Now I've seen it all.

[jasonl]

I was playing around on youtube looking for some of those flash "Screamer" programs. You know the ones that tell you to "Look closer" or play soft music and all of a sudden, it shows a scary picture and plays a very LOUD scream. Usually to scare the sh*t out of you. I think those are funny but while looking for those on Youtube. I found a video of a dad (I think) subjecting his young son to one of these. It looks like some kind of maze game and at the end the thing shows a scary picture and screams. It traumatizes the kid and he starts crying.

OK, I don't know about you but this is pretty much child abuse. The kid did not deserve to have that done to him, even if it was punishment. Whoever did that to the poor child needs to be shot, or put in prison with Big Bubba.

I'm not going to post a linky because the URL to this site will become linked to that video. Search Youtube for "screamer" and you'll see. It's quite disturbing.

What's even more disturbing is the comments to that video. Most of them were LOL and "that kid got pwned" etc.

 

[jmirawm]

ohhhhhh

My daddy would have just told me to "buck up" I don't think the person showing that to the kid was intending to scare him THAT bad. He was probably sorry he did it. I am sure after calming the child down the whole affair was a laugh.

 

[gansky1]

gross overreaction

If the father were intentionally abusing that child, he most likely would not have videotaped it, nor would he have bothered to make the effort to engage the child at all - in any activity.

It sounds innocent enough and the family will probably laugh about it for years to come. Come on, Jason, haven't you ever watched America's Funniest Home Videos? It happens all the time and always gets an "awwwwwwwwwwwww" from the audience. They eat it up!

 

[kevinpreston8]

I don't know what it is with people

thinking they can just mentally abuse kids and it's just alright.

Not too long ago, a piece of trash LA artist by the name of Jill Greenberg made a big splash in classless LA by taking photos of sobbing children. This collection of crying and screaming children was part of a photo essay, you could see this coming, "End Times", an Anti-Bush, anti-war, anti Christian diatribe. Of course.

Supposedly, this dirtbag would give the children a toy or candy and then yank it away, making the children really cry. Then she photoshopped the pics to give them an "arty" look. The children don't appear to be upset, they appear to be truly devastated.

Whether they were or not, making children upset for sake of your "art" is pretty disgusting. What kind of sick people make this, and what kind of sick people buy it?

I always thought, perhaps someone should dress as a police officer, knock on Ms Greenberg's door and tell her one of her children was killed, take some pictures of her balling, then tell her, hey, I was only kidding. Here's a lollypop!

Wonder how she would defend her art then. Hey, we could call it "Breakdown", and tie it metaphorically to the breakdown of the family unit blah blah blah blah.

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[gansky1]

I agree, Kevin, making adults or children upset for personal gain or some sick enjoyment is abhorrent but what Jason is describing sounds much different. Usually it's embarassment or a rush of adrenaline that makes a child burst into tears in a situation like that and is usually short lived. There is a big difference between forcing it to happen and happenstance.

 

[jasonl]

My take on it is, the (whoever took the video) knew what the computer program was going to do and that it would scare the kid. I got fooled once by one of those things and it made me jump. Intentionally doing that or anything to upset a kid just for humor is WRONG and it won't illicit an "awww" from me or anyone else but "that guy is a jerk". That would have NEVER played on AFH. And yes, I'm a fan of AFH with Bob Saget and I want to see it on DVD. Of course we can go on the benefit of the doubt and say he didn't know that it would scare the kid that much, but what got me was he uploaded it (or someone did) somewhere and now it's available to view in lots of places. Greg, would you trick your kid into watching one of those flash videos knowing what's coming?

Overreacting? Well, maybe so. Sometimes you have to "over-react" when you see something that really offends you. And that really pissed me off.

And that Jill Greenburg needs to have something she dearly loves taken away and have her photographed and put on display.

It's so easy to terrorize little children, isn't it?

 

[oxydolfan]

But the emperor has no clothes....

