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19th April 2017, 06:50 AM | #1 | ||||||||||||
Penultimate Amazing
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Popular YouTube channel facing backlash over what appears to be child abuse
http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/articl...d-abuse-claims
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The quoted article mostly talks about a a video by Philip DeFranco, a survivor of abuse himself. I'd say that the video is worth watching, as it's quite an in-depth analysis and contains several clips from the videos in question, helping you to make up your own mind. The relevant portion is about 10 minutes (there's a little nsfw language):
There's also a follow-up video, which is worth watching. The relevant portion is about 7 minutes. My linking to the correct time has failed, so it starts at 5:50 in:
For those who don't want to watch, the main focus is a video in which the whole family are preparing to leave for Disneyland - all except Cody, who didn't "earn" the right. It appears that he's been misbehaving and as such forfeited his right to go. The thing which is perhaps significant is that the form of this misbehaving has been him smearing his faeces everywhere, which is certainly not conclusive evidence of anything, but is one thing which is often done by victims of abuse or people who are traumatised. Another video with some more clips, which starts off with the dad forcing one of the boys to slap the girl in the face. There's also a summary of an interview with Cody's mother (a little nsfw language, again):
The interview with the mother in full:
The key points to sum up are that she claims that the father's new wife forged papers saying that the mum gave up her rights to the kids (after 7 years of the father being completely absent from their lives), and that these forged papers stood up in court. When she became aware of the videos she tried to have action taken, but apparently in the state where they live this kind of thing is just counted as corporal punishment. Now, obviously, it's impossible to know what life in that house is like when the camera isn't rolling, but I personally don't think the videos are indicative of a healthy environment for the kids. If the various authorities won't or can't do anything about this, there is at least a petition to attempt to get YouTube to stop allowing the family to earn from ad revenue on the videos. |
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19th April 2017, 07:02 AM | #2 |
Penultimate Amazing
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The dad's tagline: "It's just a prank, brah."
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19th April 2017, 07:45 AM | #3 |
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Boy, those parents behave like emotionally stunted teenagers themselves, so whadaya expect?
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19th April 2017, 08:09 AM | #4 |
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I don't know what you call it but both those 'parents' need to be sterilised along with, I suspect, most of their subscribers.
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19th April 2017, 08:16 AM | #5 |
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Poor kids.
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“If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?” Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago |
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19th April 2017, 04:04 PM | #6 |
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I've never understood the appeal of these videos of little kids being punished or pranked. They sometimes help to expose abuse, but even some kid just being sent to their room bother me. It's a little kid, why do I *want* to see them crying?
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19th April 2017, 04:16 PM | #7 |
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19th April 2017, 05:49 PM | #8 | |||
Penultimate Amazing
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A new DiFranco video with some updates including the apparently now deleted video of one of the boys being coerced into slapping the girl:
Mostly what's been in this thread from other videos, but also an analysis of an apology video the father posted, in which he claims that it's all fake and blames DiFranco for everything. It is also the only place I've seen showing the actual police report from when the biological mother of two of the children reported the videos to the police. Also, apparently, the DaddyOFive channel have now set all their videos to private, although there is a mirror. Possibly the most important thing to bear in mind: https://twitter.com/MikeMartin1982/s...23342330449923
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19th April 2017, 05:53 PM | #9 |
Nasty Woman
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The parents look like jerks. Why it's such a popular channel is also disturbing. Who wants to watch someone making kids cry and laughing about it?
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19th April 2017, 06:04 PM | #10 |
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I watched the response video from Mr. Defranco. The original Youtube channel referenced seems to have taken down all its videos except for an apology video.
