Venice-adjacent's other website claims, "Both endorse death penalty!"
The Inertia is to surf journalism what sexually confused boys are to the eighth grade. Meekly trying to fit in but not knowing where. Saying loudly, “I like that too!” when everyone else has gone quiet. Wanting to wear a My Little Pony backpack but ending up in Green Bay Packers jersey and cut-off jean shorts. It is endearing but also sad. And Venice-adjacent’s definitive voice of surfing just outdid itself, angering its hero Kelly Slater in the process!
Yesterday, almost a week after the tragic attack in New York City which left many dead, The Inertia decided to weigh in on the death penalty, posting the following to Instagram:
“What befell the city of New York on Tuesday – Halloween day, no less – was nightmarish, to say the least. At least eight were killed, according to reports, when a lone truck driver intentionally plowed through a crowded bike lane area of Lower Manhattan. Officials have called the attack an act of terror. The culprit has since been apprehended and in the fallout, President Trump (@realdonaldtrump) has called for the death penalty. ‘NYC terrorist was happy as he asked to hang ISIS flag in his hospital room. He killed 8 people, badly injured 12. SHOULD GET DEATH PENALTY!’ said Trump in a tweet. In a strange turn of events, Worldstar Hip Hop turned full debate moderator, posting a series of Trump’s tweets on Instagram with the caption, “#PresidentTrump advocates the death penalty following the #NYC truck attack…thoughts?” And among the more than 4,700 comments, @kellyslater himself decided to chime in. ‘There’s no real reason anyone who happily and proudly kills a bunch of innocent people with no remorse should continue the pleasure of life,’ said Kelly in a comment. Amid the hysteria in the comments alone, many of which call for hanging the culprit, 29-year-old Sayfullo Saipov, ‘in the public square,’ Kelly’s sentiment seems tame.”
Hmmmm.
It took a lot of work to tie Kelly Slater’s position on the death penalty to the position of Donald Trump but The Inertia did it! Oh their “followers” were not happy, leveling “Stay out of politics…” “You suck…” “Fire your interns…” “Unfollowing…” attacks. Even Kelly Slater jumped in, declaring:
You’ve taken liberties with the context of my comments. But keep up the click bait and sensationalistic headlines by trolling comment sections of other people’s accounts for (non) stories. I didn’t really take a stand with what or how I said this. It’s just a knee jerk reaction and considering I was a mile away with my daughter on the same sidewalk minutes after this happened, the proximity of it hit home. I would advocate tying him to a post in the middle of town and letting the public decide. Maybe that’s a better headline. Not sure leaving him in jail on our dime for an eternity is the answer.
Tying a murderer to a post in the middle of town and letting the public decide his fate is wonderfully medieval and The Inertia should have changed its headline but didn’t and doubled down on its sadness by responding:
As surfing’s consummate spokesperson, we hold the utmost respect for your opinion and endeavors. As such, your criticism definitely stings. We’ll use it as a nudge to continue to reevaluate and refine our evolving editorial process in the fast-moving world of modern media. That said, we do believe your opinions shared publicly on the most important (and sometimes tragic) events in American and global culture – even on social media – are newsworthy, and we respect your willingness to share those thoughts. If anything, it drives conversations forward among a group that otherwise might not discuss. Respectfully.
Oh hell. The Inertia‘s “editorial process” has been “refined” and “reevaluated” a lot lately. But please don’t change Zach and boys! You are the greatest you of all!
koby abertons brother is a Muslim now. ask him
If you actually understand and believe in the concept of justice, then the death penalty is the only logical measure of justice for premeditated murder. I’d also like to see the death penalty for rapists, as they do an act of violence that murders the humanity of their victim.
…and what bad it’d make to take the life of a person who gives life no value? I think a long life without the freedom to do what you want would make better punishment…
Punishment and justice are not the same. Punishment is for retaliation, justice is for the good of society, the balancing of the moral order. I work for the California Dept. of Corrections, your view bears itself out as false before me on a daily basis.
