Posted on 02/21/2011 10:29:38 AM PST by Gena Bukin
Regardless of whether a judge or jury finds Evan Emory guilty of a sex offense for creating a lewd video with schoolchildren in the background, the case has highlighted a cultural divide between the so-called Millennial Generation and pretty much everyone else.
Many of the Millennials — mostly young adults without children — wonder what all the fuss is about. So Emory made a video with Ravenna elementary children in the background looking surprised and smiling a lot. They say since Emory sang a harmless “Lunch Lady Land” song to the children during his actual performance and subbed in lyrics with sexually graphic references afterward, before posting the video to YouTube, that no harm was done.
These Millennials see the video as a joke and comedy, and even if some admit the video was in bad taste, they believe no crime was committed. This kind of thing is on comedy shows and MTV all the time, they reason. And it’s certainly on YouTube, the social networking site that allows anyone to post a video of almost any kind for the entire world to see.
They are outraged that Emory, who was a good student himself at Ravenna and never got into any trouble, is facing a 20-year felony charge of manufacturing child sexually abusive material. They can’t fathom that Emory, if convicted, is facing the possibility of having to be on the sex offender registry the rest of his life when he didn’t actually “expose” the children to anything.
Then there is the opposite spectrum — those who are horrified that someone would find humor in using children as a backdrop for a sexually explicit song. Whether the children actually heard the lyrics or not is beside the point, they reason, because it was the children’s innocent faces that were shown smiling and giggling when Emory’s nasty words were heard by hundreds and perhaps thousands of people before the video was removed from YouTube.
The parents of the children on the video are especially horrified, and as a parent, I can’t blame them. It would make me sick to my stomach to see one of my children placed in a situation like that. Many of them think the charges fit the crime, though it’s pretty clear that a 20-year felony for something like this is way over the top.
Still, the Muskegon County Prosecutor’s office wants to make an example out of Emory so they went after the “big” charge. And Ravenna Superintendent John VanLoon probably echoed the sentiments of many folks when he said: “If you think that’s something funny, you really need to review and look at your personal values.”
Which brings up a bigger challenge in this age of technology. There was a time when you could limit the kind of garbage kids are exposed to — a time when TV programming didn’t allow even partial nudity and there weren’t hundreds of cable channels from which to choose, smart phones, the Internet and social media. Today there is no place to hide and despite the best efforts of parents, kids are influenced by all these contraptions they can access almost anywhere, anytime.
According to Wikipedia, the Millennials have been shaped by the rise of instant communication technologies and are “peer-oriented.” Reality TV, MTV, YouTube and the like have helped to desensitize teens and young adults to the difference between right and wrong.
Many young folks seek the instant gratification and star quality so prevalent in society today. And they seek it without considering the consequences.
Which, at least, might explain the cultural divide this case has highlighted — even if it doesn’t provide a good way to fix it.
True that anyone could have. And it’s true that ones own youtube experiences can color expectations of what others might do. I typically don’t download youtube. Only when I want to determine what codecs youtube is using, and that was in the flash era.
It might shock you, but to get an idea of what we might be talking about - without much explicit sexual content - see the youtube video I posted a few ago around 299
You are either totally nuts, or a liar, or both.
Ron Paul is the darling of Libertarians, he is nuts, and you are as far from a Constitutionalist as anyone can get.
Mom, do you remember the pedophile defender who was zotted a while back? Remember how he/she kept saying that sexually molested children aren’t harmed by the molestation, but are harmed by being told that the molestation was wrong. Do you see a similarity here?
Nope. He exploited those kids and even lied to the teacher, who knew him, about what he was doing. He used the teachers friendship to get to these kids. There needs to be consequences.
You are too fascinated with TV and I won't watch your clip. How old are you anyway?
Fresh Wind - your comment was easy to misunderstand, and the disucssion has been quite heated.
Sorry again -
Yup.
I have no intention of watching porn with you. You asked for proof that people download videos at You Tube. That’s why I told you that I download videos there. It doesn’t mean I want to watch porn with you.
Fanatics.com
I see an exact similarity.
Please see post 301. After claiming that people don’t download from You Tube, and asking for proof that they do, truthfreedom has now admitted to downloading videos from You Tube.
I really do have trouble making sense of the things you’re saying.
What is this REALITY vs TV? He was creating a little TV show.
it was a comedy clip on youtube. he took some footage of some kids and created a comedy sketch based on the fact that he was saying sick things and the kids were responding inappropriately. It’s not novel - the idea of kids responses.
Any person familiar with popular culture today would realize that it was a comedy sketch, and not pornography, not something that anyone except someone who likes sick and offensive sketch comedy would want to watch.
That said, Hollywood has gotten pretty sick in these last 5-10 years, and I’ve been here the whole time, and there really hasn’t been much discussion. It’s gotten sicker and sicker and sicker. But, still no naked breasts.
The people who should be on top of things are clueless, ineffective and are probably making things worse.
Didn’t read the lyrics actually. Realized that it could possibly go into a line by line, and don’t want to go there.
Actually, no, I didn’t realize that. More specifically, I’m often logged in, and I’m over 18, do they tell you if you’re seeing an over 18 clip. I’ve never seen porn on youtube, but nudity in videos, like Timothy Bloom Til the End of Time when presented tastefully I think can fly. Something like that might be acceptable by over 18. Actual porn though, no I don’t think youtube does that.
governmentshrinker.
I sure do remember it.
Twisted pervert that it was. It’s porn posts were deleted from FR.
There's your problem. Again, how old are you anyway. You compare cartoons to live children and go on and on about pop culture and TV.
No, Ron Paul is a Constitutionalist.
Why do you think that Gary Johnson got 6% at CPAC?
Gary Johnson is a Libertarian. If Ron Paul was the darling of the Libertarians, why did Gary Johnson get 6% that would’ve helped Ron Paul win by an even larger margin.
I think that’s a fairly reasoned argument, not nuts and is a truthful explanation of the results of the very recent CPAC. That’s an awful lot of votes for Gary Johnson, isn’t it? He came in 3rd.
IT’S NOT FUNNY!!! It’s NOT comedy. It’s porn and it’s wrong.
I don’t care if he calls it *comedy* or not.
That’s just a stinking lying excuse for producing kiddie porn.
They tell you "You must be 18 to view this clip. Please sign in". I am not a member of You Tube and never will be. When it says that I close the link.
No, you are responding inappropriately. The children did nothing wrong. Their parents did nothing wrong.
What do you think happened here? Do you know what this story is about? Is FR playing a joke, where half the people get one version of the story, where there was child pornography and half the people get another version of the story where there’s a sick and unpleasant comedy sketch.
And that’s the whole point of the story.
Video case reflects generations’ great divide
is the headline.
Ron Paul is a libertarian and not a Conservative. He is also not liked on FR. He is a nut.
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