(Click photo to enlarge)

Words by Lucas Baumann
Photos by Adam Morris

I’m going to present a few scenarios that can help explain why our culture sees rollerblading the way that it does. If anything seems fragmented or incomplete, it’s either to save you some reading or because my understanding of this is new. If you are interested in the topic you can take it as far as you’d like.

Semiotics (not to be confused with semantics) is a social science that studies hidden cultural interests that create classifications and “common sense.” This common sense is related to the typical use of the phrase, but more specifically related to the “communal sense.” The widely accepted viewpoints in our culture are motivated by an ideological interest of the majority. The primary common sense of a culture is the one that is most widely accepted. Although this ideology is accepted by the majority, that is sometimes a result of ignorance, in the case that they are manipulated into thinking that way by someone in power, and/or withheld information so that other ways are not known.

So, what does this have to do with rollerblading? Well, the communal or common sense in regard to rollerblading is that we are troublemakers. However, among other things, the popularity of Tony Hawk has changed the common sense of our culture, which now believes that only those who skate public property are punk kids out to cause trouble. Maybe you are thinking, “But Luke, Tony Hawk is a skateboarder.” Well, another common sense in our culture is one that groups us with skateboarders. There hasn’t been a major ideological force to cause a wave that would motivate our culture to differentiate between the two activities, but there has been a force that benefits from combining the two so that, for example, we are unable to explain that our plastic will do little if any damage, or a lawsuit from one that can be applied to the other.

Lucas Baumann. Frontside. Iowa City. (Click photo to enlarge)

This takes the mystery out of why we are grouped together, which is simply because it is beneficial for the majority to group us, this idea perpetuated by owners of property that we skate on. Even the average person benefits in that by grouping us with skateboarders, it requires no time or energy to learn anything new, not even a new word, hence the reason many people call us skateboarders. They can apply all of what they know about skateboarding to us, which requires no real change and allows them to attend to things more relevant to their life. Fortunately, it does seem the assumption that we are all troublemakers, and the direct grouping with skateboarders, could be on their way out, but it will take some time and did not happen on its own.

Those involved with 1Bl Unique understand this well, whether or not they are breaking it down in a scientific way, using history as a model, or doing so instinctually. The way I see it, hip-hop is being used to separate us from skateboarding, which has been connected to (American) punk culture (which came from Euro punk culture, which came from a political movement and so forth). Of course, skateboarding also has connections to roller-skating, surfing, graffiti, hip-hop and so forth, but as far as music it is most connected to punk. So, by connecting rollerblading with hip-hop, it gives anyone with an opinion about hip hop (good or bad) a motivation to differentiate rollerblading from skateboarding. Additionally, “freestyle rolling” is an attempt to differentiate rollerblading from rollerblading’s infant and toddler stages. The new label (freestyle rolling) and the new categorization (in connection to hip hop) are being carried out as a unit, but function on different levels, to differentiate what we do from two different things. It’s not quite as simple as I’m making it out to be, but like I said, I’m trying to keep this relatively brief.

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On to something else … rollerbladers’ progressive thoughts about property are only progressive because they are different from the majority. It is also important to recognize that most rollerbladers may not realize how revolutionary or avant-garde they are being by skating on “private property,” and because they are not aware of this, they do not apply this knowledge to the rest of their lives. They only believe that property is a conceptual construct in situations where it benefits them; where as true revolutionary action or ideology would integrate this belief into all aspects of our lives. I don’t want to make this too complicated, but it should also be understood that revolutionaries and others who devalue the material world, such as those aligned with eastern thought, are also doing so for benefit, most often one of political or spiritual value.

To get back to rollerblading … there also exists a “common sense,” particularly in America, of binary opposites (for example: right/wrong, good/evil, liberal/conservative) but the world is not that simple and clearly divided. Let’s use a handrail for an example. The common sense of rollerbladers (a minority group) is that a handrail is for sliding down, while the majority common sense is that a handrail is property. However, to be truly educated and open-minded we need to acknowledge that these are not the only two possibilities for the piece of metal. In fact, both ideas are separate for the original intention of the handrail. There are many minority groups and other disagreements surrounding handrails. The most historically accurate perspective is from elderly and handicapped people whose common sense is that rails are to help them get down the stairs. If it weren’t for this belief, we wouldn’t have so many rails to skate. Political and court cases that led to the requirement of handrails also created a “common sense” of a minority group that sees railings as a legal requirement. Other examples: those who see the monetary value or cost of the railing (a business owner or contractor), those who see the craft of the railing (a welder), those who see the aesthetic value (an architect), and so on. This all may seem obvious to you, however if you choose to argue or discuss your use of the rail with a person who is asking or telling you to leave, it will be of benefit to you to identify what common sense this person is coming from in regard to the rail. Most often you will encounter the abstract idea of property, but other perspectives are out there. We tend to make arguments against the majority, but in this case we are not the only minority. There are many lenses though which a person might be looking at the handrail.

With that being said, I want to present one last scenario that might be used to explain why we do what we do, to the majority. Instead of arguing against what they believe, make an argument that supports something they believe. In the realm of sports, the (American majority) common sense accepts football and rejects rollerblading. If you identify that you are speaking with someone who falls into this majority, and specifically if they are telling you to go to the local skate park, you can use the study of semiotics to create a scenario that switches the roles. Create an image of a culture whose common sense accepts rollerblading and rejects football. In this imaginary world there are skate parks at every school, multimillion-dollar skate park stadiums in every major city, and on top of that, rollerblading is so popular that you can skate virtually anywhere without being hassled.

