Challenge of the Week: Don’t Be an Idiot

Everybody loved Joe Rogan and the Fear Factor show when it was still around–there was just something about people doing crazy things on camera for money that was so enticing. When I was a kid and they would make people jump out of a helicopter or sit in a tank full of tarantulas, I always asked my mom, “what if something goes wrong?” She would always reassure me that there were trained professionals off-camera that would step in if anything were to go wrong, and that’s why they tell you not to do these stunts at home by yourself. That made sense to me, and I was comforted knowing that those people were surrounded by medics and professionals that would help them in case of a disaster. However, for some reason, people have taken these stunts to their homes, re-creating all kinds of “challenges,” and are harming themselves in the process. Here are my top 10 idiotic web challenges that have been attempted over the past couple of years.

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This rant is specially dedicated to all the people who have engaged in the Fire Challenge and the Pass Out Game over the past couple of months; because without you this post would have probably never been written. First I’ll start with the people who thought it would be cool to be the human torch for a couple of seconds. Honestly, what were you thinking? I can assure you that no job is going to hire you because you slapped fire in the face, this is not something you can put on your resume, no person is going to date you because of your “fearless actions,” and honestly once people have moved on to the next fad in a couple of months; no one is going to remember you. 

The worst part is that there are actual burn victims out there that have lost ears, lips, noses, and are scarred for life. For life. These people have to wake up everyday and face the gruesome criticism that our society throws at them. And you? You take their worse nightmare and turn it into a game. Maybe there should be an “Acid Challenge”, where we pour acid all over ourselves. Or a “Poison Challenge” where we swallow poison and see who dies last? See how crazy these sound? Setting yourself on fire shouldn’t be any different; it is one of the worst ways to die and should not be taken lightly at all. So please do me, your loved ones, and yourself a favor: stop lighting yourself on fire and grow up.

For the kids that play the pass out game, I know most of you think that you are invincible. You’re young, you’re lively, and you’re healthy; so why are you trying to throw all of that away for a couple of laughs and some likes on a video? I know it is really hard to look at your actions from a different point of view, but I guarantee you when you look back at what you did as a teenager, the Pass Out game will be one of the things you regret. It takes three people to play this “game”–the person who is passing out, the person who pushes down on their chest, and the person filming. But all it takes is one of you to speak up and stop it from happening. We all do stupid things as we grow up, we all experiment, we all test our limits, we all make mistakes, but we should try and learn from these mistakes. We are given one life and one life only in this world, and however cliche that may sound, it’s true. Your parents did not give you life just so you can throw it away. So can we please stop abusing our bodies for the sake of a video? Because all it takes is one thing going wrong, and just like that you’ll be gone.

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Trevor Smith

Trevor Smith is a homegrown DMVer studying Journalism and Graphic Design at American University. Upon graduating he has hopes to work for the US State Department so that he can travel, learn, and make money at the same time. Contact Trevor at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.