Althouse: "While some commenters feel that tossing cheese at a child’s face and posting the video online without their consent humiliates them and is akin to bullying..."

March 6, 2019

"While some commenters feel that tossing cheese at a child’s face and posting the video online without their consent humiliates them and is akin to bullying..."

"... others insist that it’s ultimately harmless and the kids are having fun. One mother, responding to criticism on Instagram, fired back, 'Maybe you could try smiling or heaven forbid laughing one day! You might like it!'"

From "'Humanity is doomed': People keep throwing cheese on babies’ faces for social media likes" (WaPo).

And here I thought it was the Era of That's Not Funny. Or is this the perversion that emerges from an excess of not-funnyism?

68 comments:

JohnAnnArbor said...: Weird fads spread much faster now than in the 1970s. And burn out faster, too.; 3/6/19, 11:14 AM
stevew said...: Totally not funny, except when it is. Calling it bullying is just silly. How about playing peek-a-boo with a towel, is that bullying? And then there are the parents that give their young child a lemon wedge to chew on, and then post the image of their child's puckered up face - horrible!

Lighten up Francis.; 3/6/19, 11:20 AM
Lucid-Ideas said...: I absolutely convinced that large numbers of children that have grown up in the era of social media will never forgive their parents for the 'positional signaling' they've done online at their expense.

The 2020s are going to be super-interesting.; 3/6/19, 11:22 AM
Ice Nine said...: From the wrong side of a pay wall (common problem here): Uh, what?; 3/6/19, 11:23 AM
Bob Boyd said...: You can't have the Era of That's Not Funny without things that aren't funny.; 3/6/19, 11:23 AM
Shouting Thomas said...: There's that stuff, Althouse, but you're seeing a minor part of the problem and not the big picture.

Check out Gaby and Alex on YouTube.

The stage mother has returned with a vengeance. Gaby and Alex are adorable 3 year old twins. Mommy has the camera on them all the time and their entire life is up on YouTube.

Mommy is making a fortune. Her videos of the twins get more than 20 million hits.

The plot of the Gaby and Alex show is simple... the kids get every toy manufactured and Mommy is constantly at their beck and call. Mommy has signed an endorsement deal with toy manufacturers.

My grandkids love Gaby and Alex, and why not? It's a toddler's dream. Mommy is always there and always gives them what they want the moment they want it.; 3/6/19, 11:23 AM
elkh1 said...: Throwing cheese at a child's face may be funny to the child at the time. But if the child is a normal child, this stupidity will teach her to throw things at a person's face expecting laughs.

The stupid mother could keep throwing cheese on the floor or anywhere else, the child would laugh. Children laugh at strange things that they have not experienced before, especially repeating motions.; 3/6/19, 11:28 AM
Yancey Ward said...: When it becomes blocks of edam, I might work up the energy to critique it.; 3/6/19, 11:36 AM
Oso Negro said...: Who the fuck ARE these people? Why would you ever want to humiliate your child, ESPECIALLY just because other people are doing it? I giess this is the demographic of Washington Post readers at play.; 3/6/19, 11:38 AM
Fernandinande said...: The cheese-covered face of a child can say it all, especially the mouth part of the face.

Try throwing cheese on your dog's face and see what happens.; 3/6/19, 11:38 AM
Fernandinande said...: Important compilation video. The kids mostly look amused.; 3/6/19, 11:42 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: When I saw this yesterday I thought the asian baby looked like it was smothering. Food can be dangerous for babies. People are stupid and social media makes 'em stupider.; 3/6/19, 11:44 AM
MadisonMan said...: It's not even cheese. It's processed whey protein with annatto coloring.; 3/6/19, 11:50 AM
Nonapod said...: Seems more like a brilliant piece of viral marketing by Kraft than any kind of abuse.; 3/6/19, 11:55 AM
Laslo Spatula said...: Cheese bukkake should've never left the adults-only world.

