I recently read an article on the New York Times website about a advancement in You tube videos; the filmed reunions of child and military parent. The videos often show a child, unsuspecting, at school, a sporting event, or at home, shocked when their parent, often a father shows up after a deployment from Iraq. Sometimes they are filmed on home cameras, but often the media are called, though this raise another issue; what if the child doesn't jump up, cry, and run to the parent. As said in the article, by Lillian Connolly “But I recommend to families not to surprise children. The child has been without a parent for so long. The child can hold anger. You never know how they’re going to react.” Is it fair to the child? As the article states, "Do these videos celebrate or exploit?" I think it definitely depends on the family, but it does seem extreme to put up on You tube, or another similar video interacting site. In the end, everyone always seems happy to finally be reunited with their family, but this may not be the way to do it. The children, often very young, may not even really have known the parent, making it difficult for everyone in the situation, but then to film it, and put it up on the internet? Technology and the use of the internet truly seems to have advanced the world in some ways, but at the same time, it has blurred the lines and make everything a little bit more complicated.
Here are some examples of videos:
(see article and videos: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/29/fashion/29video.html?ref=technology)
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I definitely agree with you. This seems very extreme. I imagine it would be a very hard situation for a young child to be surprised in this way. Surprising the kid at all doesn't seem right to me, let alone posting it on a site like Youtube seems a bit cruel. I know it can be heartwarming as the viewer to see a child's face light up upon seeing his or her parent come back after so long without having seen him/her, but I think parents should think of their children rather than getting some sort of Internet fame.
ReplyDeleteI agree, India. This is reunion is too emotionally charged to really put on youtube, plus from a child's perspective, would you want your reaction filmed?
ReplyDeleteI think that this type of reunion between child and father is definitely a private matter. I don't think that families would want something this special to become public to everyone. I feel that by making this public, they are taking away the special, private moment from the kids.
ReplyDeleteVery true sarah24, its ridiculous that they are filming families reunions with one another. It is an intrusion on private life and so unnecessary
ReplyDeleteThese videos are quite touching and but I do think that it is more of a private matter. However, it really depends whether the families agree to do it to film it and put on youtube. It is a matter of how private the family wants to film it or not - and it is completely true how the children, very young, might not understand and be angry, or not really know their father well.
ReplyDeletethat is a real invasion of privacy, things like that should not be allowed to be exposed to the public
ReplyDeleteI don't see why the media needs to get so involved with personal matters. I can see why they would want to make money off this but it is like everyone else has said an invasion of privacy.
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