This is about as “fun” as the Friday Fun Links get…
Carl
Monday, an investigative reporter at a TV station in Cleveland recently
did an extremely sensationalistic sweeps-week sting operation (link to video clip)
where he used a hidden camera to catch a twenty-something man
masturbating at the local public library on a public access terminal.
The
reporter confronts the masturbator (without even pixellating his face)
then follows him home and confronts his family. The clip includes
quotes from a local librarian who’s put in a tough spot trying to
defend the right of people to be able to access whatever materials they
want on library computers without defending the young man’s behaviour.
The
online library community has been abuzz about this incident and many
people (on both sides of the issue) have been debating the topic on the
reporter’s official blog. (You might say they’re “Master Debabtors” (groan))
MetaFilter also picked up the story and has some some discussion as well.
Here’s one comment I particularly liked discussing who’s the bigger disgrace:
“[The
reporter] is conducting video lynchings for the entertainment and
outrage of the complacent, self-righteous viewer at home … the
masturbator is a slight detriment to our society … the reporter, acting
as a public judge, jury and executioner wielding the axe of humiliation
is corroding society with a form of shame porn, embarrassing one person
for the amusement of people who want to feel superior to someone, while
reinforcing their paranoia about “those people”.”
Does anyone
else think it’s funny that the reporter keeps referring to the
masturbator as “having sex” in the library? I know he’s just doing it
to make it sound more evil and degenerate but that’s a very
Clinton-esque understanding of what “sex” is.
Another sensationalistic element pointed out by someone in the Metafilter discussion:
The
reporter says they caught the masturbator “just across the room from
the children’s section” So in other words, he couldn’t have been any
farther from the children’s section and still be in the building.
I also want to make a joke about what it would’ve meant
to the high school me’s self-esteem if masturbation really was the
equivalent of having sex. But I know my mom reads my blog so I won’t. 
(Update: There’s a follow-up story where the reporter goes to the kid’s trial. Unreal.)
Comments 5
Hi Jason,
The link to the video on LibrarianActivist.org is broken. Here is a link to the video on WKYC's site:
http://www.wkyc.com/video/player.aspx?aid=23446&bw=
After watching it, I need a shower. This is why I only get my news from John Stewart :).
Colin
Hey there,) Did you see that there's a follow-up to the story? It's actually like something out of The Daily Show in a strange way!
Thanks for catching that. I fixed the link (though to a different site – didn't want to give the news station any extra business!
http://www.break.com/index/carl_monday_vs_library_masturbater.html
OMG, your MOM reads this? Geez. I should maybe tone down my language. Sorry, J's Mom.
And on the topic of sex and masturbation, some religious denominations *do* consider sex and masturbation to be equivalent sins.
Maybe the high school you was a lot more savvy than those twittery girls could ever know…
Uh, again, sorry, J's Mom.
I don't know what the prevalent religion in Cleveland is (ROCK & ROLL?) but if it's a case of the reporter bringing in his religious beliefs to this story, that's even worse than the idiocy he's already up to in my opinion.
I don't think he is though – I think he just knows that “having sex” sounds a lot more graphic, involved and debauched than some kid playing pocket pool while looking at: http://www.MyParentsShouldProbablyJustBuyAComputer.xxx
(snort)
I think you're 100% right.