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.
“Re-read what I wrote. I wasn’t accusing you of anything!”
The hell you didn’t
You specifically addressed this to my quote and me.
To Jazz1968: “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.”
You were way out of line!
You need to re-read.
Well Golly! Quite a few have broken moral barometers.
They sure are. Nothing like a thread about morals to bring out the worst in some people.
Comparing this to Mozart and Wagner is really scraping to find some justification to support this.
Support of this kind of obscenity and perversion is why our culture is going down the tubes and why child abuse is on the rise.
Anyone supporting or defending this kind of nonsense is as guilty of a child getting molested as the perv committing the act. It's called being complicit.
“That ain’t innocent and only the MTV generation would think it is.”
Now here I agree 100%.
pwnd.....
What? No response yet?
Imagine that.
I'm sure you also support "art" like urine-soaked Crucifixes or feces-smeared canvas and scream censorship if children were prohibited from seeing it.
Its that whole slippery-slope argument.
Yes it is, you and your leftist ilk put us on the slippery slope a long time ago and you will do whatever is necessary to insure that America continues its descent into Hell.
“I never said you did. Learn to read. “
I never said you said it. Learn to read.
He SAID it was a joke.
That doesn’t make it one.
That’s the typical bully/thug response when caught and confronted about wrongdoing.
Turn it back on everyone else, claim it was a *joke* and complain that you can’t help it if nobody else has a sense of humor. Make everyone else the bad guy and him the martyr.
Not buying it.
What he did was thought out, deliberate and intentional. It took planning and time and effort.
No, it was not a joke.
According to many on FR, Democrats and Liberals on the one hand, and Republicans and Conservatives on the other, are exactly the same, but they have different ideas about what should be banned.
According to many, “big government conservatives” are the only good kind of conservative, even if JimR is not a big govermment conservative.
A handful of Conservatives jump up and down about something, and before you know it, it’s impossible to persuade moderates that Conservatives are better. It’s just a choice about what you want to ban. Conservatives want to ban video editing that makes it look like kids are in favor of bad things. It’s not enough to make bad things a crime.
Let’s just start putting Hollywood directors in jail for anything we don’t like.
I guess there aren’t too many tea party conservatives here, just Bush/RINO “conservatives”.
I remember when people were voting against too much government. I guess it was just not the right kind of government. If Obama started putting people in jail for videos they didn’t like, they’d be all for Obama. Gonna walk around with a sign “Obama - the wrong kind of big government”?
No, obviously I needed to use a 'sarcasm' tag. Sorry you took my post exactly the opposite of how it was intended. I have agreed with your points on this thread 100% of the time and DJ MacWow's points exactly 0% of the time.
Do you think the fact that he’s a comedian influence the way you think about whether it was a joke?
Yes. You did.
Actually Jazz, I think gena was taking a jab at those would judge you for making such a suggestion. After all, the gang’s all here after the trumpet blast was sounded by one. Or, was it a dog whistle?
I am sorry to hear of your experience as a youth. I can’t imagine.
There is no gray area when it comes to children, only absolute zero tolerance.
I do not have the authority to close the FR door on those of you who have shown a willingness to comprimise with the mystery man and I would not ping the boss....but....I believe that I speak for the rest of us when I say that you would never be welcome in my house or in the company of my family.
Thank you, Lando. This is exactly what I was doing (though not very well, it appears).
I am sorry to hear of your experience as a youth. I can’t imagine.
Indeed, Jazz, as am I.
No.
He can claim kiddie porn music is a *joke* all he wants and it doesn't make it one.
I think he wanted to see how far he could push the issue in porn and get away with it. I have no doubt that he knew what kind of response it would provoke.
_____________________________________
I am genuinely sorry that you have to carry that around.
Do you know everything about your molester? Do you know how he found his way to that depravity? Was he born that way? Did he just wake up one day and start? Or, as is likely, did he build up to it?
Neither you nor I know exactly what was in this funny guy's head when he made the video. I do know that the mind that came up with the idea of singing "I'll put my hand in your panties..." in front of a backdrop of smiling children is sick. I also know that anyone who thinks these thoughts and then acts them out on camera should never be allowed interaction with children and should be on a watch list.
Sounds like a contract law dispute. Or a tort. There might be a cause of action somewhere there. They were in a video and they weren’t paid. And parents didn’t sign permission slips. Kids are in movies where bad things happen all the time. And hollywood makes big money.
But it’s not a crime.
Yes it is well known the kid is a amateur comedian and this video was planned ahead of time.
He played it at a comedy club on a variety night a week before he posted it on youtube.
Prosecutors and Defense both agree it was a sick prank gone wrong. What they don’t agree on is what crime was committed and what punishment should be applied.
He is a idiot and has a twisted sense of humor, but he is no pedophile.
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