I Did it All For the Views (Part 2)

Yeah, I said I was done with that first installment, but I had to come back again this time. This time I want to focus on so-called "hood pranks". I'm sure you've seen a few of these called pranks where two kids go to "the hood" (read as wherever a bunch of Black people live) and they try to see what they could get away with.  They basically go around antagonizing the residents of the neighborhood in hopes to get a reaction out of them. Heres a couple of examples of the kind of things they do:


They ask people for the time and then they took the phones of those being pranked.

 
 They go around asking people if they "Have a problem".

 
 And ask if they can throw punches at people.

 



I already know what you are thinking. You are thinking that those fools are going to get themselves killed doing that. I'm thinking the same thing.  Now that I think about it, what was that I said in the fifth paragraph on the previous blog about compromising principles for likes, views, and becoming internet famous? Hmmm, this is the same pattern exhibited by the previous blog on the same subject matter, me thinks. The question I want to ask here is how long would it take for one of these kids to die?  I don't even know.  But I do know that Banksy (UK based graffiti artist best known for his quirky and politically charged murals) wrote an open letter to these guys.  I'm glad he did. Here's a snippet of what he told them:

I’m not sure if this is some weird racist humor that just doesn’t tickle my fancy. Maybe it’s some social experiment that uses racial tropes as its punchline and a means of instruction and enlightenment, or both lumped into one. I imagine a select group of White Americans react to these videos in a way similar to how Black guys react to magic. “OMG! That black dude was pissed! He broke his phone lulz!” or something along those lines, otherwise these videos probably wouldn’t keep being made.

There is some humor here, because I have to admit, like when some jackass keeps walking up to only Black folks and asking “you want to kiss my ass.” I finally laughed when he got knocked out, literally. Worst part is this goober thought it was funny too, and now he’s laughing to the tune of 1.7 million views worth of AdSense dollars.*

He then goes on to ask the following:

But what if I went into an affluent neighborhood, approached only White people and started attacking them like it was The Purge or something? Is this acceptable as long as it’s under the guise of a practical joke and called “In the Burbs!!” If I’m daring ornery old white guys into a fight, there’s a good chance that I may actually have to take a punch or two and this is probably true for brown, yellow, orange or purple people, too.

Now that's a very good question. Again, as mentioned in my previous blog on this subject, we can't go anywhere in the wrong neighborhood without being questioned. I also mentioned it here where the police were called on a person who lived in his neighborhood and went to his car to get a pack of cigarettes. The result was him getting shot because his neighbor didn't recognise him. Anyway, Banksy goes on to say the following:

But that isn’t being acknowledged here, instead these reactions are being treated as “Black people reactions.” “Get a look at how these Black folks react to me doing funny stuff.” Nope, these are the reactions of anybody put into these ridiculous situations.

I'm really glad he spoke on it. However, it begs to question why it hasn't been spoken about in the US yet?  I found a link from NY Daily News that asked them to cease and desist, but I have heard nothing else of the sort. The pranksters say they target everybody, but as Banksy said, their videos are treated as "Black people reactions."  Something tells me that it won't be that easy for them to stop doing it. If they stop, someone else will do it, and it'll keep going until someone does get killed.

Sometimes I wonder if someone did get killed, would the Stand Your Ground defense work for the killer. Something tells me that it won't even if the whole thing was filmed on site. Something tells me that the killer would get locked up for a very long time. They may or may not be sued for pain and suffering from the prankster's family. But hey, at least the kids would be rich, right?

Maybe it's just me, but I'm wondering, whatever happened to jumping out of the window of a moving vehicle, jumping over several flaming cars via motorbike, or eating glass as a daredevil prank? I guess none of that stuff is more dangerous or as courageous as messing with Black people.