The totally ridiculous things that happen on campus

http://www.kansan.com/news/2010/apr/19/sucker-sneakers/

This is totally ridiculous - an event devoted to showcasing sneakers?! If I weren't planning on graduating, I'd be interested in starting a barefoot club to protest these kinds of things, if I could find the interest.

 

If I were studying there, I'd go, just to see what it is, but ofcourse barefoot

 

why can you call us sneaker lovers ridiculous but when we come in here and say ''anything'' against barefooters some of you flip out......

the key phrase in your post...

''if i could find the interest''....


obviously that shoe dude ''found'' the interest


its ALL good

 

I agree with this.

What does it matter if someone likes sneakers? That's their thing. If we barefoot-lovers expect shoe-lovers to tolerate us, we must reciprocate the tolerance.

 

Agreed with Rollingalong & essenceofweez. I don't see anything wrong with a sneaker collection, it's totally cool for those who like it! I don't see anything about them making other people wear shoes, giving shoes to those who don't want or need them, etc. Live and let live!

 

I don't think it's ridiculous. To each their own. If someone is enamored with sneakers, more power to them. If someone prefers to go barefoot, as do I, please respect that. Imelda Marcos owned over 20,000 pairs of shoes. I have no problem with that, however, she'd need a LOT of extra time deciding which pair to wear

I never thought of sneakers as collectibles. I suppose they can be. Although I do not share in this interest, I respect it.

 

What really got me was that, according to the article, they're also trading, buying and selling sneakers. It's unclear whether such was done for personal profit.

First of all, who knows how gently used those sneakers were. Someone in the article actually wore all of his, so let's hope he doesn't have plantar warts or athlete's foot. A sock might offer protection, but germs can still pass through them, since socks are darned/woven with little holes between the threads.

Secondly, it's a student organization of a public university. As far as I'm aware, the only sales that are allowed on campus are fundraisers for the organization (and especially not sales for personal profit). The article is not clear about whether or not any of these sneaker-heads made a profit, though from what it says about the value of some sneakers, it's entirely possible to make a few hundred dollars.

If it were just a showcasing event, it'd be all right. However, if they are selling stuff, they need to do it elsewhere.

 

That's fully their own responsibility. Just like I think it's belittling when people warn us about glass or other hazards (real or imaginary), I wouldn't bug them about the risks of second-hand shoes. Many people wear second-hand shoes (think thrift stores, yard sales etc), either they clean or spray them or they don't, that's up to them. If I were with a young child who wanted to pick up a pair of second-hand shoes, I'd warn them against this, but if it's university students or adults, they're old and wise enough to know something called 'athlete's foot' exists and take measures against it if they feel the need to do so. Please don't be the same kind of condescending busy-body that keeps cautioning us as if we've never noticed that there might be such a thing as broken glass on sidewalks.

I'm not aware of any such rule (never looked into it since I've never had any interest of selling anything on a campus). If that's the case, okay, maybe they're breaking this rule and that is not good. However I don't think that has anything to do with the sneakers themselves, if they happened to collect stamps, Pokemon cards, rare books or any other item and made sales & profit it'd be just the same.

 

hypocrite

 

I missed the mark on this one. I must have been thinking in terms of used underwear (which cannot be resold) rather than used clothing in general.

I just looked into university policy, and there is a specific rule against selling on campus unless a reasonable portion of the profits is used for non-profit, philanthropic, or student services projects. Personal profit is specifically prohibited. Like you said, it has nothing to do with the product being sold.