By Kristie Schiefer
News Assignment Editor
Oh my, why is this freshman in his underwear thrusting the air?
My thoughts exactly as I watched my first Harlem Shake video. What is now a popular dance (if you could even call it dancing) craze has come close to dangerous territories and even crossed over those fine lines. It needs to end.
I’m not exactly proud to say my university sent me an eblast containing this filth. I was a little confused at first as to why there was a student dancing alone in a green morph suit emphasizing his gifts from God. Then came hysteria — and I thought, okay, these kids are just lashing out. But then the other student dropped his drawers, and by my own astonishment, I’m sure his grandmother probably had a heart attack.
Embarrassing, right? Good luck getting a job.
Upon discovering more of these YouTube videos full of provocative moves humping everything from the air to stuffed animals and the ground, it became less funny (as if it ever was).
Yet about 4,000 Harlem Shake videos are uploaded on the Internet every day, according to a March 4 dailymail.co.uk article.
But now it’s getting people into trouble, and that’s why it’s out of hand.
Fifteen workers at the Agnew gold mine in Australia were fired and banned for life from every Barminco project in the world after performing the Harlem Shake on site, according to a March 4 Yahoo! News article. Gone were their six-figure salary jobs after the stupidity of these eight men went viral.
The workers defended themselves by saying they were having a bit of fun, according to the Yahoo! article.
Well that’s safe and professional.
Speaking of unprofessionalism and misrepresenting your school, Colorado College’s ultimate frisbee team also made a video dancing in the aisles of a Frontier Airlines flight that sparked controversy, according to the same article.
I don’t understand why you would want to portray and humiliate yourself on the Internet like this. Especially in a society where the first thing anyone does if they want to know about you is Facebook or Google your name.
Take a look at Tunisia, where the Internet sensation became part of a bitter rivalry and provoked a violent backlash, according to a March 5 Associated Press article. The Minister of Education launched his own investigation on the principal of a school for allowing an “indecent” video to be filmed on the premises. Good for him, because the Harlem Shake is anything but tasteful.
It’s a dumb fad that lacks originality. Anyone and everyone is grasping at their chance to get a moment in the spotlight.
A spotlight growing dimmer and that blew a few bulbs after “The Today Show” mastered their own version of the corniest Harlem Shake on Valentine’s Day.
Please, Harlem Shake, just die already. I’ll dig your grave right next to Gangnam Style’s.