I am Laslo.; 3/6/19, 11:59 AM
Bob Boyd said...: Wisconsin bukakke; 3/6/19, 11:59 AM
Fernandinande said...: If so, it's pretty cheesy way to advertise.; 3/6/19, 12:01 PM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: Now throwing a wheel of Parmesano Regiano, that would be a facial surprise!; 3/6/19, 12:01 PM
Maillard Reactionary said...: When my daughter was a preteen, I used to sometimes toss grapes or blueberries at her across the dinner table. She would try to catch them in her mouth. She thought it was hilarious. Her mother was not amused.

I saw this first in the restaurant scene in The Blues Brothers.

No harm done, and at least I got her to eat some fruit.

Separately-- another resource for discovering non-traditional eating styles is old Three Stooges films.; 3/6/19, 12:03 PM
traditionalguy said...: But if that baby was in Venezuela the comments would all be kudos for being so nice along with wishes that Maduro's Cuban Secret Police do not break in and steal the Capitalist cheese for socialist redistribution.; 3/6/19, 12:04 PM
Henry said...: After the first person did it, why did anyone need to do it again?; 3/6/19, 12:04 PM
Bob Boyd said...: Laslo beat me because I checked the spelling of bukakke.; 3/6/19, 12:04 PM
Maillard Reactionary said...: Bob Boyd @11:59 AM wins.; 3/6/19, 12:05 PM
Sigivald said...: "Throwing cheese at a child's face may be funny to the child at the time. But if the child is a normal child, this stupidity will teach her to throw things at a person's face expecting laughs. "

They're infants. It's not really teaching them anything.

(They are also not learning that covering one's face and then uncovering it makes one LITERALLY DISAPPEAR AND REAPPEAR, despite that being their no-object-permanence perception of peek-a-boo...); 3/6/19, 12:05 PM
Maillard Reactionary said...: OK, maybe Laslo by "first to file" priority.; 3/6/19, 12:06 PM
Fernandinande said...: Laslo beat me because I checked the spelling of bukakke.

Swiss cyclist Nicole Hanselmann caught up with the men because they were checking the spelling of bukakke/bukkake/bukake.; 3/6/19, 12:11 PM
Ralph L said...: One of my first memories of eating out: Dad gave me Tabasco instead of ketchup for my fries.; 3/6/19, 12:13 PM
Bay Area Guy said...: I once had my baby brother (age 5) eat a full stick of butter. At the time, I thought it was hysterical.

35 years later, he's done 3 tours in Afghanistan with the Air Force. I doubt I'd get away with trying this again, and, hopefully, he's forgotten that episode.; 3/6/19, 12:23 PM
Anthony said...: See, years ago I would read science fiction and there would be stories of global information networks where you could get any sort of useful information you wanted just with a few presses of a button. Maps! Your exact position on the planet! The weather! All of the Great Books! Science!

And then it was finally here: The Internet.

And we get People Throwing Cheese on Babies.; 3/6/19, 12:25 PM
Laslo Spatula said...: Bob Boyd said...
"Laslo beat me because I checked the spelling of bukakke."

Bob - it pays to commit such things to memory.

I am ready if there ever is a Spelling Bee for exotic sexual practices.

I am Laslo.; 3/6/19, 12:26 PM
Laslo Spatula said...: How would this go over on Social Media if the people were covering children's faces with an endless stream of aerosol Shrimp Cocktail Easy Cheez?

Baby's Gonna Be a Star!

Until the authorities show up.

(Note: for the interests of accuracy, I will acknowledge that 'Shrimp Cocktail' is a DISCONTINUED flavor. But the seafood/COCKtail combination is too good not to use in this matter).

I am Laslo.; 3/6/19, 12:31 PM
Professional lady said...: You have to use some judgment with this sort of thing. My brother-in-law taught his young son how to spit and I guess they had some fun with spitting contests. Then the kid started spitting at school. He was somewhat behind maturity-wise and didn't realize there's a time and a place for everything.; 3/6/19, 12:38 PM
chillblaine said...: I'm very troubled by this thread. Adults are seeking attention by mocking their kids? That's so uncool. Also, when did they discontinue Shrimp?; 3/6/19, 12:39 PM
tcrosse said...: It's better than throwing babies at cheese.; 3/6/19, 12:41 PM
n.n said...: Keep the cheese, toss the baby... or maybe vice versa.; 3/6/19, 12:45 PM
Quaestor said...: This topic reminded me of a horrifying little film about the Wannsee Conference. In it, there is this memorable conversation between Friedrich Kritzinger, who objects to the Final Solution, and Reinhard Heydrich.

