Should all pranks and practical jokes be halted in case a victim commits suicide?

[Nye Bevan]

Last edited Sat Dec 8, 2012, 04:01 PM - Edit history (1)

8 votes, 0 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	Yes. Nobody should ever play a prank or practical joke, because you never know when it might cause somebody to commit suicide.
	1 (13%)
	No. Pranks can be funny, and if someone commits suicide they probably have more serious issues.
	5 (63%)
	Other.
	2 (25%)
	0 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
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[-..__...]

1. No fucking way!

Otherwise, we would be deprived of gems like this...

(NSFW)

[Lightbulb_on]

7. *shudder* Wanda Sykes...

That woman's voice is nails on a chalkboard...

[treestar]

21. too funny!

[ZombieHorde]

2. I voted "no," but I do think we should try to be toughtful with our pranks and jokes. nt

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. Other: the news is about an attempt to get people to break the rules of their workplace

that would have had a good chance of getting them sacked, whatever their reaction (and, who knows, maybe that was a significant part of their thinking before suicide). In some countries, the nurse would have broken the law. It was more than just a 'prank' or 'practical joke'. And it also probably broke Australian broadcasting rules, because they should have had permission to broadcast it.

[Nye Bevan]

6. The nurse who killed herself did nothing except transfer the call.

She did not give out any information whatsoever. How could she have broken the law?

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. OK, fair enough, the other nurse would have been the one to break the law

That hardly affects your push poll, though.

[lalalu]

4. That nurse had other issues.

How could she really believe the queen was calling her on the phone? Plus they sounded like someone from Monty Python.

[wickerwoman]

5. No, but I don't think it's too much to ask

for people to think through the consequences of their actions and take responsibility for them.

Putting cling film on a toilet seat is not the same as broadcasting a phone call that, best case scenario, is going to get someone written up or fired from their low-paid, stressful service job.

[LiberalLoner]

8. Plus a gazillion and a half!

[Nye Bevan]

10. So the prank call to Scott Walker (supposedly from David Koch) should not have happened,

because it might have resulted in the receptionist who took the call being fired?

[jeff47]

15. Only if it was that receptionist's job to confirm the identity of the caller.

Here's the thing - a good prank actually has to have a chance of being, you know, funny.

What, exactly is the potential funny here? Ha-ha! We talked to someone on the phone!

Even the childish "Is your refrigerator running"-style calls have a joke in them. This "prank" has no point.

[wickerwoman]

22. What I'm saying is,

own the consequences. If you're going to act thoughtlessly in a way that damages another person's life, then you should accept responsibility and try to make amends for it. If the receptionist had been fired, the person making the phone call should have offered to hire her or helped her find another job.

Better yet, why don't we all try to be a little nicer to each other than we have to be? You never know where somebody is coming from- especially when your "prank" involves cold-calling complete strangers. Even what's funny can change second to second. You don't know that she just didn't find out her mother died or that her husband has cancer or that one of her kids is doing drugs. The fact that she's a nurse and obviously has a very stressful job should be clue number one.

Do you really think the benefit here outweighs the possible consequences? Giving a bunch of people a little snigger with their morning coffee about the "dumb nurses at the hospital" is worth getting someone fired or driving them over the edge into suicide? We're talking about a real widowed husband and kids without a mother for what? The rights of rich radio assholes engaging in societally sanctioned bullying for "grown-ups"?

[thucythucy]

11. I voted "other." I wouldn't want to ban

all pranks, but as a general rule I think it's poor taste and exceedingly thoughtless to prank nurses at hospitals, volunteers at battered women's shelters, officials at hurricane relief efforts, EMTs, and others performing vital services. Generally speaking those people are stressed out enough, and don't have the time or energy for "pranks."

If you want to play a prank, try calling some jerk shock jock and tell him on the air that his cialis was delivered to the wrong address. Not there's a prank I can get behind.

[OldEurope]

14. That!

[arely staircase]

12. i say ban everything

absolutely everything.

[Raine]

13. No but some sensitivity should be shown about making private citizens who weren't

seeking the public eye the butt of a joke that is broadcast. It's one thing with public figures like Scott Walker or Sarah Palin but doing it to private citizens and humiliating them is just wrong.

[treestar]

18. +1

If they'd done it to a public figure, it wouldn't be so bad.

[Hestia]

23. Good Grief! Let's take the receptionist call fowarding in perspective --

How do you know that this person hadn't been fielding calls all day/night from Lord & Lady blah blah blah or the Duke & Duchess of blah blah blah. She'd most like been told to transfer those type of call through to someone in the know (of how and when to handle these types of calls).

This act goes way beyond transferring a prank call. It sounds like either A) crap rolls downhill and she was the bottom (supervisor et al giving her "disciplinary" recommendation; or B) she had major emotional issues above and beyond her job, and actually, the call transfer had absolutely nothing to do with her suicide; or 3) mostly B, and just a bit of A.

When did we lose our sense of humor? Everyone is acting as if the call itself plunged a knife into her back instead of saying, oh, wow, it was just a call. So what if they are tasteless? Aren't there a whole slew of these types of morning pranksters in this country? How do we know that none of their calls ended the same way? Or Crank Yankers (remember them)? CY's calls were worse.

Prank calls have been around since the invention of the telephone and they aren't going to stop. There's a new generation of 'tweens coming in. They think they'll be the first ever to think of prank calls.

[Nye Bevan]

24. She obviously had major, major issues, and anything could have triggered her suicidal urges.

People who are not severely mentally disturbed do not kill themselves over something like this. Heck, normal people don't even kill themselves over the death of a spouse, the loss of a job, or bankruptcy.

If this prank had not occurred, something else would probably have triggered her suicide.

[union_maid]

16. Better question

Should shock jocks be deep sixed? I'd vote yes for that. Not banned. Just ended, the way we're trying to have happen to Rush.

[treestar]

17. Depends

Some pranks are extreme.

The ones on Sarah Palin were OK to do, of course!

This I think could easily get someone in trouble. You give confidential information over the phone to someone you think is authorized. The lady probably took some heat for assuming. She may have broken a rule or policy, since a hospital that treats the royals is likely to have a bunch of rules about it.

The mother in law and brother in law probably aren't generally allowed to have information about the patient. So she could have taken heat for that. Even so, suicide is too much, without other issues.

But people should be treated respectfully, especially since you don't know if you are dealing with someone who is depressed. Best to limit pranks to people you know have a sense of humor and know are tough enough for it.

[AgingAmerican]

19. It wasn't a prank

It wasnt a practical joke. It was paparazzi style stalking. Paparazzi are not pranksters and jokers.

[libdem4life]

20. The tasteless we shall always have with us. Common sense, not so much.

Unfortunately, I think it's like trying to ban Stupid. It defies definition.