Discussion for article #227694
He used the same kind of discipline with his child that he experienced as a child growing up in East Texas,"
God help us.
Hope voters remember this the next time an NFL team wants taxpayers to underwrite the cost of a new stadium.
East Texas discipline also gave us Louie Gohmert.
STOP, LAWYER. TURN BACK. GO NO FURTHER.
In other news, these freaking Wilf brothers were also at the top of the food chain investigating the whole Chris Kluwe thing. They promised a full report, and gave one that was slanted hard against Americaās Coolest Punter.
And also half-a-billion in public money for private stadium etc. etc. etc.
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Thatās how the NFL rollsātorture and slaughter dogs*, beat your kid with a tree branch, get priority treatment and still suit up for game day. If I was a football fan, Iād be finding a new sport to kill time with.
*after a short stint in jail
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If Adrian Peterson was a backup tackle for the Vikings, and not the best player on the team, would he be playing this week? The answer to that question is no, hell no!
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Umā¦itās the Minnesota Vikings, guys. So they got 97% of their offense back? They will still find a way to lose.
After a while you just know these things.
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Complete double standard. Hit an adult woman - lose your job. Beat a defenseless child bloody, one week suspension.
BS
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What can a 4 year old do that merits being beaten with a stick? What a sick effing world.
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The fact that this criminal still has fans says it all. America is broken.
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Grist for the liberal members of the 1984 crowd. What Petersonās spanking his kid has to do with playing football is anyoneās guess. I wonder if the gung-ho moralistic commenters here - and TPM -consider their private lives something for their employers to judge.
I hate the Vikings, and really wish Adrian Peterson didnāt play for them (lifelong Green Bay Packers fan). I was beaten (screw calling it spanking, it was beating) as a child, and have never hit either of my two kids as they grew up. I believe corporal punishment is a bad form of discipline, and that my kids have turned out a lot better than I did because I never used it. I also think it right and proper that the visible injuries that Peterson inflicted on his son were reported and investigated, and I hope Peterson realizes that his ādisciplineā is clearly going too far (some of the emails between him and his ex-wife about this incident indicate he may have realized that already). I am glad that Texas and Minnesota social services were notified and are involved.
All that said, this is a matter of ātraditionalā discipline taken too far. Peterson is trying to raise his kids according to his own understanding of good parenting. I donāt agree with that understanding, but Peterson is not that far outside accepted practice for discipline in this country.
I believe Peterson was honestly trying to be a good father to his kids. I donāt think, him being an extremely powerful man who regularly ignores pain and minor injury, that he understood how traumatic his conduct was for his son. I hope, and think it likely, that once he understands what it was like for his son, he will correct his behavior going forward.
This is an incident of discipline going too far, properly handled in private by social services and the childrenās parents. I donāt think it helps to sensationalize the incident with red-shifted photos of the injuries (shades of Time Magazineās āblackenedā OJ) and descriptions of ālacerationsā when the marks arenāt actual tears in the skins and no stitches or significant first aid was required. Peterson needs to learn to moderate his discipline, but I do not fault him for trying to raise his kids according to his beliefs and culture.
Calls for his career (or the career of any non-celebrity parent in a similar situation) to be destroyed over this incident harm sincere parents who use corporal punishment, hopefully with more restraint, and are polarizing to rural and traditional populations who already feel like their rights to raise their children are being intruded upon.
In this case, the system appears to be working. The public and media should quit sticking their noses into the private lives of Adrian Peterson and his family and let the system do its job.
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I hate to be the bearer of bad news for ya, but your employer already very much takes your āprivate lifeā in to account for your at-will employment. Especially when that private-life spills over in to the public arena and makes your company look really bad. This is especially true in professional sports where contracts have a āmorals clauseā in them. Iām surprised that (I would guess) a āfree marketā type such as yourself wouldnāt know this.
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I agree.
Ray Rice shouldnāt have been suspended indefinitely from playing in the NFL either.
Itās the old āHey, I turned out okay!ā defense.
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So what about the detail of the leaves stripped from the switch being stuffed in the childās mouth?
Iām sorry but didnāt they JUST SAY that a first offense would result in a six-game suspension. I mean, beating your kid is domestic violence, right?
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It bothers me that this is turning into a political argument, and people will defend him because āgoddammit, you liberals aint got no right to tell me how to raise my damn kids!ā
OK, fine, so what is the proper amount of ādisciplineā to give a small child? Is it OK to beat him so hard it breaks the skin?
The kid is going to grow up not trusting you, and turn into an adult that beats his own kids.
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Crap, I gave up on basketball many, many years ago for the thuggish behavior and baseball because of the whining and walkouts. Football has been the only mostly constant. Now, they are really pissing me off. I just got back into baseball after at least 15 years away.
This reminds me of what is wrong with pro sports. Way too much money and way too much tolerance. They are all lucky dogs to be playing a sport that they love and to be making mega-millions of dollars doing it.
I was good until their pay went above a million a year, then it just got to be about money. And look at what the money does, it corrupts and creates monsters.
I watch occasionally, but donāt spend a nickel on any of it. No jerseys, no jackets, no games.
Confession, I did go to the Todd Helton retirement game on Aug 17 because it was my B-day weekend and I really liked Helton. It was very worth it and a much bigger deal than I realized when I decided to go. Our only expense was beer and it was a great game. Itās too bad that it all costs so much now, just so that we can enjoy players making half a million a game or more. It really sucks.