The Instagram “Leg Gun” Craze: Dumber Than Planking?

One of the most wondrous and glorious things about the Internet is that it allows people to join together and do the same dumb thing so they all feel as if they are “part” of something.

One of the dumbest viral trends in the anals annals of Web history was the “planking” mania that overtook the world three years ago and vanished shortly after an Australian man accidentally planked himself to death after falling off a building.

The latest New Dumb Thing was launched last week by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei posted a shot on Instagram of someone pretending their leg was a gun. Suddenly, hundreds of Asians started doing the same thing and posting their own “leg gun selfies,” which is frankly a little disappointing to me, because I expect Asians to be more intelligent than that, but maybe the Internet makes everyone a little dumber.

Others are using the “leg gun selfie” to send a message that we should end gun violence, which is also a little dumb, because try pointing your leg at someone who’s pointing a gun at you and see what happens.

Here are fifty exemplary shots from Instagram of the “leg gun” craze. These were all marked with the #leggun tag or some similar variant in case you think I’m merely mistaking yoga practitioners for leg-gun enthusiasts. And once this craze catches on in the West, there will be more than fifty—plenty more—until someone’s leg accidentally misfires and hurts someone.

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