Nurse the Hate: Hate The Knockout Game

I work in a really crappy neighborhood in Cleveland’s “Midtown”.  Another name that comes to mind is “Shit Town”.  The consistent parade of riff raff and lost souls that shuffle through the area require two security guards to provide the illusion of safety in making the one block walk from the office to the employee parking lot.  Each afternoon police squad cars tear ass up the street towards the housing project two blocks south to fill out the paperwork on tomorrow’s headlines of “Three Shot, One Critical”.  Midtown’s enchanting dining options include Burger King and KFC, or perhaps a beef jerky passed through bulletproof glass at the Shell Station on Carnegie.  The area combines a complete lack of charm with total lack of basic services.

It shouldn’t be surprising that on Friday I received an office wide message in my work email to be on the lookout for “The Knockout Game”.  This is the latest Culture of Fear story being reported breathlessly by mainstream media that insists a nationwide epidemic is upon us of young (black) men punching totally unaware (white) people with the goal of knocking them unconscious with one punch.  This has been unimpeachably proven with three pieces of youtube video that run during each national media report.  The national news factory and their never ending hunger for sensational content has regurgitated this story over and over again without providing any substantial evidence that this is anything more than isolated events.  Why bother though?  It’s ratings gold!

While it probably blows a hole in the story that there have actually only been five or six shaky documented cases of “The Knockout Game” in a country of 314 million people, what TV program doesn’t want to air video of someone getting totally jacked?  Hell, I watch the videos every single time and I know how it’s going to end.  The fact that the one video pictured above of the guy taking a horrible header into the curb in New York is actually from Oct 2012 never seems to get mentioned.  The implication is that this happened yesterday and it could happen to you at any moment.  What all these panicking (white) people haven’t taken the time to figure out is that in 13 months across the entire country six out of 314 million people have been a victim of this.  This is roughly your odds of being struck by lightning while in the midst of a shark attack as you are holding a winning Mega Millions ticket.

I think I will take my chances.

The real story in this is how willing mainstream media is to villianize black teenagers again.  The undercurrent to each one of these stories is that black teenage boys, especially in a group, are to be feared.  The expectation that to even be near them is dangerous as they will strike you without warning or provocation.  The Culture of Fear, which is used to control the population, has once again been fed.  Don’t leave your homes.  Stay away from people that look different.  Fear everything. 

The problem with “The Knockout Game” is that the inference is that we as normal citizens are exclusively victims.  Let me ask you, why not turn the tables?  Why don’t a group of middle aged suburban white women leave their kick boxing class and drive to a sketchy neighborhood?  What’s to stop them from playing The Knockout Game themselves?  I can see six soccer moms walking down East 78^th and kicking some black teenage boy in the head, knocking him cold.  Then they can post the video on their local PTA website.  They probably have kickass video cameras from recording all those school plays and travel soccer games.  Women in yoga pants walking around urban malls would be the New Face of Random Terror, or probably it would just be reported as “a new exercise craze you just won’t believe!!!!”.  Can’t you see grainy footage of Reese Witherspoon landing a windmill kick to some teenage boy’s skull?  “Reese Witherspoon gets in shape for her latest starring role by playing The Knockout Game on the Sunset Strip!  Coming up next on Entertainment Tonight!” (insert theme music).

While this will undoubtedly run out of steam like other great Urban Myths like Rainbow Parties, it will probably enjoy a pretty good run.  Eventually the news media will have to turn its attention back to losers camping outside of Wal Marts for Black Friday, Best of the year lists, and New Year’s Resolution Weight Loss.  Until then, I am going to wear boxing headgear and walk past all teenage boys and women in yoga pants in the classic Muhammed Ali “rope-a-dope” position.  I may push the limits of fashion, but I'm no fool.

I will not lose “The Knock Out Game”.