Jimmy Kimmel's Halloween Pranks are Not Funny. And No, I Do Not Need to Lighten Up.
I 100% agree with this.
I’ve never understood why this bit is so popular. My only guess is that the majority of people who find it funny are non-parents. Because why would any parent revel in intentionally abusing a child’s trust?
Remember that douchebag who pranked his wife by making it look like their son died in a fiery wreck? I said this about that:
I’ve never liked pranks. Here’s why: It takes no amount of intelligence or wit to abuse someone’s trust. No matter how elaborate or how much planning was needed to, say, make your wife think you blew up your kid, the punchline is that you are taking advantage of something good—someone’s natural instinct to trust humanity. And if you abuse that trust enough, you create a cynic.
Now, apply that to your own child—the child who’s heart is genuinely broken every time you have to work late or can’t go to the fair because your finances are stretched thin. These are things that can’t be avoided.
But, to then purposefully make them believe you took something about which they care deeply, even for a moment, then laugh about it… well, that just makes you a fucking asshole. And it chips away at the trust you’re supposed to nurture and protect with your child. Parents who participate in the annual prank vids are emotionally bullying their own children, making them cry, then sharing the pain they caused with the world via Jimmy Kimmel’s show.
Let me be clear: If you are a parent who thinks making kids cry so the world can laugh at them is okay, you are an idiot and total shit-stain of a human.
If you have a relationship with your child in which pranks or jokes are established, that’s one thing. But, these Jimmy Kimmel pranks are not that type of scenario. They’re just fucking mean.
Don’t fucking do cruel shit to your own kids! Seriously, it’s like Parenting 101.
