Here, knowledge can circulate as freely as our oceans’ currents, connecting disparate people without restrictions and without filter. Here, with respectful spirits, we will learn from each other. Illustration: Zeinoun Kawwass
Tension and honesty make for good reading, and few tools exist that combine tension and honesty as effectively as a well-conceived opinion. Plain and simple. Like an open door at a bakery around 8 AM, an opinion sucks you in with the promise of something fresh, memorable, and easy-to-digest. Unfortunately, opinions have all but vanished from surf culture – or at least the media hubs that package and dispense it – and it’s time for a worldwide revival.
I understand the hesitation – opinions can be discomforting; they often inspire change and make impersonal issues seem very personal, but processing those instinctive reactions through provocative reading is a good thing. It’s cathartic; and moreover, it’s healthy. We have a right to disagree with one another, and we stand to benefit from respectfully conducted disputes. Rarely do we change sides (we’re proud creatures…) but occasionally, if only for a second, we reconsider our beliefs when indulging a reasonably stated case, and in that moment of doubt – when we accommodate a new perspective – resides the value of communication…the value of media itself.
TheInertia.com hopes to resuscitate that communicative spirit by providing a safe place to address contentious issues within and beyond surf culture (after all, surfers do have other interests…). Featuring insightful commentary from the global surf community’s most prominent and thoughtful figures, TheInertia.com will address topics ranging in scope from surfing to politics to music with the intention of sharing a diversity of perspectives. Here, you’ll find an online environment that places a premium on constructive critical thinking.
As former Tracks and Surfing Life Editor Tim Baker wrote in a 2008 essay for Kurungabaa: a Journal of Literature, History, and Ideas from the Sea entitled, An Open Letter to the Surf Magazine Editors of the World, “The more we can share and pass on our experiences to others, honestly and openly, without taint or spin, the easier it might make other people’s passages through life. That is largely the point of our existence, I reckon, to share the journey and support and encourage and inform each other along the way.”
Baker’s words were not lost. Here, we can construct a cohesive mosaic that accurately reflects the beliefs, progression, and sheer diversity of thinking surfers around the globe. Here, knowledge can circulate as freely as our oceans’ currents, connecting disparate people without restrictions and without filter.
Here, with respectful spirits, we will learn from each other.
And we’ll help others, too. By participating in conversations hosted on TheInertia.com (and contributing to our voluntary subscription program where 20% of your donation goes to a charity of your choice), you’re not only encouraging productive dialog in the surf community, you’re making a positive impact on the world at large.
So welcome to TheInertia.com, and thank you for visiting. We encourage you to open new lines of communication within surf culture by contributing your art, insight, and opinions. Whether it’s after you wake up or between surfs or in the middle of the night – any time you’re searching for sustenance (material or figurative), just know: our door is always open.
– Zach Weisberg, Founder/Editor In Chief
