I never thought I'd be one of those guys that would say "kids these days"...but seriously, WTF?!
For those who don't know, the idea behind this "game" is to sucker punch unsuspecting strangers in an effort to knock them out (here is the wiki page about it). This has been getting a lot of media attention in the U.S. lately as it seems to be an increasing problem in big cites all over the country.
This is something that really bothers me to my core. Few things get to me as much as cowardly behavior such as this. The kids doing this are even targeting the elderly, women and other kids. As someone who has been into martial arts almost my entire life I know how dangerous head trauma can be and I don't think the people perpetrating these attacks are aware of how serious this issue is. These attacks can cause significant permanent damage and even death.
I also don't get the motivation behind this game. Do the attackers think they are tough? Does it make them feel strong? There is a saying in fighting, "the punches that hurt you are the ones you don't see coming". Of course it's easy to KO someone who has no idea they are going to be struck. I don't get this at all.
How did our society turn into this? Clearly people today are growing up without any real sense of empathy and it makes me worry a great deal about our future. I can't help but wonder how long it will be before we see a "murder game". Today my faith in basic human decency dwindles significantly. This really makes me sick.
*I thought about putting this in debate as I could see it turn into that but I hope everyone here would feel as appalled by this as I am.*
How did our society turn into this? Clearly people today are growing up without any real sense of empathy and it makes me worry a great deal about our future. I can't help but wonder how long it will be before we see a "murder game". Today my faith in basic human decency dwindles significantly. This really makes me sick.
That's far more than a little bit ridiculous. People have been saying that same general thing forever.
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"Virtue, Jacques, is an excellent thing. Both good people and wicked people speak highly of it..."
I think the 'knockout game' is largely overhyped by the media. There isn't a whole lot to distinguish a random assault (which happen all the time) from a 'knock-out game' attempt.
I think the 'knockout game' is largely overhyped by the media. There isn't a whole lot to distinguish a random assault (which happen all the time) from a 'knock-out game' attempt.
Except all the videos posted online by people doing it for fun, to brag, to do whatever it is they wish to do. That's part of the whole "game" it's not just an anonymous assault. There's thug websites all over the place hosting those videos if you're interested.
There's a NY police detective breaking down what is going on.
It hasn't gotten as much coverage as it deserves and has been going on for awhile but that's partly to do with the media not doing its job and also not wanting to call a spade a spade and label it racial violence due to it being predominantly Black on White attacks. It's called Polar Bear Hunting in several places like Chicago for this reason. USA Today and others can bury their heads in the sand and try to convince themselves it's not a trend but the coverage this has gotten in the rightwing press has been long and steady, it's even spawned a book called White Girl Bleed Alot:
There's a ton of info and links to additional stories in the above link on the happenings in St. Louis which is supposedly the birthplace of this "game"
There's no cause to say this is just imagining the worst, because it's definitely happening all over and is a serious issue. People scared to admit such need to face the reality of it.
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CAMILLA: You, sir, should unmask.
STRANGER: Indeed?
CASSILDA: Indeed it's time. We all have laid aside disguise but you.
STRANGER: I wear no mask.
CAMILLA: (Terrified, aside to Cassilda.) No mask? No mask!
There's no cause to say this is just imagining the worst, because it's definitely happening all over and is a serious issue. People scared to admit such need to face the reality of it.
I'm not saying it isn't real. I'm not even saying it isn't serious. I'm saying The media reports are overblown as to the wide ranging impact. These kind of randomized assault games are nothing new or even particularly noteworthy. They are, however, primarily black on white which is why conservative media is having a field day editorializing on the topic.
Honestly, you would need to do better than a crowd-sourced news outlet like liveleak and a nonsense hyperconservative christian website like WND (Obama's secret plan to get rid of bullets... really?).
Here are some facts for you:
- Randomized assault 'games' are nothing new, they've been around from well before the internet - internet videos just encourage idiots to post them
- The Knock-out game is being addressed by hate crime units in NYC and many places elsewhere. However, racial motivations are never all that easy to prove, despite what some may think.
