Father Shoots Daughter's Laptop in Retaliation. Did He Go Too Far?

Photo: Alornmage/Video Screen Capture

By now there can hardly be anyone who hasn't heard about the NC father who put a bullet through his daughter's laptop, and posted video of the retribution on Facebook. But, just in case you've been too busy parenting or something, here's what happened.

Hurt Dad Posts Livid Response

Tommy Jordan discovered a disrespectful Facbook post by his daughter, in which she complains about the chores she has to do and the tough life she supposedly has. A clearly angry and hurt Jordan, who says he spent the last day fixing his fifteen-year-old daughter's laptop for free, took issue with that post, and decided to teach her a very public lesson:

My daughter thought it would be funny/rebellious/cool to post on her Facebook wall just how upset she was and how unfair her life here is; how we work her too hard with chores, never pay her for chores, and just in general make her life difficult.

She chose to share this with the entire world on Facebook and block her parent's from seeing it. Well, umm... she failed. As of the end of this video, she won't have to worry anymore about posting inappropriate things on Facebook...

The video concludes with Jordan putting a round of bullets through said daughter's laptop, and telling her she's going to have to repay him for the ammo. At time of writing, it had garnered 21 million views.

Let's Talk About What Works. Not What's "Justified".

Having just asked whether modern parents share way too much information, and questioned the notion of online humiliation as a form of discipline, it's probably no surprise that I find Jordan's response unsettling. By the sounds of things he has every right to be upset, and his daughter needs to learn a lesson regarding both respect for her parents and the consequences of venting so publically. But to resort to the same kind of online exhibitionism he is objecting to seems from this (admittedly hippy liberal) perspective to be escalating, not remedying, a clearly strained relationship.

Now the first rule of parenting is judge not, so I am not going to question Jordan's right to destroy a computer that he appears to have paid for (though the mixing of guns and child discipline has disturbing undertones that I won't go into here). But the discussion should revolve not around what was "justified" or "right" or even "acceptable", but rather on what is likely to work. As Michelle Duggar wrote in her post on spanking, praising our children publically and chastising them in private is an effective way of guiding them towards good. I find it hard to imagine a situation where such public and angry humiliation does anything but exacerbate an already crappy situation.

But maybe I'm wrong. Judge for yourselves.