Just a Bunch of Plankers

This post in inspired by 'Planking an offence?' http://hayleycrim2027.blogspot.com/

When I first saw the reports indicating planking would be targeted as a criminal offence by police, I was shocked. This was before any serious planking related accidents had occurred.  After the death of Acton Beale I paused for a moment to consider that perhaps the police were right to charge plankers, then I reconsidered. If criminalising a 'sport' is necessary under the guise of public protection where do we stop? Smoking and drinking are both still legal, and far more dangerous, in fact I am relatively sure alcohol has been involved in all planking related deaths. You know what else is dangerous, crossing the road without looking. But is this act of stupidity a criminal offence? No, people have always, and will continue, to do stupid things, we can not criminalise all of them.



The magnification of this craze has quickly escalated to near moral panic proportions. Cohen defined a moral panic as "a condition, episode, person or group of persons emerges to become defined as a threat to societal values and interests; its nature is presented in a stylized and stereotypical fashion by the mass media". (Cohen 2002) We can clearly see the media as the driving factor behind the call for action over planking, ironically, it is new media, that is, social media such as facebook, that allowed this fad to become mainstream in the first place. What many do not know is that this cult 'sport' has been around for a considerable time, with no notable deaths, in the form of 'extreme lying down'. (extremelyingdown.net, 2010) It is only due to the actions of an irresponsible few that this activity caught mass media attention and has been deemed dangerous, if not deadly, leaving politicians and law enforcement officials in a position where they feel compelled to act. In any case this is just an example of self victimisation, those who engage in the activity do so at their own risk. Using the full force of the law to protect us from our own actions is an example of paternalism. Joel Feinberg states "hard paternalism will accept as a reason for criminal legislation that it is necessary to protect competent adults, against their own will, from harmful consequences of their fully voluntary choices and undertakings... since it imposes its own values and judgements on people 'for their own good'" (Schonsheck 1994, p.179). The real dangers of this activity are limited, without the previously mentioned contributing factors such as alcohol, and are restricted to those engaging in the behaviour. Let us end the madness before we become a complete nanny state. I say let the plankers plank, this is just a fad, being driven by those who most oppose it, as they grant it the added thrill of notoriety. Like all fads it too will die out soon enough, remember goldfish swallowing? No, me neither.  As Hayley said lets not criminalise people for their idiocy, I agree, after all natural selection will surely take care of them for us...



References


Baskin B & Arnold R 2011, 'Planking: not illegal but police warn internet pranksters could face charges of trespass', Courier Mail, 13 May
http://www.couriermail.com.au/lifestyle/planking-not-illegal-but-police-warn-internet-pranksters-could-face-charges-of-trespass/story-e6frer4f-1226055142247


Cohen S 2002, Folk Devils and Moral Panics: The Creation of the Mods and Rockers, Routledge, London

Godfrey A 2011, 'How Brisbane planking death of Acton Beale is fueling a dangerous web craze', The Daily Telegraph, 17 May
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/how-brisbane-planking-death-of-acton-beale-is-fueling-a-dangerous-web-craze/story-e6freuzr-1226056501630

Schonsheck J 1994, On criminalisation, Kluwer Academic Publishers, The Netherlands

2010 'Extreme lying down' http://extremelyingdown.net/