We've Seen This 'Knockout' Game Hysteria Before, And We'll See It Again

If you're worried about the "knockout game"—the alleged "epidemic" which involves a teenage male sneaking up behind a person in public, then punching the the back of the person's head as hard as possible in an attempt to knock them out—let me ask you this: Did you ever see a "gallon prank" while you were shopping?

Back in February, a trio of Virginia teenagers posted video of themselves pretending to slip and fall in a grocery store while holding a gallon of milk in each hand. The fake fall was an opportunity for the kids to toss the gallons up in the air and see them explode on the floor of their local supermarket. The video followed a common trajectory: It was shared on social media and went viral. Then copycats got to work, inspiring local news outlets to report that "gallon pranking" was now happening in their cities. Eventually Good Morning America got wind that something new was happening on the Internet, and next thing you know, it was a trend. Except not everybody was doing it, and now absolutely no one is. When's the last time you even thought about the gallon prank, assuming you heard about it in the first place?