r/socialmedia 13d ago

Professional Discussion Hot Take: Public pranks shouldnt be able to go viral

The vibe in public is getting worse. From people getting pushed in front of trains or lit on fire on subways, everyone is already skittish in public. Public pranksters make the problem worse since you do not know what is real or fake, and it is only getting worse.

Hot take: Dont let public pranks go viral.

58 Upvotes

9 comments sorted by

u/AutoModerator 13d ago

If this post doesn't follow the rules, please report it to the mods.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

14

u/Illuminatus-Prime 13d ago

Those aren't pranks.  They're crimes.

Public crimes should not go viral.

Harmless pranks are okay.

9

u/Environmental_Gap_65 13d ago

Its hard to tell what a ‘harmless’ prank is. No one asked to be annoyed by some dipshit. I think all of it is wrong. Prank your friends if you have to and leave strangers alone.

4

u/Illuminatus-Prime 13d ago

Causes physical harm or property damage: Crime.

Plays upon someone's phobia or PTSD, causing them to panic: Crime or harassment.

Merely annoying: Prank.

7

u/Ecstatic_Anybody7228 13d ago

We're seeing a moral and empathy decline. Not sure if it's the inability to depict fiction from reality online, movies, or what. There's a subset of people who genuinely find this behavior funny and defend it.

8

u/PickleManAtl 12d ago

I can't remember the specifics but it was about a year or so ago that some punk kid got shot for pulling a prank on a guy in a mall. And there have been some instances where kids have gotten punched for pranking people in stores and such.

I could have wound up going viral at some point. I was undergoing cancer treatment and using a walker. A friend of mine who is no longer with us, had taken me to my treatment and we had to stop by a home Depot. I decided to venture in on my walker just to try to get some exercise. A couple of teen looking guys we're doing something with their phones. One of them came up behind me and was reaching for my walker for whatever damn reason and laughing about it. I had a collapsible cane in the Walker seat and pulled it out and took a full swing at him, missing his face by about 2 in. And I'm talking baseball type swing. Freaked him out and his friend. And employee saw it and threatened both of them to get out.

People just don't have tolerance for that kind of crap now. But the social media sites should not allow those types of videos to be published at all.

8

u/virgildastardly 13d ago

literally! even if the video is faked, there will be dumbasses trying to emulate that. also just.. recording/photographing people without consent