Thoughts On Shred Part Three

For the third and final installment of Thoughts on Shred Brenton talks about innovation in the snowboard industry, haters, and taxes. This all ties in to part one and part two with everything that this opinionated editorial is all about. So sit back drink a cup of coffee and enjoy part three.

What’s your take on innovation in the industry?

For this discussion, we have to agree that innovation refers to a physical and performing aspect of a product and nothing to do with graphics or marketing.

Innovation in the snow industry has almost lost meaning. There’s always new ideas going around, and I suppose that is the definition of innovation. And innovation is exciting, that’s for sure. But the problem is that not every idea is a good one. And the industry has a habit of mixing innovation with marketing in a way that blurs perception. I mean, if the goal is to make money, then some people have this process right. But if the goal is to improve snowboarding, they don’t. The deal is that if any new tech really is great, then it’d become definitive. Like sidecut. When sidecut was introduced, it vastly improved the way a snowboard performed. There’s no way around that. The result is that every snowboard now has sidecut. If we’re talking about serrated edges or reverse camber, it may work for some people, and that’s great. But if it was a definitive improvement, then it’d be on every board. It’s as simple as that.

If you really want proof, then look at what the top level pros are using. Their careers and livelihood are on the line. They’re gonna use the best product they can get from their sponsor to accomplish their goals.

What confuses me is when a new tech comes out, and a brand only uses it on part of their line. That makes no sense. Does triple base work? Who cares? But at least Bataleon puts it on every single one of their boards. It shows that they stand behind it. That’s how it’s supposed to be done. But again, we’re in an industry led by fear.

What’s your take on haters?

Hate and haters are pointless. With few exceptions, hate is really unnecessary. It’s one thing to not like something. It’s another thing to hate it outright. Just like my point on criticism, a lot of haters have no legitimate reason to hate. If something really bothers a person that much, there’re many alternatives. In America, you have so many options. For example, there’re a lot of people that hate Apple products, yet own an iPod or whatever. Well, they have options. They can buy a Zune. Hate the iPhone? Then buy an Android device. Problem solved. No more reason to hate. Go live a happy life. Yet they stick with the hate. A hater clearly doesn’t consider their other options. I guess they just like hating. My biggest problem with hate is that it doesn’t solve problems. Solving problems does, however. I understand that hate may motivate someone to take action to solve a problem, but it’s the action that’s solving not the hate.

There’s also the situation where someone would buy the Android phone and continue to hate the iPhone. What’s the point of that? Either they regret the Android phone and resent the iPhone, or they’re happy with the Android phone and choose to fill the world with more hate. Is that the world we want to live in? A world that people arbitrarily fill with hate? Sounds pretty sucky to me.

I think most haters have a feeling of helplessness in that they don’t have the power to affect a change in whatever it is they hate. So they choose to hate it rather than like something else, or work to change what they hate about something. Hating is the lazy person’s response.

Haters hate. Hateful people hate. You have to have love in order to give love. So you have to have hate to give hate. Bitches bitch, and haters hate. But is that how you wanna live your life? Hating everything? Personally I’d rather not live my life in hate. I’d rather spend my time and energy shredding snow and waves than waste it on hating.

I hate paying taxes. What can I do about that?

If you hate paying taxes, then don’t pay them. Problem solved. You’re not paying them, so no more reason to hate paying them. Sure, you might go to jail or something, but that’s a potential consequence of your decision to not pay taxes. Any decision worth making has consequences. Does your hate for paying taxes outweigh going to jail? At least in jail you don’t pay rent, you get free food. For some people, going to jail is actually an improvement to their lives. Not me, but for some people. Or, immigrate to a country that you do want to pay taxes to. Taxes have to get paid because infrastructure needs to get paid for somehow. Taxes are like gravity. Or, rally to change your legal tax responsibilities.

But this leads into what I was saying about how I think that haters feel helpless. They feel that they’re not in control of whatever it is they’re hating. But that’s not reality because control is an illusion. The closest thing man has in terms of control is the ability to weigh someone else’s options. That’s it. You can’t make another person’s decision for them. Ultimately they make it themselves. All the person in position does is make the options so uneven that the person will most likely select one option over the other. Look at parenting. You can’t make your kid do anything they don’t want to. But you can limit their options: eat broccoli or go to your room. You deprive them of what they want, attention and companionship, to coerce them to do what you want, them eating vegetables. But in the end, the kid has to weigh which one they want less, and choose the other option. Pirate or death. Taxes or jail. Room or broccoli.

Like I said, it’s one thing to not like something, and another thing to hate it outright. The option I like to see exercised is when someone doesn’t like something, then works to improve it. I don’t mean complain about it until someone else fixes it. I mean work to affect a change. Identify the problem and present a solution. That’s the DIY mentality, and that’s punk rock. Personally, I don’t want to be responsible for filling the world with more hate. I think we all would be better off if we filled it with love, and I’m not trying to sound hippie. Instead of hating things, maybe people should take the stand of a great band and just let it be.

Clever brands can take advantage of hate for sure. It’s really difficult to capitalize on people’s hate, but it’s gravy to capitalize on people’s likes. Hate can be used for marketing in terms of that it can link brands together by polarizing them and generating controversy. But money can’t be made on the hate, it’s made on the like. Think about it. You don’t pay for things you hate, you pay for things you like. Case in point is the Burton/Forum wars in the late 90’s. I don’t think it was a situation where a Burton fan literally hated Forum and their fans, but more like people identified with one brand or the other. In the grand scheme of marketing, it became the Burton vs Forum war under the guise of hate. Coke vs Pepsi. Death Row vs Bad Boy. But the money is in exploiting consumer’s likes for each brand, not their hate. Burton didn’t make money on people hating Forum. They made money on people liking Burton. You can’t make money on people hating stuff. You can make money on people liking stuff.

So maybe I was wrong. That’s the one good thing about hate. Hate can be turned into champagne showers.

About: Brenton Woo is a man of small stature even by snowboarders standards. His feet were bound at a young age in ancient Asian tradition so as to allow him to never have to suffer from riding a wide snowboard. He enjoys long walks off short piers, kittens that shoot lasers, and American compact cars. You can catch up on what he is doing in the snowboard world over at Automaton Snowboards.

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