[Paddlewise] What is wrong with SK? Nothing!

Ong wrote:
"Wanting to know that our sport is a popular activity probably makes us feel
good, but ultimately glamorizing it will probably make our waterways more
crowded, and bring risks to amateurs who jump into the sport. Perhaps for
me, it's a way of wanting to always keep the beautiful for those who deserve
it. It is good that famous peaks are unreachable for most people; pristine
environments will not be preserved if visiting them is a walk in the park."

The word is surogacy! Madison Avenue appeals to those who have money, and
are willing to pay to have someone else do it for them! Most of us will
never play on an NFL team, but we are willing to pay someone else to play
for us. We enshrine them, and deck them with million dollar guilding, and
put them on magazine covers, and then we feel better about ourselves. Same
with baseball, basketball, hockey, soccer, golf, skiing, etc. and then
someone betrays our trust, like Bonds, and we feel terrible. Does it really
directly affect us? No. And now there are all the fantasy leagues, and we
are still craving more! Madison Ave. fires up those cravings!

There are the Gravity games for young studs, whether skateboarding,
snowboarding, BMX, or surfing. And they certainly don't want to do anything
as boring as floating around in a long, tippy kayak, waiting to fall in the
icy cold water. Not that there are not exceptions, but Madison Ave. is not
based on the exceptions, only where the money is, and where the most money
is to be found! A young on' watches the game and goes out and buys a $10.00
magazine, that tells him to buy a $100.00 skateboard, helmet and pads, and
the girls will think he's cool. Multiply that by 10 million, and realize
that there are maybe 100 that ever make money in boarding. The magazine is
not aimed at the 100, but the 10 million.

There are even magazines telling how to go camping, and what new gadget
you've got to have. Come on, how many ways are there to set up a tent, and
what gadget is there that after 20,000 years of camping, hasn't been
discovered before. Maybe the battery operated wine bottle cork remover for
$28.50 at Target is an exception.

Bottom line, there are bigger markets for these activities than for
seakayaking. More money to be made elsewhere, than watching old gruffy
bearded guys rolling kayaks, and hunting seals. What, you say you don't hunt
seals, well that just means you don't even have that going for you!
Seakayaking will never have mass marketing appeal, it is too hard to follow
a seakayaker with a television camera, for us to have much surogacy appeal.
Obviously the appeals are made to the neophytes, they still have all their
money to spend, and we have already spent a good chunk of ours, and we have
gotten a lot smarter about spending what remains!

The educational editorials, are only provided again to make us feel good
about ourselves. Sort of like reading Playboy, for the editorials! We are
actually learning something as we spend our money on this widget or that.
Some internet providers are called content providers, as they push there
merchandise on us, when all we need is a hook up to the net. Most of you
probably don't need the content of SK, as much as just being connected to a
net of true believers who want to do it for themselves. That is the problem
here, we are not satisfied watching someone else do it for us, and that is
basic to the sport of seakayaking. Not much room for Madison Avenue here!

Years ago, you could go for a hike, and see an occasional jeep picking its
way along a mtn trail. Now you have to be careful of being run over by the
hoard of SUV's. Personally I don't mind it a little quieter either, and to
my self. Thankyou Ong!

Tinkerntom