Has Powder Mag been ruined by Social Justice Warriors?

[1000-oaks]

Powder is still one of the few decent ski mags, but the Eastside thread has it beat for stoke.

[splat]

A timely, if somewhat painful-to-read thread...

As is the case with most emerging social issues, it can be easy to think that the plaintiff asking for inclusion/fairness/reparation is out of line or demanding too much or making noise where there isn’t a problem, especially when you’re an observer looking on from a place of privilege. And then you see the vitriolic responses come rolling in, virtual mathematical proofs of the very problem being pointed out.

Secondly, the “sure there are problems, but address them somewhere else not in my ski magazine” idea is another phenomenon you see mirrored in social movements at large. As in, when a protest blocks streets or commerce, the reaction is “feel free to protest, just don’t block business as usual.” A stunningly ignorant response, as the entire point of protest is to disrupt business as usual.

Am I saying I love the institution of Powder? Not at all. Their Gear Reviews are advertorial TP. The Powder Awards include new faces occasionally, but in general is a myopic display of incestual ass sniffing. But these are all just symptoms of an action sports rag to our privileged pursuit, combined with a likely terminal sentence of the simple fact of being print media. Behind these negatives however are the Powder Staff - a handful of bright-eyed, good hearted people trying their best to tell stories that actually do matter to the sport and the world at large, all the while surviving under the umbrella of Enthusiast or Ten or whatever the hell media group currently dictates their day-to-day survival.

For the tl;dr crowd - the industry structure and economic realities are to blame for any supposed decline in the quality/pertinence of Powder Magazine. If you think its the SJWs, its probably already too late for you.

Very well stated, Drew.

[Dantheman]

A timely, if somewhat painful-to-read thread...

As is the case with most emerging social issues, it can be easy to think that the plaintiff asking for inclusion/fairness/reparation is out of line or demanding too much or making noise where there isn’t a problem, especially when you’re an observer looking on from a place of privilege. And then you see the vitriolic responses come rolling in, virtual mathematical proofs of the very problem being pointed out.

Secondly, the “sure there are problems, but address them somewhere else not in my ski magazine” idea is another phenomenon you see mirrored in social movements at large. As in, when a protest blocks streets or commerce, the reaction is “feel free to protest, just don’t block business as usual.” A stunningly ignorant response, as the entire point of protest is to disrupt business as usual.

Am I saying I love the institution of Powder? Not at all. Their Gear Reviews are advertorial TP. The Powder Awards include new faces occasionally, but in general is a myopic display of incestual ass sniffing. But these are all just symptoms of an action sports rag to our privileged pursuit, combined with a likely terminal sentence of the simple fact of being print media. Behind these negatives however are the Powder Staff - a handful of bright-eyed, good hearted people trying their best to tell stories that actually do matter to the sport and the world at large, all the while surviving under the umbrella of Enthusiast or Ten or whatever the hell media group currently dictates their day-to-day survival.

For the tl;dr crowd - the industry structure and economic realities are to blame for any supposed decline in the quality/pertinence of Powder Magazine. If you think its the SJWs, its probably already too late for you.

On. Point.

[Sirshredalot]

On. Point.

Amen.

[AdironRider]

That may be well and good, but don't come crying when readership and advertising dollars are down because of your "protest".

The SJW crowd seems to forget that people can still think their protest is horseshit, if only because they just wanted to read about skiing and not something else, and can act accordingly.

Pow mag can print it, and their readership can call them out on it. You guys are acting like anyone who doesn't care for it is part of the problem. No they aren't, they just want to think about skiing and not how awful the world is at that given moment.

[TahoeJ]

Having their demos start to skew younger probably won’t hurt them much with advertisers.

[Gunder]

Yeah...I was a fucking social justice warrior before it was a catch phrase because I invited a maggette photographer along on our trip to SA. I also greatly supported the only black maggette (that I know of) because there have been so many fucking dickless cockbites here whose racist, sexist insecurities and rants ran off a lot of decent women. Little weenie boys who neither know how to play with girls nor act like men.

So having seen the kind of behavior here that attempts to run off women and people of color due to ingrained bias and ignorance, the more I think about it, the more I think Julie Brown hit a fucking nail on the head. Dickless motherfuckers need to be made aware that they are dickless motherfuckers. Because all that shit is definitely present in skiing, as it has been blatantly exhibited here. I'll be your social justice warrior. Maybe I'll even write a story for Powder that sounds a lot like this post.

