next time i hope the train hits them. they dont seem to be contributing much to evolution.

Give Social Darwinism a rest, imagine if you are the parent of these kids.

While it might not seem like they are contributing much that is a very shallow consideration. They are engaging in risky conduct probably for some sense of status or prestige among peers. From an evolutionary perspective it is really about whether the behavior is a net gain or minus to the species. Risk taking is a net gain, even if it sometimes kills people.

Remember it was the risk taker who:

• brought back fire from the lightning strike
• sailed away from shore
• climbed up the mountain
• explored the cave
• crossed the desert

Risk taking contributes a great deal to society.

I guess you don't ride the subways. When the motorman has to slam on the brakes to avoid hitting these morons, the passengers are often thrown to the floor , or into one of the poles, or each other. You think that's justifiable? You think that's funny? You think that's beneficial to society? From an evolutionary perspective, it appears that you did not complete that process yourself. But, please, I implore you - it out yourself, and maybe you will benefit society in a way that you wouldn't anticipate.

I think this is great, but I love Darwinism. I am thinking that the MTA should electrify that first rail too, as an added challenge.

Hey Phenom, I say to hell with how the parents feel! If they knew what their kids were doing then they wouldn't have been on the tracks. As for arresting them, to hell with that. Let them continue playing their games and eventually they'll get themselves killed. It's obvious that they won't become productive citizens anytime soon.

Wake up PARENTS! If you can't take time to instill some values into your kids because your "careers" are more important, then STOP having them. STOP expecting the rest of us to have to babysit your worthless bastards.

Jake -- Risk taking for gain and rewards and advancement, I see none of this on the subway tracks. This could just be another way of generating income. Kid hit and killed, parents sue so in a way you may be right.

Say Jake all those points you brought are quite different than a game of chicken. But I wonder how long before they start pushing others onto the tracks for thrills .

They are teenagers. This will continue until one of them goes under a train. The one who goes under the train will be immortalized on YouTube, and 50,000 others will post that they were there when it happened.

Railroad safety is taught every year in grade school and everyone is reminded of it at every cross walk or train station. These kids definitely know better. And if their parents are normal, I'm sure they would be absolutely irate that their child was doing something so reckless are down right retarded. I agree with the railroad company, these kids should get arrested and serve many hours of community service.

So much for latching on to: "A great mind is a terrible thing to waste"........

Phenomenal112

My kids may do some stupid things, but they dont and wouldnt intentionally endanger their lives like that.

^^^ i bet you dont know half the things your kids do. its part of being a teenager. most will do stupid things and some will do really stupid things.

Give Social Darwinism a rest, imagine if you are the parent of these kids.

I'm sure they are real proud that their kids turned out so smart. Let me guess, crackhead parents, probably no interest in teaching their kids anything but how to watch TV, play video games and get drunk or high. Or perhaps is lack of discipline, let them do anything they want, it's good for them.

Social Darwinism is alive and well, no help needed from us here in newsvine. These idiot kids will probably end up dead one way or another.

Thankfully stupidity eventually weeds itself out of the gene pool, otherwise we would still be living in caves.

Spot on.

the youth of the american Indians would sneak up on a bear brown bear , grizzly, etc. one would run up behind the bear slap him on the ass and then run away, IF he lived he would have passed the test to show he was a brave warrior......not a very smart one, but a brave one none the less.....since bears can run like a horse for a short distance and sneaking up on one is not very easy, it was a very dangerous practice indeed. dont know what the loss rate was , but it was probably in the 30% area or higher. all for a little tribal status. i would rather face the subway train.! kids have and will do stupid things....someone getting killed or injured is usually the end result. its just natures natural selection process. god knows i did some stupid sh&t when i was a kid. you look back and say, man that was a stupid thing to do, and wonder why your still alive......

I've said it before; as a kid, I knew there was a line... common sense, self preservation, whatever... and I and most I knew didn't cross it. Those that did got lucky some times, but most did end up in trouble or worse eventually. Darwinism has it's place and plot in life for a reason.