- Racial violence has never disappeared in the country, contrary to the sensationalist message of 'White Girl Bleeds A Lot'. Nor are whites suddenly being victimized by blacks in hate crimes.
- Overall violent crime is down, and has been trending more or less downwards for the last 20 years (From a 2012 Bureau of Justice Statistics Report )
- Whites, Blacks and Hispanics have similar rates of hate crime victimization.
(From another 2012 BJS Report on Hate Crimes)
What, exactly, am I going to do about it, even if I 'face reality'? It is being addressed by the appropriate units in most places. Sure, this is a disgusting trend, but it's nothing new or extraordinary, and like most trends it will decline once the teens start getting caught for being dumb enough to post videos. Overall assaults have been on the decline for years.
If you look at New York City, and most major urban centers (where this 'game' is a thing), you'll find that in the last ten years, assaults have been going down overall. (From the NYPD Website)
The NYPD Detective everyone is referencing is, quite frankly, an idiot. There are over two million black people in New York City, so suggesting that people cross the street to avoid groups of black youths is so absurd that it's practically useless. A better message would have been to simply be wary of large groups of black youths directly approaching you with recording device out. Or anything more useful than 'groups of black youths'.
This is getting covered by Conservative media because frankly if they weren't doing it there'd be no coverage. Coverage by mainstream media has happened because of the attention that Conservative media has brought to it, MSNBC and crew doesn't want to be reporting on hate crimes unless it's non Whites being physically or verbally assaulted.
Liveleak is where I found that particular video, there's many on there dealing with knockout games. The website where it's found is irrelevant. The bullet thing on WND has no bearing on this, though that particular topic hand in hand with DHS ammo acquisition orders is another thing entirely.
All the links I've provided are valid. Sorry there's not a slew of Washington Post or NY Times articles that you might approve of, they don't exactly have a strong history of covering things like this.
I live near Detroit, so I'm well aware of randomized attack games. I have a friend who was a victim of one in 98 or 99, can't remember exactly.
There's been ample proof of racial motivations, as I showed especially in the White Girl Bleeds Alot link. It's enough to provide an entire book plus extra articles done after it was published. It's clear cut and while it doesn't mean every attack is the documented incidents are all easily proven.
Since much of the knockout game is racially motivated, yes you can say Whites are suddenly being victimized by Blacks in hate crimes. If you take all the knockout games incidents out of the picture and treat what is left as "the usual" then yes the addition of the knockout games attacks is a sudden increase in hate attacks.
My thing about facing reality is not to downplay or treat it as a myth, which was the implied jist of your initial response. That's something that has happened too many times lately by people in the media essentially trying to undermine or question the reports and research of Conservative media. At some point people have to just admit that what is going on is going on and as you see in that video there's attempts by that panel to dance around the issue and try to lump everything together to avoid dealing with the facts of this situation. Yes it's part of a larger picture but that doesn't negate the focus the individual aspects of that deserve. That's all I'm saying as far as accepting the reality of it.
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CAMILLA: You, sir, should unmask.
STRANGER: Indeed?
CASSILDA: Indeed it's time. We all have laid aside disguise but you.
STRANGER: I wear no mask.
CAMILLA: (Terrified, aside to Cassilda.) No mask? No mask!
My thing about facing reality is not to downplay or treat it as a myth, which was the implied jist of your initial response.
Ah, I see. I didn't mean to imply that it was a myth, only that it's largely overplayed in significance.
Edit:
As for the news sources, I've found FoxNews.com to be relatively reliable as a conservative source, and don't assume I trust liberal media sources either. I was just looking for something that wasn't A) Anonymous (although I get why you posted it now) or B) quite so... special? WND's other articles just seemed to have a severe scare tactic bent and were clearly designed to appeal to conservative Christians.
Generally, I prefer my news and information as bland as possible.
