Quality. It’s always important. When you buy a hamburger, you want a quality one. You don’t want one that tastes like it’s been under a heat lamp all day and is made up of odds and ends. When you buy a movie ticket, you (usually) want to see a quality movie. You’d rather not spend $10-$20 to see a washed up Adam Sandler try to squeeze every last dollar he can out of awful family films.
Where am I going with this tangent about quality products, be it a delicious beef patty or a feature film, you may ask? Worry not, it’s getting tied back to sneakers. I’m going to talk about the quality of sneaker writing as a whole.
There seems to be a troubling trend in the sneaker industry. The more and more popular sneakers get, the more and more people think they’re sneaker writers. However, there’s a problem with this. Just because someone might love sneakers and know a lot about them doesn’t mean they’ll be a good (or even halfway decent) writer. Just because you know a lot about something doesn’t mean you can effectively communicate it.
The general quality of sneaker writing as a whole seems to be poor to middling. The sentence structure is reminiscent of a middle school book report, and very rarely do you see a word with more than 1-2 syllables. Why does this matter, you might ask?
It’s simple. It’s a small reflection of a bigger problem: the dumbing down of our culture. People want things short and simple, not thoughtful and complex. Look at movies. Look at sites like World Star Hip Hop (don’t get me wrong, I love World Star, but it’s something that should be enjoyed in moderation) that thrive on posting mindless drivel. Look at top 40 radio and all the mindless music it’s populated with. Look at any reality show.
I’m by no means saying that there’s not a place for these kind of things in culture, but what I am imploring you to do is challenge yourself more, from the sneaker articles you read to the shows you watch. Make you a better you, and try to take the road less traveled. You’ll be glad you did.
Thanks for reading this social commentary disguised as a sneaker piece. Feel what I’m saying? Think I’m way off? Feel free to leave me a comment or hit me on Twitter. I’m always open for a good discussion.
-RDwyer
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