Laptop Plugging Papa Proves Poor Parent

Perceptions by Gerry Warner

Wanna provoke an argument this week? Well, you don’t need to go far. All you need to do is open your favourite web browser and Google You Tube for a little lesson in “tough love” that will probably have more than 25 million hits by the time you read this.

Now that’s what I call truly viral.

Even in the often bizarre world of social media, 25 million views is a quantum amount more than the usual freak shows, deranged people and two-headed creatures that often draw 15 minutes of Andy Warhol fame on the Net.. The star of this freak show is one Tommy Jordan, a pistol-totting, North Carolina father with a 15-year-old ungrateful wretch of a daughter. Or so he would have you believe. And before, with great trepidation, I attempt to take sides in this very dark soap opera and most outrageous treatise on child rearing since the “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother” erupted on the reading scene last year, take a look on You Tube for yourself.

You may be shocked and appalled, but I defy any parent not to have at least a smidgeon of sympathy, if not empathy, for what my good wife describes as “that !#!!@%$!! “Bantam rooster and cock of the walk,” who ought to be in jail. Jeez, how quickly they forget.

For those who haven’t yet seen Jordan in his white Stetson and jeans blasting his troubled teen’s computer into smithereens with his Colt 45 while sitting in a lawn chair in his yard haranguing his daughter for a Facebook post in which she complains “I’m not your damn slave” in reference to the chores her ogre parents expect her to do . . . . . well, you better sneak a peek. This four minute melodrama has ignited a world-wide debate about parenting that even tops the Tiger Mother’s screed.

Incredibly enough, despite the frustrated dad’s over-the-top response to typically rebellious teen behavior, Jordan has gathered a considerable amount of support from the torrent of comments that accompanies his viral video. “WAY TO GO DAD,” says Kat from Arkansas. “Finley a father who steps up and says I am not taking your *** any more!!!!!!!! (sic). “This father did what was right - I bet this will be the last time his daughter disrespects him,” adds another Jordan supporter.

But not everyone was heaping praise on the pistol-packing dad. “I don't like how my daughter did her homework; I think I'll burn her books...my son did a poor job washing the car; I guess it's time for me to firebomb the car” says one. Eiling from Sydney, Australia wasn’t impressed either: “I teach teens and I know from many years of experience - treat them with respect and you get respect in return . . .” And Za Za Bishop adds: “I trust the child protection authorities have seen this. Clearly Mr. Jordan and his wife will have a case to answer.”

And Jordan, an IT specialist who had just spent $130 on software for his daughter’s laptop prior to pumping it full of holes, appears to be feeling some remorse. “I’ll agree that wasn’t a good example of me as a father. I had been reading that post again and again for about an hour, sometimes in tears, other times so mad my hands were shaking and I was trying very hard to be civil in my message. I slipped in that and said a word I shouldn’t have. I deserve a little backlash for that, no doubt.”

Millions, no doubt, are saying “amen” to his mea culpa. I’m sure Jordan loves his daughter deeply, but his reaction was excessive and extreme to the point of making a world-wide spectacle out of himself and God only knows what his monumental fit of pique did to the psyche of his no doubt horribly humiliated daughter .

But surely there’s another lesson to this bizarre episode. In this absurdly frenetic and technology-loving world we’re living in, maybe it’s time we all went off-line more often and tried to relate to each other more face-to-face without all the digital gizmos and gadgets.

The world will survive with one less computer and if that bullet-ridden laptop brings Jordan and his daughter closer together again something has been gained from an otherwise sorry – and scary – episode.