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Pope Francis gets it wrong on spanking
Chicago Suntimes, Letters to the Editor ^ | 2-16-2015 | Leon J. Hoffman, Ph.D.

Posted on 02/16/2015 10:38:38 AM PST by Citizen Zed

Pope Francis recently proclaimed that it is okay for parents to spank their children if their dignity is respected. That lamentable statement is as naive as it is injurious. Especially at a time when our beleaguered world has been experiencing countless outrageous forms of violence, his regrettable words do little to quell such tragic acts and may even add fuel to the fire. Our world has more than enough hitting. Why anyone, however well intentioned, would wish to do anything to increase it defies reason.

Regarding spanking (however one may choose to define it), Edward Lee Thorndike, the Columbia University behaviorist, about a century ago proclaimed that “spanking stamps in what it purports to stamp out.” Sigmund Freud stated, also a century ago, that “this will be a verbal world, not a physical one, and if I am wrong it will not make any difference.” We should heed the wisdom of those century-old teachings.

Parents hit because their words have failed, and when parents’ words have failed, the parents have failed.

(Excerpt) Read more at chicago.suntimes.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat
KEYWORDS: 50shadesofgrey; abortion; childabuse; spanking
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This must be why ISIS beheads people.
1 posted on 02/16/2015 10:38:38 AM PST by Citizen Zed
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To: Citizen Zed

LOL so any impending violence spree I may engage in at any point in the future is justified by the ass whoopins I got as a kid?


2 posted on 02/16/2015 10:40:19 AM PST by cripplecreek ("For by wise guidance you can wage your war")
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To: Citizen Zed

And eggheads like Freud and Thorndike are ALWAYs right - Right?


3 posted on 02/16/2015 10:43:18 AM PST by rusty schucklefurd
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To: Citizen Zed

The folks at that paper don’t like spanking because if their parents had spanked them they might have been brain damaged, or perhaps their parents did spank them.


4 posted on 02/16/2015 10:43:38 AM PST by arthurus (it's true!)
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To: arthurus

Nothing funnier than watching an “adult” reason with a 4 year old till one of them gets tired of the game and gives in.


5 posted on 02/16/2015 10:45:25 AM PST by cripplecreek ("For by wise guidance you can wage your war")
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To: arthurus
The folks at that paper don’t like spanking because

They think it will confuse little boy's about sex in the future.

6 posted on 02/16/2015 10:46:46 AM PST by Mastador1 (I'll take a bad dog over a good politician any day!)
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To: Citizen Zed; GeronL
Our world has more than enough hitting. Why anyone, however well intentioned, would wish to do anything to increase it defies reason.

Did the 'good doctor' denounce the spanking in 50 Shades of Grey and promoted by Planned Parenthood?

Thought not.

7 posted on 02/16/2015 10:49:03 AM PST by a fool in paradise (Shickl-Gruber's Big Lie gave us Hussein's Un-Affordable Care act (HUAC).)
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To: Citizen Zed
The low-information types are incapable of distinguishing between appropriate corporal punishment and assault-and-battery.

That's because all they know how to do is assault-and-battery.

8 posted on 02/16/2015 10:49:18 AM PST by E. Pluribus Unum (If obama speaks and there is no one there to hear it, is it still a lie?)
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To: Citizen Zed

Leon, Leon, Leon,

Get a real PhD in something useful.

I, and many others, were spanked.

Somehow, I survived, and even managed to successfully complete an education that appears to be quite beyond our limited abilities.

So did the vast majority of those others.

Get a job.

Right after you get a real degree in something useful.


9 posted on 02/16/2015 10:49:19 AM PST by Da Coyote
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To: Da Coyote

Ooops, I had a Dorkbama moment.

That’s “...beyound your limited abilities...”

Now, back to my golf game.


10 posted on 02/16/2015 10:50:49 AM PST by Da Coyote
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To: Citizen Zed

Dr. Spock was an idiot. Parents that think “reasoning” with a temper tantrum 2 year old are lazy and stupid.


11 posted on 02/16/2015 10:51:32 AM PST by CodeToad (Islam should be outlawed and treated as a criminal enterprise!)
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To: Citizen Zed

Until I saw the PhD at the end of the name I assumed this writer to be a run of the mill a$$hat. Now I know he is a highly qualified one with an advanced degree in A$$hatology. One assumption I must continue to make is that he has never actually raised a child. This is indicated by his presuming children always and inevitably listen and respond to “words” and that the little darlings will respond when we can find just the right ones from a bottomless source of supply.


12 posted on 02/16/2015 10:52:31 AM PST by katana (Just my opinions)
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To: Citizen Zed; MeshugeMikey

13 posted on 02/16/2015 10:53:01 AM PST by a fool in paradise (Shickl-Gruber's Big Lie gave us Hussein's Un-Affordable Care act (HUAC).)
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To: Mastador1

In the future sex will be digital. There will be apps for it. Reproduction will be via advanced 3D printer.


14 posted on 02/16/2015 10:53:16 AM PST by arthurus (it's true!)
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To: a fool in paradise

lol. bump!


15 posted on 02/16/2015 10:53:56 AM PST by GeronL
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To: cripplecreek

The author sounds like an educated liberal douche who’s never had a child. I can’t think of any of my friends that were spanked that turned out to be serial killers but i can think of several who never received any spankings or discipline that turned out bad, real bad.


16 posted on 02/16/2015 10:55:07 AM PST by jsanders2001
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To: Citizen Zed

If spanking in injurious violence against children, what is abortion?


17 posted on 02/16/2015 10:55:11 AM PST by a fool in paradise (Shickl-Gruber's Big Lie gave us Hussein's Un-Affordable Care act (HUAC).)
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To: a fool in paradise
> Did the 'good doctor' denounce the spanking in 50 Shades of Grey and promoted by Planned Parenthood? Thought not.

A + for our answer...: )

18 posted on 02/16/2015 10:56:48 AM PST by jsanders2001
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To: jsanders2001

Down is up and wrong is right.


19 posted on 02/16/2015 11:01:55 AM PST by a fool in paradise (Shickl-Gruber's Big Lie gave us Hussein's Un-Affordable Care act (HUAC).)
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To: cripplecreek; All
Nothing funnier than watching an “adult” reason with a 4 year old till one of them gets tired of the game and gives in.

We had four kids, we didn't know much about spanking until the first two were four and six years old, had been told it was a baaaaad thing, much like this egghead perfessor is saying.

Well, we learned our lesson, never spanked them out of anger or got involved with abuse, but it was clear that it worked. I doubt we spanked any of our kids more than half a dozen times each while they grew up, because we didn't have to. They got it, they knew their boundaries.

About five years after we started spanking our kids, we visited some friends who had a kid who was about eight at the time. I remember our friend (woman) begging her child to do something for a little over a half an hour. It was pathetic to watch her plead, badger, and fail.

I hope he turned out okay, but suspect he's an out of control, sniveling lib who demands his way at all times as an adult.

20 posted on 02/16/2015 11:04:12 AM PST by Lakeshark
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