The Knockout Game And It's Unintended Consequences

There haves been a a lot of reports, along with video, of what is being called the Knockout Game.  Where one person  sees if he can get away with sucker punching another, knocking the unsuspecting person to the ground.

In the video some of the victims hit the ground quite hard.  I've heard no reports about broken limbs or concussions but I would expect they might occur.

The reaction to this "fad" puzzles me and once again I'm guessing it's a generational thing. When I was a youngster I was allowed to play tag and dodge ball and such but would never have thought about blindsiding someone with the intent of knocking them down.  Now, in some schools tag and dodge ball are no longer allowed but the Knockout Game is getting a pass.  What, no harm no foul?

I can't help but wonder what makes the teens think this is a game.  It's a mean spirited display of violence.  Just because it's supposed to be one on one doesn't change that. The police are fumbling with it.  Intent and all that nonsense.  If no one is hurt it can't be assault.  So, tsk, tsk it's just another fad like flash mobs that will soon disappear.

Will it?  It was mentioned in a local blog this morning that an elderly gentleman having coffee in a supermarket was showing off his protection - a taser!  Maybe the kids and the authorities think it's nothing, but should someone my age or said gentleman's get in the way serious harm could be done.  Really serious.  If the victim should fall against an elderly person or the perpetrator run into one while trying to get away you're looking at a whole slew of unintended consequences.  Broken bones, heart attacks, and more.  Oh, sure, they'd all be unintended consequences but consequences never-the-less.

Beyond that, I'm not crazy about a lot of old folks walking around with hidden tasers either. Who knows what might incite them to action and oh, my, another slew of unintended consequences.  Maybe even law suits.

I keep backtracking, however, to the game itself.  How have we degenerated to the point to where this type of activity is thought of as fun?  Where are these young people coming from and more importantly, where are they going?

It's bad enough people need to heed the possibility of some sort of assault whenever it's necessary to walk our streets.  Especially this time of year where there are always stories of lurkers waiting to make off with the spoils of Christmas shoppers.  And consider the violence that always seems to be a part of Black Friday when hoards of greedy shoppers go on the attack.

Our entire society is becoming an oxymoron.  We want no part of protecting the defenseless like the Syrian civilians being slaughtered yet we're perfectly fine with a  totally violent game that is growing in popularity.

I don't think we have a clue as to what we are any more or who we want to be.  We live in the moment for the moment with no thought of the future.  Maybe it's because we don't see one or if we do it's not a particularly encouraging one.

An activity like the Knockout Game indicates we've chosen the lowest common denominator.  If there is any good in it, it's the fact there's no place to go but up.  Unless we decide the status quo is good enough.  There will be unintended consequences with that choice too.