Have you ever given thought to the creep factor on some things that are still legal today? There are quite a few. For example, everything on this list! After someone polled an online forum for examples of said things, here are their honest confessions. Do you agree?
1. Filming the Scene of Accidents While Emergency Health Care Is Being Delivered
Filming the scene of accidents while emergency health care is being delivered is creepy and unethical. A user admits, “I once drove past a car accident that had just happened and saw a young man reaching his arm through the driver’s side window.
I thought he was trying to help the woman inside, who was slumped over, not moving, and covered in blood. Nope, he was filming her, shoving the camera in her face, and he posted the video to social media. I later saw in the news that the accident was fatal. The woman had died on the scene.”
2. The Child Entertainment Industry
After someone notes that the child modeling industry is bad and creepy, another adds, “Anything involving children and entertainment.[professional] Acting, music, and dancing are also awful for young and developing kids.
There are plenty of examples out there of child stars who have many issues as adults. Parents/coaches/agents demanding perfection vs. media putting them on a pedestal is toxic for anyone, let alone for a child.”
3. The Paparrazi Industry
Paparrazi, aka legal stalking, is undoubtedly a creepy profession. That being said, one member declares that the job exists because of the demand for the images. People buy Us Weekly and watch TMZ. If society collectively stopped caring about celebrities, Paparrazi would cease to exist.
4. Parents Exploiting Their Kids on Social Media
Family vloggers and YouTubers are called out as deplorable. Stories of vloggers accidentally leaving the camera running while coaching their kids to “Act sadder and cry harder” over losing the family dog flood the comments. Furthermore, Myka Stauffer comes up because she “rehomed” a child she adopted with a disability that became “too much to handle.”
Lastly, the story of the couple who were in the process of adopting a child from Thailand but backed out after learning they couldn’t post anything on social media for the first year is heavily discussed as deplorable.
5. Taking and Uploading Photos of Strangers
One of the creepiest things that ever happened to me was when I was bartending and stocking the beer cooler. I heard a click and caught the only patron there taking pictures of me bent over. My boss saw no reason to make him leave, but he finally took a hike when I expressed it was him or me.
All these people who take pictures of strangers and post them on the internet to mock and make fun of aren’t doing anything illegal, but it’s creepy and essentially online bullying.
6. Child Marriage
Yes, you read that right. It is legal to marry a child in 40 states. The ages vary from 14 to 17, but we all agree it is underage. Thus, child marriage is legal and disgusting. Up until recently, it was still legal in 42 states.
7. Filming Scenes During Emergency Care
Filming the scene of accidents while emergency health care is being delivered is another creepy thing that is somehow legal. Although Germany chimes in to say it’s illegal there.
Someone shares a horrific story of a kid on a moped being hit by a drunk driver. She called 911 and watched as a crowd surrounded the scene with their cameras out. She laments the kid was making “guttural groans,” and everyone kept filming. He died in the street, and she admits it still haunts her.
8. Going Door-to-Door Soliciting
Nobody likes when the Jehovah’s Witnesses come knocking, and the Mormons also make the list. Many believe knocking on people’s doors to push your religion is creepy. I think what’s annoying is when I express that I already go to church and am not interested, and they leave their pamphlets on my door after I close it. It’s very culty.
9. Children in Entertainment
Child modeling is regarded as creepy by the forum. However, one clarifies, “Anything involving children and entertainment. [Professional] Acting, music, and dancing are also awful for young and developing kids.
There are plenty of examples out there of child stars who have many issues as adults. Parents/coach/agents demanding perfection vs. media putting them on a pedestal is toxic for anyone, let alone for a child.”
10. Older People 35+ With Barely Legal Adults
Numerous people admit it is creepy when a 42-year-old waits for a girl to hit 18 and immediately jumps into her DM. Working in the food and beverage industry, I can attest to the unfortunate number of creepy, older men who say downright filthy things to barely legal adults. I was offered everything from a $100 (cringe) to an all-expense trip to Hawaii for the pleasure of my company.
11. Celebrity 18th Birthday Countdown Clocks
Speaking of beyond creepy, did you know people create websites that are Celebrity 18th Birthday Countdown Clocks? People are waiting for the clock to signal them a “legal adult,” so their perverse and impure thoughts and behavior get off on a technicality. I had no idea this was a thing, and I don’t understand how that is legal. It’s gross.
12. The Gay Panic Defense
Another thing I’ve never heard of is The Gay Panic Defense. One explains, “In cases of hate crimes against the gay population, you can legitimately say you acted out of fear because a gay person might hit on you, and the court can acquit you because of self-defense. Some places have outlawed it, but not all.”
13. Bankrupting People With Healthcare
From impossibly expensive policies to having no insurance, the American healthcare system is for profit and sucks. Some people go bankrupt when sick, and some don’t get the necessary procedures due to expenses. I remember being in a car accident and refusing an ambulance because I was terrified by the cost.
14. Puppy Mills
Puppy mills. Breeding dogs and other animals until they die is disgusting and hurts them greatly. Someone clarifies, “I think sometimes there’s even inbreeding, which causes many health problems for future generations of dogs.”
15. Child Beauty Pageants
Child beauty pageants are creepy all around, from the berating moms pushing all their hopes and dreams into their girls wearing heavy makeup and skimpy clothing to the creeps who show up without children to watch.
16. Spiteful Doggie Divorce
OK. Prepare yourselves. This one is infuriating. A divorce lawyer explains, “People fighting like mad to get the dog in the divorce and then turning it over to a shelter out of spite. Although now in California there can be SERIOUS consequences for doing that due to recent law changes about pets and divorce, but it wasn’t always that way.”
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Elizabeth Ervin is the owner of Sober Healing. She is a freelance writer passionate about opioid recovery and has celebrated breaking free since 09-27-2013. She advocates for mental health awareness and encourages others to embrace healing, recovery, and spirituality.