Splat, Didnt you and a Kooteny photog try to expenses hookers and blow on that Poland feature back in the day?

Growing up, Powder wasnt just a ski rag, it was the BIBLE. No other publication truly captured the spirit, and culture of skiing like Powder did. They kept the magazine focused on the core of the sport and did it in a tongue and cheek way that kept yore eyes glued to it. They didnt branch out into mainstream social-political issues, instead they kept it centered on the sport, with a bit of a counter-culture edginess that focused on the ski bum lifestyle. They did this by using the best contributors (many of whom have gone on to be legends and not just in the ski industry) they never paid the best, but they got the best contributors to work with them as they treated there contributors like gold. Powder always set the bar the highest for its content and it never let advertisers or others influence its editorial direction. Because of this, all of the advertisers, ski brands, ski areas and most importantly the readers viewed Powder as the be all end all authority on skiing. Hell growing up my entire life goal was to shoot for Powder (something that I have been very grateful to have achieved)

The problem is the last two editors at Powder completely lost focus on what the magazine is. They gave into pressure from certain advertisers and there own publishing company and tried to make it something it wasn't and in doing so they alienated many of the top contributors who made the magazine what it was. Social media is putting a big strain on print. Every advertiser I know is pulling money from print budgets and putting it into Social. The problem is it all gets diluted on social and a brands message gets lost in the feed. If a publication is going to be successful these days wether it is print, online or combination it has to stay truly focused on its core base. You have to create high-quality content that you cant get anywhere else if you want people to still subscribe. As soon as you loose your editorial focus you loose your core audience you are just another social media feed that no one reads.

[DaveTV]

I can't imagine opening 'Motorcyclist' magazine and reading about how motorcycling is a "boys club" and needs to be more gender-inclusive, or how it is a "rich white people's sport and that needs to change" or how it needs to be "more welcoming to the LGBTQ community" I couldn't have imagined it in POWDER either..

[anotherVTskibum]

I can't imagine opening 'Motorcyclist' magazine and reading about how motorcycling is a "boys club" and needs to be more gender-inclusive, or how it is a "rich white people's sport and that needs to change" or how it needs to be "more welcoming to the LGBTQ community" I couldn't have imagined it in POWDER either..

I'm pretty sure I've seen articles about gender-inclusivity as well as industry demographics in American Motorcyclist as well as BMW Owner's News (the two motorcycling magazines I get). Demographics are a big issue in motorcycling, just like they are in skiing, and both industries skew to an older and whiter demographic, with said demographic aging out of participation in both sports, getting more people outside that demographic (hopefully young people, for longevity's sake) hooked is important to keeping the industries that allow us to pursue those activities alive (and before I let my SAM subscription last, there were more than a few articles about reaching non-traditional demographics there).

Sure, I could ski all winter without ever riding a chairlift, but I can ski a lot more if there are places out there providing that infrastructure (not to mention snow-making and grooming) and spreading the cost to support it out among a lot of customers.

[Gunder]

I can't imagine opening 'Motorcyclist' magazine and reading about how motorcycling is a "boys club" and needs to be more gender-inclusive, or how it is a "rich white people's sport and that needs to change" or how it needs to be "more welcoming to the LGBTQ community" I couldn't have imagined it in POWDER either..

Exactly, people read magazines (especially ski or bike magazines) becasue they are an inspirational escape from day to day life and all of the bull shit and issues we see day to day on the news, at work, etc. It's all about promoting fun not some editors agenda or politics.

Oh and for what its worth, I see more woman skiing now then I ever did five years ago. The awesome part is the high percentage of really good female skiers now too.... and ski magazines did nothing to promote that, as they never did increase the number of woman featured in the mags.

[ghosthop]

That may be well and good, but don't come crying when readership and advertising dollars are down because of your "protest".

The SJW crowd seems to forget that people can still think their protest is horseshit, if only because they just wanted to read about skiing and not something else, and can act accordingly.

Pow mag can print it, and their readership can call them out on it. You guys are acting like anyone who doesn't care for it is part of the problem. No they aren't, they just want to think about skiing and not how awful the world is at that given moment.

It's not a protest, it's acknowledging the reality for a large portion of the population that isn't that of white males with some sort of financial resources. Dirtbags notwithstanding, in most cases there is a societal safety-net in place should they fail or resources they are choosing to exploit.

