Respect Is Earned Not Given

So much jealousy because someone as old as your dad can outride you, get fame and notoriety from it, travel places you only dream about, and STILL act as nutball goofy as he wants to and be taken seriously by the top people in the industry.
That video kind of reminds me of the attitude I see in a lot of the comments I read under several of the Videos and Pictures Of The Day, as well as many of the news articles submitted here on Pink Bike. While I remember and understand what it's like to be a teenager and filled with angst, I always showed the proper respect to those that had earned it in the sports that I loved. After all, they were the ones that made it look so fun and effortless, and like something I really wanted to be involved in.

Keeping that in mind, I was very disturbed reading some of the comments I saw on the recent Sea Otter blogs posted by Mike Levy. I really couldn't understand it. Watching Brett Tippie, a man who helped pioneer the very sport we all love and that this site is based around get blatantly disrespected just because he was trying to be entertaining to people and actually enjoy himself while sharing his passion and giving of his own time and effort to share an experience that many readers will never have the opportunity to do really got under my skin.

It seems these days that anyone who owns a shovel or a bike immediately thinks they know all there is to know about freeriding. NEWSFLASH: You don't, and your comments prove it. So much jealousy because someone as old as your dad can outride you, get fame and notoriety from it, travel places you only dream about, and STILL act as nutball goofy as he wants to and be taken seriously by the top people in the industry. Funny that the people in high places in our sport have the utmost respect, yet those browsing and living vicariously through their actions always look to find their faults. It reminds me of someone who whines about how a trail is built, yet has never gotten their hands dirty helping to maintain one.

Surfers and snowboarders were marginalized and shunned for years because of ignorance, poor attitudes, and a lack of knowledge about the progressions happening in the sports they loved. Once others came out of their sheltered mental bubbles, that changed forever. If you all love this sport (which you obviously do since you're on this site), then be sure to know your history and show the proper respect to those that helped push the envelope of what's possible and helped make it what it is today. Help to continue grow the sport, and not a visible reason why people want to close down trails. People of all ages read this site, and it is a business that relies on advertising revenue. Would you want to advertise on a site where every piece of posted content gets buried in immature, judgmental, self-important drivel? It all starts somewhere, so be part of the solution and not the problem. Rant over.

RESPECT IS EARNED NOT GIVEN, FOLKS!