by Chuck Salamone

I hate the word “tolerance.” Your body tolerates a certain amount of alcohol. You tolerate the heat if you are working outside on a summer day. A parent tolerates their screaming child, as they throw a tantrum in public. You don’t tolerate someone because of their cultural background...you don’t tolerate someone because of the color of their skin. YOU ACCEPT IT. The world is vast...far too big for everyone to be EXACTLY the same. So why am I musing about this? Why am I reminding you, good people, the importance of this issue, and that acceptance is the key to coexistence? I saw a video recently that was the most concerning thing I have seen in a long time. There is a war going on in Ukraine, there is a war going on in Gaza, and air strikes have been ordered and will be “delivered” to Iraq...and a single video put all of that horrible news to shame.

Here is the set-up: A small group of kids go into an inner city area to “prank” the locals by acting carelessly, entitled, and disrespectful. The idea is that they want to summon violence, get attacked, inform their “prank victim” that what they are doing is merely a joke, reveal the cameraman, and everyone goes on their merry way. Seems harmless, right? Wrong. Questions like, “Hey man, do you wanna buy a gun real quick,” (with two water guns tucked in your back pocket out of sight) is a great way to get yourself into trouble. Other acts of disrespect included walking up to a person who was minding their own business, waiting at the bus stop, or just getting some fresh air outside their job...and a kid will walk up and flatulate on this innocent person. These young men are fully aware of the consequences of their actions...they wouldn’t be doing these “pranks” otherwise. All the locations that they chose were in urban areas, or “the hood,” as the title puts it.

What’s concerning to me is that the racial demographic of the people they chose to “prank” were nearly all minorities. The kids conducting the “prank,” from what can be seen, is a group of young men with different racial and cultural backgrounds. But, “the people being pranked are at fault, too. They shouldn’t act like violent animals (actual words from an anonymous Redditor) when faced with a situation that is meant to be harmless.” Yeah, because they have that option, right? This isn’t just about possible cultural tendencies...this is about the fact that, statistically speaking, the location chosen to film is DANGEROUS. In some cases, the victims of this careless behavior don’t have the luxury of reacting in a non-violent manner. In this case, it appears that local society has hardened these individuals into people that react irrationally in certain situations. In the video, many punches are thrown and successfully make contact, knives are pulled and ready for action, and someone even pulls a gun out. It was a disturbing and frightening video, NOT a funny one.
 

Videos like this gain overnight popularity from websites like WorldStarHipHop and LiveLeak...even Reddit can’t play the innocent card, as that is where I saw the video. Once a video reaches viewing popularity, it moves to Youtube, then Facebook. These are websites made to share content...the websites are merely doing what they were created to do. The more views, the more the user who posted the content gets paid (trickle from advertisements.) That is why I am not sharing this video with you, folks. It will only give these young men more views and more money.

The web has always provided users with lewd and disturbing content, but lately, it’s been getting out of control. This isn’t some punk kids pretending to trip and fall in a grocery store, taking out a huge display in their plotted plummet, as they also hurl a gallon of milk to maximize the mess factor. This isn’t someone playing the “knockout game,” intentionally hurting an unsuspecting stranger, in an effort to knock them unconscious with one swift blow. This isn’t the “burn challenge,” where someone douses his/herself in rubbing alcohol near a water source, lights a match, and hopes for the best. No. This is much worse. This is a true setback.

So what do you, good readers, think about all of this. Is it just another “internet fad” that will fizzle out and be forgotten about...or is this the beginning of something much worse. Thank you for reading and SOUND OFF in the comments section below.