[Thoran]

Originally posted by Melusine: I think the question whether this kid has ever been spanked has about zero relevance to this incident. I wasn't spanked as a child (as I said in the other thread, maybe about 4 times in my life, and never as a true punishment) and I would never pull that kind of stunt on my parents. Now I realise that my personal experience has about zero relevance as well because doubtless there are children who are not spanked and DO get out of hand in a similar way to this boy. But I'm sure the same goes for children that ARE spanked on a regular basis. I don't really see why the issue HAD to be brought up at all, so I'll just leave it at that. I do think *something* must have gone wrong parenting-wise somewhere along the line, because most children I know (and myself as a kid) would never have dreamed of doing what this brat did. I don't think the punishment as such is bad, on the contrary. I think it's ridiculous the time a lot of children are allowed to sit and gawk at stupid computer games and I think in this particular case it's very appropriate punishment to take away his console. However I find the tone of the auction extremely petty and vindictive. It would have been much more impressive as a punishment in my eyes if they had just told the kid "right, that's it, we're selling your PS2, hope you learn something from the experience" [img]tongue.gif[/img] and left out the big whining rant on Ebay. That is, if we take this auction page seriously. Otherwise I've just wasted another ten minutes of my life debating an issue that doesn't even exist. [img]tongue.gif[/img] How typical...

I beleive it's relevance lies in the anti-punishment point of view that surrounds the spanking thread and has reared it's ugly head in this one. For good or bad, spanking has been the typically referenced method of delivering punishment. Perhaps you'd be happeir if I'd used the broader term "punishment" altough that seems a quibble to me. So to clarify... in this context the comment that the kid had probably never been spanked was actually a comment about the likely lack of discipline in the youngsters life that would make him feel free to engage in such destructive behaviors without apparent fear of repurcussions.

[ 06-28-2004, 01:33 PM: Message edited by: Thoran ]