Hoodwinking And YouTubing A Child's Humiliation

I don't know, who's to say this video is legit. I mean where'd they get the box, they just dug it out of the garbage somewhere? I don't feel that bad for the kid, I still never got the Nintendo I asked for Christmas twenty years ago. Life constantly teases us with all sorts of things, and that is the family's business if they want their kid to despise them and rebel. There are plenty of complete insensitive families out there, I've seen parents raise their children to beg and steal at gunpoint right here in the U S of A.
If you want to do something for children involving YouTube, why doesn't someone force them to add parental controls. My daughter and I love to watch cartoons in French, Portuguese, Tibetan, etc. etc. on Youtube, but how can I explain when her favorite character comes up without warning swearing and mounting a donkey, among other things?

Engadget verified the story/video.

YouTube does have a parental warning filter, of course, like any filter, YMMV, and the appropriate verification of content/pre-viewing may be necessary.

Ummm, no clue here Aaman. I just read YouTube's Community Guidelines and this is the closest thing I found to filtering.

Taken directly from the site:

"You may not like everything you see. Some of the content here may offend you--if you find that it violates our Terms of Use, then click "Flag as Inappropriate" under the video you're watching to submit it for review by YouTube staff. If it doesn't, then consider just clicking on something else--why waste time watching videos you don't like?"

"Respect the YouTube Community
We're not asking for the kind of respect reserved for nuns, the elderly, and brain surgeons. We mean don't abuse the site."

Obviously not children either.

And, what is YMMV???:Your Mileage May Vary
* YMMV Your Market May Vary

Since YouTube does not have parental control it isn't a site where children should be encouraged to go at least not without parental supervision.

However given the vastness of the Internet the fact that our kids may stumble on to some weird crap is quite possible which is why we cannot treat the Internet as a baby sitter for our kids.

What a sick thing to do. I find American idol/Indian Idol and other such shows bad enough in the way they deliberately film people's emotional responses; that, though, is a very mild intrusion into one's emotions compared to this. Reading your description, and seeing the first still of the child's face was enough - that is not a video i want to see.

Read the description posted alongside the video:

My mom decides to buy my brother an Xbox 360 for christmas. We leave that night and return the next morning to find he has sneaked a look....just as my mom thought he would, this is the result...and yes he did get the game i will try to post the second video

What a sick thing to do. I'm not surprised you are angry, Deepti. I find American idol/Indian Idol and other such shows bad enough in the way they deliberately film people's emotional responses; that, though, is a very mild intrusion into one's emotions compared to this. Reading your description, and seeing the first still of the child's face was enough - that is not a video i want to see.

Sanjay,

If you'll read the comments - on the video, on digg, and most importantly, the Engadget article itself, you'll see that the description isn't quite accurate, and that Engadget verified the story. The child's face is enough to confirm that it was a malicious prank at the very least.

sickos galore

I watched that video and it is just mean what they did. I dunno how that mom could've just sat there and not even given him a hug when his face fell like that. T see your kid's eyes well up and not do a thing about it, that is just really cold.

Aaman: I don't know if I'd trust Engadget either. They could be doing this for publicity too. Who knows.

But I honestly don't care if the family gave him the game later. It wasn't about that. It is about how the kid must've felt during the moment captured by the camera. It is heart-wrenching.

I do hope that this video is not real, just made-up. Cannot muster the courage to watch it...

It does not get any more intriguing than this - from running away from the loved ones in search of Santa Claus's Lapland to playing terrible Santa Claus to the loved ones, from rudely abandoning the loved ones for self-indulgent pursuits to rudely mocking the loved ones for their self-indulgence, for mythical but meticulously described Lapland full of toys to incredibly realistic virtual xbox full of joys, people ranging from adults to kids are acting like a meandering bull in a china shop, in search of their favorite fodder. And best part is we have a front row seat in front of this virtual tube to be amused, entertained, shocked, outraged, vex eloquence and state our categorical opinions and positions. And that is my firm position.

I think I understand and agree fully with what you are saying, though you sure have a round-about way of saying it.

Dear Dee,

Are you adding to his humiliation by linking it in this forum?

In other words, does the media have some responsibility in sensationalizing issues because they generate more clicks?

Ravi

Yes, she is. She's basically fussing over it in lurid style.

