>> I know people doing stupid stuff and misjudging pranks is nothing new, this isn't a "kids these days" complaint, but where did people get the idea

Back in 2005 I was at school when a local radio station had a water drinking contest. A woman died. Just yesterday I was watching a video about how airliners don't really use hydrocarbon fuel (another global warming conspiracy). There are plenty of morons out there.

Someone, many very smart people, thought this was a good idea: https://miepvonsydow.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/uz3wiuk.png

(The cat is fine. It was a zero-g experiment. Didn't go so well for the human.)