Letters to the Editor
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damien-kick, there are places in Southeast Asia that you and George can visit
If that's your thing...just be sure to bring lots of money, and a fake ID in case you get caught. You don't want to end up in a Thai prison. Or then again, based on your apparent sexual preferences, maybe you do.
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Alec's rant
Alec Baldwin's rant went on for several minutes. That was my problem with it. If he had just called her a thoughtless little pig and hung up the phone we would never have heard any more about it. What parent of a teenager hasn't at least thought something like this even if it wasn't said. The fact that he went on and on tells me he has a problem with anger. I really don't think it's such a big deal though and I loved HH's take on the whole situation.
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I heart Heather Havrilevsky
Hear hear. Kids are smarter than we think they are. They know what they're doing. Why not call them on it? Otherwise it becomes someone else's job later on, and that's just irresponsible. She's not four years old, she's a young adult, and I guarantee by this point in her life she's seen and heard much worse. I agree he could have worded his tirade a bit better, but I was not that shocked when I finally listened to it - I heard a very angry father, having a private conversation, who made himself more angry over the course of the call. Sure he could have omitted the word 'pig', but 'thoughtless' was likely accurate. Every family has a different dynamic, and I'm certain that if TMZ published all of our conversations out of context, most of us would be in the hotseat every so often as well.
And families know how to push each others' buttons better than anyone.
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see? here's the difference, "lc" shows she's a prissy self righteous namecaller
but she shows HERSELF! anyone can remember her tag and her calling HH a shallow dummy and here saying SHE HERSELF would never be so - but she might very well say other things later, ending that judgement. besides, "lc" is just not that self defining (a cow? "elsie"?) whence comes all this worry other people might overhear?
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WWJD
Let those who have never raised their voices in frustration or anger over what their children did or didn't do cast the first stone.
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Nostalgia
Yeah, back in the 70's and 80's, parents were much more interesting. They did chain smoke and have a drink (or three)in the afternoon and tell their kids to shut the hell up. I used to hear kids called "sonofabitch" all the time by their parents. The threats went like this, "I will beat your ass so hard you won't be able to sit for a week!"
Ahh...the good old days. *sniff*
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My Father Used To Call Me The Most Abusive Racial Epithets You Ever Heard
Which was very confusing, considering we were both white.
But it never did me any harm when he called me "stupid chink" or "dirty nigger" or "theiving spic."
It was the painful beatings and asskickings and occasional rapes that did the real damage.
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No cell phone???
I just listened to his rant and frankly Alec Baldwin flipping out because he says he embarrassed himself by having to get to a phone to call his daughter at the appointed time seems odd to me - doesn't he have a call phone like everybody else in the world?
And if not, then why doesn't he just get one, give the kid his number and she can call him whenever she wants.
Oh, wait - maybe he's just a dick and she doesn't want to talk to him.
I get it.
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Double Standards
Why is it that a football coach can be verbally abusive but a teacher or a parent cannot? Answer: Because the kids know that if they don't listen to Coach they will ride the bench or worse, be cut from the team. With parents and teachers, there is no such penalty. Coaches have something that kids want bad: the key to the door of respect. So the kids take abuse from Coach in a way they would never take it from Teacher or Mom and Dad.
I don't think there is any need for obscenities, but as for hard words, yeah, what the f**k. Kids need to know that their parents can get angry at them, very, very angry, and that provoking Mom or Dad has serious consequences. I don't want my kids to be afraid of me, but you know what? Better fear than disrespect. Ask Coach.
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Spot-On Heather:
I thought the same thing you did when I heard Alec Baldwin's rant. I thought about how many times I had been told to "Sit your goddamned ass down, you goddamned heathen/heifer/fool." I never thought much of it, except to think that perhaps that moment was an excellent time to consider sitting my goddamned ass down.
I am not saying that calling a kid names will build character. But I think it is the whole sentiment behind how our parents raised us: They didn't take any shit from us and let us know in a colorful manner when we had crossed the line in our Daily Quest To See If We Could Get Away With Shit. The people who don't raise their voices or call their kids a rude little asshole are not necessarily wimpy parents raising future Harris and Kliebolds, but the sentiment behind some parents who abhor the idea of sharply reprimanding children is disturbing.
A great example is the story a few months back of the little girl who was screaming and hitting people on the airplane and refused to be buckled in according to flight safety policy. The parents wanted to have "some time to talk to her, hug her, and soothe her" before requiring her to shut up, sit down, and allow herself to be buckled in. Meanwhile, an entire plane-load of people are missing their connecting flights. The parents were completely flummoxed as to why they were asked to get the hell off the plane and take their little douche-munchkin with them.
The kind of worldview that created those kinds of parents is what is alien to me. I don't understand it. You see those types everyday, their kid is running around, breaking shit, screaming, etc. The parents are either smiling indulgently, engrossed in their Blackberries, or softly saying "Now now Johnny, don't kick that lady. That is not nice."
WTF? I know the article is meant as satire, but it is spot on.