Pranked

Sometimes, you have to let a scenario play out all the way to see it all unfold, and that's the only way to learn about the pitfalls.

Look, everyone loves shock DJs, if only because they say the things that we all wish we could.  When Stutterin' John asked Imelda Marcos if she ever passed gas and blamed the dog, and when he asked Tracy Chapman if she was still in show business, a nation laughed as one, because Imelda and Tracy, being public figures, could take a little gentle ribbing.

And so can The Duke of Ellington, Prince Willie, and his lovely wife, Barfin' Kate.  I don't really think that her morning sickness is any worse than that suffered by millions of women around the world at this very moment on this very morning, and darn few of them are checking into Her Majesty's Public 'ospital, are they, now?

So if those two wacky Australian DJs had been able to call the hospital last week and get Kkkkatie on the phone herself, and prank her into thinking that 'twas Her Majesty ringing on the telly, that would have been a corker, I say.

Nurse Saldanha, RIP

But they didn't get her on the phone; they got a nurse by the name of Jacintha Saldanha, who fell for the imitation and spoke with the Wonders From Down Under.  So upset was Ms Saldanha that she committed suicide over the humiliation.

Unspeakable.  Tragic.  And so unnecessary.  That's the difference in a sensible entertainment such as "Jackass," in which the only people who have to be the schlamazels are the stars themselves.  Now this nurse, a wife and mother is gone, and the DJs are in hiding, and the radio station is lawyering up.  All of this could have been avoided, but it's easy to see that when the whole thing has ended.

I say, pick on the people who have chosen a life in the spotlight, and leave others alone.  For the love of God, someone please annoy Donald Trump, and leave innocent people to live in peace.