Adult Cements Head In Microwave: Have People Gotten Stupider?
The Situation
We're Not Innocent From Doing Stupid Things, But...
We have all done something stupid in our lives.
You know what I'm talking about. We have all had moments where, in retrospect, we look at what we've done and wonder what the hell we were thinking. That's called life. Whether we decided when we were little that we could be like Spider-Man and be wall crawlers simply if we had enough glue on our hands (not me) or we decide to use the super sharp knives to pry the lid off of a spice container to refill it (definitely me - I've got the scar to prove it), there's always those moments where we look back and can hopefully laugh at the marvel that is our own stupidity that comes from poor choices.
However, when I look at some of the things I have seen in the news that young adults have done, I honestly have to wonder if the human race is getting stupider, or if the 24-hour news cycle is simply making it seem so.
Case in point: in reading the news this morning, I have come to discover that a 22-year-old in the UK, who is apparently some sort of YouTuber (while I do use YouTube for a variety of reasons - watching the silly things pets do or catching clips of Ellen - I don't follow any one YouTube channel), decided that he should use a microwave as a cement mould. Not only did this young man decide to use the microwave as a cement mould, he decided that a microwave would have been an ideal cement mould for his head.
According to The Sun, the 22-year-old and his buddies were filming something for TGFbro, a YouTube channel. They were smart enough to at least establish some sort of airway that this person could use, otherwise he would have surely died from suffocation, but after using seven bags of Polyfilla and pouring it around his head, which was also protected by a plastic bag, they came to realize that - shockingly enough - their friend was well and truly stuck.
It gets better. These boys didn't bother calling for help a few minutes after realizing they couldn't get their buddy out - they tried for an hour and a half before they finally gave in and called emergency services, who took another hour to get him out. Fortunately, the young man was fine, and can be seen in pictures grinning at the camera, but I am seriously wondering - what inspires someone to have their friends dump Polyfilla around their head which is in a microwave?
I read the Sun article further only to discover that there was a freakin' list of stupid things that people have done in the name of "extreme pranks."
There's the bride in 2015 who was grabbed by the best man and ushers before her own wedding and tossed in the air. Said best man and ushers failed to catch her, and she ended up missing her big day due to a concussion. The wedding was taking place in China, where it is apparently considered bad luck to change the date of your wedding.
In November 2017 - just a few short weeks ago - a teen lit himself on fire when he tried launching a rocket from his butt. No - I'm not being euphemistic or cracking wise about a kid and his farts; this boy legitimately put a rocket on top of his naked rear end and his clothes caught fire when the thing launched. He's basically fine, outside of a few singed clothes.
In October 2017, a man nearly died after posing to kiss a Dover sole minutes after he hooked it. It seems as the man puckered up, the fish wriggled in his hand, which then caused the man to gasp in surprise, and then the six inch fish leapt into his mouth and slid far enough down his throat that he choked. He ended up with a cardiac arrest for his troubles and even though his girlfriend has said he is forbidden from re-enacting such a stunt again, he's still game for it.
I realize the 21st century is a far different world than the internet-free world I experienced back in the 1980s, but COME ON, people. More of us need to start proving why we are top of the food chain and stop trying to be the big winners on the annual Darwin Awards - the "awards" website that says "Natural selection deems that some individuals serve as a warning to others."