Generally, I prefer my news and information as bland as possible.
sig'd.
edit:
just gonna throw my two cents into the change jar: I'm not sure about an "increase" in hate crimes, but last I checked, a hate crime was a hate crime. it doesn't matter if it's black on white, blue on orange, or just plain weird. if you start to justify this by saying "its nothing new" or some such, then your just as much a part of the problem as the perpetrators.
does it matter if it is "overplayed?" what matters is the response to it, and making sure that the response fits the crime.
It would shock how so many crime spikes go unreported by big box news sources. Crimes such as the "Knockout Games" are really Assault and Battery (A&B). A&B are nothing new and are quite often thrown in with family violence, gangs, prison inmate fights, and general public A&B. Thus if there are no official reports separating out these acts of violence; it is hard to report an increase without checking individual police reports in each precinct, district, and state. Another issue are crimes committed by non-whites (not being racists). Most media outlets don't report it as it's taboo or racial targeting. Have some friends in LE and they say a strong a majority are committed by non-whites in areas that generally or a tendency for gang violence. The name of the crime beyond A&B gets lost in the paperwork. It isn't till the crime is seen on the web videos that police/public know what the purpose was. This crime could have been occurring for a long time before we heard about it as it could have been counted as basic A&B, mugging, gang violence, elderly abuse, B&E (odd but can occur), Attempted car jacking, etc..
The point is that LE is slow to create a new statistic in police reporting of crimes.
does it matter if it is "overplayed?" what matters is the response to it, and making sure that the response fits the crime.
Yes, because the coverage that claims that the 'game' is a trend is misleading and intended to stoke racial fear. News coverage isn't necessary for a crime to be appropriately addressed.
How did our society turn into this? Clearly people today are growing up without any real sense of empathy and it makes me worry a great deal about our future. I can't help but wonder how long it will be before we see a "murder game". Today my faith in basic human decency dwindles significantly. This really makes me sick.
It's a bit premature to ask what's wrong with society if it isn't even established that the trend exists as a trend (rather than a collection of incidents unrelated except for the phrase "knockout game").
However, some potential factors for the particular individuals involved may be as you said: the attackers may feel tough or strong by demonstrating their dominance over others, which further has roots in socially constructed ideals of masculinity.
Our society does have problems, but this 'trend' isn't one of them.
RE: "whitegirlbleedsalot" : Call me shortsighted, but when I see Alex Jones and Sean Hannity recommending a book, I immediately write the entire thing off and walk away.
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I always thought Farscape was about Phillip Fry finding himself on a spaceship with Delenn, Ivanova, Worf, and an unholy cross between ALF and Zachary Smith.
Yes, because the coverage that claims that the 'game' is a trend is misleading and intended to stoke racial fear. News coverage isn't necessary for a crime to be appropriately addressed.
It's a bit premature to ask what's wrong with society if it isn't even established that the trend exists as a trend (rather than a collection of incidents unrelated except for the phrase "knockout game").
However, some potential factors for the particular individuals involved may be as you said: the attackers may feel tough or strong by demonstrating their dominance over others, which further has roots in socially constructed ideals of masculinity.
Our society does have problems, but this 'trend' isn't one of them.
RE: "whitegirlbleedsalot" : Call me shortsighted, but when I see Alex Jones and Sean Hannity recommending a book, I immediately write the entire thing off and walk away.
Lets try to keep this out of the political realm since it tends to get pushed into the Debate area.
There could be growing new versions of crimes and we would not know about since Crime reporting is not updated for media news as we follow. Youtube and web vids are really the only crime soft news we can get a secondary source update.
If a talk show host takes it up and calls it news; whatever, they have 1-2 hours to fill in TV/radio time. Don't overthink it.
I'm not saying it isn't real. I'm not even saying it isn't serious. I'm saying The media reports are overblown as to the wide ranging impact. These kind of randomized assault games are nothing new or even particularly noteworthy. They are, however, primarily black on white which is why conservative media is having a field day editorializing on the topic.
