I am not sure if this is a joke or for real.
Perhaps someone ::wink, wink:: should post a link or contact info on some relevant message boards so that just this happens. Might create enough of a “moral dilemma” for the manufacturers to stop sales?
Very enlightening post, Maeglin. One question, though. I was under the impression that the fasces was not a literal tool/weapon that was used to scourge criminals, but that it was purely a symbol of the state’s rights to administer either capital (the axe) or corporal (the rods) punishment. Is this correct, or were they literally whacking the crap out of people with a rod-bound axe?
And it should get a fair amount of ironic hipster business too. “Hey, you gotta check this out. You know what this is for?”
I just realized, the Rod may already be manufactured by a sex toy company. If somebody thought there was a market for it, they could create a dummy corporation, and change the manufacturer’s mark on the product.
I mean somebody at the sex toy company who is legally able to do so. As you may know, the inventor of the Slinky came up with it as part of recoil absorbing system for the guns of an airplane.
I wonder when the Dobson Hot Sauce will be out in stores re the how saucing method of discipline.
I wonder when the Dobson Hot Sauce will be out in stores re the hot saucing method of discipline.
So, sometimes a pizzle is just a pizzle?
And having read the article, it’s made by an automechanic. :smack:
Many many kids do fine with the level of punishment that you describe. I do not, nor did I call it abuse. But not all marks are physical–so I question your “lingering.” I do not parent this way(spanking).
What of consequences? I used and use these to great effect with my kids–I also firmly believe in the removal of privileges. Again, like you, these cannot be arbitrary or put in place just b/c the child has ticked the parent off etc–discipline must be thought out, appropriate and effective. To me, spanking and the like does not meet this criteria. Again, nowhere did I liken it to child abuse–I said that it doesn’t work. And it doesn’t–it takes the focus away from the matter at hand (the misbehavior) and puts it on the inevitable inequity between child and parent.
No-you built your own strawman, called it mine and then demolished it. I never said that spanking was child abuse. I don’t agree that it is–I do think it is an ineffective, albeit common, way to discipine your kid.
I agree that “chastening” MAY not be the same as the smack or even the use of this rod in the OP–for you. But I can also envision plenty of parents using the above Scripture as a rationalization for any amount of abuse of power and authority–and those kids can and do perpetuate the cycle onto their kids.
Abuse? I didn’t call it that–I’d rather call it a shortsighted solution to a chronic problem. And sadly, yes–some (hopefully few) parents do like the power they have over their children. Example: I know a woman who, upon giving a Playstation to her son(Bday), told him that she was glad he had it, because it was one more thing she could take away when/if he misbehaved. That example does not include spanking, but it does show the mindset of at least one parent–I doubt she is an aberration(unfortunately).
Frankly, the amount of poor parenting that I see even during one trip to the mall, leads to me to believe that many many parents want only to control their children, not foster their growth as individuals. I think that spanking is a part of that.
To use Biblical support for what is in essence an unequal situation is offensive to me. Obviously, I am not going to change your mind. But think on this: that child has no recourse, no other place to go, often no chance to even explain or defend him/herself. To them, parents are omnipotent and god-like(to small kids, anyway).
Ask yourself, why is it that we stop spanking when the kids are old/big enough to hit back with force?
Deuteronomy 21: 18-21
"If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them:
Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place;
And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard.
And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear."
“Now, for the last time–Clean up your room!!!”
Your ideas intrigue me and I would like to subscribe to your newsletter.
Seriously, do you know the historical context of Deuteronomy?
I read the title, and wondered what the hell Scotty did to piss you off…
-Joe
It’s strange. I read that passage, and got all horny all-of-the-sudden.
“Oh, momma, I’ve been a bad, baaad boy…I must be chastened…lovingly…”
I know the hysterical context of it. Does that count?
Damn, and I thought Catholic guilt was bad. All we did was make Baby Jesus cry, we didn’t keep him up at night being tortured by all the things we did wrong.
(eats chocolate chip cookies guilt free)
Alright, already! I ate some cookies, too! I don’t even know Shlomo’s parents and I feel terrible about it. 
(Doc, excuse the Protestants. They don’t know from guilt like a Catholic does.)
And you think it’s an accident most shrinks are Jewish? :dubious:
They probably wrote it as a tutorial for some of Anne Rice’s naughty books. Or maybe she wrote it for them.
It wouldn’t surprise me if Dobson himself had written it.
Is he still advocating squeezing the trapezoid muscle to stop misbehavior?
He might as well publish a damn manual on how to inflict pain…Oh, wait a minute. He’s done that already.