The scene opens up with a man’s voice nonchalantly saying “Worldstar” as he films two women arguing on his cell phone.
Suddenly, from out of nowhere, another man flies in, hitting one of the women in her chin, rendering her unconscious.
Sadly, scenes like these meet the criteria for the perfect video on worldstarhiphop.com.
Worldstarhiphop.com is a hip-hop based website that started as a site digitally download hip-hop mixes.
Despite the millions of daily view, the website has taken a turn for the worst.
People log on to the website not for the latest Lil Wayne album, but to see the latest fight compilation.
The viewers might eventually listen to Wayne’s stuff. But first, they want to see a guy knock out three guys in a row at a Burger King.
It’s a source of entertainment for many people.
I myself occasionally log on.
Watching “trash tv,” like the Jerry Springer show, is somewhat of a guilty pleasure.
In this case it’s “trash videos.”
As a responsible adult, watching worldstarhiphop.com doesn’t influence me to go out and assault someone on camera. My concern is with the youth. They are impressionable.
Violence is a harsh reality, but websites like these seem to be glorifying violence and ignorance. With its constant growth in popularity, more and more children may become desensitized by violence.
Children see these real life fights as nothing more than an image similar to what they would see on TV, in a video game or other media source.
Unfortunately, in these fight scenes there are no stunt doubles and the director doesn’t yell “cut.”
The site does have warnings on some of the videos, but a child can easily bypass that by clicking the “Yes I am 18 or older” box.
However, age does not always determine maturity level.
It’s mostly, if not all the time, videos of adults participating in acts of aggression. With today’s technology, you can share information with millions with just the click of a button.
Almost everyone has a cell phone camera and it seems like everybody wants to be the next Michael Bay and film public or private matters.
I think if a website such as worldstarhiphop.com showcases things like this, then it encourages people to fight and film it.
If an incident is uploaded to a website, it can be incriminating. Several investigations and arrests have been made do to some of the criminal acts posted on worldstarhiphop.com.
Televised violence has become somewhat of a cultural phenomenon, so if you hear the word “Worldstar” you know a beat-down is sure to follow.