“My Thoughts..” Hot Knife add here, Michelob Ultra add in a movie over there… Surfing is becoming super weak.. Biolos punches a kids board during promo tour on east coast, and mutters while getting arrested “That’s how we do it on west coast!” no public apology.. You guys still got his back. Bunch of money pussies
Fair play to The Inertia I say. Slater needs to be accountable for shite like this that he spouts on a public forum. All the Slater super fans condemning The Inertia for flagging it up need to have a word with themselves. At the end of the day he’s a fucking surfer. He’s not beyond reproach, inside or outside of surf media.
Accountable for what? Having a very mild opinion on something? By that logic the inertia should be held to the same standards. If Kelly is not beyond reproach neither is the media if he feels the need to respond.
Being an advocate of the death penalty hardly qualifies as a “mild opinion”. He is a strong voice (as proven by the number of people who are tripping over themselves in sycophancy every time he opens his mouth) therefore he needs to realise that what he says publicly matters. At any rate, he’s a bloody attention sponge. He does this sort of thing because he likes it. He needs to account for the impact his opinion can have.
“Attention Sponge”.. So Good..
I agree, but when the media decides to create stories from social media posts the subjects should have free reign to respond. Him being a strong voice is debatable though. Opinions are so vast and public these days that they start to lose accreditation after a while, even from the renowned think tank that is surfing.
Slater doesn’t make the laws, nor should he be held accountable for his opinion. His opinion hasn’t done anything nor incited any violence. Wouldn’t that be the same thing as silencing someone advocating for racial equality? The attention sponge thing was brilliant, chuckle chuckle…
Anyone with a profile like Kelly is absolutely accountable for his or her opinion, particularly if they choose to voice it in a public forum! This is not a debate about whether what he said is right or wrong, frankly I couldn’t give a shit. But if he says something that might be construed as controversial then he should fucking own it. All this “you took my words out of context…I didn’t take a stance” is utter tripe. It’s like a toddler kicking up a fuss for attention then crying because people are looking.
Day by day he is slowly chipping away at his legacy via his weird obsession with social media. His own narcissism is destroying him. As my granny used to say: “if he was chocolate he would eat himself”.
Agreed. He did crawfish pretty hard didn’t he. I suppose what I was saying is that his opinion or views shouldn’t be put on trial. However, it is sad/funny to watch him squirm, like salt on a slug. That is story worthy, however low hanging it might be.
While this particular incident is pretty tame, Slater’s ill-advised candor on social media seems like the very beginning of a slow-motion fall from grace and it potentially gets more entertaining from here. Unsolicited, tasteless, and/or zany social media blather increases rapidly with age and departure from relevance, so he has only just begun to take his true form. But early ridicule for these C-tier gaffes will make him, or some publicist/reputation manager wise up, and we’ll have plucked this thing off the tree and dug our teeth in while it’s still under-ripe. And wouldn’t that be a damn shame.
Wonder what are Kelly’s thoughts on gun control, maybe it doesn’t hit close to home, but wait, it does? Yes, his brother is quite the outspoken gun/NRA advocate… guess white mass murderers only threaten the other sidewalk.
Its basically a fucking public holiday here – Melbourne cup – and I am at work for once!!
Maybe depending on sport of day we dish out punishment and invent new sports – ie drag any crims around a track by a horse, tie said villains to a nascar and do laps, have quarter backs practice throws by aiming at heads in targets etc
Both men have eleven letters in their name. One egg short of a dozen. Says a lot.
…i11umina11i confirmed?
I didn’t think of that. Yes, of course!
If there was anything right in the world, that quote from The King would be directed at Beach Grit. Do Chas and Derek seethe with jealousy?
Mmm, why is it only labeled terrorism when an islamic person is involved? Why does the world scream with bitter vitriol when an Islamic person is involved in an act of terror, yet when a white christian man is involved in an act of terror is considered a tragedy and not terrorism? This year alone there has been over 13,000 gun related deaths in America. How many deaths have occurred in the US because of Islamic terrorism in 2017? What makes Daesh so much scarier than a white christian man committing the same heinous acts of terror?
In this part of the world we call it rascism
Hmm, could it be the note left by said terrorist claiming the attack was done to further ISIS’s cause? Seems reasonable and quite rational to me.
