When pranks and jokes have gone too far

Are you familiar with the story “The boy who cried wolf?” If you are not, then let me tell you about it. It is among Aesop's fables that tell a story about a young shepherd who, because of boredom pretended that there is a wolf attacking the sheep he is herding. He did it to prank people and help him. When he cried out for help, the people responded, only to discover that the shepherd had duped them. The shepherd did it several times, and each time he cried for help, the locals came to his aid. Eventually, they realized that the shepherd was just fooling them, so they agreed that if the shepherd asks for help once again, they would not help him. Then they heard the shepherd calling again for help because a wolf was attacking his flock again. Because of the shepherd's deception, they all opted not to help. However, at that moment, it was true that a wolf was actually attacking, and no one even helped the young shepherd. Only then did he realize that his previous pranks on the people were wrong. But it was too late because the wolf has already attacked his flock.

"It's a praaaaaaank!"

Right now, pranks are all the trend. They do it usually for content and some do it just for fun. The continuous pranks and gags can make watching videos online annoying at times.

A week ago, I happen to watch a video of Toni G. pranking her sister Alex. Those who are fond of watching and following local celebrities will know how much of a prankster Alex also is. As Toni said, Alex is the most prankster among pranksters. And one time she said that no one could ever prank her. Toni intends to make her face her words by playing a practical joke on her. So she got together with their coworkers and planned a prank on her sister. However, based on what I observed in the video, Melai, their friend, appears to be the one who is more upset by the prank than Alex. Toni feigned to faint during their shoot, and medics came in to "bring Toni to the hospital". Melai made me feel sorry for her because she seemed so serious and worried. Those who witnessed the events and those who participated in the prank, on the other hand, were overjoyed.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of the siblings because they are both good in their own fields. Toni as a singer and an actress and Alex as an actress and comedian. I was even a subscriber of her Youtube channel because most of her videos are hilarious. However, while I was watching the video, I thought "what if the person who saw it had heart disease", "what if that person couldn't handle the prank?" Yes, sometimes it's fun to prank and joke around, but it's different when it's too much.

I'll admit there have been times when my jokes have gone too far. I had a gay friend in college, and I used to tease and joke on him. I once teased him and joked that he was already a 'man,' and that he should just date one of our female friends, and who knows, they might end up together in the future. When our other friends heard the joke, they joined in the fun and teased him for the rest of the day. We had no idea he was already upset and hurt. Little did we know he was crying because of the jokes that went too far. Unfortunately, I only found out about how I had hurt my friend a few days ago. But all is well and I already said sorry to him.

The majority of people enjoy humor. Yes, jokes are usually quite amusing. Friendship jokes are quite popular at times. But it's annoying when it's too much and we don't realize that someone is already annoyed or that the joke has gone too far. Worse, there are times when others are able to damage others as a result of the crunch in-jokes. There are also individuals who are overly affected by the hurtful joke and will eventually ignore the person who made it, ruining their friendship. Worse, there are certain jokes that go too far and cause serious harm to others. People can become disappointed and even sad as a result of harsh jokes.

But why do people love to play pranks and jokes on others?

Well, there might be different answers to that questions. Other people have a hypertrophied or even exaggerated sense of enjoyment so they find it hard to contain themselves which results to doing below the belt pranks and jokes.

Like the shepherd in the story The boy who cried wolf, others mights do it just for fun.

Others do it for the sake of competition and to get back to others. My siblings and I, for example, would frequently get into a fight as children because one of us would make a joke. Others will undoubtedly want revenge and will do something much worse, and the individual who perpetrated the prank originally will also be retaliated against. It turns into a never-ending game of prank-get-back-prank.

Closing Remarks

There’s nothing wrong with joking or sometimes, even pranks. Especially if the intention is to make people laugh or entertain them. Consider how dreary and uninteresting the world would be if there was no humour or if no one knew how to make others laugh. When there is tension, having at least one person who can joke and make people laugh can alleviate the stress. The Society is happy when there are people who are humorous. Sometimes when we joke someone, it is a sign of good relationship with that person or a manisfestation of being affection with each other. But it's a different matter when a fun is offensive. What if the revelry is about a person’s weakness? It will definitely hurt that person’s feelings. It's also not good if a joke or prank causes fear and shame in others, even if that's not the joker's intention. What I'm trying to say is that we need to be careful with our jokes.