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 do not believe that years of incarceration are in order. I do strongly believe that this type of thinking and acting on the thought is evidence of a sexually depraved attitude toward children. Probation, limitations on contact with any children and listing on sex-offender lists are called for.
Why should FR use its limited resources to allow liberals, homosexualists, abortionists, big spenders, big taxers, big government solutions advocates, gun grabbers, pacifists, isolationists, environmentalists, open-borders lobbyists, etc, ply their trade on FR? Well, more and more lately, we don't. And, apparently, that has pissed off a lot of big tent, true blue RINO types and the herd is stampeding. Let them go.
__________________________________
May we assume then that your level of indignation, low as it is, would not exist at all if you thought that the video was funny?
May we also assume that, since you say that it's not as funny as some other, similar videos you've seen and enjoyed, you in fact watched it? If you did, were you titillated or disgusted?
He knew what he was doing was wrong or else he would have sang the actual song. As to defenders on FR I’m not shocked anymore. People no longer understand morals and ethics.
I agree with Jim’s points.
You obviously don’t understand my position on this story, or at least don’t want to.
You are clearly an emotional thinker. Not necessarily a Conservative trait by the way.
Apparently, believing this young man doesn't deserve to spend twenty years behind bars makes one a pervert, porn aficionado and closet kiddie diddler. Oh, and a liberal troll.
_______________________________________
Nope.
But your defense of "low-level" sex-offenders and your objection that this particular video sinned mostly by not making you laugh does make us suspicious of your moral fiber.
I don't consider it a joke to use other peoples children in music porn. The parents didn't think it was a joke either. Only the MTV generation seems to think it's a "joke". The adults aren't laughing.
Doesn't look good for the prosecution.
Where has anyone said he should get 20? Most of us object to unwitting children being used in music porn. Others think using other peoples children in porn is a misguided “joke”. No one actually involved is laughing.
It seems so. I suggest they try Tru Blew. They’d think it’s funny.
“Your position in Post 34 is that he was just joking. “
That is not my position that he was joking, it is the fact of the case. That it was a prank is a fact that that was his intention. No one involved in the case disputes this.
Even the prosecution admits it was a prank.
I don’t think it is funny, never said it was.
Learn to read.
Woah, relax! Re-read what I wrote. I wasn't accusing you of anything! I was making a comment about all the other people on this thread who are equating what this idiot did with real child molestation, something I disagree with and thought you did as well.
I was supporting your position, --at least I thought I was.
It’s a crime?
It’s in the “video editing” section of the law?
“Bad things” and “things that look like bad things” are the same now?
I thought the Dems were the ones who put their feelings before their intellect.
I don’t think it is funny, never said it was.
I never said you did. Learn to read.
I think so too. They love trolling.
He used other peoples children in a music porn video without their knowledge or consent and he misrepresented the video. That ain’t innocent and only the MTV generation would think it is.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.