Kids Today...

Alright, I was taking a break at Borders today, cooling off with a tasty beverage in the shade with a few magazines on my lap. Partly out of curiosity and partly out of nostalgia, I picked up a copy of each of the latest skate mags from the periodicals rack.

I have to say I was a little disappointed in the mags as a whole. As a kid I was probably far more fascinated with photos of skaters mid-trick, but now I find you have to read the captions to try to appreciate the combos. Also, skateboarding is so ubiquitously part of our culture that its no longer a treat to see someone on a skateboard--this simple occurence was a treasure back in the 80s.

More significantly, I was reading some interviews with pros in Thrasher and Skateboarding, and was stunned at how pervasive cursing, alcohol, drugs, and sex are in their normal conversation. To me its not a big deal how adults talk or act as part of their own private lives--so long as they're not hurting anyone else. But this lifestyle certainly doesn't represent what skating means to me. If this is indicative of what skating has become I can't say that I would support my own son's immersion in this new wave of skate culture.

This is not to say that when I was a kid skateboarding was squeaky clean. No way. Sure, we cursed. We listened to punk. We were generally rebellious and a bit obnoxious. But that was about it. When I think about how we poured over the pages of Thrasher and Transworld for pics, interviews, and news, I really don't recall it being offensive or startling. Most of the pros featured were there to help the sport grow and progress--not to be self-indulgent, self-important white-trash or ghetto punks sucking smoke and soaking booze, spewing out smack-talk and curses.

These pros setting a bad example for all the kids who will grow up idolizing and wanting to emulate them. You might say its not the pros fault--they didn't ask to be idolized; they aren't supposed to be a role model. Well guess what: they _did_ sign up. When they went pro they acknowledged that, yeah, people will watch me, kids will look up to me, skaters will look at me as the new "cool". The private life they once had is now made public, and by doing so it affects people.

At the very least I say the editors of these skate mags owe it to the kids to keep things a little cleaner. Thrasher's always been a little edgier than the other skate mag(s), but never R-rated like it is now. The whole encounter really bothered me, not because the content offended me per se, but because I thought, What can I show my son that's positive and encouraging in this sport? Do I have to be the filter for everything? Or does a parent just accept that modern life is becoming increasingly debased and amoral, and there's not much that can be done to protect the kids?