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.
As a parent of small children, yes, I would be upset by what Emory did. However, as a parent of two boys who will get older and quite possibly experience that lapses of judgement common in teenagers and young adults, I would also be horrified at the prospect of a 20 year prison sentence for what was clearly a prank that harmed no children.
Still, the Muskegon County Prosecutor’s office wants to make an example out of Emory so they went after the “big” charge.
And if we want to know why sex offender databases are filled to the brim with the names of individuals who aren't really threats to anyone (allowing the truly violent predators to slip through the cracks) this is a good example. Threaten someone with 20 years in prison and then make them an "offer they can't refuse" plea bargain that consists of a lighter sentence and sex offender registry. Basically, they're charging this young man with the same crime as someone who actually makes child porn. I can't help but think this is quite a bit of overreaching on behalf of the prosecutor.
They could just put a giant fence around the US, call it a jail, and be done with it. You are all sinners and evildoers, every last one of you!
The Prosecutor should be sent to jail for frivolous prosecution. There’s no crime there. Sounds like a kid’s prank.
“musician”???
He’s filthy pedophile. He used innocent children in his “production.” He showed the faces of beautiful sweet kindergarteners while dubbing in lyrics like “I’ll put my hand down your panties and put my finger in your a**.”
I hope they confiscated his computer. They will no doubt find thousands of images of child pornography.
Easier to just put everyone on a sex offender registry. That seems to be where we're headed. You're not joking about a giant jail, though. Seems too many believe here that several years incarceration is the only suitable punishment for any transgression. I'm hard pressed to think how society is best served by throwing this young man in prison until he's forty.
You can be sure they've already searched his computer.
...and why the hell are FReepers defending the actions of a rotten decaying perv with a twisted, filthy mind?
Remember, all the while he was producing this “masterpiece” he was thinking of the meaning of his words...complete with mental images of ravishing 5 year old girls and boys.
Lock him up and throw away the key before he gets a chance to let his perverted fantasies become realities.
The people of Ravenna have a potential baby-rapist on their hands.
If he would have sent the video to MTV instead of placed it on YOUTUBE, he wouldn’t have this problem.
I have no doubt that they searched his computer. If they found actual evidence like that they would have prosecuted him for it for a slam dunk easy case. Since the prosecutor didn't do that I have to assume that they didn't find any such child porn.
So you should be imprisoned for your thoughts?
I suppose this ignoramus with a law degree also wants to dig up Maurice Chevalier and prosecute him for “Thank Heaven For Little Girls”, too?
Censoring and prosecuting musicians was a bad idea when Vienna did it to Mozart, (”La Clemenza di Tito”), when Dresden did it to Wagner,(”Rienzi”), when Florence did it to Verdi,(un Ballo en Maschera”), and what this moron of a taxpayer’s-money-wasting-carbuncle-brained DA is doing to Emory now.
Doesn’t he have REAL crimes to prosecute?
Awfully judgmental, aren’t we?
Because some of us can see the difference between a practical joke done in very poor taste and predatory child sex abuse and think that maybe these differences shouldn't be so readily blurred together.
So glad the FR pervs are self-identifying on this thread.
You don’t know much about this story do you?
Pedophiles don’t post their work on youtube for the world to see and be caught.
The content of the video is not even consistent with pedophiles.
This is a jackass kid who did a tasteless prank.
He needs his ass kicked for sure, but jail is silly.
“Remember, all the while he was producing this “masterpiece” he was thinking of the meaning of his words...complete with mental images of ravishing 5 year old girls and boys.” You have no clue what he was thinking while making this prank as you claim.
Not defending him, but evidence shows he is just a dumb kid and not a pedophile.
The thought is mother to the deed.
When the parents of the children exposed to such indecency on the internet sue this idiot blind, he will realize it was more than a “practical joke.”
The kooky Prosecutor does not have a grip on reality. It would be like trying to arrest Robert Deniro for murder because the Prosecutor watched “Good Fellas” and saw him shooting some people. The Governor should step in and put a stop to this farce.
I have read all about it and I agree wholeheartedly with the prosecutors:
“Emory manipulated the video to make it appear that the kids were listening to the dirty song that was rife with sexual innuendo and explicit lyrics. He then posted the video on Youtube.
“He didn’t think it through,” said defense attorney Terry Nolan. “He feels horrible for the families, he just didn’t think it through when he did this.”
Parents learned on Wednesday that the video was first shown on Valentine’s Day while Emory was performing at a local comedy club.
The singer is charged with manufacturing child sexual abusive materials, an offense that carries 15 to 20 years in jail.
On Wednesday Emory was arraigned in Muskegon. He was released on a $5,000 surety bond. Emory was ordered not to have any contact with children, except at his job, where he works as a waiter.”
Silly comparison.
TG the parents and prosecutors in this area are more perceptive than the moron millenials defending this creep.
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