Words of Wisdom
PROGRESSION: i hate this word. besides its excessive use along the lines of xxx-treme crap, i just dont think the word looks very fun, it smells like injuries 2 me. am i the only 1 who feels this way? is fear of progression lack of confidence? i dont think im the only1 woundering where snowboarding is going or what comes after the 40-stair handrail and the 130 ft booter. or maybe im simply a pussy
~David Benedek (snowboarder mag. guest editor issue october 2003)
While the misunderstanding mainstreamafied tries to bleed money out of snowboarders, the greatest damage it does is that it tries to reform and clean up snowboarding’s personality for its own gain. Through its influence, events become platforms to market non-snowboarding products, not places for riders to have fun. Print media becomes a channel to sell adrenaline drinks to a new generation, not bibles of collective addiction. Shops become merely places for selling hot-branded apparel to non-participant teenagers (cough-west49-cough), not natural places where riders want to hang out. Snowboard art becomes skull & crossbones predictable, not a medium through which riders share their different design personalities. Team riders are chosen and promoted because of their formulaic demographic appeal, not for their passion and innovation on snow. Decision-makers are hired because of their spreadsheet skills, not because of their understanding of snowboarding. Brands are launched simply because parent companies want more money not because a group of riders think they have something new to say or something innovative to add in product design.
Snowboarding has always withstood misdirected outside influence. It has resisted one-piece suits. It has resisted three piece suits. It has reisted people who don’t understand lien-dracula-sorel-duct-tape-radical-lowback-knuckle-dragging.
It has resisted people who don’t care.