Honestly, you would need to do better than a crowd-sourced news outlet like liveleak and a nonsense hyperconservative christian website like WND (Obama's secret plan to get rid of bullets... really?).
Here are some facts for you:
- Randomized assault 'games' are nothing new, they've been around from well before the internet - internet videos just encourage idiots to post them
- The Knock-out game is being addressed by hate crime units in NYC and many places elsewhere. However, racial motivations are never all that easy to prove, despite what some may think.
- Racial violence has never disappeared in the country, contrary to the sensationalist message of 'White Girl Bleeds A Lot'. Nor are whites suddenly being victimized by blacks in hate crimes.
- Overall violent crime is down, and has been trending more or less downwards for the last 20 years (From a 2012 Bureau of Justice Statistics Report )
- Whites, Blacks and Hispanics have similar rates of hate crime victimization.
(From another 2012 BJS Report on Hate Crimes)
What, exactly, am I going to do about it, even if I 'face reality'? It is being addressed by the appropriate units in most places. Sure, this is a disgusting trend, but it's nothing new or extraordinary, and like most trends it will decline once the teens start getting caught for being dumb enough to post videos. Overall assaults have been on the decline for years.
If you look at New York City, and most major urban centers (where this 'game' is a thing), you'll find that in the last ten years, assaults have been going down overall. (From the NYPD Website)
The NYPD Detective everyone is referencing is, quite frankly, an idiot. There are over two million black people in New York City, so suggesting that people cross the street to avoid groups of black youths is so absurd that it's practically useless. A better message would have been to simply be wary of large groups of black youths directly approaching you with recording device out. Or anything more useful than 'groups of black youths'.
This. The race angle is bull**** sensationalism. When it comes to assault, the motive is irrelevant.
This isn't anything novel, so it's not surprising, but it's still screwed!
Apparently this is a big thing in the country across the ditch, Australia, where they have this 'king hit' thing and are trying to introduce an anti-one-hit-KO law in an effort to reduce the number of random assaults, particularly of this nature.
I thought there was a thread for this a while ago, but yes. What's the point of your thread? Are you actually surprised?
It's obviously a horrific, vicious and utterly ****ed fad.
Recently, in Australia, knockout and king hits have been in the media and it's kind of a big deal (for instance, here's a news article by the Sydney Morning Herald where they cover a story where this guy knocked out a guy for no good reason).
This isn't really anything new. Videos of people getting sucker punched and knocked out have been posted on YouTube since day 1. Every like 16 months it hits the news again.
It's part of the "look at the stupid things the kids are doing" news cycle. It's either some sort of stupid sex act (rainbow parties anyone?), drinking thing (vodka enemas?), other stupid thing...
I think I was a victim of a version of this game back in high school, though probably not as debilitating as a knockout hit:
I was walking through a crowded hallway when, a few yards ahead of me, coming the other direction, I see a guy I've never met before smiling at me. I think "Well, he looks friendly" and then WHAM! He smacks me as hard as he can in the balls. By the time I catch my breath and get over my shock enough to be able to turn around and look for the guy, he's gone, and everyone else in the hallway just kept going as if nothing had happened. It was kind of surreal, and extremely painful, and could have been potentially damaging to my family lineage. I can only imagine that the only reason a random stranger would hit me in the balls would be some version of this game, and I imagine the way I felt was similar as well...
EDIT: Therefore, I think that this game, or versions of it, are at least 10 years old. Not that that makes it any better. Unfortunately, even intelligence, discipline, and good parenting can't keep children from doing mean or stupid things (I'm thinking of me and my friends here), so how can we ever hope to "respond appropriately" to it?
