I posted this in the wrong thread. I meant to post it here, so I'm reposting it:
This man is going to get away with savagely whipping his four year old little boy. In article after article, in the comments sections, people are vociferously defending the right to use corporal punishment on small children. And although the majority will say, "Well, Adrian Peterson went a bit too far.", the scary thing is they are there, commenting on an article about child abuse, not by expressing horror, but by angrily defending their right to beat their children. That speaks volumes.
AP will get away with this. Even a GJ failed to indict. Why? Because people are so threatened by criticism of corporal punishment that they will fail to react to even the worst of it. Corporal punishment of children cannot be criticized because they are scared that their own use of it will be criticized. Because deep down in their hearts, they know it's wrong. And they fear being called a bad parent.
Well, I do not think a parent who has given a smack to their kid's rear end now and then is an evil parent or a bad person. It is what they know and what is instinctual to many due to how he or she was raised. I disagree with hitting in any form, but I can't say those who have smacked their kid on occasion are bad parents (and BTW, it would be untrue for me to say that I myself have never resorted to a smack or a grab or had the urge to do it myself in my lifetime. The difference is I know that it was wrong. I firmly believe it is a damaging form of discipline and I would never do it again with any child).
But IMO, we have to evolve as a society away from the belief that a tiny child's parent, their first role model, the very person they depend on for love, safety, security and protection, a person who outweighs them by almost triple in some cases, is employing reasonable discipline when they loom over that tiny child and strike them.
And the conversation is important because even though people shout that a small spanking is vastly different than leaving bruises and cuts and bleeding whip marks, AP is going to get away with this because the vast a majority of spanking parents who may serve as jurors or judges, will not allow the government to tell anyone how to raise their child. They will not allow anyone to encroach that sacred right to inflict physical pain on one's own offspring as a means of "teaching". They will not allow any criticism to bleed into what they, in their secret heart of hearts are ashamed that they do, behind closed doors, to their trusting, vulnerable children.
Adrian Peterson "went a little too far". Adrian Peterson has a right to discipline his child in the way he sees fit. Adrian Peterson "used his judgment as a loving parent" as his attorney so artfully and intelligently stated. Adrian Peterson is simply trying to keep his child from going to prison. Adrian Peterson could be anyone.
That's the mindset of the public and that's why he's not going to pay for this nor learn from it enough to stop it. And let me tell you that his confident statements about why he did it and how he feels about it, his unapologetic candor, that's going to drive the point home - He could be any "loving parent" and no one's going to tell me I'm a bad one.
We have not evolved.
Finally, let's be frank about this. Corporal punishment is a major part of black culture in America. Huge. Yet one in three black male children can expect to be incarcerated at some point, in some form during their lifetimes. So "whuppins'", they really work, right? We have to start to realize, all Americans, the absolute illogic in the belief that beating a child, hitting them, will save them from a bad life and help them to grow to be a good, responsible person. The populations in our prisons, black, white, whatever, prove that is untrue.
(P.S., I am very aware that the reason for the vast discrepancy in the numbers of people of color versus whites in prisons is due to a host of complex factors. That is not the point).
