Tommy Jordan: Monster or Hero?

I first came across the Youtube video of the father shooting his daughter's laptop while reading the news on Yahoo. The beauty of reading the news online is that you can click on a link to follow up on any stories that you are interested in and come up with a video, or a song, or even another written story that bears interest. I have tried doing the same while reading the newspaper and only managed to poke holes in the paper with my index finger while stabbing at the page with my index finger, yelling "it's frozen up, dammit!"

I watched the video and I admit I enjoyed the entire thing and thought that the father made several valid points about his spoiled, lazy, entitled teenager. Then he murdered her laptop to teach her a lesson. When I was a spoiled, lazy, entitled kid, I was taught lessons with a cuff to the ear or a kick in the ass; apparently, these are not acceptable means of lessonry these days, so parents are forced to come up with creative solutions of their own. Like grounding their kids. Who is this really punishing, I have often asked myself, while preparing a hot meal for the detainee, unable to hear my stories on the television because said detainee is blasting Korean Pop Music in their cell.

Nowadays, we can also take away our childrens' electronic gadgetry when they need some learning. We don't let them use their cell-phones or laptops and we take away the cable box in their room, so they can't watch the 212 channels of television being beamed in from the heavens. If we want to get really nasty, we make them read a classic book - that'll show them.

Tommy Jordan reached the end of his rope after reading a post written by his daughter on Facebook detailing what monsters her father and mother were for expecting her to do her own laundry, pick up after herself and take on some simple chores around the house. She had also been taken to task for not trying to find a job to put some walking-around money in her own pocket. What cruel bastards.

I watched Mr. Jordan shoot his daughters laptop and my first thought was "there's a grand down the drain..." Then I wondered if perhaps there were not more issues here than just this letter - perhaps the note was a cry for help and maybe her parents were abusive or really were monsters. After all, at this point it was "he said, she said". I hoped the family was strong and healthy - a computer can be replaced.

After reading Tommy Jordan's follow-up note on his Facebook page, it appears everyone is okay and after several visits from authorities and local child-protective services, there doesn't appear to be any concern for the children on-premise. It may turn out that he was just like most parents of teenagers nowadays - frustrated, confused and at his wit's end trying to figure out how to get through to his daughter in this day and age where everything is at-hand instantly, in hi-def, streaming and from all angles.

We can only hope that we don't all need to start shooting our kids' stuff to get our points across, because sooner or later, someone with not as much common-sense or rationale as Tommy Jordan will take things that one step too far and that is something to which none of us want to bear witness.