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Saturday, December 7, 2013

KNOCKOUT GAMES


KNOCKOUT GAMES

A Cranky Opinion for:

CRANKY OPINION SATURDAY

 

The following is the opinion of a cranky old man.  Opposing opinions are welcome, they are wrong, but welcome, and please…no name calling and that means you, you big stupid head!

 

Apparently our bored disadvantaged youth have found a new game to break the monotony of being young and restless.  This game is called the “knockout game.”

There are two participants in the knockout game, one of which is not willing.  In this game a group of young people walk up to an unwilling participant and out of the blue cold-cock the unsuspecting victim.  The young people then dance off laughing, their boredom temporarily sated.  Sometimes the victim lands on hard objects and dies…oh well.

Part of the fun of the knockout game is in videoing the attack and posting it on YouTube.   I have seen many of these attacks both on YouTube and on the news.  As a casual observer I have noticed a pattern.  I am sure this pattern is not 100% accurate, but it is in every instance I have viewed one of these “games.”  In every case, the group of young people are African-American males and the victims whether male or female have all been white, and often in New York City they are clearly Jewish.

I do not want to make any politically incorrect assertion based on my limited research of this new “game,” I am sure I would be lambasted for doing so.  If, however, I was myself an African-American I would be more than outraged, I would be pissed, I would be beside myself. 

After years and years of African-Americans being treated like second class citizens this country seems to be turning around, and changing its racial ways.  Barriers against black people have come down.  We have black people running large corporations.  We have a black President.  People are starting to be judged by the content of their character and now we have this example, this excuse, to turn back to the prejudices and stereotypes of days gone by.

For years, I have been encumbered with my own racial prejudice, which I recognize as being wrong and which I have tried to overcome.   There was a time when I would stand on the subway rather than sit next to an unknown person of color.  If I walked past a group of young male African-Americans, I would be on guard and might try to avoid any encounter if possible.  I am sure this behavior was insulting to those African-Americans and I apologize for my insensitivity and ignorance.

Now, thanks to this new “game,” I will be back to my old ways.  If I am approached by a group of young black males, I am going to be on guard and if possible I will avoid an encounter.   This will probably insult many innocent people…sorry, but frig that…my scull comes first.

Please don’t be angry with me.  I think you should be angry with that small faction of bored youngsters for allowing old prejudices to return.  I will continue to judge people by the content of their character, but given no other indication of a person’s intent, I will profile first.

I am waiting for the Black community to condemn this “game.”  I am waiting for leaders to speak up against this attitude of hate against my race and speak out against this new “game.” *

Why is my President not setting an example and speaking out against this new “game?” 

As a white man, I don’t think I can do anything to influence these young people to change their ways.  The community of African-Americans needs to speak out and make them stop.  It takes their community, their village, to say,

“Hey you little shits, cut it out.  Don’t give white people an excuse to hate!  Don’t reverse a trend toward equality and respect that has taken generations to gain traction. 

Just knock off the knockout game…Dammit!”

 

The preceding has been the opinion of a cranky old man and not necessarily that of management…Mrs. Cranky.

 

*I saw this article sometime after I wrote this cranky opinion.  I am glad to see that leaders of the Black community are indeed speaking out against this racist game.

13 comments:

  1. I've of course heard of this, but haven't studied it as clsoely as you apparentely have. If it is in fact an African American "game", then you're right. The African Ameican leaders should police things aggressively. Just like Muslim Americans should police those extremists hiding in their Mosques and whites should reign in their skinheads and keep a close eye on the Westboro Baptist Church folks.

    Is this "game" common in the South, too? They'd better be careful if it is, 'cause some Bubba will pull a .357 on 'em. :)

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  2. Amen Cranky!!!! I mentioned this game in a post last weekend but deleted most of my draft and was left with I have my own version of the knock out game called, Who Bleeds First? lowandslow was wondering how we in the south feel hearing about the knockout game. :)

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  3. I saw this on the news. What a sad commentary on the world we live in.

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  4. I've never heard of this--I must be living in a bubble. I think I'll STAY there!!

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  5. The first time I heard about the knock-out game was in 2011. A 72-year-old Vietnamese man was killed walking home from the store with his wife. Here's a link:

    http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/trial-starts-in-st-louis-knockout-game-killing/article_809095f6-8e21-56d0-a9c4-c2ff214fd507.html

    I don't think we have to worry about a "Bubba" pulling a .357 on a fun-loving, game-playing youth. Bubbas are not the intended victims. It's the old and the weak, the ones who can't fight back.

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  6. This terrible act hasn't yet happened in Portland (to my knowledge) but the people shown doing this on the evening news don't always appear black. Still, I resent the media focusing a bright light on this and encouraging weak minded individuals to participate in this.

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  7. Unfortunately all too true: common in Philadelphia! Why has our president remained silent? Guess I know why!

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  8. I hadn't heard of this before - I'm stunned! It is a sad world sometimes.

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  9. We have a similar thing going on out here, but not necessarily bored youth. Here it's adults who get drunk, walk out of the pub and king hit just anybody they choose, then walk away laughing. Several have been caught on security camera footage and charged in the courts, but that doesn't seem to be stopping them.

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  10. I was going to say the same as River. My brother in law had this happen to him while he was standing on a street corner in the city one night after work.

    By the way I applaud your honesty about your racist past, I've never heard or read anyone talk about this like that.

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  11. First off I'd like to say that if I were walking alone in a strange city and came across a group of young, black men, I'd probably do like you would. Be on guard, move to the other side of the street, etc. I'd probably do that with a group of white men, too - just to be safe.

    But I'm wondering why people expect our president to speak out about this...

    Did they expect a past president to speak out and tell white men to stop being serial killers like Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy, Charles, Manson, Dennis Rader, etc.?

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  12. the saddest part of this story is that only the perpetrators have changed. garbage like this was circulating in my general region back in the 70's only it didn't 'go viral' though it did move to different regions of the country.

    the targets were predominantly 'believed to be' of Jewish or Irish descent (i.e. the thugs used stereotypical traits to identify the victims as viable). i don't recall the term they used back then but it was far less politically correct that 'the knock out game'. only the names have changed it seems.

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