Parent spanks kid for being bad at video game.
I read this story with horror but without surprise.
Dad is accused of beating 6-year-old for poor gaming skills
“The victim’s mother told police Taulbee became upset when the boy didn’t play a video game well,” the story says.
But the story never reported what game the boy was playing.
Brian Gregg of the Hamilton County (Ohio) Department of Job and Family Services told the Manifesto that it was a SpongeBob SquarePants game for Xbox.
It seems Dad is a serious Pro Gamer?
Note, there are probably other reasons as well. One is that the Dad might just be a bully, an idiot per se.
I doubt it has much to do with >gaming< getting more and more serious, just like professional sports, in our society. You know, we “work” in our MMOs for rather questionable rewards… which probably means that I am a lazy bum and have no working morale or so.
But well, something snapped in Daddy’s mind just as he saw the kid playing badly. We can only speculate, he lost himself in the gaming world and lost touch to the real world outside of gaming escapism. And we all know, VIOLENCE is the correct answer and solution for almost all problems in computer games.
On the plus side, the article said it was just a spanking. But still… over a video game? Insane.
I don’t think this is anything terribly surprising. For years and years parents have absurdly punished their kids for failing to achieve in sports, academics, etc. despite the kid’s best efforts. Often this is because the parent is trying to live vicariously through their child.
Man, this reminds me of a friend of mine from high school. One day I managed to get a very narrow victory over him in Top Gear(best racing game for the SNES!). So, I beat him, and he starts punching himself in the leg yelling “never second, always first! never second, always first!”. I was like “dude, wtf?”. It was so randomly weird I found it hilarious. So, I started doing it when I came in second too, and it basically became a meme amongst my buddies.
I’m probably going to hell for remembering this joke because of some poor kid getting spanked for being a noob at Sponegebob, but it’s the first thing I thought of when reading this story. I feel sorry for the kid, his dad is obviously pretty messed up.
The question I want answered is: Did they arrest him for spanking his kid, or did they arrest him for spanking his kid for no good reason?
If it’s the former, then “child protection” has finally reached the point and crossed the line to where it’s no longer helpful and quite possibly harmful.
If it’s because he had no real reason to beat the kid, then okay… send him to counseling/anger management. I’m not sure I agree with arresting him if it wasn’t anything more than a spanking. Now, the article doesn’t mention whether the guy has a prior record or history of domestic abuse, so maybe that stuff factored in somewhere. If he had no prior history and did not severely beat/injure his child, he probably shouldn’t have been arrested.
I’d like to know who called the police in the first place. If it was his wife or the kid’s grandparents or something, then that may be indicative of a larger problem. If it was the kid himself trying to get even, or some nosy neighbor… meh.
I’m… Dubious.
Was the kid spanked because he couldn’t play the game? Or was the kid spanked because he chucked dad’s $100 wireless controller onto the floor when pwned?
Not enough detail to make a judgment, but that’s never stopped journos in the past.
Tim: I agree, we need more details. I actually spoke to the writer of the Lexington Herald article, and he said when he found the info at first the info was sorely lacking. He had to dig into it just to find out the name of the game.
Outsider: ROFL!!!!!! Never second, always first…. Man, that had to be really weird.
Like to watch Stargate Atlantis episodes and also Lost. I found your blog on google and read a few of your other posts. I just added you to my Google News Reader. Look forward to reading more from you in the future.
Thanks Spongebob!