Wheelbase Supports An Open Internet

 

The best ideas are not always the ones backed by the powerful and wealthy—but rather—the best ideas are the ones powered by Passion, Dedication, and galvanized by a strong sense of Community. - Ryder Bordeaux

I believe the above is worth writing down, printing out, tagging up, recording, stenciling, and ultimately posting somewhere people can see every single damn day!

That being said, my life’s work with wheelbasemag.com and thus my friend’s and family’s livelihood is in many ways predicated on the Freedom of Speech provided for in this country via the Constitution—specifically in regards to protecting a neutral and open internet.

Join the Public Conversation on Net Neutrality: Here

The above distinction and the laws governing such distinctions of net neutrality are coming to a head as I type this. Click here (Federal Communications Commission) to leave a public comment of the FCC’s site regarding your feelings on this important topic of a net neutral and open internet—this powerful dialogue with our government on pending policy is only open for public comments till tomorrow (update from NPR (11/22/2017): there is such a deluge of public comments coming in right now that the FCC can barely keep the site operable). Let’s crash this party!!! UPDATE (11/22/2017)

It is no secret that there are those who stand to profit by controlling and manipulating an open and net neutral Internet, and thus, the free movement of information between people. And then there are the people like us: the skaters, artist, innovators, creators, craftsmen—the “bakers of the bread” as lyrical master Killer Mike so eloquently put it. Anyway, people like us want to retain the freedom of the internet so we can continue (afford) to tell our own stories, own our own means, and thus retain ownership and control of our own culture and communities. We do not want our culture and communities watered down by those who are not among us and whose interests do not nessisarily align with our communities.

Simply put, we stand behind the freedom to communicate with our community, directly, and via a net neutral internet. We say “no” to the Dark Men!

Ultimately, I’m not here to preach to y’all—fuck that shit! But this is my column and without a free internet my broke-ass would most likely not be able to do rad shit like Wheelbase. Obviously, this “net neutrality” shit is hella important to me—and if you like what we do here at Wheelbase and what dudes like: Reddit, Jenkem, RadTrain, Skateandannoy, Skatehousemedia, and so many other countless, rad, skater-operated interweb sites do, then this debate and the molding of these net neutrality laws are extremely important to you too.

Please take a minute to join the current dialogue on this topic and the open commenting going on over at the Federal Communications Commission site.

Support An Open Internet

If the FCC site is down simply email your comments here: [email protected]

. . . and if you still have some time, peep this College Humor video creativly explaining their interpretation of net neutrality:

Sorry for the inconvenience, homies—please go skate something gnarly now that is all said and done! Shit, it’s exactly where I’m headed as soon as this column goes live. Shredlove forever!

-Marcus Bandy.