnt), why would you want to appear as someone who is? if he wanted to be shocking he could just wear a few more hats at a time or let his peener hang out on a couple of those fs airs.
i think you've made these points as well as anyone can make them and they make a lot of sense.
i think jason jesse is the biggest kook and i'm surprised the guy has a career. he's got more of a tapout vibe than skater vibe.
that said don't you think a whole lot of what your saying would also applying to satanism, drug culture (especially with minors involved) and a lot of other elements of skating culture. surely a ton of folks would find these things offensive and thrasher uses a lot of satanic imagery in mostly trolling type ways, baker has made a brand out of drug culture with minors, there's a ton of things you could call out.
i just think it would have been better if instead of taking advantage of big corps influence and it's PC sensitivity (which really has fuck all to do with skate culture is really diametrically opposed to it) we could have instead have effected the demand side of things. people are buying these products and that means that they either don't care or don't know. if all we accomplished is taking the product off the self, did we really get that much done? and what's the next offensive element of skating that we might sacrifice to this? what happens with the revive kooks out some pro's for offending their beliefs?
i hear ya sleazy. i dont have kids, so the baker/thrasher stuff you mentioned doesnt jump out to me right away, but i cant deny (at least when it comes to baker(i thought satanism was relatively innocent these days and in most cases not sacrificing animals and doing violent shit like that)) their use of drugs and alcohol to push a company mostly aimed at children is pretty bad. i know i ate that shit up when i was younger. kids are easily influenced and that kinda shit doesnt help, but i dont see drug use being as bad as hate. at least youre mostly inflicting harm on yourself(could argue it does affect your circle of friends/family) instead of others. baker's kind of switched up a bit since those guys all went sober though, no?
i can sympathize a tiny bit for the guy after getting stripped of his sponsors(although i still think he'll get back on NHS at least, probably cons too), but i think what it accomplishes is it shows him and others that repping racist stuff isnt tolerated and maybe thats enough to sway others from wearing it too. if they see someone whos revered wearing swastikas and not getting called out maybe they'll have the confidence to as well, even if its just to be "edgy".
again, im not disagreeing about the baker thing, but i think the reason people arent super vocal about that is because drinking and drugs is so prevalent in society that it feels like avoiding it is an impossible battle to win, so i think most would rather try to teach their kids about moderation than try to shelter their kids entirely from drinking and drug use. also, we may disagree on this, but i think you can dabble with booze and drugs in a fairly innocent way that you cant with bigotry. most parents drink here and there, most dont occasionally brandish a swastika on their jacket. i havent been skating since the beginning, so i cant say, but during my 20ish years i can't remember any openly racist pros. as in keeping nazi's out of the skate industry or at least from getting paid by it is an obtainable goal vs something like trying to suppress the culture of drinking and drugs within skating because its so prevalent. not saying thats a good excuse, but its easier to be passionate about something you think you can change or affect. same with people questioning why people arent more up in arms about cons' factory/labor conditions. short of making your own shoes, you dont have a ton of options. not to mention its a lot more complex of an issue than someone wearing nazi symbols, so if people arent educated on it, i dont think its wrong they stay silent. sure these larger issues need to be talked about and solved, but i dont think that means smaller issues cant be addressed as well.
i dont know for certain, but i think if everyone agreed that him wearing nazi stuff was awful(not saying they have to) that thread would be 8 pages instead of 80 and counting. its mostly the bickering between the sides thats kept it going. so the people trying to defend jessee are actually keeping the thread relevant and in a way bringing damage to him. again, pure speculation, but i dunno if he woulda got dropped by his sponsors if that thread only lasted a couple days. look at the daryl thread, you have to be pretty scummy to defend him, so i think thats why that one's only at 10 pages. its good that people are bumping it though. sorry for the super fucking long post
Topic: chris neiratko uncovers white guy doing hitler jokes for vice (Read 16894 times)