Comments on: Baby, Baby, Baby…Whoa?! http://kenan.ethics.duke.edu/teamkenan/baby-baby-babywhoa/ Sun, 10 Feb 2013 23:18:02 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.1 By: Christian http://kenan.ethics.duke.edu/teamkenan/baby-baby-babywhoa/#comment-30 Christian Thu, 03 Mar 2011 22:02:10 +0000 http://devilsdilemma.wordpress.com/?p=355#comment-30 Hmm... Does it matter how identifiable the child is? Of the videos above, I have to say I find two of three adorably hilarious. Recording Beyonce's new backup dancer seems the most defensible to me, since you can't see the baby's face. (And not that babies' faces are super-reliable indicators of what people will look like when they're old enough to be embarrassed by their parents). So it's essentially anonymous and seems unlikely to become an issue later in life--unless the child in question makes a point to draw attention to the video. Poor anesthetic-addled David and the Kittens Girl, on the other hand, are more clearly identifiable. And yet, David bothers me much more than Kittens. This could be because my sense of humor is more in tune with Kittens Girl ("I want pie. I want beef jerky"... cracks me up every time.) But I think the bigger issue is that David seems more vulnerable. It's one thing to edit together a video of non-sequiturs coming from a creative wee lass; David is clearly doesn't have his A-game with him, and that's why it's "funny." Either way, my son can rest easy that he won't be the next youtube sensation on my account. Hmm… Does it matter how identifiable the child is? Of the videos above, I have to say I find two of three adorably hilarious. Recording Beyonce’s new backup dancer seems the most defensible to me, since you can’t see the baby’s face. (And not that babies’ faces are super-reliable indicators of what people will look like when they’re old enough to be embarrassed by their parents). So it’s essentially anonymous and seems unlikely to become an issue later in life–unless the child in question makes a point to draw attention to the video.

Poor anesthetic-addled David and the Kittens Girl, on the other hand, are more clearly identifiable. And yet, David bothers me much more than Kittens. This could be because my sense of humor is more in tune with Kittens Girl (“I want pie. I want beef jerky”… cracks me up every time.) But I think the bigger issue is that David seems more vulnerable. It’s one thing to edit together a video of non-sequiturs coming from a creative wee lass; David is clearly doesn’t have his A-game with him, and that’s why it’s “funny.”

Either way, my son can rest easy that he won’t be the next youtube sensation on my account.

]]> By: Bethany http://kenan.ethics.duke.edu/teamkenan/baby-baby-babywhoa/#comment-29 Bethany Thu, 03 Mar 2011 21:01:19 +0000 http://devilsdilemma.wordpress.com/?p=355#comment-29 I love this post! I can't tell you how many times I have watched YouTube videos with babies or kids and wondered what the parents were thinking...if my parents had posted a video of me doing something silly as a child and it had MILLIONS of views I would be pretty embarrassed. Exploitation seems far too harsh of a word, but I think parents should exercise a little more caution in what they do or don't post for the entire world to see. I love this post! I can’t tell you how many times I have watched YouTube videos with babies or kids and wondered what the parents were thinking…if my parents had posted a video of me doing something silly as a child and it had MILLIONS of views I would be pretty embarrassed. Exploitation seems far too harsh of a word, but I think parents should exercise a little more caution in what they do or don’t post for the entire world to see.

]]>