I think I was a victim of a version of this game back in high school, though probably not as debilitating as a knockout hit:
I was walking through a crowded hallway when, a few yards ahead of me, coming the other direction, I see a guy I've never met before smiling at me. I think "Well, he looks friendly" and then WHAM! He smacks me as hard as he can in the balls. By the time I catch my breath and get over my shock enough to be able to turn around and look for the guy, he's gone, and everyone else in the hallway just kept going as if nothing had happened. It was kind of surreal, and extremely painful, and could have been potentially damaging to my family lineage. I can only imagine that the only reason a random stranger would hit me in the balls would be some version of this game, and I imagine the way I felt was similar as well...
EDIT: Therefore, I think that this game, or versions of it, are at least 10 years old. Not that that makes it any better. Unfortunately, even intelligence, discipline, and good parenting can't keep children from doing mean or stupid things (I'm thinking of me and my friends here), so how can we ever hope to "respond appropriately" to it?
When I was in High School (more than 10 years ago), there were random shankings with pencils/pens in the hallways.
I've read studies that basically state there are 2 types of high schools, drinking high schools, and smoking (pot, coke, etc) schools. Violence at the drinking schools is usually far more vicious and prevalent than the smoking schools. And it also tends to be cyclical. Schools go back and forth between the 2. Private schools were left out of the data pool in most of the studies I saw, but they are usually pre-dominantly white anyway, and speaking as a white person, we are the worst.
When I was in High School (more than 10 years ago), there were random shankings with pencils/pens in the hallways.
I've read studies that basically state there are 2 types of high schools, drinking high schools, and smoking (pot, coke, etc) schools. Violence at the drinking schools is usually far more vicious and prevalent than the smoking schools. And it also tends to be cyclical. Schools go back and forth between the 2. Private schools were left out of the data pool in most of the studies I saw, but they are usually pre-dominantly white anyway, and speaking as a white person, we are the worst.
That's interesting insight. I would imagine that we were a drinking school at the time, and I guess that would explain it?
I don't really understand how or why the prevalence of underage drinking would cause (or even correlate) with senseless and random violence when the drinkers aren't under the influence. In this case, it was senseless and random because I didn't know the guy, and I had very few enemies as far as I know. None who would have asked someone to actually physically hurt me at least. My guess is that it was someone who just thought it would be funny, but the pain lingered for hours. I'm not talking about a little ball tapping (which hurts enough as it is, and wasn't uncommon at some of the more raucous parties), I was hit very hard.
I guess there's a broader questions here, beyond the knockout game: I wonder why people like to hurt people without provocation? I always had the same question about why people like to destroy property, too. I once went with friends joy riding and, caught up in the moment, was talked into throwing a brick through a mailbox as we drove by. It was not pleasurable and I felt awful pretty much immediately, and I still don't know why any of the people I was with thought it was a good idea or enjoyed it.
Violent incidents like assault? I'll admit, we were a pretty violent drinking school, but it was at least participatory violence. "Cage fights" and games of pain were not uncommon outside of school, but I think there was one incident of actual violence on school grounds (for our class).
I guess there's a broader questions here, beyond the knockout game: I wonder why people like to hurt people without provocation?
I always figured it helped people without any real power feel like they were capable of influencing the world in some way. I mean, when I was in school I mostly got **** from the low-scoring kids with no prospects, not the social climbers. Probably I'm biased.
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For those who don't know, the idea behind this "game" is to sucker punch unsuspecting strangers in an effort to knock them out (here is the wiki page about it). This has been getting a lot of media attention in the U.S. lately as it seems to be an increasing problem in big cites all over the country.
This is something that really bothers me to my core. Few things get to me as much as cowardly behavior such as this. The kids doing this are even targeting the elderly, women and other kids. As someone who has been into martial arts almost my entire life I know how dangerous head trauma can be and I don't think the people perpetrating these attacks are aware of how serious this issue is. These attacks can cause significant permanent damage and even death.
I also don't get the motivation behind this game. Do the attackers think they are tough? Does it make them feel strong? There is a saying in fighting, "the punches that hurt you are the ones you don't see coming". Of course it's easy to KO someone who has no idea they are going to be struck. I don't get this at all.
