imported post
Brass Magnet wrote:
Kicking your dog and hitting your wife haveNOTHING to do with spanking strawman boy. It's not even close. Is spanking a form of violence? NOT if you do it right.
His "argument" fails on at least two levels.
First of all, an ADULT woman is in the eyes of the law, an autonomous individual with the right to make her own decisions. Your wife doesn't have to do what you want. If you don't like that, you have the right to cause her to no longer be your wife. On the other hand, a child has no or limited autonomy. Your minor child CAN'T do what it wants, sign contracts, vote, travel freely regardless of your wishes, etc. Equating ADULT women and children buys into truly evil philosophies in two ways. Islamists like the Taliban and Al Qaeda consider women the moral equals of children, incapable of real autonomy and needing men to guide and "protect" them. Pedophile organizations such as NAMBLA try to assert that minor children have the same ability to reason and consent as adults. This assertion is merely subterfuge to justify the IMPOSITION of adult sexuality on helpless children. Women, as a generic class of actors, are presumed by the law to be autonomous beings with the ability to rationally formulate decisions and be accountable for their own welfare and actions. Children are NOT. That's why YOU may be prosecuted for neglect if you allow your children to act as they choose with no supervision.
Secondly, spanking IS violence. And sometimes violence is necessary. I once called the police on my upstairs neighbor for repeatedly beating his wife/girlfriend. The last time, I called them because he'd climbed out onto the ledge of his 6th floor apartment and was apparently threatening to jump because the police and I had the temerity to object to his trying to beat the woman's brains out. When the police arrived, he refused to come back inside. They VIOLENTLY pulled him back off the ledge, FAR more violently than any normal person would spank a child for playing with matches. A rational judgement was made that the violence of subduing him was preferable to his taking a header off of the 6th floor, just as a rational judgement may be made that it's better to spank a child than to have the child burn down his home, killing himself and others.
This is just one more example of Style-less's attempts to draw everyone else into his fantasy world.