| I thought a long time before posting this because, even though it happened 40 years ago, I don't like to talk about the time when I had an evil stepfather. But really you never forget. To say he hit me is to say a hurricane is nothing but a rainstorm. He carved a 2x4 into a paddle with a handle and holes in the paddle part so you could hear it whistle right before you felt it on your ass or legs or whatever. He used it every day and for five years I don't remember a day when there were not scabs on my ass and legs because he didn't stop when he broke the skin. And then there was worse but I don't really want to talk about the terror times so I'll stop there except to say that it didn't matter what we had done. The smallest of infractions (not doing chores, taking a cookie out of the cookie jar, etc) were met with beatings. So anyway this, obviously, is going to color the rest of what I have to say. But I don't think what I'm about to say is invalid. Also I only speak for the US -- don't know what its like in other countries.
The only people its ok to hit are children. It doesn't matter what the crime is. Its ok to spank your kids and unless its excessive society will not, in most cases, step in and even if they do the kid is then in for the hell of his or her life as foster care is no cake either. Frankly, as a society, I think we treat children like shit. Schools are the last thing we spend money on. We'd rather spend money on wars. We pay teachers shit money. We pay daycare shit money. We pay social services shit money. I can't figure out why some people even have kids from the way they treat them. But I digress.
OF COURSE ITS NOT OK TO HIT CHILDREN!!! ARE YOU PEOPLE FUCKING INSANE?
We don't hit criminals even. As a matter of fact, once a child becomes a criminal, its not ok to hit him or her anymore! What the motherfucking fuck!? We don't hit rapists, we don't hit murderers, we don't hit the lowest scum of society. But kids? Them we can hit.
Why is it ok to hit kids? Cause they can't hit back? Cause we own them? Cause they have no rights? Cause you aren't held accountable?
Luc and I were talking about this and he says well we cage criminals. But we do that to kids too. "Go to your room," detention, grounding. We do this stuff to kids as well. We may not put them in prison but then again thats a little extreme for pulling Betty Sue's pigtails and stealing cookies from the cookie jar and not doing your homework. And after we cage them -- or maybe before -- then we hit them.
We look at criminals who have been bad all their lives and some say "well they should have been spanked as a kid." Oh what bullshit. Way to blame the parents! Some people are just rotten and I feel bad for the parents that have rotten people for kids. But take one of those rotten people and beat the living shit out of him or her and when they grow up to be a rotten adult then they'll STILL blame it on the parents but this time it will be because they were beaten too much.
If we, as a society, say hitting each other is not ok, then it has to be across the board. It can't be its not ok to hit adults but a smack on the ass of a child is just dandy. Hell we don't even hit PETS ffs.
How anyone can countenance hitting a child for any reason is beyond me. |