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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To feel sorry for the Australian DJs?

921 replies

andapartridgeinaRowantree · 08/12/2012 00:38

Obviously more sorry for the nurse's family. I wonder how long she was having suicidal thoughts for? I can't think this could have been the only cause,

But these pranks have been going on for such a long time and those DJs could not have predicted such a result and are going to have to live with it for the rest of their lives.

It's such a tragedy and I feel very sad for all concerned.

OP posts:

flippinada · 08/12/2012 20:38

What MrsdeVere said.

People make mistakes that have tragic/fatal consequences all the time; they still get punished for it.

"I didn't mean it" might be used as defence but isn't a get out of jail free card.

Note for the literally minded - I don't mean that they should actually go to jail.

diddl · 08/12/2012 21:09

But what was the point of the "prank"?

What is ever the point of one?

A laugh at someone else´s expense.

Nasty & bullying.

festivelyfocussed · 08/12/2012 21:11

Totally agree with points made by Redtoothbrush and Midnight.
feel so sad for this woman and her family.

seeker · 08/12/2012 21:12

Is anyone questioning the hospital protocols? Because if they aren't, they should be.

SparklingSnow · 08/12/2012 21:14

I do feel sorry for the DJs as they obviously never intended or expected that that would happen. I feel sorry for the family of the nurse as well. Nobody would have thought that it would result in a suicide.

Brycie · 08/12/2012 21:26

"Brycie, am I right that it's the DJs you're not sorry for, not Jacintha's DCs?"

I don't know why you would imagine that. You must be mixing me up with another poster.

Brycie · 08/12/2012 21:29

Sorry I didn't read that properly. No I don't feel sorry for the DJs, I think they'll be fine. It's a waste of time feeling sorry for them. Yes I feel sorry for her children. I feel sorry for her, what torments she must have gone through. I hate pranks, hate putting people through unnecessary distress, it's the same as reality TV shows tormenting celebrities and so on. It's a pathetic waste of time and brain work. You could just televise real suffering. I bet the ratings would plummet. These DJs will be fine. Maybe they've lost their careers and will have to go and work in a call centre or something. So what.

expatinscotland · 08/12/2012 21:46

Ring 999. It's an emergency. I actually agree with Brycie for once.

AgentZigzag · 08/12/2012 21:46

I've only managed to read half of what's left of the thread after I posted last night, but does anyone think there will be a backlash against people from Australia living in the UK?

I'm not necessarily talking about violence or anything, but being taken to task just because they're from Australia?

What happened in the media before the nurse died was pretty high profile and headline news. But her being found dead kind of concretes the 'prank' into a black and white/definitely wrong in more peoples minds, and they might feel justified in getting irate at someone they think (wrongly) of as a representative of their country.

Especially on a Saturday night when the beers and tempers are flowing.

Brycie · 08/12/2012 21:48

I can't remember if we disagreed and what about. Best to keep it that way

Brycie · 08/12/2012 21:50

I can't imagine that AZZ but then I've read some of the rubbish people have posted on their twitter accounts and the radio station website and I couldn't have imagined that normal people would do that either. These people should just be forgotten about and written out of public life. No need to add to a world of shit.

OhDearNigel · 08/12/2012 21:56

I think most people in their right minds don't think German = nazi, Italian = fascist, Cambodian = Khmer Rouge. Why would anyone think that all Australians would find this sort of rubbish funny ?

I doubt a foreigner watching Frankie Boyle would think that every British person subscribed to the same viewpoint

AgentZigzag · 08/12/2012 21:59

Some people don't even need a reason brycie, and the some who do I'm sure won't be bothered it's not legit and it'll cause even more shit.

Maybe it's just the nefarious rogue types I've known in the past that are influencing how I think

LaCiccolina · 08/12/2012 22:01

AZZ very strange suggestion? We should punish an entire nation for 2 reps idiocy?

The point where reasonable conversation descends into anarchy has been reached...

Cracking open the whiskey and adding ice, anyone want a tot?

AgentZigzag · 08/12/2012 22:02

You don't think a lot of people use stereotypes in their thinking OhDear?

Again, it must just be the types of people I've come across (who don't all come from the same area/work) because I think that's what people do all the time in RL.

AgentZigzag · 08/12/2012 22:04

Eh LaC? Are you suggesting I've said people should go and take it out on people from Australia?

Either you need to read my post again knowing that's not the slant I was taking, or I've written it really badly.

OhDearNigel · 08/12/2012 22:14

You don't think a lot of people use stereotypes in their thinking OhDear?

Not in that way, no. Certainly I've never met anyone who would think that two twattish people represent the feelings of an entire nation

HipHopOpotomus · 08/12/2012 22:15

No they couldn't predict the outcome. But they made a random nurse(or 2), doing their jobs, the butt of a worldwide joke - a laughing stock.

It's not unreasonable at all, to consider that some people will be equipped to cope with that better than others, and some not at all. That person answering the phone might have other things going on in her life, that being involved in this "prank" could completely overwhelm them, triggering a personal crisis.

These same DJ's interviewed a 12 year old girl, and ended up having her confessing live on air to having been raped.

They have form and they proceed. Because they are fame seekers, chasing a thrill and don't give a fuck or 2nd thought to the people they are manipulating. Oh until something happens to make them look bad, then they are momentarily contrite, then back in the game.

Brycie · 08/12/2012 22:20

The worst thing is - they wouldn't do it if they didn't have an audience. Prank calls, crappy reality TV, frightening people for a joke, it's all got an audience. They must all be so stupid. The audience is now turning on the monster it has fostered.

PumpkinPositive · 08/12/2012 22:23

I've only managed to read half of what's left of the thread after I posted last night, but does anyone think there will be a backlash against people from Australia living in the UK?

I'm not necessarily talking about violence or anything, but being taken to task just because they're from Australia?

Only the type of people who would yell at Samatha Womack for stealing a fictional character's fictional baby.

Don't go giving them any ideas.

PumpkinPositive · 08/12/2012 22:25

These same DJ's interviewed a 12 year old girl, and ended up having her confessing live on air to having been raped.

You're wrong there, I'm afraid. The male DJ was only on his second day with the radio station (that's some initiation!)

It was two entirely different DJs who were involved in the fiasco with the young girl (and she was 14, not 12).

HipHopOpotomus · 08/12/2012 22:25

I wouldn't think there would be a backlash against Aussies, but be prepared for people to have a dig I'm sure.

AgentZigzag · 08/12/2012 22:27

Exactly Pumpkin, that's why the media can be so dangerous because it all gets mixed up in peoples minds and when it comes out the other end 2 + 2 = 3794.

Behaving as if an actor is the TV character they play is irrational, and it's relatively common.

AgentZigzag · 08/12/2012 22:32

'but be prepared for people to have a dig I'm sure. '

That's what I'm talking about, before the nurses death it would have been a bit of a good humoured/lighthearted dig at them, now, it'll be something more.

natation · 08/12/2012 22:42

PumpkinPositive, if someone were to tie another person knowingly drunk to a lamppost and leave them there, late to die when a car crashes in to them, I think in fact they would be arrested and might be convicted of causing death by negligence.

Everything we do has consequences. Pranks have victims simple as that. I am still amazed that a single person among you feels sorry for those whose consequences has contributed to the death of another human being.

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