How did our society turn into this? Clearly people today are growing up without any real sense of empathy and it makes me worry a great deal about our future. I can't help but wonder how long it will be before we see a "murder game". Today my faith in basic human decency dwindles significantly. This really makes me sick.
*I thought about putting this in debate as I could see it turn into that but I hope everyone here would feel as appalled by this as I am.*
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Except all the videos posted online by people doing it for fun, to brag, to do whatever it is they wish to do. That's part of the whole "game" it's not just an anonymous assault. There's thug websites all over the place hosting those videos if you're interested.
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=cba_1386009975
There's a NY police detective breaking down what is going on.
It hasn't gotten as much coverage as it deserves and has been going on for awhile but that's partly to do with the media not doing its job and also not wanting to call a spade a spade and label it racial violence due to it being predominantly Black on White attacks. It's called Polar Bear Hunting in several places like Chicago for this reason. USA Today and others can bury their heads in the sand and try to convince themselves it's not a trend but the coverage this has gotten in the rightwing press has been long and steady, it's even spawned a book called White Girl Bleed Alot:
http://whitegirlbleedalot.com/
It documents hundreds of attacks since 2010, and the website links to articles and newstories that have been created since its' release.
http://www.wnd.com/2013/02/knockout-game-perp-shot-killed/
There's a ton of info and links to additional stories in the above link on the happenings in St. Louis which is supposedly the birthplace of this "game"
There's no cause to say this is just imagining the worst, because it's definitely happening all over and is a serious issue. People scared to admit such need to face the reality of it.
STRANGER: Indeed?
CASSILDA: Indeed it's time. We all have laid aside disguise but you.
STRANGER: I wear no mask.
CAMILLA: (Terrified, aside to Cassilda.) No mask? No mask!
I'm not saying it isn't real. I'm not even saying it isn't serious. I'm saying The media reports are overblown as to the wide ranging impact. These kind of randomized assault games are nothing new or even particularly noteworthy. They are, however, primarily black on white which is why conservative media is having a field day editorializing on the topic.
Honestly, you would need to do better than a crowd-sourced news outlet like liveleak and a nonsense hyperconservative christian website like WND (Obama's secret plan to get rid of bullets... really?).
Here are some facts for you:
- Randomized assault 'games' are nothing new, they've been around from well before the internet - internet videos just encourage idiots to post them
- The Knock-out game is being addressed by hate crime units in NYC and many places elsewhere. However, racial motivations are never all that easy to prove, despite what some may think.
- Racial violence has never disappeared in the country, contrary to the sensationalist message of 'White Girl Bleeds A Lot'. Nor are whites suddenly being victimized by blacks in hate crimes.
- Overall violent crime is down, and has been trending more or less downwards for the last 20 years (From a 2012 Bureau of Justice Statistics Report )
- Whites, Blacks and Hispanics have similar rates of hate crime victimization.
(From another 2012 BJS Report on Hate Crimes)
What, exactly, am I going to do about it, even if I 'face reality'? It is being addressed by the appropriate units in most places. Sure, this is a disgusting trend, but it's nothing new or extraordinary, and like most trends it will decline once the teens start getting caught for being dumb enough to post videos. Overall assaults have been on the decline for years.
If you look at New York City, and most major urban centers (where this 'game' is a thing), you'll find that in the last ten years, assaults have been going down overall. (From the NYPD Website)
The NYPD Detective everyone is referencing is, quite frankly, an idiot. There are over two million black people in New York City, so suggesting that people cross the street to avoid groups of black youths is so absurd that it's practically useless. A better message would have been to simply be wary of large groups of black youths directly approaching you with recording device out. Or anything more useful than 'groups of black youths'.
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Liveleak is where I found that particular video, there's many on there dealing with knockout games. The website where it's found is irrelevant. The bullet thing on WND has no bearing on this, though that particular topic hand in hand with DHS ammo acquisition orders is another thing entirely.
