Bungee
jumping good alternative to choking
Molly Stewart
My first night in college I watched one of my new friends almost die. He pressed
his hands on his neck. A few seconds later, his eyes rolled back in his head
and his body went limp.
As I watched in horror,
everyone else laughed and clapped.
They were playing the choking game. The object of the game is to deprive the
brain of oxygen so one can feel a rush when the blood flow returns. Forget magic
and dirty jokes, trying to kill yourself is the new party trick.
What’s really frightening about this disturbing new trend is that people
don’t get this is a game you could die from after only playing one round
of. In the choking game, you aren’t gambling with chips or a few dollars.
You’re gambling with your life.
While growing up, our annoyingly overprotective parents said the same thing about
drinking and smoking, but no one really listens because it’s not likely
to kill you right away, at least not unless you down four gallons of rum in a
night or smoke five packs a day for 20 years.
You’re more likely to kick the bucket from crashing your Honda on the way
to work than by downing a fifth every weekend with your buddies. But choking
yourself isn’t something that will kill you in twenty years; it will kill
you in twenty seconds.
Not only could it put you in a casket long before one too many pumps of foamy
beer, but it could also give you permanent brain damage. If you’re stupid
enough to think self-asphyxiation is cool, you’re already on your way to
riding the special bus. If you’re lucky enough to be born free of mental
disabilities, don’t ruin your life by giving them to yourself.
While my friend left the game with nothing more than a red face and bloodshot
eyes, another college student in West Virginia died last week from an accidental
hanging.
The boy, Jonathan David Hansen, 21, was a 4.0 gpa student. He had his whole life
ahead of him, but he threw it away for one instant of pleasure. What a waste.
According to the Associated Press, the choking game is also called “space
monkey,” “flat-liner,” “fainting game” and “black
out.” Other than hands, ties, bags and belts are also used to cause hypoxia,
a shortage of oxygen. Besides leaving you dead and dumb from brain damage, it
can also cause stroke, seizures and retinal damage.
These risks aren’t reviewed before you play the choking game. Only when
someone loses a life does Twister seem like the game that should have been played.
Self-asphyxiation is also paired with sex and masturbation to intensify the orgasm.
Isn’t sex pretty awesome by itself? Is cutting off your air supply before
you climax worth risking your life for?
I seriously doubt it. If you want to spice things up, look into Karma Sutra,
not a Ziploc bag.
There are hundreds of other ways to get a rush that won’t end in a phone
call to your parents letting them know they found you dead, hanging from your
dorm room ceiling like Hansen.
Please don’t suffocate yourself to get high. Ride a roller coaster or go
bungee jumping, but don’t strangle yourself to make people laugh or get
high. When they cart you out on a stretcher, no one will be laughing.
Molly Stewart is a freshman journalism major.
|
