RANT ON:
I am a youth minister. I have been one for ten years. And in this tenure I will admit that I have lead some dumb games and "physical challenges" from puke smoothie, saltine challenge, fuzzy bunny, to a peep eating contest. I have even taken and succeeded at the gallon of milk challenge.
I was scanning the ol' Yahoo news feed this morning and there was actually a story about the dangers of the cinnamon challenge. Now in case you live under a rock, cannot google, or have not watched a talk show in the last three months let me explain the challenge. You take a spoon full of cinnamon (most commonly a tablespoon) and try to swallow it without the aid of water.
What I am astonished by is the number of people who were shocked when they had adverse medical effects from forcing an irritating spice ground into powder form into their throat and because of violent gag responses into their lungs. I would take this time to cover that cinnamon itself is harmless when consumed, and that any powder sucked into your lungs can lead to inflammation or even suffocation, but the Yahoo article covered that in detail.
No, what I want to cover today is why people are doing this potentially deadly challenge. Viral video popularity. Apparently the only reason these morons (from NBA players, actors, even a governor) is to boost their views and to appear more popular. Wow... What a great example to show to the youth of America, or the world. Hey kids, it is really important that people are always looking at you so do stuff to grab as much attention as you can.
I shouldn't be shocked. Celebrities and the like have used everything from "leaked" nude photos to million dollar weddings lasting less than a month to stretch their 15 minutes a little longer. But really who can blame them? I mean it is our society that feeds this vile creature (and yes I am aware that by even bashing it in rant form I am in a way feeding it..). I just hate the idea that today no famous person is using some kind of positive behavior to stay in the lime light.
I would be blown away if I saw some failing B list celebrity gain some notoriety for devoting a year to feeding the homeless, tutoring children, working with foster children, or building homes for the less fortunate. But who am I kidding our media would never cover that because our masses of depraved mouth breathers wouldn't be interested... Or would they? I mean those people are only entertained by what they are told is entertaining... Which is a rant for a later date.
