There is a disgusting game that is spreading to different parts of the U.S. called knockout. It has existed roughly since 2005 under various names, “Point ’em Out, Knock ’em Out” and “Knockout King” Here is a news story on the subject:

This crime is committed by kids who really should have better sense, and much better pastimes. In some of the news stories, kids admit that they were “just going along with what they told me to do”.

Kids, please don’t just do what your friends tell you to do!

Adults, be involved in your child’s life, know where they are and know their friends. Be the parent you hated your parents for being, but secretly admit that you are now glad they were.

Now, for the what do I do if this happens to me question. I wish I had an easy or straight answer to this, but it is complicated. There is no easy answer because there is little to no advance notice to the assault. Unfortunately. There is little to do when you are attacked in this way. There is no magic technique that will counter an attack so brutal and so sudden. All you can really have in your favor is awareness and avoidance.

Yup…ol’ Smedley is telling you to stay aware of your surroundings and avoid becoming a target…again!

Facts are facts, and repetition is the only way to teach the puppy brain.

When a person is as close to you as they are in the clips of the video and showing no signs that they are targeting you until they strike, you would need Bruce Lee-esk speed in your reflexes to do anything about it.

Awareness: Put away the smart phone, unplug the earphones, open your eyes and see where you are, and what is around you. Pay attention! You are usually safer than the scare mongers would have you believe, but the simple truth is that there is no good reason to NOT know what is going on around you.

Avoidance: Don’t go out alone if you can avoid doing so. The girl in the video who gets knocked out near the end of the clip was alone and not paying attention. Avoid areas where the lowlife scum that perpetrate this kind of act tend to be found, but in any setting, females and elderly especially, don’t go out alone.

I do want to rant about what this stupidity says about our society. I would like to inquire as to the lack of interest from politicians who clamor so much about how violence must be stopped and what we owe to the victims of crime. Where is Hollywood with their asinine plea for us to care about the senseless violence? I would love to go on about the idiocy of those who think this is fun, and could talk for days about the ways that society fails our youth and our youth give up on themselves, but none of that matters.

What matters is that people find ways to stay safe out there, even with this kind of stupidity going on.