Jacintha Saldanha (AFP/Getty Images)
London nurse Jacintha Saldanha, 46 and the mother of two, was “punked” by an Australian radio station, on Dec. 7th. So she killed herself.
If you look hard enough, you’ll see that what the media, social scientists, the police and, increasingly, the judicial system have identified as “bullying,” is a logical extension of what the entertainment industry has been pushing for years: wise guys.
Radio, TV, movies and the latest in anti-social media gadgetry have been and remain overloaded in attracting and creating remorseless young wise guys.
From drive-time radio jocks, to Borat and “Jackass” movies, to hours and hours of prime-time programming designed to attract young male viewers to networks such as Spike TV and the ironically named truTV.
Everyone’s a put-down artist; everyone’s looking for an easy mark to kick around. Everyone’s a wise guy.
Shows, such as ABC’s “America’s Funniest Videos,” when not promoting Disney products, attach laugh tracks to anyone being walloped in the crotch, falling from a roof, thrown head-first from a horse or skiing or skateboarding directly into a large stationary object that could kill them.
Promos for sitcoms carefully choose the shows’ most vulgar, desensitizing moments — not their funniest — with which to ambush audiences. Each week, take it a bit further, then a bit further . . .
A modern bully is often a wise guy who acts on the prompts to go further in the direction in which he has been pointed. He may not be as bad as he is weak.
Of course, the vulnerable, being vulnerable, become the first to either sign on as perps or serve as victims. The vulnerable can go either way.
And that brings us to the suicide, last week, of nurse Saldanha, the vulnerable woman who took that phone call from those Australian radio jocks, one claiming to be Prince Charles, the other the Queen of England, both in search of a medical update on Kate Middleton.
The two professional wise guys are being blamed for pushing Saldanha over the edge. They should be made to pay for such consequences!
But having looked close, let’s step back.
What these radio hosts did was meet the terms of their engagement; they did their jobs, very well, too. And, at first, they were enormously pleased with themselves. Described as “irreverent,” they were hired to be wise guys, just as hundreds of radio personnel have been hired — some richly rewarded — throughout North America.
In this case, the DJs, Mel Greig, who is female, and Michael Christian magnificently succeeded in their duties. For a while.
If only the nurse hadn’t shot herself they might be in for a raise. And that nurse likely would have only been fired for having fallen for their prank, for violating security.
But wise guys and bullies — professional and amateur — are bound by their disregard for consequences. Only after it’s far too late do they claim that they “never meant any harm.”
That it’s only a matter of time — an inevitability — for the acts and actions of all wise guys and bullies to go off in someone else’s hand, is also a matter of too-late.
And such foresight is not part of the hiring process. The accountability and liability of the entertainment execs who call the shots also become a matter of “too late.” The bosses have to pretend they had no idea.
But this latest, er, ah, incident, is not going to change a thing, no more than Janet Jackson’s 2004 Super Bowl wardrobe “malfunction” had a cleansing effect on TV. Recall that quickly broken promise from TV executives? The wise guy/bully go-low sell will be sustained.
Funny how movies now include disclaimers noting that no animals were hurt during filming. People? Well, that’s a different story.