I am moved to paraphrase Heydrich with regard to this cheese-throwing controversy: Poison them, snip their little bodies into bits and suction them out through a hose, drag them out by the head or a limb, starve them to death, just do not humiliate them and you are God’s noblest of women.; 3/6/19, 12:48 PM
Ken B said...: Bob Boyd wins the thread.; 3/6/19, 12:49 PM
Ken B said...: It's the “Wisconsin” that makes it funny. Makes the joke about Wisconsin's cheese mania and marketing.; 3/6/19, 12:52 PM
tim maguire said...: Throwing cheese on the baby's face is not in any way harming the child. Posting a video of it on the internet for yucks is deeply disrespectful.; 3/6/19, 12:54 PM
Laslo Spatula said...: What if it moved on from cheese to lunchmeat?

From the net:

"The piece de resistance, however, is watching Insane Clown Posse reminisce about a time they witnessed their roadies throwing lunch meat at naked groupies ... only to become so sexually excited by the re-enactment happening in front of them that they can't help but burst into frame and start lobbing some bologna themselves, like barely sentient Barbary apes breaking the fourth and fifth walls." (commemorated on the video "Backstage Sluts")

In a story about Marilyn Manson: "...he stops throwing lunchmeat at a naked, deaf groupie long enough to realize that he derives no pleasure from the act."

I am Laslo.; 3/6/19, 12:56 PM
Laslo Spatula said...: "It's the “Wisconsin” that makes it funny. Makes the joke about Wisconsin's cheese mania and marketing."

Indeed.

By keeping the young age of the bukkake participant in focus I was aiming at mildly uncomfortable.

I am Laslo.; 3/6/19, 12:58 PM
Laslo Spatula said...: Maybe, when the nine-month pregnancy results in a failed abortion and there is now a live baby on the table, people can throw cheese on its face as the mother and doctor deliberate on whether to let it live or kill it.

Great fun.

I am now aiming a bit past mildly uncomfortable.

I am Laslo.; 3/6/19, 1:04 PM
Laslo Spatula said...: "Maybe, when the nine-month pregnancy results in a failed abortion and there is now a live baby on the table, people can throw cheese on its face as the mother and doctor deliberate on whether to let it live or kill it."

Perhaps there can be a silver lining if the mother and doctor decide to 'terminate' that nine-month pregnancy abortion mishap.

You could now give the still-warm body to some pedophile that likes to fuck babies.

Because:

1. It isn't a live baby;

and

2. It was never an actual human being at all -- it's really no different than the baby-fucker fucking lunchmeat.

Everyone wins in our Brave New World.

I am Laslo.; 3/6/19, 1:14 PM
Ken B said...: Tim McGuire
Is the parent posting the video because of the cheese flinging or because of the kid's reaction? I bet it's the reaction. Do you disagree? Parents post their kids reaction to cats, dogs, pickles, snow. Do you disagree? I find none of those “deeply disrespectful “. Do you disagree?; 3/6/19, 1:15 PM
Earnest Prole said...: The whole point of having children is trolling them.; 3/6/19, 1:24 PM
Earnest Prole said...: الموقع المتخصص في تقديم عدة خدمات لاغنى

Easy for you to say.; 3/6/19, 1:27 PM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: Laslo Spatula said...

How would this go over on Social Media if the people were covering children's faces with an endless stream of aerosol Shrimp Cocktail Easy Cheez?

Anyone who would do that to a child is sick.