Sure, teens want notoriety and to stand out.... there are positive ways to do so, and parenting has as much to do with it as does the PC of no longer disciplining children in schools. This, combined with the need for a 2 parent, 3 job income and other ills have given way for kids to not become noticed for being good with guitar, drums, other instruments or sports, or biking or boarding.... but for being moronic. Sitting around watching Jackass, Bam or whatever else isn't exactly helping, either.

There's always been and always will be those that can't be saved, in some cases shouldn't be and that's Darwinism. I think what we're seeing more of now is children being tossed aside, not parented and not disciplined so are allowed to grow wild, to use adolescent brains to create their own amusements. That's not Darwinism.... that's a need for societal change.

Hey Phenomenal112,

This is plain old natural (unnatural) selection Darwinism. Nothing social about it.

Bizarre thing is that if one of those kids had been killed during their play time half the people posting would be screaming at the transit authority for not having proper security, and his parents would already be at the lawyers office to sue.

If a number of obviously stupid individuals want to get themselves killed, please don't stand in theior way people. We ,as a society, will be better off when they are no longer able to reproduce. As for their parents, just send them the clean up bill.

I believe that the vast majority of animals, once having offspring, are geared towards protection as a number one priority. Mammals moreso, and human mammals most definately; not only are we supposedly intellectually superior (questionable) but also have, when needed, societal safety nets.

All things; rules, punishments, discipline, time spent with children.... all point towards protection, safety. Whether it's family, friends, neighbors or strangers we should really be geared towards protecting our children, no matter whom's offended or fended off. My parents were very involved, and I still don't want my children doing half of what I was able to get away with.

It may be economy, it may be sheer numbers of human animals thus some loss of instinctual survival of the species, those that like to ponder may do so on the decay of society as a whole... whatever the reason, our children are losing and have been doing so long enough that they are having children that are losing. While we wonder how kids like this survive day to day, we also should be getting a collective wake up call on the why's of it all and for those that see where they have or are failing their own kids, change....

Much has to do with public schools; there is reverse racism, different standards and rules for various students depending on locality. There also is no real discpline, fear of the kroyers of lawyers, so even when I have my girls tow the line at home I hear 'so and so can do or gets away with (whatever), why can't I?' which is the stomping grounds for kids and popularity, pack hierarchy... the schools. So, with the desire to fit in, to climb the ranks; if the schools don't apply standards how effective is parenting at home? I don't blame the teachers but those that have castrated them and that's a biggie where we're failing our youth.

For most any kid, the majority of their social life if not all revolves around school; friends, enemies, dates, etc... . So, even under better circumstances, children have a bit to contend with; add to that dysfunctional family life and well.... you get what we're getting. I'd bet out of those kids hitting the tracks, 1 or 2 probably ran the show and the others, subconsciously or otherwise, wished they hadn't gone along with it or were stopped. Peer pressure is amped more than when most of us were kids because there's really not that ceiling now. Change is needed.....

I say that as soon as you see them jump down to do this, you pour oil on the edge of the platform so they can't climb back up. Problem solved except for the cleanup of the body parts.

Unfortunately, if the train DID hit them, the parents would act like it's the fault of the train company, even if the trains are on tracks, and moving at high speed, and there are signs and guard rails everywhere. They'll say they weren't properly guarding the entrances to the tracks. They'd probably win whatever sort of case they swung out too, since we live in a nanny state where it's everyone's fault but the idiot who does something stupid.

Remember the article where a bunch of kids burned down a castle trying to light cigarettes? Yeah. It'd probably end up something like that.

They should be given 100 hours of community work. The first day and subsequent days should be scrapping of the kids that didn't make it from the track, walls and under the cars. What is the filthiest thing on the subway? Whatever it is, they can then clean it until another one bites the dust. They can then scrap up that mess.

Momma said it best, "Stupid is as Stupid does!!!"

From all the posts you'd think no one on the boards ever took dangerous risks when they were kids. What they did is nothing new. I grew up in NYC and we took even bigger risks in the subway. I still have pics of my friends standing on the wood shielding over the third rail. And if it came down to it the clearance under the train is enough for a grown man to lie down and not be harmed.

