Kevin Threadgold | Contributing Writer
“No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible.” – Stanislaw Jerzy Lec
I’d like to begin with a brief story of a night out in rural Carlow. On a recent Saturday I went to a 21st birthday party and, after a lost game of beer pong, jokingly attempted a ‘neknomination’. I only got three-quarters of the way there, but my friends still laughed and applauded. “Well done, you’re a real big man now!” The whole charade was laced with sarcasm. Meanwhile, about three miles to the northwest, a man two years younger than us was dying as a result of the same craze.</p>
Between sudden tragedy close to home and allegations of institutional discrimination in college, the first full week of February was an eye-opening time. In some ways I feel lucky: lucky that I witnessed the stunningly eloquent rage of Alex Trant, Alexa Donnelly, Dee Courtney and Naoise Dolan in person, lucky that I have so much opportunity still open to me, lucky that close friends of mine are alive. In another sense though, as many have said, it’s sad that it has had to come to this. We often have to endure awful things to remind us of how good life can be. We shouldn’t have to.
If I had seen one isolated video of someone downing a pint, I would have dismissed the idea as reckless and stupid, but strange things happen when lots of people join in.
“One friend who is wholly sensible labelled neknomination “one of the worst fads since the Harlem Shake””
One friend who is wholly sensible labelled neknomination “one of the worst fads since the Harlem Shake”. He did so in the description of his neknomination video, which involved the stunt of discreetly knocking back some rum during a college lecture. The very first comment on the video queried why he bothered to go through with it, given his disdain. In reply, he quipped, “I was thirsty.” This witticism has so far netted him 24 Facebook ‘likes’; the video itself garnered over 150. Another friend necked an entire bottle of red wine. I gasped and chuckled and liked the video at the time. Now both he and I can see our folly with deep regret. If he had his time again, he would never consider it.</p>
If I had seen one isolated video of someone downing a pint, I would have dismissed the idea as reckless and stupid, but strange things happen when lots of people join in. Every time I saw a friend, a person I liked and respected, doing something like necking red wine or a naggin, it legitimised that activity a little bit. Each individual video may only have had a tiny effect, but the cumulative result was that I genuinely considered posting a video of myself on the internet drinking an entire bottle of cough syrup, just to keep up the entertainment. It would be far too easy for me or anybody else to pontificate in hindsight and label these decisions as reckless and needless. In reality, I was moments away from following suit. Only the shock and disapproval of my parents when I showed them the red wine video reopened my eyes to the true insanity of neknominations. I had been passively hypnotised by peer pressure without even knowing it.
Likes are a very blunt indication of friends’ attitudes, but they are hunted because they quantify approval.
These realisations, that it is far too easy to inadvertently get caught up in something damaging and beyond your control, and that by the time you realise what’s wrong it may well be too late, are truly disturbing. Entire belief systems have been created and survived for centuries because people find them uncomfortable. The problem comes in trying to be aware of the bigger picture. It’s just not possible to always catch yourself losing perspective
“As young people we tend to struggle to really see beyond the short term”
Sometimes we think we’re bulletproof. We’re not. Sometimes we think things will last forever. They don’t. As young people we tend to struggle to really see beyond the short term. Social media is quite a hindrance in this respect. Likes are a very blunt indication of friends’ attitudes, but they are hunted because they quantify approval. The idea of dealing with your behind-the-scenes while witnessing everyone else’s highlight reel holds true. How many videos showed the sick after-effects of neknominations?
It is incumbent on us, any person who has a voice, to use it to address the wrong that we see in the world. Friends often say to me that they feel their actions don’t matter. What these events have taught me is that more often than not they matter far more than any of us can ever truly grasp. The tunnel vision, the recklessness of youth, only exacerbates this problem. Going with the crowd, necking a beer or letting ignorance oppress without question, is easy: standing up and speaking out for an unpopular cause that you truly believe in is not. This is what real courage is. This is “being a real man”: in fact, it’s being a real person. I don’t claim to be able to do this any more than anybody else. We are often told to seize any opportunity that comes our way. On the basis of what I now know I would argue that, when it comes to standing up for what we know to be right, we have to. So rarely are we aware of consequences that when we are, we must act. It’s too great a risk to wait until it’s too late.
That is the real challenge that we, as young people, need to set each other.