It’s labeled an act of terror when such an act is done in the name of a religious or political ideology. Anti-fa are mostly white and what they do is terrorism, for example- violence in the name of ideology. Please cite examples of white Christian men committing acts of terror? I know of a white male (Bernie supporter) who attempted to murder Steve Scalise and several other Republican men playing softball- that was determined to be an act of terror. The white male that killed people in Texas this week was a virulent atheist- the FBI will likely label that an act of terror.
More people where killed by hammers last year than by rifles, most gun deaths are committed in intra-gang violence (initiation, territory disputes, retaliations) using illegally acquired hand guns(many being old, cold war era guns that find their way across the southern border). The second most gun deaths are caused by handguns and shotguns in suicide. Clearly these do not fit the FBI definition of terrorism.
Since 9/11/2001, 32,061 terrorist attacks (world wide) have been perpetrated by Islamists.
Last week, Islamists committed 32 attacks in 15 countries with 160 deaths resulting.
In the month of October 2017, Islamists committed 161 attacks in 25 countries with 1593 deaths resulting.
There have been 168 Islamist caused deaths on American soil since 9/11, which is a low number by comparison primarily because of our severe tactical and intelligence gathering response to the threat following the largest civilian mass casualty in American history.
There’s your answer. But you can go back to playing your identify politics games while the adults deal with reality.
Ahhh, we taking this argument worldwide are we? Pretty sure I was speaking about the horrendous acts of violence committed in America during 2017, not globally since 2001, but thats Ok.
So, no answer to my question and counterpoints, just evasion.
My relatives back home were labelled terrorists once upon a time. IRA.
White as fucking snow
& ETA …
many numbers… source?
< the religion of peace dot com > maintains a database of attacks. I do not necessarily endorse the content of the whole website, but their reporting of terrorist attacks and associated deaths is accurate.
For murder weapon statistics the FBI’s Expanded Homicide Data Table 8 breaks it down. AR-15 style rifles are under the rifle category and account for a small amount of deaths which has been diminishing year after year despite the lapse of the “Assault Weapons” ban. In 2015, 252 people were killed by rifles, 1,544 by knives, and 437 by blunt instruments (hammers, etc.).
You like guns, don’tcha? 🙂
Well he is listed as a contributor.
The main difference being slater can actually swing a club properly.
I’ve seen first year golfers with better mechanics than drumpf…
golf is for pussies…
Didn’t that site just run an article on what to do when water runs out of your nose?
Ikr? You get a new nose, obviously. Full retard on that one… no offense to the average ‘CTer.
Haha, I don’t know, did they?
What do they recommend?
What do you do?
well that’s the best part, you do nothing.
Just sit back and weird out society. Too easy.
Why is it that recommended locations for dishing out harsh justice are always either “out back” or “a public square”? Why do we shoot at the former and hang in the latter? Why can’t we ever “take ’em out to the traffic circle and give ’em cancer” or “flay ’em with a carrot peeler at the yogurt shop”? Why?
Shoot them in a Foot Locker I say!
Does anybody take Trump / Slater seriously anymore?
Once their presidency is over someone is going to make a hilarious coffee book about their social media tweeting insta hijinks
Do you remember when Slater photoshopped a dead guy on Insta? Funny and respectful, oh the memories
Well you have a grouchy bully of an old man who is clearly insecure about going bald, obsessed with perceived slights and consumed with constantly being in the spotlight and will do/say anything to change the narrative of a story to make it about himself.
Then you have Donald Trump.
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I think we need to discuss wave pools, particularly the pro’s and con’s of advanced performance waves or beginner waves – like , should you surf Slaters wave or Snowdonia’s wave?
Kelly slater’s Instagram comments, I am at a loss for words regarding his behavior online. The dude is so sensitive. It could be worse I guess, he could be arguing with all of the other psychotic people who fight on famous people’s Insta comment sections. That shit is so unbelievably wack. Wait, he does do that sometimes.
Can we tie Zach to a post and let the surfing community decide his fate? Could arrange it for this season on the north shore?
Grovel session