It is not OK to do something stupid, evil, mean sexual, or dangerous by calling it a prank.

[kickysnana]

All bullies and/or criminals say it was a prank, rough sex, a joke and that makes it OK.

Somewhere along the line when families were pranking each other to try to get people used to the world, they forgot to say that pranking isn't always OK. That there are a lot of people who CANNOT handle pranking and calling them insane, or they have other problems is making more excuses for your bad behavior.

DU is often too harsh for a lot of people and it has gotten much more so over the last few years. You cannot humiliate, scare, or shame people and expect them to listen to you, ever.

The New Year is coming can we try to be a little more civil to each other and stop using people we don't know by setting them up for our personal amusement?

[no_hypocrisy]

1. I agree.

Does anyone remember the story about when Glenn Beck had his Morning Zoo show in Arizona? As a "prank", he called up the wife of a rival radio jockey who had just suffered a miscarriage and mocked her husband for being failures at having a baby? Was that funny? Beck got a free pass on that one and look where he is now.

http://foxnewsboycott.com/glenn-beck/glenn-beck-made-fun-of-womans-miscarriage/

http://dangerousminds.net/comments/glenn_beck_ridiculed_a_woman_who_had_had_a_miscarriage_live_on_his_radio_sh

[renate]

28. I never heard about this... how did he get away with it?

Not that I am all that interested in Glenn Beck, but how could a public person do something so horrible, so sick and cruel, and not have it be a HUGE part of what is known about him? He should be "Glenn Beck, conservative broadcaster and the guy who once mocked a grieving woman on-air for having a miscarriage."

I can't be alone in not knowing this--I never read about this on DU before, and there was a time when Glenn Beck was mentioned here fairly frequently.

There just aren't words for how contemptible he is--I thought that before, but this is just staggering.

[CanonRay]

2. "Prank" is a Romney word

if there ever was one. Do the nastiest things imaginable and, when caught, call it a "prank"

[Skidmore]

6. It is a word in the English language.

I so sick of people allowing common use words to be corrupted so that they end up being removed from accepted language.

[CanonRay]

29. A Romney word being a word Romney likes to use.

[Sienna86]

3. I just had this discussion with my teenage son

We discussed the suicide of the nurse in the UK. You never know how the recipient of such behavior will react. And you're right in my book, calling it a prank or doing something for laughs or entertainment, doesn't excuse the behavior or the result.

[Buzz Clik]

4. There is a shitload of bullying on both sides of every issue.

It takes a lot of forms.

Even our esteemed admins have engaged in such behavior.

[Sheldon Cooper]

5. I don't understand your post.

Both sides of what issue? And, who are 'our esteemed admins'? Can you elaborate, please? Thanks.

[Buzz Clik]

7. My post was in support of the OP.

... which was also non-specific. Probably best to leave it that way.

[Sheldon Cooper]

8. Okay.

Thanks.

[txwhitedove]

9. K&R, truth.

[mark67]

10. Please get a grip people...

If you are referring to the incident in the UK, it was a harmless prank, and for that matter, very funny if you actually listen to the stupid, fake accent from the DJs. They had no idea someone would actually take them seriously when they called.

And although no one could have predicted the disastrous consequences and my condolences to all involved, it was just a stupid prank-really, get a grip-we are starting to sound like Fox News here.

[LisaL]

18. Someone did take them seriously. But yet they still broadcasted the call.

So the idea that they didn't expect it to go as far as it did-doesn't fly.

[MADem]

20. Are you saying that they knew the woman had killed herself BEFORE they aired the piece?

That is not my understanding of the timeline.

Further, do we "know" that "the prank" was the reason the woman killed herself?

Or did she have other issues?

Did she leave a note?

[MH1]

21. I don't know if it's still there, but news accounts said the station still had the piece online

AFTER expressing regrets for the woman's suicide.

That's either incompetence or pretty damned cold.

However, as the saying goes, never attribute to malice what can be explained by sheer incompetence.

[MADem]

24. I didn't hear that--that's news to me. I heard that station management vetted the prank, and that

the call was pre-recorded, but I didn't hear that they were continuing to play/tout/make the thing available. There would naturally be a brief lag between taking something down after news of the suicide arrived (if that is even what it is--reports are still very vague; I don't know what the method was, if there was a note, etc.) but you'd think that taking it offline would at least be contemporaneous with an expression of regret.

I don't understand how this woman would put a call like that through--it just doesn't make sense to me. I've worked with "VIP" types--senior military/political sorts--and the usual protocol in this sort of scenario, absent a secure phone (limited access to those) is to hang up and CALL BACK. That way, you have a positive connection to the caller that has been vetted and there's no chance of being fooled by some clown. Also, UK isn't in the Dark Ages, they had "Caller ID" before we did!

