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 don’t care if he says he did it has a “joke” it isn’t. If anybody thinks this is funny they are just as sick as he is. He is old enough to know how to behave properly.
By the way I’m the one who is looking at the facts, you’re the one acting emotionally. The facts are he’s a sick individual.
The sign up date accusation that runs rampant here is so childish.
It has nothing to do with anything.
What is this obsession with how long someone has been signed up here?
I personally have been lurking here since around 2001 or so, but never had a need to sign up until 2008.
I’m just really shocked that anybody around here is defending this as a “joke”. He knew what he was doing was wrong and just didn’t care. If he really thinks this is funny that he is sicker than I think he is.
Excuse me?
No pal, I’m a professional musician, and any censorship of any music is anathema to me. Its that whole slippery-slope argument. Plus this is a colossal waste of tax dollars.
Falsely impugning my morals and character and cavalierly insulting me, who you do not even know beyond my screen persona here, is the tactic of the intellectually dishonest left.
Muskegon and the surrounding area is dominated by an extremely conservative fundatmentalist Dutch Christian set.
The locals will not “get” the humor and many are no doubt disappointed by the weak response from authorities.
“By the way I’m the one who is looking at the facts, you’re the one acting emotionally. The facts are he’s a sick individual.”
You 100% missed the point.
It has everything to do with it. Noobs have not proven themselves to be Conservative activists. And on threads like this they prove they are not Conservative. It's usually called a "bug zapper" thread.
You should have kept lurking, FR would have been better for it.
PS. That's usually the claim. No one believes it. Ever.
“Noobs have not proven themselves to be Conservative activists. And on threads like this they prove they are not Conservative”
Boy aren’t you righteous!
Yes because I'm on the right side of this and am not making excuses for innocent children being used as props in musical porn.
“You should have kept lurking, FR would have been better for it.”
You are so Conservative, yet you sink to Liberal tactics when someone doesn’t agree with your view.
________________________________________________
I'm a professional writer. I have moral standards, especially when children are involved. I am guided in my opinion by these standards, not by a sense of personal self-interest.
If children were used as un-witting visual props for sexually explicit lyrics, as it seems to be since nobody has refuted the court's claim of content, then this is child pornography. You may find it acceptable because of your professional sef-interest. I find it abhorrent.
And, anybody who professes that this creep did not experience some thrill while singing "put my hand down your panties..." while mixing the lyrics over a picture of smiling children is blind and to me, morally suspect.
Saying I’m making excuses shows how challenged your reading comprehension is.
I said the kid is a dumb ass, but I also think the punishment should fit the crime.
How much prison time should he get oh great one?
Most of them are MoRon Paul libertines who hope to destroy American.
Free Republic is an activist website for Conservatives. It is not meant as a forum for debating liberals. So yes, we all agree. And those that don't are usually zotted sooner or later. FR has no obligation to give a platform to anything but Conservatives voices.
It's a little harsh, for sure. I think 5 years would send the right message. He'd be out in three for "good behavior".
So now you run and speak for all on FR?
Better yet, you speak for all Conservatives?
NOT THIS ONE!
So tell us troll, how many zots have you racked up at FR over the years?
Just because I don't believe this young man should spend a significant amount of his adult life incarcerated doesn't mean I'm not appalled by his vulgar, juvenile sense of humor (and not particularly funny or original. Dave Chapelle did it better).
So, would it be fair to say that you are "personally opposed" to pedophilia, but don't want to impose your views on others?
I'm reminded of those feminists who believe that every regrettable act of drunken, consensual sex is by definition rape. This insults those victims who have experienced violent rape, something that is a decidedly different experience from bad drunken sex. Calling this guy a child pornographer and charging him as such is no different and just as much of an insult to the very real victims of actual child pornography and predatory child sex offenders.
It's disturbing the lengths you and your ilk will go to in order to rationalize pornography.
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