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killed by a prank

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

When I was younger I was routinely enraged by the things in the news. It doesn't happen as much any more (e.g. our government lying about the costs of a $40B warplane purchase) but the news of the radio prank in Australia that caused a nurse in the UK to kill herself got to me.

I used to live in Australia, during the time when people still had radios (yes; I'm old) but I'd long since forgotten the bizarre habit down there of prank calls from DJ's. I found it appalling and simply stopped listening, but now these dolts have taken a life. I was bitterly disappointed and then very angry at what had happened.

One of the idiot DJ's actually referred to the prank as a "highlight of her career". Career? Being a nurse is a career, an exhausting and thankless and dirty and difficult one. Fucking around, making prank calls on the radio is not a career.

I found a few discussions where we the people were voicing our views, and it seemed overwhelming unanimous: not a lot of calls were coming for the support of the DJ's. Then I looked around the 'net in hopes of finding someone in the media who was able to express something other than harrumphing indignation that any of their fellows could be held accountable for their actions. Happily, I managed to find one.