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.
Because I recognize a deflection technique when I see one.
So why are you here on FR posting links to explicit videos and encouraging people to watch them?
We’d be as furious as Muslims are, if our land was occupied. (Jan 2006)
is kooky, as you said it was.
So, rather than understanding that we liberated Iraq and Afghanistan from Islamfascist terrorists, you believe that we are "occupiers" and should leave?
Did you vote for Zero or was he not enough of a leftist for you?
You sound like the Code Pink wackos.
Yup!
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Which explains his defense of Emory exploiting children.
Both Hollywood and the music industry needs to clean up it's act. They are morally bankrupt.
I’m looking for DJ MacWows answer.
I didn’t say what I believe. I just want DJ MacWow to explain why he thought it was a kooky statement.
I don’t know how I can sound like anything if all I’m asking for is an explanation.
I don’t want to watch your morally deficient crap. Don’t ask me again.
It's a kooky Truther statement that goes along with all his OTHER nutter statements. Like this one:
9/11 resulted from blasphemy of our bases in Saudi Arabia. (Dec 2007)
This post is SOURCED. That means I have linked to his statements.
Please explain why this Ron Paul statement
We’d be as furious as Muslims are, if our land was occupied. (Jan 2006)
is kooky, as you said it was.
It was explained to you. What muslim lands do we "occupy"? None. He's a nutter. And you ain't 40.
i think that you don’t belong on FR or around children.
I’ve been signed in to youtube for over a day. I do now see there is a warning. So, yeah, I wouldn’t call it morally deficient, but yeah, it is 18+. Seeing that, I’ll keep it away. I hadn’t seen the warning. Fortunately the youtube system did keep you from seeing the video.
I'm not a member of Boob Tube. It's a liberal pit infested with juvenile minds.
whys that?
Your moral barometer is busted.
how so?
ok. either way, you didn’t see the video and that’s fine.
I’m older than 40.
I think I get your argument.
Your argument is that we don’t occupy Iraq or Afghanistan, correct?
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