Today Show Spotlights YouTube Pranks & Apologies
I love a good coincidence. And this morning, I woke up to one.
Last night I was watching the movie “Untraceable,” staring Diane Lane. Quick synopsis: Psycho guy streams the torture and death of people online. The more people that go to the website, the faster they get killed. Social media at its worst.
This morning, The Today Show did a segment on a series of viral videos - “Fire in the Hole” - that are pranks on fast food drive thru employees. One victim found the video and got her attackers arrested. The punishment? Make a video, apologizing, and post it on YouTube.
Given that the prank videos have received millions of hits, and the apology a mere few thousand, I can’t help but wonder which direction this trend is headed.
Here’s the Today Show segment:
Tags: Fire in the Hole, pranks, Today Show, youtube
June 10th, 2008 at 9:18 am
You make a good point, but the apology was court ordered. It may not impact the trend, but it did impact the teens who fired into the hole. They are ordered also to serve 100 hours of community service, not a small amount for a teen in school.
http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080609/NEWS01/806090325/1006/rss01
See the video. It shows the two guys handcuffed across the hood of a police cruiser. They still face charges of battery and criminal assault.
June 10th, 2008 at 5:08 pm
I don’t disagree with you in the least, and knew that the apology was court ordered. The community service is certainly a reasonable punishment.
Its just an example of “If a tree falls…..” youtube style. Certainly shows that the judge doesn’t quite understand what makes videos popular, though.
Thanks for the feedback!!!