All the links I've provided are valid. Sorry there's not a slew of Washington Post or NY Times articles that you might approve of, they don't exactly have a strong history of covering things like this.
I live near Detroit, so I'm well aware of randomized attack games. I have a friend who was a victim of one in 98 or 99, can't remember exactly.
There's been ample proof of racial motivations, as I showed especially in the White Girl Bleeds Alot link. It's enough to provide an entire book plus extra articles done after it was published. It's clear cut and while it doesn't mean every attack is the documented incidents are all easily proven.
Since much of the knockout game is racially motivated, yes you can say Whites are suddenly being victimized by Blacks in hate crimes. If you take all the knockout games incidents out of the picture and treat what is left as "the usual" then yes the addition of the knockout games attacks is a sudden increase in hate attacks.
My thing about facing reality is not to downplay or treat it as a myth, which was the implied jist of your initial response. That's something that has happened too many times lately by people in the media essentially trying to undermine or question the reports and research of Conservative media. At some point people have to just admit that what is going on is going on and as you see in that video there's attempts by that panel to dance around the issue and try to lump everything together to avoid dealing with the facts of this situation. Yes it's part of a larger picture but that doesn't negate the focus the individual aspects of that deserve. That's all I'm saying as far as accepting the reality of it.
STRANGER: Indeed?
CASSILDA: Indeed it's time. We all have laid aside disguise but you.
STRANGER: I wear no mask.
CAMILLA: (Terrified, aside to Cassilda.) No mask? No mask!
Ah, I see. I didn't mean to imply that it was a myth, only that it's largely overplayed in significance.
Edit:
As for the news sources, I've found FoxNews.com to be relatively reliable as a conservative source, and don't assume I trust liberal media sources either. I was just looking for something that wasn't A) Anonymous (although I get why you posted it now) or B) quite so... special? WND's other articles just seemed to have a severe scare tactic bent and were clearly designed to appeal to conservative Christians.
Generally, I prefer my news and information as bland as possible.
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sig'd.
edit:
just gonna throw my two cents into the change jar: I'm not sure about an "increase" in hate crimes, but last I checked, a hate crime was a hate crime. it doesn't matter if it's black on white, blue on orange, or just plain weird. if you start to justify this by saying "its nothing new" or some such, then your just as much a part of the problem as the perpetrators.
does it matter if it is "overplayed?" what matters is the response to it, and making sure that the response fits the crime.
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1. lists.
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V. incorrect math.
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there are two kinds of people in the world: those who can make reasonable conclusions based on conjecture.
The point is that LE is slow to create a new statistic in police reporting of crimes.
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Yes, because the coverage that claims that the 'game' is a trend is misleading and intended to stoke racial fear. News coverage isn't necessary for a crime to be appropriately addressed.
Slate: "Sorry, Right-Wing Media: The 'Knockout Game' Trend Is a Myth."
The Daily Beast: "Guess What? The 'Knockout Game' Is America's Latest Phony Panic"
It's a bit premature to ask what's wrong with society if it isn't even established that the trend exists as a trend (rather than a collection of incidents unrelated except for the phrase "knockout game").
However, some potential factors for the particular individuals involved may be as you said: the attackers may feel tough or strong by demonstrating their dominance over others, which further has roots in socially constructed ideals of masculinity.
Our society does have problems, but this 'trend' isn't one of them.
Lets try to keep this out of the political realm since it tends to get pushed into the Debate area.
There could be growing new versions of crimes and we would not know about since Crime reporting is not updated for media news as we follow. Youtube and web vids are really the only crime soft news we can get a secondary source update.
If a talk show host takes it up and calls it news; whatever, they have 1-2 hours to fill in TV/radio time. Don't overthink it.
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This. The race angle is bull**** sensationalism. When it comes to assault, the motive is irrelevant.
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Apparently this is a big thing in the country across the ditch, Australia, where they have this 'king hit' thing and are trying to introduce an anti-one-hit-KO law in an effort to reduce the number of random assaults, particularly of this nature.
