Cyberbullying VS Light-Hearted Prank

[nanscombe]

Bullying? But we don't know for sure what her complaints, in one of her three separate suicide notes, about some of her hospital colleagues were ... yet.

Jacintha Saldanha: Duchess hospital nurse suicide note 'criticised hospital'

Mrs Saldanha, from Bristol, had left three suicide notes for her family and had also written emails and made telephone calls that police believe might help shed light on what happened, the court was told.

Reports have claimed that one note specifically addresses her employers and criticism of hospital staff despite officials previously maintaining they were fully supportive of the nurse.

The Guardian reported that one note also specifically referred to the hoax call made by the two Australian radio presenters while a third detailed wishes for her funeral.

 

[Thales750]

Mental illness causing the death of a young woman?

Did I miss the result of the coroners' inquest ... oh no, that's not until next March.

Abhorrent behavior being encouraged by the masses?

Too true we shouldn't encourage lynch mobs to act without knowing all the facts.

(And yes, I know that's probably not what you meant)

It's OK Nigel, life is a learning curve.

 

[Dick7Access]

Noticeably absent in most of this, especially from the “rights at all cost” bunch; morality.

This whole incident stands to illustrate how far down our societies have fallen. Sad when a discussion about abhorrent behavior being encouraged by the masses, and mental illness causing the death of a young woman, would center around the legalities.

Is that where we are?

The energy of the Universe, call it the power of God, if you like, flows in vectors. Small changes now have a greater affect later own. We should all treat life from a position of a moral code and love of everything alive, not simply because it is in compliance with one law or another.

By the way Adam, it was highly unrealistic that Columbus would have convinced Isabella to provide the means to discover the Americas, and when the President said in this decade we will put a man on the moon, also equally unrealistic.


And when a homeless person went around speaking of peace and love of your fellow man; that 2000 years later, billions of people would hear those words and respond with love for all mankind.

Unrealistic, is that we would expect things to get better, when all we do is continue to try to make them worse.

Amen and amen

 

[Adam Caramon]

It is not unheard of for the victims of bullying to commit suicide. One person's prank can be another person's bullying. A lot can depend on the victim's mental state - something in this case the perpetrators could know nothing about.

Granted, but once again, that's where the concept of a Reasonable Person comes into play.

 

[Brianwarnock]

Agreed, the behaviour of the DJs and the radio station was not that of a reasonable person.

Brian

 

[Brianwarnock]

Bullying? But we don't know for sure what her complaints, in one of her three separate suicide notes, about some of her hospital colleagues were ... yet.

Jacintha Saldanha: Duchess hospital nurse suicide note 'criticised hospital'

Which means that we do not yet know if anybody in addition to the DJs and the radio station have any guilt in her death.

Brian

 

[dan-cat]

Granted, but once again, that's where the concept of a Reasonable Person comes into play.

Ignore the obscure peanut allergy and focus on this single point.

One of the DJ's said:

"We couldn't believe that it had worked, absolutely. You didn't expect it to. We thought a hundred people before us would've tried the same thing. We just did not see that actually working."

The following cannot be denied. They thought that a hospital being bombarded with prank calls was ample justification for them to do it. This utterly conflicts with your link which says:

"Instead, the "reasonable person" is a composite of a relevant community's judgment as to how a typical member of said community should behave in situations that might pose a threat of harm (through action or inaction) to the public"

They believed the hospital was being continually harassed. They then made the prank call with this in mind. These are not the actions of an individual seeking to avoid posing "a threat of harm". Can you not see this?

 

[dan-cat]

This whole incident stands to illustrate how far down our societies have fallen. Sad when a discussion about abhorrent behavior being encouraged by the masses, and mental illness causing the death of a young woman, would center around the legalities.

I agree with your frustrations but the law is there to bring those in line who simply don't get it.

 

[nanscombe]

Which means that we do not yet know if anybody in addition to the DJs and the radio station have any guilt in her death.

Brian

Or more directly responsible than the radio station.

If she is complaining about colleagues what did they do?

Ribbing, taunting ... bullying?

 

[dan-cat]

Let's try another tack.

Imagine you have a severe bladder infection, You are in serious discomfort and running a fever. You go to the doctor. The doctor considers the infection severe enough to admit you to hospital for further treatment.

A prank call is made.
The call tricks one of the nurses treating you into revealing specific details about your current symptoms.
They mockingly impersonate a member of your family to do so.
They then broadcast the call to the public domain,without anybody's consent, knowing that the call would garner huge interest.

Is it reasonable to suppose that such action may cause additional harm to you?

 

[Adam Caramon]

Agreed, the behaviour of the DJs and the radio station was not that of a reasonable person.

