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Knockout game is an over publicized form of gross bullying

Tap someone in the face and you are annoying; punch someone in the face and you’re a Knockout King and a YouTube star. At least, that’s what some in the media might lead you to believe.

A fairly recent phenomenon called the Knockout Game has earned itself a sizeable media presence.

The concept of the “game” is to punch an unsuspecting person as hard as possible and, as the name implies, knock them out. Typically, the perpetrators have been adolescents.

Some reporters have questioned the racial implications of the game. Some have condemned it altogether, and others have simply urged us all to talk about something else entirely.

The way some media outlets have presented the game makes it seem as if “grown-ups” are busy spouting off narratives of hate crimes at the fault of black youths across the country. It also seems as if kids are spending all their time posting videos of the latest attack on YouTube.

Not falling for the misrepresentation, Huffington Post is sick of that angle. In November 2013, an article called “Don’t Believe All the Media Hype about the ‘Knockout Game’” ran in the Huffington Post.

The article argues that the game is in fact not a “disturbing new trend,” as other media outlets have reported.

Rather, the game is just a more exciting version of everyday, run-of-the-mill bullying.

As the article implies, many, including myself, have in fact seen the same footage played over and over in the name of a growing nationwide “trend.”

The scary part about all this is not that news media are over-hyping a standard assault, but that the phrasing “knockout game” is impacting average individuals outside of the media’s influence.

For instance, ABC 10 News reported that a victim of an assault several days ago inferred that the attack was a play of the knockout game.

In this case, the San Diego Police Department did not immediately assume the same thing, though imagine if they had ­— they could have investigated the assault in a way that would have led to the wrong suspects.

If someone unexpectedly punches you in the face, it is not necessarily a part of the game, and it would be unwise to assume as much.

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