Just Let Plankers Plank
I first came across planking in 2006 when emails were forwarded around with new pictures everyday. I recall a story about some nurses and BA staff being sacked for doing it while on duty somewhere in the UK. But planking seems to be becoming a recurring craze, as it seems it’s doing the rounds again.
Personally, I think it’s hilarious, harmless fun. Like anything else some individuals can take it to the extremes of sanity or safety, and some have taken it the ultimate distance and actually died doing it. But does that make the whole phenomenon “dumb”? I don’t think so. That only makes people who do anything recklessly – dumb.
In case you’re still unsure and asking what is planking? it’s when you lay face down with your feet together and arms tucked into your sides. To be of any merit there has to be some level of creativity and social daring about where you do it, but it should not be dangerous. It’s simply not enough to just lie down on your sitting room floor and take a picture, that really is lame. Whack, even.
The press is obsessed with planking these days with almost daily reports of somebody being sacked for planking. But I’ve seen countless tweets by people branding plankers as retarded, stupid, sick, lame and many other derisory terms. But why the vitriol? If you don’t like it – fine, but leave those who do like it alone. They’re not harming you, you don’t have to look at the pictures and nobody is seeking your approval.
Wow! It’s really not that deep, one way or the other. Another thing I’m seeing are tweets that seemingly admonish black people who plank, because that’s how slaves were transported in slave ships. Apparently. Therefore, they’re disrespecting the memory of said slaves and indirectly condoning the slave trade. Get the fuck outta here. STFU. That is all.
There’s no real connection with planking and the transatlantic slave trade. These people who use the slave trade, or ‘slavery’ as both an excuse and justification for their own deep internal failures really need to stop and get a life now. Really.
But slavery aside, the amount of negative emotional energy some expend hating planking is at best bewildering. I think it just shows how uptight and pent up with indiscernible frustration these people are. I think planking is harmless fun and when done safely and creatively, it’s hilarious. So just let plankers plank.
Check out Pappzd Magazine’s Urban Plankers gallery. If you have any safe and family friendly pictures of your planking you can send it in for inclusion
About Uche Chukwu | All Posts | Website | Twitter | Contact
An opinionated, social commentator and cultural critic with something to say about everything. Usually polemic and not always well thought through. Something of an insensitive, hypocritical contradiction of altruistic folly, he observes what is wrong with society, snears at, examines and dissects it then walks away in disgust, offering little by way of solution. Believes the world needn't actually change, and dumbing down is unnecessary, we just need to find a way to eradicate the really stupid. He's part of the problem.
…as promised…
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150288770707094&set=a.10150288760252094.358352.88199977093&type=1&theater
YEAH!
…you KNOW I’m itching to Plank, right?