Brian

Perhaps not. If they (or the radio station) broke any laws, they should be held accountable for breaking those laws.

Ignore the obscure peanut allergy and focus on this single point.

Aw, come on. You're in a corner from your own words and now backing out. But as I'm not one to belabor a point, I will graciously accept your changing argument

They believed the hospital was being continually harassed. They then made the prank call with this in mind. These are not the actions of an individual seeking to avoid posing "a threat of harm". Can you not see this?

I truly cannot. From what I have read, they seemed like they were trying to garner attention and entertain their listeners with a prank call. They did not expect it to actually work, and when it did, they were shocked and not sure what to even say. I don't believe the DJs had any intention of causing harm.

 

[dan-cat]

Aw, come on. You're in a corner from your own words and now backing out. But as I'm not one to belabor a point, I will graciously accept your changing argument

The nut route wasn't all that it was cracked up to be *cough*

They did not expect it to actually work, and when it did, they were shocked and not sure what to even say.

Seriously?!? Read the transcript.

You tell me, in what conceivable way, were they lost for words after they stopped talking to the receptionist? In what way did they deviate from their plan when patched through.

I don't believe the DJs had any intention of causing harm.

We're not arguing malice here. We're arguing whether they knew their actions could be harmful and did not act accordingly.

To me, it's quite clear, they didn't give a crap and the "we were shocked when it worked" is utter baloney. They continue the ruse unabated as you can well see.

 

[Thales750]

I see we have a long way to go.

I am saddened by the defense of the actions of these DJs, but even more I am made less by my fellow man's desire to laugh at other peoples misfortune.

And to those of you that believe this woman was in charge of her life, I only hope you never have to experience the other side of the illusion of self worth. Although you most certainly will, that's why you are here.

 

[nanscombe]

If you dislike people playing pranks on others I guess you must really hate the home video shows where we sit around and have a good laugh at people falling over, generally making complete fools of themselves and the sender making money for sending it in.

I must say that I don't watch this type of show anymore but mainly because it was all pretty much the same and boring.

I grew up on slapstick humour; Laurel & Hardy, Harold Lloyd (who actually managed to blow part of one of his hands off during a stunt which went wrong), Buster Keaton etc so I'm used to laughing at people's misfortune. The difference in those case being that it was staged.

 

[Brianwarnock]

Nanscombe

Not sure what the point of your last post is, remote cyber pranks/bullying and face to face staged events have nothing in common, even during the old"you've been framed" programs the event would be monitored and the "victim" spoken to immediately.

Brian

 

[Dick7Access]

Nanscombe

Not sure what the point of your last post is, remote cyber pranks/bullying and face to face staged events have nothing in common, even during the old"you've been framed" programs the event would be monitored and the "victim" spoken to immediately.

Brian

good point

 

[nanscombe]

It's all about people laughing at the predicament of others, or situations they find themselves in. Some are staged, some are real.

The idea of phoning a hospital, using a phoney unbelievable voice and actually being put through to the ward .. it's almost unbelievable. But it happened.

If someone had written that as the premise for a comedy script you'd be sitting in front of your screen and saying "As if that could really happen!".

 

[Brianwarnock]

That I suppose is the difference between us, I've never found the predicament of others in real life funny.

It is true that the phoney voice was unbelievable, but then I'm not a nurse working in a hospital where Lord or Lady snob will expect instant attention on the mention of their name, and carry the clout to make my life uncomfortable if I don't look at them the right way.

Brian

 

[RainLover]

It is true that the phoney voice was unbelievable, but then I'm not a nurse working in a hospital where Lord or Lady snob will expect instant attention on the mention of their name, and carry the clout to make my life uncomfortable if I don't look at them the right way.

So Brian you are stooping to the depths of bigitory by slandering Her Majesty and accusing the Royal Family (without evidence) of using their position to cause harm to a Nurse for just doing their job.

This is a Low act.

But this is OK. Jump back up on your high horse and critise others about things you know nothing about. Enjoy.

 

[nanscombe]

... but then I'm not a nurse working in a hospital where Lord or Lady snob will expect instant attention on the mention of their name, and carry the clout to make my life uncomfortable if I don't look at them the right way....

From your status I see you are also retired which may colour your opinion a little.

I imagine there are a lot of people out there who are working to feed a family and keep a roof over their heads who have to put up with a hell of a lot more abuse than that nurse ever did.

How many nurses are physically assaulted, sworn at etc by Joe Public who has a few too many beers over the weekend?

Jumping when Lord or Lady snob rings is possibly the lesser of two evils in comparison to a blackeye.