Before we get to the video where this stupid prankster gets knocked out, some background.

A while ago, I was talking to my teenage daughter about how the world is so different now from when I was her age. One of those differences is the internet and how it changed our society. For instance, now, you can make a living off being a “Youtube celebrity”. Just get tons of people to follow you on Youtube, and eventually you’ll attract sponsor, advertisers and so on. I don’t consider it a worthwhile career path, except for the few lucky ones, which is what I wanted to point out to her.

In and of itself, this phenomenon is not a bad thing. In fact, there are many YouTube professionals that offer a lot of valuable information for free in just this way. But there are also people who should be protected against their own stupidity and others who should be put in jail for the nonsense or misinformation they propagate. Case in point, the stupid prankster that gets knocked out.

You can watch the whole thing, but if you want to skip to the knock out, it’s at 2min10.

There’s obviously the stupidity of the prank itself: provoking people like this is a surefire way to get knocked out, or worse. But what’s worse is how he seems all proud of getting knocked out, as if it’s an accomplishment. The prankster probably doesn’t realize that a knock out like that can leave lasting damage or even kill you outright. When blunt trauma to the head happens, that’s always in the cards. The fact that it didn’t happen here doesn’t mean the danger doesn’t exist. Go ask an ER doctor about this if you think I’m exaggerating…

The other guy also might have hit him at an angle so he would have fallen forward, off the grassy slope and onto the concrete. An unconscious face-plant from that height usually means lots of surgery to put your skull back together, at best. But hey, it was all just a prank, right, so it’s OK… [Read more…]