I feel sort of appalled at the way the board has reacted

[EFerrari]

(reacted maybe being a key word) to the handling of that FL 5 year old child.

I just can't believe how many posters are defending having her CUFFED or suggesting that kids should be HIT. The attitude just makes me furious and ill at the same time.

How bright do you need to be to know that CUFFING a five year old is an obscenity?

I hope my head doesn't explode because I don't seem to have a spare.

[undergroundpanther]

1. I was at Tandy leather..

And I was picking up some stuff,dyes and whatnot..
And this lady was there..she was BRAGGING about beating her child.How it was so good to beat her.

I think some parents are authoritarians and they are morally sick because of it,so they seek to normalize child abuse and the domination of kids because they are ashamed,and they want to dominate.So they tell themselves it does not hurt their kids when they beat them ,humiliate them or terrorize them...authoritarians are sick people parent authoritarians are controlling parents .Parents who rationalize and pretend they can feel what their kid feels,but they won't really.it's all about the parents ego. I say this because if the parent really did empathize they would not be so bullying to their own kids to get their way.Abusive parents are guilty and ashamed and can't even admit it TO THEMSELVES they are abusive..

So,If they can generate "a culture for company" of morally questionable vocal adults who all can be convinced together to think beating,cuffing and abusing kids is ok..as this"culture" that tolerates child abuse gets more converts abusive parents might never have to ever look at their own behaviors as WRONG,and introspect into their own anger,motives,incompetence and domination issues to see the source of their brutality .. Which may very well be their own parents doing and rationalizing what hurt them,the pain of abuse betrayal and humiliation they faced at the hands of their own parents who dumped their traumas and guilts and abuse into their kids.

Child abuse is a very insidious evil,and denial and redefinition of abuse as something else does not make it any less evil or painful to the victim.Don't let people rationalize abuse point out the IMBALANCE of POWER.An adult can always take down a kid and some do just because they can.

These fools you described are just as ethically pathetic as bush saying the torture at abu gharib wasn't really torture and the Geneva conventions don't apply to him.Redefinition of abuse does not make human rights abuses unable to harm people.

[EFerrari]

3. It's unfrigging believable, UGP

The last time I saw someone hitting a kid on the head, I crossed the street and really loudly told that person that if I or my neighbors EVER saw that happen, we would immediately call the police. I went on for about five minutes, really got into her face. I don't know who was more scared, me or this lady.

But, I just wanted her to know that it wasn't okay with me or the whole NEIGHBORHOOD for her to assault that kid. And I'd do it again in a heartbeat, because I've been quiet too many times -- like the Tandy situation -- when I've seen a big person hurt a small person in public and everyone is just too embarrassed to say anything.

Being older than dirt has its benefits :)

[DemExpat]

2. I am used to this out there in our world....

but it still takes my breath away when I see it pertaining to a particular case like this one.

This poor child. I watched the video....

Yes, the child is troubled, yes, she was in control of those incompetent teachers (IMO) and enjoying the power, but I don't even see her behavior as a temper tamtrum! My children (son) had a couple of real temper tantrums, and they were much more explosive and uncontrolled than this little girl's.

The fact that a teacher now in the US cannot even touch a child to restrain her shows how nuts things have become.... a good teacher would have held her, taken her on their lap, distracted her with giving her something to do, squatted down to her level, looked her in the eyes to firmly tell her that this behavior is over now...etc.

Unbelievable that the police were called, unbelievable that the police went ahead and handcuffed her.

Totally bankrupt culture of powerlessness expressed in the over-use of power is what this scene depicts to me.

:puke:

:nuke:

Oh, yes, and the ones who agree with this approach are to me those who are frightened by the lack of control over this little girl, and have no answer within themselves on how they would deal with it....so to ease their fright, they condone calling the cops. IMHO.

DemEx

[EFerrari]

4. culture of powerlessness expressed in the over-use of power

I totally agree.

What were those cops THINKING when they went in there? And apparently, this is not the first time they have been called.

People seem to have a really weird, skewed notion of what power is and what it's for and it all seems to come out of desperation. You could see it in the community agreement on that tape.

One of my friends flies all over the country talking to kids at schools, teaching them their options over violence. He's great. Big huge guy and so powerful inside himself that these kids, lol, little goths and gang types LISTEN to him for a second. It's sort of amazing.

Looks like he's gotta start talking to the grown ups first. :(