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.
That's the fear since the childrens faces were very clear in the video.
His intentions have nothing to do with it either. How many times to people claim "I didn't mean it" when the consequences are dire? It doesn't matter what was meant. What matters is the outcome.
I’ve been busy this AM and just now checked in to FR.
This is an amazing thread.
The idea that the disgusting, filthy and vile “lyrics” mean nothing and are harmless while innocent children are being used as props is evidence that a moral revolution needs to happen asap or the future is extremely dark.
This is very enlightening. Animals in the barn, field and forest are morally superior to people who think this stuff is fun or harmless. Animals follow their nature; humans who consider that any and all sexual expression or promotion is good fun are violating their higher nature and as a result destroying society.
______________________________
A. You have no way of knowing who saw the video of these local children, what the fallout to them might be or if anyone who did see the video might be emboldened by it.
B. You might as well argue that peeping tom activity is just fine since nobody gets hurt.
C. In only one case were real children involved. It is disconcerting that you cannot get your mind around the fact that SP is a cartoon.
It’s not even just the kids in the video who are in harms way.
If some perv can’t get to them, he’ll get to whomever he can.
Having the kids in the background makes it look like they’re agreeing with it and enjoying it
That’s the thing these pedophiles convince themselves of, that the kids really want it. This is how those children are being unwittingly, on their part, portrayed.
It’s reprehensible.
Why are you so familiar with all those shows...research?
The childrens faces were shown without compensation, and the parents are upset. I get it.
Were the children harmed? Any evidence of that?
Perhaps the viewers thought they were actors? Which is was exactly what they were. Actors, props, whatever. And they weren’t paid.
If someone sees a kid getting killed on a tv show or a movie, watch out. That kid is alive again. Wow! Who knew! And someone out there is gonna kill that kid who was killed in that movie, because they saw it on tv and will duplicate it.
No kids were hurt, no child sex took place, end of story.
We’ve got you applying for a goverment job - make everything DJ MacWow doesn’t like illegal.
Turn your sights on Hollywood. There’s faggotry galore there. Leave some local alone. If Hollywood starts giving him work, and he starts doing sick stuff in movies with kids, then complain. Because that effects many many more people than some local on youtube. Or are you down with the Hollywood leftist depravity. Maybe you’re just upset that an indielocal got some hits instead of the Hollywood pros.
No doubt, the actors in the locals clips were apparently not paid. Is that it?
Anyway, you have your mission - find things in Hollywood that upset you, and complain about them.
Bad things did happen to these children. They were featured in a pornographic video.
Are you the same troll who was zotted a while back after defending pedophilia as long as it isn’t physically painful to the victims? Is that the position you’re taking here?
Yeah, right. Previous screen name?
No, I don’t agree with desecration of Holy Mother Church in visual art. My concern is strictly aural.
And I’m no leftist. I just abhor all censorship.
When you can play Rachmaninoff’s Third Concerto, then you can criticize my musical judgment.
Exactly. And this video did just that.
______________________________________
They were no more actors than the people who end up on the news.
You are really twisting to find a way to defend this perversion. One wonders why...but not for very long.
I don’t think he should have prison time, I think he should be beaten so severely that he will never, ever consider using children for sexual purposes ever again. Publicly beaten. I’m a huge proponent of public pain and public shame, and also public executions.
$5,000 fine and one week picking up trash on the roadside. No sex offender registry.
There. I fixed it. He won’t do it again.
“Previous screen name?”
Apparently you don’t know what lurking on the web means.
Actually the forum I was on before here was the Ted Nugent Talkback forum.
That one met my needs until Nugent charged a membership and all the good posters left an I git board.
I came here mostly for article links and had no need to reply.
But you know it all anyway.
I watch them because they’re funny. But old people who get easily offended like yourself would hate them.
There’s also a lot on Comedy Central that’s offensive. But I pretty much stopped watching Comedy Central (still try to catch the South Parks) after Obama was inaugurated, and Stewart and Colbert still attacked Republicans even though the Ds has the Presidency, the House and the Senate. Just said “enough” there and stopped watching that.
Take your empty moral sack back to DU. Defending this pervert is marking you as one of ‘his’.
___________________________________________
Nobody here cares about your 'musical judgement'....it is your moral judgement that we see and abhor.
Using children in a sex music video encourages pedophiles. If you don’t see that, you have moral blinders glued on.
No. You don't.
And you left this out: There is NO way of knowing if that video was viewed by pedophiles and if they thought the children were actually enjoying explicit lyrics.
The parents are frightened for their kids and you smear them.
This isn't about TV. You watch too much of it apparently. I watch none so I'm not influenced by garbage that compromises my morals. It's too bad that you are.
You have problems and I won't respond again.
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.