Latest disturbing YouTube trend: Treadmill kitties
The good: Then-obscure indie rock band OK Go hit it big in a creative way--by YouTubing a video of the band members dancing on treadmills.
The bad: Video bloggers and wannabe Web stars have consequently realized that a treadmill is an extremely valuable prop in making the breakout two-minute clip. This has led to many an asinine addition to the YouTube library.
The worst: Home-video rule No. 76 states that it's always funnier when animals do it. As a result, the treadmill video trend on YouTube has now spread to cats. What's with this trend of tormenting felines with electronics? The videos of cats' reactions to Roomba vacuums were bad enough. I admit that a lot of them are pretty funny, but the cats probably are in either sheer terror or pure ennui. To use an early-'00s Web cliche--Please, think of the kittens.
Thanks to Wired's Table of Malcontents blog for the heads-up.
(Photo: YouTube)
Caroline McCarthy, a CNET News staff writer, is a downtown Manhattanite happily addicted to social-media tools and restaurant blogs. Her pre-CNET resume includes interning at an IT security firm and brewing cappuccinos. E-mail Caroline. 
