What's vicious or ill-considered about what the daughter did? She stayed calm throughout the ordeal.
Valid question xphobe. I used the word "ill-considered". I'm not entirely sure why I wrote that just then - more of an emotional reaction to the public humiliation of parents by their own daughter. The parents attitudes and beliefs are of course, even without being in the public arena, utterly despicable and worthy of correction.
Let me try to rationalize my reaction.
I get the sense that the daughter knows her parents quite well - the prank was perfectly designed to hit their hot-buttons.
If she'd already been fighting with them over this very issue and actually meant to humiliate them to overcome their obstinate bigotry, then strangely I'm okay with it.
However, there would be a thousand more tactful ways to communicate about that issue, and for her to assert her independence, while doing less damage to their public image.
But I think it got far worse than she planned. It escalated beyond a "prank". I don't think those parents suddenly found volatility for the first time in their lives - they seemed well practiced at it. So I think the daughter did not consider all the possibilities and could have, if she'd thought hard enough, realized what she was about to unleash.
I hope as a family they still trust each other and can work through their issues - they had plenty, and now a few more