Justin “Fuzzy” Eischeid. Makio. Carroll. (Click photo to enlarge)

In this scenario the football enthusiasts are given a small and insufficient patch of grass allocated by the city to play on. Playing elsewhere is prohibited by law, the justification being that someone might break their leg, get a concussion, tear up grass, etc. This patch of grass is often so crowded that it must be split into even smaller patches, so that groups can no longer play the game in the way that it is most fulfilling. Many football players choose to play illegally in larger fields at parks, schools, golf courses, etc., where they are kicked out and sometimes arrested for damaging the grass or simply because the common sense does not accept that activity.

This imaginary world seems very ridiculous, but to rollerbladers and others who do not conform, the world we live in seems just as ridiculous. What seems normal only seems that way because of communal sense and lack of awareness. Football is neither good nor bad, just as rollerblading is neither good nor bad. Or rather, that all things are good for some and bad for others. This applied to the many common sense ideas about a handrail, all opinions are only a result of what will benefit any person invested in the existence of handrails, and those who don’t care about handrails will most often take on the majority common sense without reason, either because they are manipulated into believing that common sense is the correct one (marketing is a good example), or because they have not been presented other possibilities (growing up in an environment where most people think alike). Those who come up with possibilities outside the majority do so only out of a necessity to benefit themselves, which is why rollerbladers don’t accept or believe in the common sense of our culture, and why people think we are idiots, and we think they are idiots. To either side there is a clear answer that comes from the accepted common sense of each group, making the other group’s common sense foreign. However, because we have grown up with the majority belief being presented to, or forced on us, we have the ability to see it from both sensibilities, if we choose to do so. Those of an opposing sensibility are not going to understand ours, unless possibly through analogy of a different common sense they hold at a higher value. (For example, if their value of football is greater than their value of money or property, which is likely since money and property are conceptual whereas football is concrete and people are crazy about it.) Acknowledging that the opposing sensibilities about a handrail are just as valid (or just as invalid) as your own belief is a sign of maturity that we lacked in the past, hence the troublemaker label.

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There are many other ways semiotics can be applied to rollerblading, or anything in our world, for that matter. If one simply looks, it is easy to find many filters given to you by our culture in order to perpetuate the ideological beliefs of those in power. Rollerbladers and others who are a part of counter cultures or minority groups have the opportunity of training their eye through what they know, and then taking that new way of thinking and applying it to the rest of their life. It’s not always easy, but it is liberating. In my own experience, rollerblading was a doorway that allowed me to see the world differently, but upon walking through that door and searching around, I found that all aspects of my vision on all aspects of my life had been significantly altered. It becomes much more natural and meaningful to see clearly (without prescribed filters) if you purposefully select other parts of your life to live differently, choosing those things that mysteriously “don’t feel right.” Most often this gut feeling is correct, but the reasoning why it is wrong for you is not revealed until you physically remove the filter by changing your actions. This happened for us all the first time we jumped on a handrail. We “knew” it was wrong (based on the common sense we were subjected to), but as soon as we made it to the bottom of the stairs and rolled away, the common sense we had been taught began to deteriorate. It can’t be understood prior to the action, you must act to gain understanding.

Logan Clark. Backside royale. Des Moines. (Click photo to enlarge)

There are many doors to be opened outside of the context of rollerblading. They may isolate you just as rollerblading has to many. However, (as we are about to witness in rollerblading) if enough people choose their own ways, patterns start emerging, communities are formed (such as The Iowa Connection), and finally the networking and ambition of each local movement results in a new common sense majority, or at least a powerful minority that can’t be ignored. I don’t want to make this essay political, but just so that you have a reference for what I’m talking about, some larger and more socially significant movements in recent history that apply include the civil rights movement, feminism and homosexual rights. These minorities became too large and loud to be ignored by the majority. I want to clarify that when I say minority/majority in the context of semiotics, I’m not talking about race, gender, etc.; I am talking about a “common sense.” The reason it is important to make that distinction is because, for example, women are not a minority, but the idea of feminism (which is against patriarchy) is a minority idea even today. Most women accept patriarchy, while at the same time some men reject patriarchy. So, if you are against white men telling you to get off their property because they want to make money and become powerful, you share a “common sense” with these other groups that see through the facade of a system that values money and power over happiness, equality and, most importantly, freedom.

I have already exceeded the length I wanted for this, and have strayed into implications far beyond rollerblading, so if you’d like to discuss what revolutionary actions beyond rollerblading are happening, or filters that might be easy to remove from your life by changing your actions, I’d be happy to talk about it. Jon Yagla is another person whose radical ideas began with rollerblading and have extended far beyond those borders. It’s also good to just start talking about it in your community, with your friends, family, neighbors, etc. At first it may seem there is no one to talk to about it, but if you keep at it and are unapologetic in what you believe to be a sensibility that works for you, others will eventually appear. Many of us began or at some point found ourselves alone in rollerblading, and yet have experienced that by keeping at it, believing in it and living it (because you know it’s right for you) things will work out and a community will form.