The real question, though, is not so much what the media did, but what parade organizers allowed. Didn’t someone approve the floats? Who was in charge of this parade? Didn’t someone tell these folks to leave that mess at home?
In order for these floats to have made it into the parade someone had to pay an entry fee (I’m guessing) and someone had to line them up in the right order and give them the go ahead to march. Who did that?
The interesting thing about this parade is its 100-year-old traditions. According to one community member:
The floats were part of the parade which has “been in existence for over 100 years and a portion of the parade is designed to poke fun at local and national events,” the committee said.
So if the parade is designed to poke fun at local and national events, does that include teen pregnancy? Does it include a particular act by a particular individual even if it is a teenager? Should the local media “report” on such an event and show the video footage of the “tasteless” acts by those in the parade?
These are all legitimate questions, but it seems to me that if this is a community event and it is designed to poke fun of the culture at large then it has done precisely what its objective is. Offensive? Sure, considering the nature of the culture, how could we expect otherwise?