You would think that a hospital that regularly treats the Royal Family would have those sorts of protocols in place, the Royal Family would know to not call a main number (but instead, the cellphone of a footman or lady-in-waiting, or some such) and that people just would not be fooled or even tolerate that kind of silliness. I also wonder--if the reports are accurate--why this "nurse" was on a "switchboard." Wouldn't we be happy campers in USA if we were so knee-deep in nurses that we could afford to toss one on a "switchboard" and not doing the backbreaking work of nurses on busy hospital floors!

I don't know what is missing from this whole tale of woe....but something is missing, I think. There's a big piece of this sad story we haven't heard, I suspect. Time will tell...

[jeff47]

25. Actually, the threshold for "funny" is far too low now.

So....a bad accent is funny?

Really?

No wonder the media hasn't produced any good Comedies in a long time.

They had no idea someone would actually take them seriously when they called.

So they were dumb.

I guess that explains why they thought a bad accent would be funny.

[abelenkpe]

11. Only a mean a$$hole thinks it's OK to deceive or hurt another in the name of entertainment. Nt

[mainstreetonce]

12. My opinion on the prank in the Uk

It would be Ok for the DJs to prank a celebrity who seeks the spotlight, but it was not ok to prank William and Kate who tried to insure themselves some privacy at a stressful time.

I think the radio station should have stopped this from going on the air.

[Comrade_McKenzie]

16. Hurt? No. Deception is key to a good prank, however...

I will wear "mean a$$hole" as a badge of honor.

[tinrobot]

13. It is not OK to gossip, either.

If you really want to get to the root of it, the "prank" would not have happened if there wasn't a huge appetite for gossip about the royals.

[Comrade_McKenzie]

15. Didn't think of it that way. Excellent point. nt

[Comrade_McKenzie]

14. Nothing the DJs did was stupid, evil, mean, or sexual...

All pranksters dream of getting that close to a high-profile target.

[noamnety]

17. I disagree.

Certainly if someone was trying to get my medical information to broadcast to the world for their amusement, I would classify it as evil (and creepy as all hell).

You wouldn't have a problem with someone lying to get access to your medical files and publishing them?

[Bluenorthwest]

23. Thousands of miles away on a phone line is not getting close. They also lied to and

exploited non involved third parties and did so in one of the few enviroments most of humanity would like to see remain prankless, the hospital.
The DJs were most definitely stupid, their idea of pranking simplistic and aggressive, their personal stake in the prank reduced to nothing by distance and the need to make unwitting shills and stooges out of people who had absolutely no part of being 'high profile'.
To even call what they did a prank is an insult to prankster geniuses throughout history and across the world.
A great prank as example I'd offer the alteration of the Hollywood sign to read 'Hollyweed' way back when CA made personal possession a misdemeanor. The pranksters actually DID the prank personally, there was no person harmed, the sign itself was not harmed and an entire city either howled or had to offer up a begrudging smile. To do what they did took skill, risk, lots of planning and made use of wit, not cruelty. That's a prank.
So I don't agree with you in terms of prank theory. I think this one was not even a prank. It was a crank call. To a hospital.
In the end, a joke is gauged by the reaction it gets from those who hear it. The radio folkken were not successful because they made so very many people so very angry at them. And that, as they say, is showbiz.

[jeff47]

26. Get close and then do what?

What I fail to understand about this prank was what was the eventual goal? What was going to be the payoff?

Even "is your refrigerator running?" prank calls have a goal - to tell that joke.

This just seemed to be "hey, let's see if we can fool people on the phone so we can bother a sick woman in the hospital!!"

[noamnety]

19. +1000

We have a problem with this in our school with senior "pranks".

One year we had a student who ended up in ER due to an allergic reaction to a prank. (unintended consequences)

Her family didn't have health insurance. The people playing the "prank" wrote it off as not their problem, even though it was the result of their actions. None of them stepped forward to help pay the family's bills - it's not their problem someone has an allergy. That's the thing about pranks - it's a lot like corporate welfare. The people with power get all the benefits (laughing at others) and everyone else has to pay for any negative consequences. That's all written off as things the prankers weren't responsible for.

I'm sure the family of that student was paying off that bill for the next year, and going without things they really needed.

[LisaL]

22. Just recently a guy had his hair set on fire, while on TV, apparently intended as a prank by a host.

It is not o'key to injure someone as a part of a so-called prank.

[Rex]

27. So what happened to you that made you start this thread?

Nice way to beat around the bush...why not come out and say what you mean instead of this cryptic woo haa?

[snooper2]

30. Sure it is...

Example #1-

[Lex]

31. I personally have never liked "pranks" or "practical jokes" that take advantage of people's trust

in others. It seems like the cruelest kind of joke.