Ravi, my anger made me do it, not the need for clicks but you are welcome to your opinion.

Ravi Kulkarni: Moot point. A child does not care about an article about the Youtube video that is already available online and has been viewed by more people of his demographic than those reading Desicritics, a magazine catering to a largely South Asian reader populace. Youtube on the other hand is viewed by several children, teens and Americans. The media has a responsibility towards denouncing and criticizing what they find deplorable...keeping mum and holding back their opinions would make them an unpresent and primarily useless media.

Dissecting the role of media: If a woman were raped, that would be a violation of her dignity among other things. But should the media stop from reporting this news and criticizing the culprit or discussing the court dealings because it may further humiliate the woman? Should this attitude be applied to all crimes? Why have a media form then?

Dear Dee,

I am sorry, I didn't intend to accuse you in particular about sensationalizing this topic. I know that's how it appears and my sincere apologies to you.

Aditi, my point is still valid. Any event good and bad should be reported. However, if you look around now, mostly bad events get precedence. Good news has become an afterthought. We have this morbid fascination for bad events and the media uses it to the fullest extent.

I don't know if you are following a TV serial called "Saregamapa Little Champs". One of the boys recently got voted out fo the contest and they spent a significant amount of time showing the dispute between the contestant's brother and the organizer. They extended it even further by showing what happened outside the venue where the father of the contestant berated the organizers while some people looked on. It was just disgusting. I am not sure if they showed these events on TV or not.

Regards,

Ravi

Ravi Kulkarni: I did not expect you to admit that your point was moot. Regarding your claim that media is obssesed with "bad news", I would only like to add that a journalist's primary duty is in reporting news, good or bad. Journalists are not Santa. More often than not accidents, deaths, storms, natural disasters are things that people need to be aware of. If these are bad news, well, tough. A journalist is not supposed to sugar coat or distort daily news to make things seem more happy and positive.

I don't know what Saregampa is. However, an educated guess makes me inclined to believe that you are mistaking popular television for journalism. The program you are referring to does not seem like a news or journalistic media form.

Dee

Your take is about perfect - and i don't say THAT very often about ya ;-) / kidding, of course.

Definitely not worst parents. The kid will forget about it or it will fade mightily in importance. This happens all the time but youTube now makes this kid's humiliation WIDEspread thanks to the brother. Maybe the presence of YouTube and other things similar will over a few years actually make people better toward each other as they realize if they do it could come right back at them.

... Why yes that is a mashup of Imagine and kumbaya I hear in the background.

Aditi, journalists report and bloggers blog all which is seen- the good, the bad and the ugly. Its what we are made up of.

Temple, the only time I'd hear Kumbaya is when XBOx and PSP would become dirt cheap and little kiddos would consider video games to be outdated;)

Dear Aditi,

I wish that's all what journalists did. I am not confusing popular TV with journalism. Journalism has become the popular TV. BTW, I don't watch TV because I don't have one, Saregamapa episodes are available on the internet.

Increasingly media outlets have compromised the journalistic ethic. They seek out bad news and try to sensationalize it further. The headlines used are often misleading or downright wrong many times. If you want I can search and give you some examples. This phenomenon is not limited to TV alone.

Regards,

Ravi

Ravi, what I find most disconcerting about the point you have raised is not the inauthentiticity of it all but the thread you have raised it on (where an author expresses her concern about a media form being used to propagate a child's humiliation). If you think this is bad news, I would ask you to go easy on them CNN and BBC news reports.

Using your logic journalists should just report "good news" instead of "hunting" for bad news. In short: Why go to another country and cover a draught or a storm? Lets stay here and report how many people had birthday parties and how beautiful the trees look covered in snow. Why hunt for bad news?

Sensationalism dogs all forms of media, be it journalism or reality television. I don't need examples. I know plenty myself. But that is not the point. The point you make is significantly distorted because of the context you chose to make it in: Dee's article, this particular thread. If you notice my comment came before your comment #18.

A benevolent part of me wants to dismiss your criticizing news reports being "bad news" as some sort of an idealistic naivety.

But think about it, if there's bad news, it needs to be delivered and don't blame the messengers for doing their job.

Dear Aditi,

You are right, I was wrong. This is not the correct thread.

Ravi