"What's in a name? That which we
call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet."
-
Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet
Why is this called a motorcycle:
and this too:
and this as well:
when this is a skateboard:
but this is a longboard?:
Isn't a longboard just a long skateboard?
So what IS in a name? How did a longer
than average skateboard known as a longboard eventually come to be
considered a completely different vehicle altogether? Why do so many “skateboarders” hate “longboarders”? Other than equipment
specs and terrain preference, surely they all have more in common
than not, especially when they are compared to other sports.
There was a time when skateboarding was
not so divided. Skateboarding legends and pioneers such as Tony Alva would happily ride pools,
halfpipes, fullpipes, skateparks, streets, banks, or whatever else was available and he would compete in events such as slalom, downhill, freestyle,
high jump and barrel jumping (!). Nothing was “gay”, it was all
simply part of the fun activity called “skateboarding”.
But somewhere along the line a kind of
tribalism infiltrated skateboarding. It started to become an “us
vs. them” mentality, and skateboarding became more aligned with
underground cultures such as punk rock. At the beginning this wasn't
such a bad thing as it injected new energy and creativity into
skateboarding, plus it was a bit of a practical marriage borne from
the need of people who felt like outsiders to band together for
mutual protection from a mainstream culture that could be extremely
hostile to those who dared be different.
But as times changed and skateboarding became mainstream and the industry began to make a lot of money, things started to get confusing. "Street” skateboarding began to be considered by many to be the only
legitimate form of skating (at least as far as most skateboard
companies and the media that supported them was concerned), and young
senses of self were being formed by identifying with an increasingly
limited number of channels of expression. Skateboarding was becoming
the exact thing it rebelled against in the first place: a narrow
minded culture where peer pressure was exerted on those who dared to
be different.
So perhaps it should be no surprise
then that the appearance of longboards on the scene should create
waves. Out the window went the by then standardized size and shape of
a typical skateboard. Out went the standard tricks, terrain and even
clothing. With longboarding, a new attitude reigned: anything goes.
The irony of course is that this
attitude was not at all new. It was just new to the skaters who grew
up being told by their peers and by the skateboard companies and by
the media that “THIS is skateboarding, THAT is NOT. THIS is
what a skateboarder does, THAT is NOT”. Definitions which were often rather abritrary.
This resistance, the digging in of the
heels against change is likely the result of a fear of losing one's
self concept, a self concept that comes as much from the person
focusing more on who they are NOT rather than who they ARE.
The more they can narrow down that negative definition, the closer they feel
to knowing who they are and where they belong. Unfortunately, narrow
definitions of self usually result in narrow minds, and among other not so great things, narrow minds are just plain boring. Isn't skateboarding supposed to be the antithesis of boring?
Skateboarding, longboarding...tomayto,
tomahto....whatever. Let's ride. -Kaiser
