Thursday, February 05, 2009

Medicatin' in the Minivan

I've seen this thing all over the place, labelled everything from cute to hilarious—I actually find it disturbing...



Sorry, but dads that are more worried about YouTubing their kids when they actually need to be held and comforted kinda piss me off.

16 comments:

G in Berlin said...

I can't understand why he is doing this. The van isn't moving, so it looks like he is forcing his child to be videod instead of either hlding him or taking him home to bed. Aso, the boy looks as old as my daughter, who I keep in a 5 pt harness. Where is that child's car seat?

Mr Furious said...

It was mildly amusing/slightly uncomfortable to watch when the kid was just goofy and disoriented..."two fingers..." But the second he becomes visibly confused and agitated—"WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?!?" I was going crazy waiting for the camera to get put down. Once the kid screams, I'm beside myself.

I'm sure "dad" didn't set out to be a douche, but if it were me, I'd be too embarrassed to post something like that.

RE: The carseat -- He's probably old enough to just be in/on a booster seat, which is all that's required. My 6-yo sits in a booster seat with a back and a place for the shoulder belt to pass thru, but it's now only the car's 3-point seatbelt.

Unknown said...

Yeah, I had oral surgery at about that age as well and it totally sucked. The buzz is not pleasant and the nausea strikes hard. Poor kid.

Angelos said...

Yes, that is an excellent post title...

Mr Furious said...

I can't listen to "Golden Delicious" without giving you internal/mental props. I love that album.

Noah said...

I guess I can't really get off on videos of kids drugged out of their minds. I know the kid is trying to understand what is happening to him, and the dad, for his part (minus the camera), is doing an acceptable job of explaining it.

But...yeah...why record it when you can do this same thing by sitting next to him? For me it's less horrid and more completely unnecessary. What he said was fine, but would have meant more with a head rub and a hug or kiss. Which, for all we know, maybe he did when he quit amusing himself with the camera.

As for the carseat, he could have been in a booster. Smitty Jr. is tall enough and heavy enough for a booster with a pass-through for a normal seatbelt, and as Mr. F. said, that's what's required (40 inches and 40 pounds...Smitty Jr. is 41 inches and 42 pounds...so he got to grow-up into a Big Boy seat while his little brothers are still in full-on carseats...big happy day for Smitty Jr.).

Mrs Furious said...

I'm not into this.

There is the whole sick projection that being drugged up is "cool" or "fun" or "feels good".

I had to stop watching it half way through ... I know I'm not going to handle the agitation or confusion part well.

Anyone who has seen their kids coming off of anesthesia knows how scary and uncomfortable it is.

Mrs Furious said...

confusion.... I meant screaming.

steves said...

I find it disturbing to the point that I had to stop watching it about half way. If some asshole wants to video himself all wacked out on painkillers or whatever, that is fine with me. If someone wants to video some drunk in a bar, that is fine with me. OTOH, don't post videos of your kids for the entire world to see. It is not cute, it is embarassing.

Mr Furious said...

So, the more I think about that video the more pissed off it makes me. But, that also makes me ponder why others would find it amusing, particularly some of the bloggers who posted it. These are people I agree with 90% of the time, so what's the difference...?

Clearly there's a line here that as a parent makes this video abhorrent. If you don't have kids (which I do) or spent any part of your life as a stoner (I didn't), I suppose you might come at this from a different p.o.v.

In retrospect, all the sites that I saw this video posted have one or both of those things working:

Shakesville—a hyper-sensitive feminist site populated with lesbians* and women who obviously have 20/20 vision on womyn's rights, zero tolerance for sexist humor. They'll never miss a six degree tangent to rape, but apparently have a total blind eye with children.

Andrew Sullivan—a gay* man who, again, never misses a beat with matters pertaining to his constituency, and, if this were a video from Abu Ghraib would be livid, but he completely misses the boat here.

Angelos—a likable guy and blogmate, who seems in many ways a lot like me—before I had kids, but with the addition of recreational drug use.

None of these are bad people, and I read each of them all the time, and with the exception of some Shakers, I'd be happy to know them. I don't judge any of them (much) for thinking this was funny—they just don't understand why it's not. At all. Not for me. Not for most parents. And most of all not for the poor kid, David. A child whose needs are not being met in order to be filmed (without his consent) while scared, completely confused and disoriented, probably nauseous and in no way understanding what is happening after being under full anesthesia (that he also didn't consent to).

This is a situation a child cannot possibly comprehend, going in, coming out, or certainly under the influence. The inability to contol their own body, see properly or know what planet they are on has to be terrifying.

*Therefore probably don't have kids, or even hang in a kid-heavy crowd...

G in Berlin said...

You know, I found this totally offensive and wrong and an infringement on privacy beyond belief and not funny in the slightest. And I think one could say that at times in my life I have voluntarily chosen to feel out of control, but this is similar to filming someone who has been assaulted with drugs.
On the other hand, think twice about believing that lesbians don't have kids or understand how terrible this video is. All the lesbians I know that are my age have families: that's one of the benefits, one easily can if one wishes to. Perhaps, in the future, they may even be acknowledged as being just like all the rest of us. I didn't watch this on Shakesville and I (and other Mac users) can't comment there.

steves said...

Unfortuantely, there will always be people that get some entertainment value out of things that are disturbing. Some of the comments on the Shakesville site seem to show that not everyone thought it was funny. Sullivan can be an ass at times, so I can't say I am totally surprised.

I agree with G. I know some gay people that are fantastic with kids and probably wouldn't find this funny at all.

Mr Furious said...

I am aware of gay families to be sure, but I happen to know the main contibutors at Shakesville (many of whom are NOT gay) and Sullivan do not have kids. And judging by the positive response to this video at Shakeville, I can only assume most of the readers who responded do not have kids either. (NOTE: I was so perturbed by the first dozen "Hilarious!" comments that I turned away.)

If those people have kids, then they need a fucking clue.

--

Here's an entirely plausible hypothetical Shakeville scenario: That same video except David is a girl. No doubt in my mind that in less than ten comments, someone will draw a parallel to date rape drugs, no one would be amused, and the thread would be 100+ deep.

steves said...

I think you are right, Mr. F. After reading through more of Shakesville, I agree with your hypothetical. I am sure if the guy filming his kid could be identified as a Republican, he would have also been on the shit list.

Noah said...

I went through and just read all these comments. Mine seemed to kinda excuse the dad in this video. Not what I meant to do. The point was to say that while he may have said some of the right things, what counts is what he did, which was not the right thing. Saying "relax" is not the same has the hug, the kiss, or sitting close and comforting.

Sorry if it seemed that I justified the guy.

angie said...

Who the fuck called this cute. I actually was made nauseaous by this and stopped it at early. The kid needs snuggles. What an ass.