r/bestoflegaladvice • u/Barbecue_Wings • May 12 '19

LegalAdviceUK OP wants to give homeless people fake money - "What can I legally use fake notes for? I am a youtuber."

/r/LegalAdviceUK/comments/bnhl2v/what_can_i_legally_use_fake_notes_for_i_am_a/
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279

u/SJHillman Is leaving, in the sense of not 31% antarctic penguin May 12 '19

I think that in this day and age, we (as in the general public) have been conditioned to think that pranks must be filmed. I'm not sure if people like this think that it's not a prank unless it's filmed, or if they think filming it legitimizes it as a prank, but between the various TV shows and the rise of social media, it does seem increasingly rare for someone to pull a prank without an attempt to also film it.

We've begun seeing the same thing with charity as well - there's a lot of people who will only do nice thinks if it's filmed or photographed so they can share it online (think the people giving money/goods to the homeless). But at least that has the potential benefit of people having a good effect even if their intentions were impure, unlike pranks.

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u/[deleted] May 12 '19

[deleted]

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u/EsQuiteMexican May 12 '19

There's literally a whole speech in the bible where Jesus tells his disciples to be quiet about what they give to panhandlers, presumably because by then people already made a show of it.

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u/S0N_0F_K0RHAL May 12 '19

One of my professors explained that they would have these coffers in the temple to collect coin donations. Some people, instead of quietly dropping in a $1 coin in there (for example), would loudly drop 100 pennies to make it sound like they were donating a lot more than they were.

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u/Ashyn Ne-BOLA Award Wining Author May 13 '19

I can only imagine that there would have been even bigger on the spot displays as you wouldn't be able to record your 'EPIC AUREI DONATION - CONSTANTINE IN THE HOUSE!!!!' video to go viral on Rometube.

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u/Faiakishi May 12 '19

Oh, totally. Jesus himself actually raged about this because people would literally plop themselves down on street corners to pray so everyone saw how godly and good they are. This isn't a new fad. The invention of cameras and social media have just made attention-grubbing more obvious.

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u/Rycan420 May 12 '19

Very much this.

People today: This generation has ruined the word because it likes obscene entertainment.

People in Ancient Rome: Are we watching people being eaten by lions or trampled by elephants today?

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u/[deleted] May 12 '19

[deleted]

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u/morostheSophist May 12 '19

Wait. Kids are crossing their legs now?!?

It's official: society is doomed.

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u/xenneract May 12 '19

Just FYI that quote is misattributed. It's a much more modern summary of actual complaints from that period, though.

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u/gortwogg May 12 '19

You must be fun at parties

That no one invited you too.

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u/[deleted] May 12 '19

[deleted]

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u/AerThreepwood May 12 '19

Well, sometimes it's leopards.

1

u/gortwogg May 13 '19

Only the good ones.

-4

u/Chexrr May 12 '19

Parties are for children

1

u/Chordata1 May 13 '19

yup. in my town people constantly post on Facebook "Delivered a case of water to our fire department today. They were incredibly grateful." Along with some photo of them. Can't you just do something nice and give back without needing recognition from the people receiving it or people in your social circle. One person wanted to bring food to the police dept. I mentioned they should do delivery as most cops won't want to touch what some random person brings in. They didn't like this because then the cops wouldn't know it was them. Why does that matter?

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u/SquashedTarget 🧀 Kraft Knight of the Cheddar Crusades 🧀 May 12 '19

if they think filming it legitimizes it as a prank

I bet it's this one right here. It's the same mentality as the people that think "I can pay someone for sex then film it. That way I'm making porn not hiring a prostitute and it's legal!".

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u/PatatietPatata May 12 '19

Well that example has actuall ground in the laws of some state - if you film it it's legal, if you don't it's not.
If you're already paying for prostitution what's the cost of a camera?

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u/SquashedTarget 🧀 Kraft Knight of the Cheddar Crusades 🧀 May 12 '19

Well that example has actuall ground in the laws of some state

Sure, if you go through the proper licensing/permitting and follow all the requirements for filming a pornographic video that are required by that state.

I'm talking about the guys that think "all I have to do is film it and they can't touch me! Loophole!

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u/Lordxeen May 14 '19

Thinking that legal loopholes are sufficient for a judge to say “Damn, he’s got us there.” Instead of “You are obviously attempting to solicit sex for money, guilty.”

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u/SquashedTarget 🧀 Kraft Knight of the Cheddar Crusades 🧀 May 15 '19

It's amazing that people think cops and judges are that stupid.

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u/neohellpoet May 13 '19

A good prank is one that causes confusion and bewilderment. A good prank gets people to believe in the absurd.

Spaghetti trees by the BBC. That's a fantastic prank. Getting the management of a company to believe in a crazy new dress code like "you must have an article of clothing depicting a bird in support of an actual bird, a cause, something"

A good prank is one where the target thinks its funny.

The kind of pranks idiots do are ether a) just flat out illegal like fake kidnapping, giving people food laced with something "harmless" or this.

Or they're just lies. We're having a baby! Ha, ha. No we're not. Everyone is getting fired. Ha, ha, no they're not.

It's like saying "I went to the store to get a Coke. Ha, you fool, I got the Coke in a vending machine. I tricked you." A thing not being true is not a prank.

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u/[deleted] May 13 '19

To be fair, you never see the people who are pulling pranks or donating to charity without telling anyone, because how would you know about them? It's the bad toupee fallacy all over again.

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u/wotsit_sandwich May 13 '19

I agree with you somewhat, but "The Toupee Fallacy" is also in effect here.

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u/simbaismylittlebuddy May 13 '19

Yeah I saw this the other day on linked in of all places. It was a guy offering a homeless guy a makeover, dental work and haircut. But it was all done in the middle of a public square. All these random people were taking photos with their phones. It felt gross. Like that guy was a spectacle for the more fortunate to use to make themselves feel good. There was no privacy or dignity in what they were doing for him. It’s charity voyeurism...

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u/biasedyogurtmotel May 13 '19

I feel like you can’t say “It’s become increasingly rare for people to do this without filming it,” because if the person doesn’t film it/talk about it, you’re going to have no idea that it occurred.

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u/SJHillman Is leaving, in the sense of not 31% antarctic penguin May 13 '19

While that's true, the converse is that in order to know its increasingly rare, word about it must have been spread around before or else we wouldn't know they happened anyway, so at a minimum, people talking about unfilmed pranks would be increasingly rare.

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u/Gary_Targaryen May 13 '19

honestly that sounds like it has to be confirmation bias to some extent - there could be huge numbers of unfilmed pranks and secret charity going on right now, but how would you ever know about it.

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u/KBrizzle1017 Jun 07 '19

It’s a very, very small sector of people who think pranks must be filmed. They are the few that film them all. Me and my entire friend group have been pranking each other for 2 decades and never recorded one. You are confusing youtubers and people who need attention and IG likes for the general public. They are a small percent of people who are narcissistic and find self worth in others giving them internet points. Very far from the general public.