Emily Leverone | On 10, Feb 2016

A knockout isn’t always a good thing.

After a recent recurrence in Patterson, NJ, it seems that the gruesome knockout game may unfortunately be back. The “game” is played by kids betting each other to assault innocent citizens on the street.

As a 16-year-old reporter, I find it shocking that kids my own age are doing such cruel things in the name of fun. It is never, ever right to assault nor batter any person.

Some teens even upload videos of their victims to the Internet, which I just don’t understand. They may think it’s funny, but the majority of comments line up with my opinion of this irreverent pastime. One commenter writes, “Like why, why do such a thing to innocent people?”

The worst part is that the offenders usually target weak and elderly men and women. I would like the people who play this “game” to imagine that their victim was one of their defenseless family members being brutally beaten in public, only then to have the whole embarrassing image shared on social media. What if that was your mother, father, or grandparent?

I hope adults don’t assume that all teenagers in my generation would do such harmful things to innocent people. Something this dreadful really gives today’s teens a bad name. I find it heartbreaking to think some might consider this representative of the behavior of all teenagers nowadays.

Today’s teenagers should speak up about the horrors of this game and warn others of the consequences.