- I do feel the videos, at least the parts as shown in Mr. Defranco's, are often exploitative, mean spirited, and not emotionally healthy for the children (and perhaps the adults to be fair) involved. - At the very least I would recommended some pretty heavy counseling for the family. - Yes the "But it's a prank!" excuse is... just no. I hate that. - And off of that yes the whole "Pranking" your children for laughs stuff is just... the most charitable way I can put it is that it is in very poor taste. - Wow "We deeply apologize for your feelings of concern" might be the most douche-baggy way to phrase that already douche-baggy "I'm sorry if anyone was offended" style non-apology ever. - "As many of our friends and family would tell you, we are a loving, close-knit family." And they very well might be. I don't get a sense of hateful, angry abuse from the videos, just a sense of letting your want for attention guide you towards being more mean spirited then you should be. I wouldn't surprise me in the least if they started off more gentle good natured pranking and as time went on had to get more and more "extreme." - The fact that one child is "singled out" for the most of the "pranks" might not be nefarious (in and off itself, everything else being discussed not withstanding) but it just might mean he's the kid most willing to go along or has the "funniest" reactions for their videos. - Personally I can't get a good feel for how "in on it" the kids are but that might just be me. I mean if you're parents were pranking you on a routine bases enough wouldn't you pick up on it after a while? (ETA: Clarification and a caveat. I'm real bad at judging how serious children are a lot of the times. Children tend to be really overly melodramatic when they are being serious so in general children who are honestly upset look like bad actors to me.) - I don't disagree with Mr. Defranco's overall point but being a "abuse survivor" doesn't make him an expert on identifying it. - At times we're veering a little too deep into "Slice of Life Armchair Psychoanalyzing Complete with Vagusations." for my taste. There is a lot of questionable stuff in the videos but the internet (a made the mistake of looking at the comment thread on Mr. Defranco's video) is a little too full of "Oh you see the child scratched his nose with his left index finger which is a clear warning sign that he was sodomized with a empty Mr. Clean bottle on Easter" for my taste. Trying to diagnose and/or prosecute people via the random stuff they chose to put online is one internet pasttime I think we need to reign in a little. |
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19th April 2017, 06:44 PM | #11 |
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20th April 2017, 06:02 AM | #12 |
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Note: "just a prank" does not impress the judge in any circumstances. Sooner or later, we're going to get someone deciding to get drunk and video themselves screaming at their children "in the name of discipline"
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20th April 2017, 06:48 AM | #13 |
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20th April 2017, 06:52 AM | #14 |
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20th April 2017, 06:55 AM | #15 |
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With luck, when Cody gets old enough he will be able to kill his tormentors and his lawyer will show the videos in court and he will be released with the thanks of the court for his good deed!
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20th April 2017, 07:05 AM | #17 |
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Uh...holy ****. I was an appointed attorney in cases where the state removed children from abusive homes.
Playing this video in court would have sent every judge I'm aware of through the roof. I can promise you a minimal ruling would bar them from ever making a video like that again, and family counseling. That is abusive. Video the children saying they're ok...not reliable. Edit to add - that poor kid, Cody. He is being abused. Whether that justifies removal depends on the local jurisdiction, but that kid is in trouble. |
20th April 2017, 07:05 AM | #18 |
Penultimate Amazing
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I am the youngest of 6, and it doesn't interest me, either.
But then again, I am one who doesn't think "crotch shots" on Funniest Home Videos are all that funny, either. Nor are big wipeouts where people could be severely injured (although I do like it more when people are doing stupid things and they end up going about how you would expect). |
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Gunter Haas, the 'leading British expert,' was a graphologist who advised couples, based on their handwriting characteristics, if they were compatible for marriage. I would submit that couples idiotic enough to do this are probably quite suitable for each other. It's nice when stupid people find love. - Ludovic Kennedy |
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20th April 2017, 01:02 PM | #19 |
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20th April 2017, 01:07 PM | #20 |
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20th April 2017, 01:45 PM | #21 |
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What? Well, I'm both and I think the "Daddy o Five" is a total scumbag along with his harridan wife. In the comedy, Summer Heights High, the school bully who often claims he doesn't bully other kids but "punks" then and says it is too bad if his victims don't know the TV show he's referencing ("cos they're homos!"). So the whole, "it's just a prank, brah!" Not only is an example of then downplaying their own abuse but also making their victim appear overly sensitive and unable to take a joke. Yet the "joke" is shrieking and swearing at a young kid and blaming them for things they haven't done. Apparently these "pranks" are long and drawn out as well.
De Franco makes the point that even if this stuff is completely staged such as the realistic looking actual physical abuse and the emotionally traumatic responses of Cody, they are still humiliating their kids who then have to go to school where presumably their classmates have been able to watch videos in which they have smeared their excrement on the walls. And the incentivizing through bribes and asking them on camera if they are okay with it is also sick behaviour. |
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20th April 2017, 01:54 PM | #22 |
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Being fascinated by videos of accidents, both amusing (when the victim is going to be just fine) and horrible (when the victim isn't ever going to be the same) is understandable to some degree. Going out of one's way to watch people hurting others for the proverbial "lulz" seems a lot more troubling, especially when there's a possibility (as on YouTube) that those doing the hurting are making money on it.
