"Hilarious Home Video?" Not so funny, IMO

[Andy Moynihan]

Might make for interesting festivities, it might.

 

[Jade Tigress]

...The know-it-all-teen is a horrible phase that I think nearly all of us went through. I recall with great embarassment what I was like back then...

Oh god. Me too.

Of course they cracked you up, and me too, because they are funny. Why are they funny? Because it points out how absurd it really is to think that ANYONE who meets ANYONE ELSE via myspace.com is destined to be raped, in the butt.

That's good comedy, because its so absurd. You have a tv show showing pedophiles meeting children. Next thing, everyone thinks that this is all myspace is for. Its just full of pedophiles trying to have sex with children (this is an adult on the tape, mind you -- a legal adult), so this pedophile idea really doesn't apply.

As children me and my brother would do this all of the time. We would make fun of our parents in this way. We would use this "hyperbole" type of comedy.

OH NO, YOU CAN'T GO DOWN TO THAT ROCK-N-ROLL SHOW, YOU WILL BE STABBED! YOU WILL BE BEATEN UP AND THEN THROWN INTO THE DUMPSTER BY THE ROCK-N-ROLL PEOPLE!!!

It was funny then, and its funny now. Of course, I have no children, so if I am missing the point, there's no harm in it. If I had children, I might very well see things differently.

The fact of the matter is, most online meetings won't end in rape or murder, but it does happen. Even the slightest possibility is enough for steps of caution to be taken when meeting.

Why did the girl feel it necessary to lie about where she was? Obviously because she knew she was doing something she shouldn't be doing.

I think her brother (the cameraman) started out making fun, teasing his sister because she's getting in major trouble, but then he catches a glimpse of reality makes the comment, "I'm not even laughing, you could have been raped".

The reason people are told when meeting someone in person they met online to let people know where you're going, meet in a public place, etc. is because enough *bad* things have happened to other people when they didn't.

Check out this link.

 

[CoryKS]

I was more disgusted by the son's behavior than the daughter. She's just stupid. This amoral bastard shot footage of a private family discussion, made a mockery of it, and posted it on the internet to humiliate his family. If this were my child, I would push him out the door for good on the day it was legally possible to do so.

 

[Jade Tigress]

I was more disgusted by the son's behavior than the daughter. She's just stupid. This amoral bastard shot footage of a private family discussion, made a mockery of it, and posted it on the internet to humiliate his family. If this were my child, I would push him out the door for good on the day it was legally possible to do so.

You make good points.

Another aspect I found funny was that by the end of it he had the mother laughing. With the internet today, nothing is sacred. You have to wonder about the kids who videotape themselves beating someone else, or vandalizing property, and they POST it!, they're proud of it!!! It disgusts me but I'm glad they do it for the evidence of the offense.

Different set of circumstances, I know, but it's indicative of the publicizing everything trend.

 

[exile]

it's indicative of the publicizing everything trend.

This is the thing that I find so mysterious about modern life.

I don't know if was just me and my circle of people, but when I was a kid, we didn't have a sense that there was anything inherently interesting or important about our moods, reactions, feelings, etc. It's not that we were any less self-absorbed and self-involved than any other generation—we were Baby Boomers, after all!—but we didn't regard the mundane details, screwups and tiny triumphs and defeats of our own lives as particularly interesting, except maybe to our girlfriends/boyfriends. What I find to be widely true these days is that the reverse is the case. Stuff that would have once been regarded as too banal to mention now fills up the pages of magazines of the 'personality cannibalism' sort, the content of TV talk shows, the blogs of everyone and his/her dog, and the annals of YouTube video records. Even after all these years of it, I can't stop myself from wondering, why do you think this is interesting?? Are we that starved for things to engage our minds??

 

[Sukerkin]

Even after all these years of it, I can't stop myself from wondering, why do you think this is interesting?? Are we that starved for things to engage our minds??

Oh thank the gods! I'm not alone! .

 

[Makalakumu]

Even after all these years of it, I can't stop myself from wondering, why do you think this is interesting?? Are we that starved for things to engage our minds??

I think the short answer to this query is YES. We live in a culture of perpetual dumbness where even using polysyllabic words in public brands you as an elitist. Further, even though we are linked to each other ways we never thought possible, we are more physically isolated from each other then ever before.

Our physical disillusion coupled with our disabled imaginations has turned the banal into entertainment.

Welcome to the age of 24 hour infotainment.

 

[shesulsa]

It's on-line reality entertainment. "They need dirty laundry." And reality TV is some of the cheapest stuff to produce.

 

[hongkongfooey]

The constant bleating of I'M EIGHTEEN, should have been met with the following response. " You are living in Mamma's house. If you wish to continue to live the good life, in Mamma's house, you will follow Mamma's rules. If you no longer wish to follow Mamma's rules, you are hereby notified that you have thirty days to find gainful employment, and a place to live. After all you ARE eighteen years old and legally an adult" This of course would be met with "you can't throw me out, I'm only eighteen!".

 

[TheArtofDave]

You know what? I'm still trying to figure out why the "friend" of the guy she met on Myspace didn't call the house to let her mom know where she was. Or why the hell didn't the guy she met tell her to call to let the family know.

It does give you the sense that maybe she was going to do something she wasn't suppose to.

"I'm 18" is not a valid excuse. Of course taking away her net access, and her car is enough of a punishment to at least warrant a "Hey, I haven't stopped meeting myspace people but I will call, and bring them by so you know they're not criminals" type of thing.

I don't have any kids right now but I'm guessing this can serve as a good example how to least look around the corner so a moment you don't want broadcast doesn't end up getting broadcast.

 

[Kuk Sa Nim]

How about her whole attitude and language? Did anyone else notice that she was raising her voice, yelling at her mother, and using foul language. I could NEVER talk like that to my parents, much less use profanity. She used the "f" word! Even today, I watch my words around mom and dad.

I guess, that was a different time, but respect is respect. I can honestly say my kids do not behave that way in my house. It will not be tolerated, and would be corrected on the spot.

This poor child is so dumb that she doesn't know how or why she messed up with basic family rules, much less how really dangerous her actions were.

Clueless...comes to mind.

 

[punisher73]

In Michigan age is kind of a grey area. The age of consent is 16 for sex and dropping out of school, the age to be criminally charged as an adult is 17, but your are not considered "an adult" until 18 (Nice on that one, your 17 year old child commits a crime and is charged as an adult, but since they are 17 you are financially responsible for their restitution if they order that).

I think all kids have the "it can't happen to me" attitude. They do think they know it all. They don't realize the dangers that are out there. They "know" there are bad people out there, but they aren't the ones that THEY KNOW.

On to the issue of hiding with a video camera knowing that your sister is going to get her butt chewed out is just plain rude,childish and disrespectful. That kid has issues of his own.