Save the cheejaculate for those of legal age.; 3/6/19, 1:31 PM
tim maguire said...: Ken B said...
Tim McGuire
Is the parent posting the video because of the cheese flinging or because of the kid's reaction? I bet it's the reaction

And you'd be wrong. They are doing it because it's a YouTube meme. They are treating their children as objects for their own perceived status on YouTube.; 3/6/19, 1:38 PM
Inga...Allie Oop said...: Ridiculous, but not funny. Why on earth would any parent think this is cute?; 3/6/19, 1:46 PM
Enlighten-NewJersey said...: Well, looks like it might be ibridging the political divide. I agree with Inga.; 3/6/19, 1:54 PM
walter said...: I sh-udder to think how many cow farts are enabled by the cheesey face fad...; 3/6/19, 1:59 PM
RobinGoodfellow said...: Blogger Fernandistein said...
The cheese-covered face of a child can say it all, especially the mouth part of the face.

Try throwing cheese on your dog's face and see what happens.

My dog would catch the cheese in his mouth.; 3/6/19, 2:09 PM
BUMBLE BEE said...: Unconscionable! But chicks with dicks... OK!; 3/6/19, 2:19 PM
BUMBLE BEE said...: Is the baby resting comfortably? Then we can decide!; 3/6/19, 2:20 PM
Leeatmg said...: The only thing that exceeds my bafflement at why people think that throwing cheese on a child's face is worth posting to the internet is the idea that anyone would think that there is something inherently wrong with the cheese-throwing in the first place.

Every opportunity presented to seize a new low of paranoia and stupidity seems to be taken in this Era of Not Funny. General note: it's OK to let some of the easier ones slip by occasionally.; 3/6/19, 2:34 PM
Leeatmg said...: Rachel: Oh, yeah sure, Ok. (she takes Ben and holds him at arms length)

Ross: What're you doing?

Rachel: Uh, I'm holding Ben.

Ross: Yeah, well, he's a baby not a bomb.; 3/6/19, 2:36 PM
FullMoon said...: Oh, sure, all fun and games until someone throws a watermelon.; 3/6/19, 2:40 PM
tcrosse said...: Toss another shrimp on the Baby.; 3/6/19, 3:13 PM
bagoh20 said...: What's worse is the new standard where children are protected from every risk of bruise or scrape. Studies are starting to show that children raised like this who are never left to risk a broken bone or any other injury are growing up to be unprepared for the challenges of life. When I was a kid, getting a broken arm was something both hoped for and feared. It would hurt, but you would be tougher than your friends for experiencing it. That's an innate understanding of life, which we used to have before we all had a vagina. BTW, mine hurts right now. Any suggestions?; 3/6/19, 3:18 PM
bagoh20 said...: My Mom, bless her heart, fed me with a shotgun loaded with cheese curds. I still get hungry watching westerns.; 3/6/19, 3:24 PM
Bob Boyd said...: Would you like a regular Oedipus Complex or an Oedipus Complex with Cheese?; 3/6/19, 3:28 PM
chillblaine said...: "a bit past mildly uncomfortable." Yep. straight to crushingly depressing and infuriating. great job man. awesome. d'oh.; 3/6/19, 3:38 PM
Shouting Thomas said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/6/19, 4:30 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: "Maybe you could try smiling or heaven forbid laughing one day!
You might like it!"

BE CAREFUL

from a NEW YORKER cartoon:
2 grieving women at a grave site, one sobbing at the loss of her late husband--
Caption: "It's all my fault! I always told him "Try smiling sometime-- it won't kill you" "; 3/6/19, 4:41 PM
n.n said...: if the mother and doctor decide to 'terminate' that nine-month pregnancy abortion mishap.

You could now give the still-warm body to some pedophile that likes to fuck babies

The first rule of Pro-Choice is what happens behind the wall remains behind the wall, under the floorboards, sequestered in a hole.

The second rule of Pro-Choice is what happens behind the wall remains ...

It's wicked. It's selective. It's unabashedly, monotonically divergent.; 3/6/19, 6:16 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: maybe Amy Klovenhoov can eat that cheese off the kids's face with her comb; 3/6/19, 7:03 PM
chillblaine said...: thread winner, look up one comment; 3/6/19, 7:43 PM
Johnathan Birks said...: Speaking of fake hate crimes...; 3/7/19, 2:42 AM