Sure, it's dumb as hell but it's been going on in the subway for decades.

But I didn't see any "culling". Too bad.

...

I was thinking they all just need their asses beat

Heck make them play a game of russian roulette, they will learn to respect their lives then.

It is likely that when a psychiatrist examines them the diagnosis will be, they're teenagers.

A propensity for taking crazy risks for no apparent reason is one of the salient qualities of the male teenager. It is a condition most of us are lucky enough to out grow.

But yeah, they should arrest them. New York City has enough to deal with without some teenager greasing the tracks with his blood and guts. A couple of months of community service, picking up trash in the park, or emptying bed pans is probably the best treatment for these kids.

Agreed Rick! Their parents should knock some sense into them or some idiocy out of them.

Rick

I was thinking they all just need their asses beat

Thank you. A clear and succinct understanding of both problem and solution.

I'm afraid giving them a "pep talk" won't do it anymore. The kids now days are almost immune to just talking. My wife is a high school teacher and every year, the kids become worse and worse in their attitudes. It just makes you sick. No respect anymore. I, for one am not looking forward to what this country will become if these kids are our future. Remember the days when young people respected their elders? Not any more! They believe that they are better than adults. The "good" kids are becoming a minority in this day and age. To be honest, I don't see it getting any better. Sad......

They are the "owe me generation". They think the Government and tax payers "owe them a living" and they believe they should not have to work. O'Bama has supported this belief by calling for his "redistribution of wealth" and his support of the deadbeats associated with the OWS crowd. Why work when the President will pay you more NOT TO WORK!!

Um, they are young teenagers. I doubt they know anything about politics or the redistribution of wealth, nor would they care at this moment in their lives. They don't work, because they are teenagers. They go to school.

Obviously they aren't the sharpest tools in the shed. but, you don't know nearly enough about them to jump to silly conclusions based on your clear obsession with applying politics to every situation. It amazes me how people on this vine can turn every single news story into a political discussion - take a breather folks, or hit the political boards. Sheesh.

I think if they were to have "their heads examined", doctors would find nothing inside.

Thanks PH, I couldn't have said it better. There seems to be an obsession with blaming everything on politicians of one or another party, usually with arguments that have nothing to do with the story that is being commented on.

@Jimbo Putting them in jail will only accelerate their growth into criminals, and "getting their heads examined" would - in 99% of cases - be only a waste of taxpayer money, since from the looks of it they are only teenagers doing the stupid reckless kind of stuff kids have done for decades. As for their "disrespect for elders", it is something that doesn't show at all in this article (you can prove me wrong with a quote), and if they indeed were disrespectful in their private lives it is not something that the law should address, as we are no longer in the Middle Ages.

A "Pep talk"? Yeah that'll work.

Play much longer and they can have their heads examined.....at the morgue!

We don't but we do have electrified lines.

That was my thought exactly. When one of them accidently steps on the third rail, or doesn't quite make it back onto the ramp on time this idiotic game will stop.

They don't take the subway. They have car with million dollar jobs.

They have car with million dollar jobs?

There is no money or publicity in it for them to give it their time. Besides, let them go and continue destroying themselves it will save tax dollars in the long term. Tax payers wont have to pay to support them in prison or their burial cost.

Funny, I saw white kids....typical behavior for them.

People,cars,trucks, that hit trains are at fault, not the conductor.piss on them.

I feel the same way, rich. Sure, on 1 hand it's easy to think, idiots, let one get run over & then see what their attitudes are then. But on the other hand, there's a person on the other side of the equation that has to see & feel (literally or figuratively, I don't know how big an object has to be to register a felt impact on something as big as a train) a living, breathing human being hit & mangled by their train. No, it wouldn't be the fault of the conductor that someone was that stupid. But that wouldn't necessarily mean they wouldn't feel some sort of nagging doubt---could I have seen them sooner, was my reaction time as fast as it could have been?---that might well haunt him/her for the rest of their days. And the other teens---do they really have a concept that sh!& can happen & a friend die, for real? Yeah, they're being stupid/teenagers, but to live w/ the mental image of a friend dying, along w/ the knowledge that they had in all probability been egging him on & maybe share just the teeniest bit of blame for it.....that sounds horrible. Yes, take them into custody, surely there's something else constructive to set them to do, but just don't lock them up to let them sit & stew & feel sorry for themselves that the grown-ups interrupted their fun & plan their next 'fun' activity.

