Drugged kids on video no laughing matter

Tell me this. Why is it OK for a father to videotape his young son who is high on medicine?
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Sun-Times columnist Mary Mitchell

 

That's essentially what happened to an 8-year-old Florida boy named David.

"David after the Dentist" is a YouTube hit. Since the two-minute video clip was posted in February, it has gotten more than 16 million hits.

My niece, a college student, stopped by my house this weekend, and she couldn't wait to show us this latest YouTube sensation.

The drugged boy is strapped into the back seat of the family car with his head nodding.

"You have four eyes," he says to his father. "I feel funny. Why is this happening to me?"

At another point, the boy screams and tries to raise himself out of the child carrier.

"It's OK," his father says. "It's just the medicine."

David DeVore, the boy's father, claims he took the video because he wanted a photo of his son before and after the dental appointment.

And because the boy's mother was at work.

But DeVore didn't tuck the film in the family's archives. He posted it on YouTube so that strangers could be entertained.

Another YouTube video clip shows a little boy stumbling in the street with a lottery ticket stuck on his head.

"Did the dentist knock you out good? I think they gave you too much, I don't think it should still be affecting you," the father says, as his son staggers around.

There's nothing cute about these video clips.
What's up with these parents?

I understand that we live in an entertainment-obsessed world, but videos of children on drugs cross the line.

In fact, officials with child welfare agencies should be concerned.

We expect parents to protect their children in situations where they cannot protect themselves -- not exploit them.

As for the millions of people who get a chuckle out of these troubling videos, what are you thinking?

Unless these children are pretending to be high, then they are being exploited for adult amusement.

Not funny.

In fact, I already have a hard time understanding why so many people have nothing better to do than to shuffle through YouTube.

The Internet site has made it possible for anyone to become a film star even when what is being filmed could put them behind bars.

For instance, recently three high school sophomores were charged in connection with the videotaped beating of a fellow classmate.

The 16-year-olds live in Melrose Park and attend Proviso East High School. Two of the girls were charged with felony aggravated battery and felony mob action. The girl who filmed the attack was charged with mob action.

There were three postings of the violent attack on YouTube, and one of them had been viewed 2,000 times before it was taken down.

Apparently, these teens were so caught up in the YouTube culture that they didn't even consider that they were providing police with clear-cut evidence.

No matter how many times teens are busted on YouTube for illegal activities such as underage drinking, others can't resist the impulse to post these inappropriate videos.
Wrong route to fame

But there's no excuse for the parents who exploit their children on YouTube.

Some of these parents may be hoping that they will get noticed by someone who makes legitimate movies.

Or maybe they believe their child will go from the video clip to the big screen.

But children shouldn't be forced to be in these homemade films any more than they should be forced to be on reality TV programs.

After all, it is one thing for adults to invite the world into their dysfunctional homes, but children have no choice.

"David after the Dentist" may be just a harmless video to some, but think about the message it sends:

That being high is fun? That it is funny to be incoherent. That being woozy and staggering is a laughing matter.

Worse yet, there's no way to justify using children for entertainment purposes.

These "drugged kids" videos exploit innocent children. Actually, I am surprised the genre isn't deemed too inappropriate for posting.

Laughing at these videos doesn't make us cool.

It makes us sick. source>>>

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