Don't make the call
2012-12-14 07:03
Georgina Guedes
When I was a kid, I made a few prank calls.
A friend and I thought it was terribly funny to call various people with the
old "Is your fridge running?" gag. Prank calls are hilarious...when
you're 7 years old.
I lost my taste for them when a friend and
I called my grandmother, and had a bit of a giggle over some silly joke. My
grandmother was a good sport, but picturing her getting up to answer the phone
and then returning to the lounge after being the subject of a jibe filled me
with remorse.
I called her back, confessed and
apologised. She was very sweet about it, but that was the end of my prank
calling career. By calling my grandmother I had attached a human face to the
person on the other end, and I had realised that what was amusing to me wasn't
funny or entertaining for the recipient.
Humiliation isn't funny
As I grew up, I've applied this kind of
reasoning to all kinds of things - stork parties, hen's nights, 21st birthday
parties - where the purpose of a bit of humiliation is fun for the onlookers,
but not so much for the recipient. And I turn the radio to another station when
radio DJs make their prank calls.
So, when I'd heard that two radio DJs in Australia
had called St Edward's Hospital, where the Duchess of Cambridge was being
treated for a severe case of morning sickness, pretending to be the Queen and
Prince Charles, I was, to coin a royal phrase, not amused.
The royal couple had announced the
pregnancy early because they knew what speculation such a hospitalisation would
bring, and were being fairly open with the public about the Duchess's
condition. Nursing staff were doing their best to care for their high-profile
patient, and the interference of some pranksters trying to obtain private
medical information was, in my opinion, silly at best and vulgar and intrusive
at worst.
However, that's where it ends for me. That
the nurse who put through the call would be humiliated was certain, that she
would get into trouble with her employers was guaranteed, that she would
potentially be ridiculed by the press was a done deal. But that she would later
commit suicide is not the natural progression of the series of events.
Be gentle with other people
The two radio DJs put into action a
succession of events that resulted in the poor nurse's death. But I disagree
with the notion that they are responsible for her death. There is an inquiry
currently taking place in Australia, hinged on the fact that it is illegal to
play a recorded conversation without the recipient's permission - which clearly
was not given. For this, they should receive whatever fines are appropriate.
But the subsequent baying of people for the
prosecution of the DJs is similar to the kind of public derision that resulted
in the nurse's death in the first place. People should always be cautious about
pointing fingers - whether in laughter, derision or blame - because there is
always a person with feelings at the other end.
I don't believe that prank calls should be
made - not because they might result in someone's suicide - but because they're
just not that funny, and even if you find them so, the humour is at someone
else's expense. They're not likely to result in someone's death, but they will
probably make someone feel a bit stupid, which isn't a very nice thing to do.
- Georgina Guedes is a freelance writer, editor and trainer. You can follow @georginaguedes on Twitter.
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