And parents playing pranks on small children (certainly preteens) is almost always abuse. At the very least, even mild tricks reduce the kids' ability to trust the people they should be able to trust the most. |
20th April 2017, 01:58 PM | #23 |
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Those parents would have a bad time at Faire. The Momma Bears do not take kindly to that type of thing.
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20th April 2017, 03:14 PM | #24 |
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If I now say "dominoes", you won't think "pizza". Will you? - FireGarden on the Middle East |
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20th April 2017, 10:33 PM | #25 |
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21st April 2017, 03:46 AM | #26 |
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"The controversial video, published on 12 April, shows the parents pouring ink onto their youngest son Cody's bedroom floor and then blaming him for making the mess.
They swear at him angrily for making the mess and when he denies it, they accuse him of lying. Cody then cries hysterically, along with his brother Alex, who is also being pranked." I don't think I'd be allowed to use the full range of expletives I would apply to the "parents" here. This isn't "massive-gift-wrapped-box-is-empty" pranking, this is emotional abuse. |
21st April 2017, 05:02 AM | #27 |
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One thing that's not been talked about from that ink video is exactly how the adults talk to the kids in it. They start off screaming at the top of their voices, ****** and jeffing at him. This leads me to believe that that's also how they speak to the kids when the cameras aren't rolling. All else aside, just that indicates to me that a few classes on how to deal with children is the very least that they need.
In their apology video they claimed that they have a family counsellor, however, since they claimed that they'd already been investigated by CPS yet CPS answered enquiries by saying that they hadn't, I'm not inclined to take their word for it. Well, that and the fact that I doubt any counsellor would condone that mode of problem resolution with your child. [edit]Really? "Jeffing" without the "j" is censored on this site? How odd. |
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21st April 2017, 05:11 AM | #28 |
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"You know, Mrs. Buckman, you need a license to buy a dog, or drive a car. Hell, you need a license to catch a fish! But they'll let any butt-reaming ******* be a father."
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21st April 2017, 10:36 AM | #29 |
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21st April 2017, 10:42 AM | #30 |
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Due to my desire to educate others when such is possible, I should note that what is now called Santorum, after the thug whose name is so richly appropriate, was called in prohibition days "jelly babies". It is the closest to a child that will result from such act and will likely simply be flushed!!! |
21st April 2017, 08:17 PM | #31 |
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Gunter Haas, the 'leading British expert,' was a graphologist who advised couples, based on their handwriting characteristics, if they were compatible for marriage. I would submit that couples idiotic enough to do this are probably quite suitable for each other. It's nice when stupid people find love. - Ludovic Kennedy |
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21st April 2017, 08:25 PM | #32 |
Penultimate Amazing
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It's not my kind of thing but people enjoy what they enjoy. As I said, I don't consider it problematic unless people are being intentionally harmed, and by people capable of forming the intention with the knowledge of the harm they're potentially going to do - a 5-year-old punching dad in the groin area isn't the same as a 15-year-old doing the same...though the 5-year-old needs to be taught quickly that violence is unacceptable, especially against testicles.
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21st April 2017, 08:34 PM | #33 |
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It's not just that there are adults who do this kind of thing to children. It's that there are adults who do this kind of thing to children and don't mind showing it to the world. What are the really messed up things that these people do to these kids when the cameras aren't rolling?
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21st April 2017, 08:42 PM | #34 |
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21st April 2017, 09:17 PM | #35 |
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I know everything gets turned into Trump these days, so sorry about this, but what are the odds that there is a close to 1:1 correlation between fans/defenders of daddyofive and Trump voters?
As an experiment, I suggest someone goes to the YouTube video and leaves a comment like, "Man, I really wish Hillary would have won. She would have stopped stuff like this from happening." |
21st April 2017, 09:23 PM | #36 |
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Honestly, I'm not as confident as you. Bad parents span the whole grid.
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21st April 2017, 09:24 PM | #37 |
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Oh, I agree completely. Having been a family law lawyer for the better part of a decade, a lot of that in a red state, I can say with some confidence that this kind of proud, bad parenting carries a certain culture with it.
The defiance - you pussies don't tell us how to raise our kids. Plenty of bad parents to cross the aisle, but this is decidedly Trumpian. Of course, there are those YouTube commenters waiting to be studied. |
22nd April 2017, 01:02 AM | #38 |
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The ink on the carpet video is horrendous. Man, that poor kid.
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22nd April 2017, 05:56 AM | #39 |
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22nd April 2017, 07:17 AM | #40 |
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