I got it from Noggle Bridgebreakers flavour text.:)
We just played "five stars" and tried to make people black out from pain.
It's obviously a horrific, vicious and utterly ****ed fad.
Recently, in Australia, knockout and king hits have been in the media and it's kind of a big deal (for instance, here's a news article by the Sydney Morning Herald where they cover a story where this guy knocked out a guy for no good reason).
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It's part of the "look at the stupid things the kids are doing" news cycle. It's either some sort of stupid sex act (rainbow parties anyone?), drinking thing (vodka enemas?), other stupid thing...
Etc, etc.
I was walking through a crowded hallway when, a few yards ahead of me, coming the other direction, I see a guy I've never met before smiling at me. I think "Well, he looks friendly" and then WHAM! He smacks me as hard as he can in the balls. By the time I catch my breath and get over my shock enough to be able to turn around and look for the guy, he's gone, and everyone else in the hallway just kept going as if nothing had happened. It was kind of surreal, and extremely painful, and could have been potentially damaging to my family lineage. I can only imagine that the only reason a random stranger would hit me in the balls would be some version of this game, and I imagine the way I felt was similar as well...
EDIT: Therefore, I think that this game, or versions of it, are at least 10 years old. Not that that makes it any better. Unfortunately, even intelligence, discipline, and good parenting can't keep children from doing mean or stupid things (I'm thinking of me and my friends here), so how can we ever hope to "respond appropriately" to it?
Modern - UG Mana Denial GU
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WBG Melira Pod GBWCommander - BR Olivia Voldaren RB Vampire Tribal
. . . . . . . . . WUB Sharuum the Hegemon BUW Not-Broken Artifact Midrange
. . . . . . . . . WUG Rafiq of the Many GUW Voltron
. . . . . . . . . . .UB Oona, Queen of the Fae BU No-combo Tempo-Mill
. . . . . . . . . WUB Oloro, Ageless Ascetic BUW Pillow Fort
When I was in High School (more than 10 years ago), there were random shankings with pencils/pens in the hallways.
I've read studies that basically state there are 2 types of high schools, drinking high schools, and smoking (pot, coke, etc) schools. Violence at the drinking schools is usually far more vicious and prevalent than the smoking schools. And it also tends to be cyclical. Schools go back and forth between the 2. Private schools were left out of the data pool in most of the studies I saw, but they are usually pre-dominantly white anyway, and speaking as a white person, we are the worst.
That's interesting insight. I would imagine that we were a drinking school at the time, and I guess that would explain it?
I don't really understand how or why the prevalence of underage drinking would cause (or even correlate) with senseless and random violence when the drinkers aren't under the influence. In this case, it was senseless and random because I didn't know the guy, and I had very few enemies as far as I know. None who would have asked someone to actually physically hurt me at least. My guess is that it was someone who just thought it would be funny, but the pain lingered for hours. I'm not talking about a little ball tapping (which hurts enough as it is, and wasn't uncommon at some of the more raucous parties), I was hit very hard.
I guess there's a broader questions here, beyond the knockout game: I wonder why people like to hurt people without provocation? I always had the same question about why people like to destroy property, too. I once went with friends joy riding and, caught up in the moment, was talked into throwing a brick through a mailbox as we drove by. It was not pleasurable and I felt awful pretty much immediately, and I still don't know why any of the people I was with thought it was a good idea or enjoyed it.
Modern - UG Mana Denial GU
. . . . . . .
WBG Melira Pod GBWCommander - BR Olivia Voldaren RB Vampire Tribal
. . . . . . . . . WUB Sharuum the Hegemon BUW Not-Broken Artifact Midrange
. . . . . . . . . WUG Rafiq of the Many GUW Voltron
. . . . . . . . . . .UB Oona, Queen of the Fae BU No-combo Tempo-Mill
. . . . . . . . . WUB Oloro, Ageless Ascetic BUW Pillow Fort
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