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.
I firmly believe that you are talking to someone of the MTV generation that also thinks "Punked" is funny. They have no idea what the difference is between real humor and sick, juvenlie humor.
It just goes to show the damage done to this country and people's morals that you don't see this as the porn and evil that it is.
You are the poster child of how moral corruption desensitizes people to moral decay and why we CAN'T let it continue.
Thank you for at least providing a real life example of why we can't let stuff like this go in the future. It WILL destroy our society. Every nation that fell has fallen from within. You are contributing to that very thing in our nation today.
I gave you links. Exploiting children is not humorous. Lying to your friend who is their teacher is not humorous. Dubbing inappropriate music and showing closeups of childrens faces reacting to something ENTIRELY different is not humorous. You are very young, aren’t you.
you just have no idea what you’re talking about.
did you get a version of the story that didn’t have him playing this clip at a comedy club?
I’m not arguing that it wasn’t very bad. I’m arguing that it wasn’t porn.
I’d direct your attention to the youtube clip I posted a few back, it’s a clip from a TV show on IFC. WARNING NOT FOR SQUEAMISH.
You need to be aware of what the Hollywood AntiChristians are doing.
Do you go to jail now for “not humorous”?
“lying” opens you up to civil
If you’re talking about link to lyrics I didn’t read. Don’t want to know.
No one is arguing that the comedy bit was funny. The point is that he was trying to be funny.
There is something seriously wrong with anyone who takes pleasure in the pain of others. There is nothing funny about sexually molesting children. I’m glad my son didn’t fall prey to the influences that cause some of the younger generation to laugh at such things.
Again, your either lying or clueless or both. Libertarians drool over Ron Paul and the people at CPAC are not representative of conservatives since it’s become a homo-love fest.
Whose ID are you using because you are MUCH too young to have signed up 10 years ago. You wouldn't be the first 20 something to use their parents ID because they failed to log off.
If you’re talking about link to lyrics I didn’t read. Don’t want to know.
And that is exactly WHY you don't get it. This is sexual exploitation of 6 year olds. And all the puke wants to know is how many "hits" his video got.
Still trying to find something to watch porn with you? We’re all aware that you’ve been influenced by corrupt videos. We don’t need to watch them.
My 3 are all truly Conservative too. They may watch some of it but they’ll be making disparaging remarks about stupidity. The laughter isn’t about the questionable “humor”.
He’s a Constitutionalist. But I plenty of things from people who call themselves Conservatives that Constitutionalists don’t agree with at all. Constitutionalists are the ones who want much less federal government. Libertarians are often in favor of the federal government legalizing things.
Why did 6% vote for Gary Johnson?
That is EXACTLY what I'm talking about. You have been so desensitized to it that you can't even see it for what it is.
Well, here's something that mr. tf will recognize.
tf, you've been PWND.
They list him as a libertarian. Then there's these gems.
Ron Paul on Homeland Security:
9/11 resulted from blasphemy of our bases in Saudi Arabia. (Dec 2007)
Suicide terrorism stops when we stop intervening abroad. (Dec 2007)
Protect against terrorism by understanding their motivations. (Dec 2007)
Pre-emptive war is not part of the American tradition. (Jun 2007) (Jefferson wanted to declare war on the Barbary Pirates - Paul is NOT a Constitutionalist1)
Jihadists attack because we have bases in their countries. (Jan 2006)
We’d be as furious as Muslims are, if our land was occupied. (Jan 2006)
Grouping terrorists together damages relations with Muslims. (Jan 2006)
He's a NUT!
Those corrupt videos are ON TV.
That is what is on TV right now.
That’s the issue.
I gave money to Christine O’Donnell months before the primary.
I believe that the Christians need a strong, articulate voice in the culture wars. Many culture warriors are completely unable to communicate with people who are familiar with the culture, because they don’t watch it themselves. So depravity has been ramping up, but in outlets that the mainstream doesn’t watch. South Park has been on 10 years +. And they’re doing South Park stuff now with real people.
Your mind would be blown by regular tv these days.
And again, what he did could be actionable. So, the parents will get money.
We’d be as furious as Muslims are, if our land was occupied. (Jan 2006)
Explain.
I didn’t say it kid, Ron Paul did.
I’m right because he’s ignored it everytime I’ve said it. A few years ago someone’s father died and the son just took over a 98 signup ID. His Dad had never logged out. I confronted him and he admitted it. It probably happens more often than we think.
I also suspect that he's going to be toast soon.
IBTZ.
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