That is going to be of little consolation to the conductor after he's killed someone, regardless of who was at fault.

Not testosterone, peer pressure, do you see these kids ever attempt to play these games alone?

He was there cheering and giving them support!!

I'm thinking you need to broaden your horizons. The story clearly states that it is from NBC-New York. That would make this a local story for them, but one with enough broad interest that they posted it here, and you read it.

...and playing the choking game, don't forget that.

Yeah NevadaJ, and I bet you walked 10 miles to school barefoot in 10 feet of snow- ONE WAY!! Am I right?

AS in washingtion gov.

Has a train ever de-railed due to running over a human body or two or three?

Has a train EVER derailed from hitting a human (or small group)...YES. Is it likely to happen with a modern train (look at some pictures of very early trains)? Not at all.

Compared to a human body, the average subway train weighs nearly 100,000 pounds each. I really don't think a human body or two can derail a subway car. It's not that easy to derail a subway car. One would have to put some work into derailing a subway car. This is coming from a 15 year veteran track worker.

That's why I asked you. Thanks.

I did some stupid things, but none of them involved playing chicken with a train.

EqualityforAll- This is just about what I would've said but you obviously said it first.

Yup, teens are dumb, and somehow dumber in a group. I never exactly played chicken with a train, but we'd run alongside in downtown Seattle and jump on for a ride, hopefully jump off before it got going too fast heading out of the city. Draw straws to see who would attach the rope under East Channel Bridge for a rope swing, I could go on, I'm sure most commenters here probably could too.

No I don't want my kids to get injured or killed, I also didn't coddle them and keep them from learning from their own stupidity and pretend I was never a dumb active kid.

The only difference between us, our (now adult) kids and those today is U-TUBE and nearly every kid having a cell phone with recording options.

Reckless teenagers deserve the death penalty? And you are the one calling them idiots?

No, reckless teenagers don't deserve to be killed by the legal system, but they might deserve to be killed by Darwinian dangers depending on the choices they make in life. I think they're smart enough to understand the danger of this activity, this is why doing it elevates them above their peers. It's a risk they're willing to take in the name of social status.

I think it's safe to say that these kids don't understand the full risk vs. reward situation here, and when the ratio is skewed so far in the risk direction, it can be easily interpreted as idiocy.

LOL - Darwinian dangers? That's a new one. The Darwin groupies usually use the old stand by terms. Thanks for the laugh.

I'm thinking this falls under teenagers doing stupid @!$%#e.

Because then the MTA has to reroute trains and schedules, it disrupts the commute of hundreds or thousands (time of day, length of time for detours). Cleanup crews have to be called in. Medical teams are called in. Investigations must be made. The parents lawyers have to argue with MTA lawyers. And I would imagine that the conductor would need some counseling for helplessly watching a stupid kid die under his train.

Part of being a teenager is being shortsighted. That doesn't make the kids that are dead due to their stupidity any dead. The people their deaths affected aren't affected any less because it was a teenager.

You're probably right anyone who votes republican, carries a gun, thinks climate change is a hoax and goes to church every Sunday and continues to act as though the 1% are victims needs to have their heads examined (we'll probably find cavernous ruins where their brains ought to be). These kids are just morons, they're everywhere inside NYC and in the hinterlands.

Yup, the "99%" should have their heads examined. Good idea Bill.

These young fools have signed up for "nature weeding out the stupid." Do we need their offspring wandering the streets? Not really. They are obviously Democrats.

One thing, though... When they get splattered all over the subway station, please take all the phony flowers, stuffed toys, construction paper crosses, New Orleans show me your tits necklaces and put them in the cemetery. They have no place in the public walkway.