Perhaps if our children were to witness the films of what happens to Iraqis in Abu Ghraib under our administration, or Lebanese children during the Lebanon massacre this summer, maybe there would suddenly be no controversies over "Youtube" films, mmmm?

What would the parents say then?

http://[email protected]

 

[oxydolfan]

How to delete link?

I didn't mean to include a link in the above post.

 

[gmmcnair]

It depends on the child...

...one thing that frightens one child may amuse another. I loved that kind of stuff as a kid...of course, in those days, it was in the form of a jack-in-the-box, or someone hiding around a corner. My cousin, a year younger, was traumatized at everything....my grandpa's removing his false teeth and making an "UGLY" face at him (made me howl with laughter at the same age)....a big mushroom I found in the woods (had nightmares for three nights)...a bee in the house....yada yada yada.

Thing is, I'm sure the family probably had a laugh when it was done. I'm sure that he didn't mean to traumatize the kid THAT much. And, it's part of being human....we all make mistakes. Let's not string up someone decent because of one mistake.

 

[oxydolfan]

I don't think it's necessarily the greatest use of a parent's time, but it's a long way from being any sort of child abuse!

 

[dalangdon]

Scaring the kid is one thing - but taping it and putting it on the Internet? That's just weird and tacky.

 

[westytoploader]

That's just wrong...

This is not the first time I've seen the video in question on YouTube. It would be different if the kid was older, like 13 or 14, and fell for it, then I would have a good laugh. But this kid has to be no more than 9 years old and in my opinion is WAY too young to be subjected to this sort of thing. I've seen pretty much every single prank flash out there, and I agree, some of them (this "maze" one for example) can be pretty scary if you haven't seen it before! I have also seen this type of thing on AFV but it involves OLDER KIDS, so what you mentioned, Greg, is like comparing apples to oranges. For one thing, I didn't see any "embarrassment fright" here. This kid, for all intents and purposes, obviously had the s**t scared out of him.

And about the fact that he TAPED it and put it on the Internet? Someone's definitely off their meds...

 

[oxydolfan]

Oh, that's what people are like these days.

A few fries short of a Happy Meal.

 

[gansky1]

Apples and Oranges - poppycock!

My son is a huge fan of AFV and we see these types of scare pranks with all ages of kids - toddlers and older kids and while I will agree that some of this is tacky and low-class (many of the AFV vids get little more than a roll of the eyes from me - I just don't find people falling and potentially dangerous accidents funny) but we have received these flash email pranks before and Skyler gets a kick out of them. Every kid is different and every parent is different - it never ceases to amaze me that those who don't have kids know best ;-)

 

[Cybrvanr]

I had a few pranks played on me as a kid like this, and I can definitely say that I wasn't scarred for life. Yes, it was definitely tacky to put this on youtube, but I don't see any harm done. Yes, I would even start crying too as a young child, but it does not take much to make a child cry. Like Jim said, it was the emotional rush more than it was a loathe for what is happening or what was actually there. I guess I am an exception, but I figured out what was make-believe and what was real at a pretty early age, and I didn't let things really affect me that much.

Ever seen a young child start screaming and crying at the sight of Santa Claus? Same thing! The child is probably prepared and is happy about meeting this man that is depicted in pictures that gives gifts to all children. Upon seeing a huge man in a bright red suit towering over them, the situation changes as emotions overcome the child. The child however never changes their view of liking Santa claus however from a distance!

 

[jasonl]

I'm sure the kid made a full recovery and now just laughs at it but still, exploiting his misfortune by taping it and uploading it somewhere ain't nice. But oh well, like the Doors, People are strange.

 

[jasonl]

The scariest one I've seen is that "Car commercial" video, where the car is peacefully driving down a curvy road. It goes behind a tree and then BAM!

 

[retroguy]

Someone sent me that maze thing in an email....

I had no idea what was coming. Whats worse....I was at work. Almost needed a clean pair of shorts! heh.

 

[jasonl]

Those things will getcha. Whenever you get something like especially that says "look closer" or "turn your speakers up", you know what's coming.