There’s something about the performative pressure of living for clicks and likes that makes people go to extremes that people would not ordinarily do.

People have put themselves in stupid or dangerous situations that they never would have without the social media ingredient some of the fads that have come and gone include ingesting detergent, stepping out of a moving car to sing along to a song, and a whole stream of ‘challenges’ that run the gamut of inane to insane.

In the rush to stay leading-edge ‘edgy’, they play up their online personas and do stupid stunts. Some have plummeted from buildings. Others have demonstrated to a live-streamed audience that an encyclopedia cannot stop a round from a Desert Eagle.

Reckless stunts are not unique to the permanently online generation — this writer grew up in the long shadow cast by test pilot and motorcycle stunt performers — but the pressures to play to the crowd are greater than ever before, since attention is becoming the coin of the realm. (And a very lucrative coin at that.)

Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?

Seventeen-year-old Rylo Huncho (his performing name) is the latest in a long line of such casualties.

VA rapper, Rylo Huncho, fatally shoots himself recording TikTok
Virginia’s drill rap scene was shaken by the tragic news of 17-year-old rapper Rylo Huncho. He wound up fatally shooting himself in the head while recording a TikTok video. The incident occurred at his home, leaving family, friends, and fans devastated.
Rylo Huncho’s real name has not been disclosed. However, he was known for his energetic performances and promising music career. On the day of the incident, he was reportedly handling a firearm. As previously mentioned, he was filming content for his TikTok account when the gun discharged. So, this resulted in a fatal injury. — HipHopVibe

We’ll not embed the video of the moments leading to his death but a video showing the context was posted by an account that was wondering whether the video was real or staged.

Sadly enough, it was real.

Activists will blame the gun. But that’s really not what went wrong here. There are plenty of examples of kids FAR younger than that rapper with shooting skills that would shame the best of us. And the only thing they pose any danger to is paper targets downrange, or the game they are bringing back for supper.

The tragic difference is, those kids have been taught to respect the gun as a powerful and dangerous tool that — like fire — has dangerous consequences if handled carelessly.

With the camera running, this kid took dangerous risks most of us would never DREAM of taking in ordinary situations.

Rylo was influenced by a culture — whether you want to blame online or music, it hardly matters at this point — where playing at being badass was more important than handling a dangerous tool safely.

It cost him — and his grieving mother — everything.

Sadly, he was chasing a counterfeit version of ‘badass’. The real deal looks very different.

Cross-posted with Clash Daily

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