It's hard to enjoy something when confronted with the fact that your ski day is at the expense of an exploited class of workers or your ski culture marginalizes entire groups of people. If your attitude is you would rather be skiing and ignore those problems then you are part of the problem. The bottom line of a skiing magazine is not the biggest issue at stake here.

[ghosthop]

!

[DaveTV]

It's not a protest, it's acknowledging the reality for a large portion of the population that isn't that of white males with some sort of financial resources. Dirtbags notwithstanding, in most cases there is a societal safety-net in place should they fail or resources they are choosing to exploit.

It's hard to enjoy something when confronted with the fact that your ski day is at the expense of an exploited class of workers or your ski culture marginalizes entire groups of people. If your attitude is you would rather be skiing and ignore those problems then you are part of the problem. The bottom line of a skiing magazine is not the biggest issue at stake here.

This is complete bullshit

[Sirshredalot]

I can't imagine opening 'Motorcyclist' magazine and reading about how motorcycling is a "boys club" and needs to be more gender-inclusive, or how it is a "rich white people's sport and that needs to change" or how it needs to be "more welcoming to the LGBTQ community" I couldn't have imagined it in POWDER either..

How are they covering the demise of Harley Davidson? Doesn't the fact that the company is circling the toilet and it's median customer is heading for bilateral hip replacement and the grave have meaningful consequences for the industry and the culture?

[DaveTV]

How are they covering the demise of Harley Davidson? Doesn't the fact that the company is circling the toilet and it's median customer is heading for bilateral hip replacement and the grave have meaningful consequences for the industry and the culture?

You are confusing "Motorcyclists" with "Bikers", and obviously not familiar with that magazine..Nice try tho..

[mall walker]

oh cool a bunch of DaveTV posts

[abraham]

oh cool a bunch of DaveTV posts

Heh


Something about trigger words

[m62031]

skiing is fucking expensive
takes time, commitment
and money,

as does hockeysoccerlacrossewhitekidssportsingeneral
grad skool
college
med school
lawyrup

life
.....and and and

barriers galore

go figure

wwjd?

I have no salient point, my apologies

#notskifishbum

ha

[ghosthop]

This is complete bullshit

Thanks for the thoughtful reply, be seeing ya cracker

[Sirshredalot]

You are confusing "Motorcyclists" with "Bikers", and obviously not familiar with that magazine..Nice try tho..

I'm honestly not familiar with the magazine and was asking an honest, if somewhat surprised and pointed, question.

[AdironRider]

This is complete bullshit

Yeah, me going skiing for a day doesn't marginalize anything but my wallet.

[DaveTV]

I'm honestly not familiar with the magazine and was asking an honest, if somewhat surprised and pointed, question.

Fair enough - I chose that magazine as an analogy because similar to POWDER, it is considered the bible for serious passionate enthusiasts of all motorcycles, not just the H-D chrome crowd (it has been continuously published since 1912). If you want to read about H-D's aging base and the challenges it faces from competition and popularity with the younger crowd, you are likely to find articles in financial magazines, a quick GOOGLE will find some. But I digress, that's not a topic for this thread..

[jgb@etree]

Heh


Something about trigger words

To be fair, prominent snowflake mbillie1 is pretty easily triggered.....

[abraham]

To be fair, prominent snowflake mbillie1 is pretty easily triggered.....

Have you been away lately? Or just posting in poly ass? I feel like I haven't seen many of your posts this season

[Sirshredalot]

Fair enough - I chose that magazine as an analogy because similar to POWDER, it is considered the bible for serious passionate enthusiasts of all motorcycles, not just the H-D chrome crowd (it has been continuously published since 1912). If you want to read about H-D's aging base and the challenges it faces from competition and popularity with the younger crowd, you are likely to find articles in financial magazines, a quick GOOGLE will find some. But I digress, that's not a topic for this thread..

I'm familiar with HD's troubles from the financial and auto industry press. To the extent that motorcycle enthusiast magazines aren't covering the detrimental effect that the industry's customers are aging and dying off, I think they are likely worse off for it!

Similarly, if you're covering skiing, you kinda have to acknowledge that we are running out of cold winters while a variety of factors are making the sport less accessible for the middle class, and the crowding and douche factor is worse than ever at the big destination resorts. Those are some significant problems that the industry is facing.