Letters to the Editor
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see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil...
yeah, *that's* all we have to do to make a 'civil' (sic) society:
1. ban all 'dirty' words (oh brother, that slope won't get too slippery, will it baby-citizens)...
2. allow only 'nice' words/thoughts... (*snicker*)
3. ignore the root causes of loss of tribe, teevee brain, and profit without honor which have -naturally enough- produced a morally bankrupt system which values only money/power, and devalues people, justice, and equity...
(got theocracy ?)
nope, let's not discuss the basic causes of a seriously debased, debauched, and despairing society (*shhhh* don't tell anyone, but it has something to do with unrestrained kapitalist imperialism); instead, let's talk about some dirty hippie's pottymouth...
yeah, that'll fix it...
fuckin' jerks...
MHalblaub: right fucking on bro/sis; pissy, prissy prigs who use asterisks to avoid actually TYPING 'dirty' words (*gasp*!) need to grow the fuck up... it is fundamentally dishonest, and shows a scared, timid sheeple who doesn't believe in free speech... (that means you, catherine the not so great)
Vardaman: tip of the hat to you too, for pointing out that the REALITY of half or more of our pwecious wittle babies in school, is that of virtual anarchy, where cursing is so tame, that it is mostly ignored... the anon poster living in cloud-cuckooland (or yuppie suburbia) who opined about 'one child mouthing off' does not have a FUCKING CLUE of what MOST schools are like...
NOT that schools should be like that, but the so-called innocence of the pwecious babies is VASTLY overemphasized... further, i personally believe that the little monsters -as clueless as they may otherwise be- intuit (if not internalize) the pervasive and ACCEPTABLE (repeat, ACCEPTABLE, if not lauded) MAINSTREAM BEHAVIORS of brazen denial, baldfaced lying, shirking responsibility, and whiplashing hypocrisy which 'our' (sic) fearless leadership demonstrates every day, AND GETS AWAY WITH ! ! !
why shouldn't they be lying, selfish, braying assholes JUST LIKE our supposed betters ? ? ?
TomRakewell: Oh.My.God. apparently, you are the living definition of prig... 'nimrod' (or ANY word) ONLY has meaning inasmuch as we the sheeple GIVE IT meaning... it don't matter what the fuck it says in your oxford's unabridged; IN FACT, oxfords will seek out the common usage to change THEIR 'definition' to conform with usage...
i'm afraid your campaign -as important as it is- to reclaim the 'rightful' definition of 'nimrod' is doomed...
(*what* a fuckin' nimrod...)
art guerrilla
aka ann archy
eof
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Well said Heather!
I loved this reponse as it exactly mirrored my own although the only audience I had was my husband and my friend Abby. My initial response when I heard the phone message was that the kid likely had it coming and here was a father who had simply reached his boiling point. (Who knows what the kid had put him through - maybe he showed tremendous restraint.) Like Heather my own upbringing was a bit fast and loose with the swift slap on the ass and the occassional "you're a spoiled jerk." I have four children (14-2) and periodically I find myself indulging in a little name calling or the occassional outrageous threat. And believe me by the time I blow, they sooooo have it coming.
Why is temper so out of fashion? Why are the occassional displays of it nowadays considered the same as hording child porn? So Alec Baldwin has a bad temper and periodically blows. So what? Maybe he would be fun no fun to live with but he is hardly a serial killer.
Here's to raising kids in an authentic environment. Life is messy and unpleasant sometimes, occassionally mom or dad loses it or is even a bit mean. Get over it.
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Heather, you're just adorable.
Oh, good. Now Verbal Abuse is cute by Salon's cute standards. Please, add how well someone turned out despite being beaten and/or molested. That would be too precious & adorable, too.
I'm not renewing my subscription & you just lost my bookmark, because I've had it with the 'cute.' Salon is the online news equivilant of Meg Ryan.
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Loved the article
I laughed out loud while reading this terrific article. As a mother of 2 boys in their twenties, I can testify to the great heights of emotion one feels in childraising. I have never felt such extremes of joy, pride, misery and perhaps, most similarly to poor Alec B., rage, that children can cause in their parents. As a child of divorce myself, I recall my father smacking me across a room when I repeated a comment of my mother's regarding his lack of financial support. At that time, as a 14 year old, I decided not to continue my visits with him. That was another era, long before voicemail, and had that existed, I might have continued my relationship with my father. I could have left him an angry message. He, in turn, could have vented his anger in a non-physical way. This very private moment between Alec B. and his daughter has been exploited in the press in a shameful way. Hopefully, the discussion it has stimulated re parenting will be positive in the end. How judgemental we all are regarding everybody else's parenting style.
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strict versus name-calling
captainlarab writes: 'But isn't there a distinction between being strict and engaging in name-calling?'
Right on! Compared to other parents in my circle, I think I'm fairly strict, but name-calling is not in my bag of tricks. It's lazy, ineffective, and can quickly become abuse.
I also don't see what others are describing as a generation of permissive parenting without discipline. I see many parents who let their kids run loose without consequences. When I was growing up though, many of my friends had parents like that too. (Often other kids would see them as the "cool parents.)
Parenting practices do evolve over time, but I think its going to far to say we're raising a generation of out of control kids simply because no one calls their kid shit-for-brains anymore.
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Celebrity politics, anyone?
Why do I think if the celebrity issuing these words had been a Conservative, Salon wouldn't be finding the words so charming & innocent? After being boggled by the stupidity and nastiness of this article, I suddenly remembered Baldwin's far left politics. I am pretty far left myself, but a man this glaringly narcissistic and abusive doesn't get my sympathy EVEN if he didn't vote for Bush. This guy threatens his daughter, talks about the utter humiliation of having to get to a phone & not having it answered... no, he's just a normal dad.
Salon, you just lost any ounce of respect I had for you. Articles like this are stupid & dangerous. You're Rush Limbaugh on the left, nothing more - and nothing less, since you'll find enough people to agree with you to retain your audience. But this one part of your audience is GONE.