{Un}funny Business

The trouble with playing practical jokes or pranks, especially of a disturbing or shocking nature, on strangers is that you have no way of knowing what their reaction is going to be. The person you involve in the joke could have a health problem -- say, a heart condition -- or may be mentally unbalanced, making him or her particularly vulnerable to a stress created artificially by the situation concocted by you. So, there is a great risk in submitting people to extremely embarrassing or humiliating circumstances, or simply annoying them greatly, just to get a laugh at their expense.

There are other ways of being humorous, without involving others in an outrageous comedy routine which may put them over the top, physically or mentally. Hoping against hope, maybe the prank on the hospital where Kate Middleton was being treated for acute morning sickness will make people think twice before trying to be funny insensibly.

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