"Look what permissive liberal parenting is doing to our country!"

That's the message from "The Slap," the first episode in an 8-part series which aired last night on NBC.

Well, I sat through it, so it could at least hold my interest. But it fails to live up to its hype. Before it started, the prelude promised that "The Slap" would be "the most controversial series on television." You wish, NBC.

If there were controversy, the story wouldn't be so slanted. Hugo is depicted as a completely unlovable 5-year-old brat, and his parents could not be worse.

Hugo trashes record collections, refuses to share toys, uproots flowerbeds and flings the flowers away, all without repercussions. He's worse than a brat; he's a "Bad Seed" in the making.

His mother cannot abide anyone even scolding her child. When Hugo is being reprimanded for trashing a record collection, she swoops to his rescue and placates him by breast-feeding her five-year-old son.

We get it. He has horrible parents who indulge him and never discipline him. The first episode practically beats us in the face with that.

Speaking of beating in the face, the slap (which, of course, gives the series its name) occurs when, during a wiffle ball game, Hugo refuses to surrender the wooden baseball bat (having refused to use the plastic bat) after he struck out and instead starts swinging the bat at another child, Rocco. After Hugo's father (who, besides being a bad father, is a snob of the highest order) shows an inappropriate lack of concern, Hugo's uncle Harry (and Rocco's father) takes the bat away and reprimands Hugo. Hugo responds by kicking his uncle in the shin. Uncle Harry then slaps Hugo.

Predictably, Hugo's doting and ineffectual parents are horrified and outraged and immediately begin to coddle their supposedly traumatized son. The episode ends just after the party suddenly breaks up after Hugo is slapped.

The problem is that this series could not sustain its promise of controversy. Both sides of the issue should be presented fairly for debate to ensue, but Hugo's parents are simply so ridiculous, their own views could not possibly be taken seriously. Hugo's uncle becomes a hero.

It seems to suggest that parents who don't hit their children don't believe in disciplining their children at all. That simply isn't true. You can be an effective parent and disciplinarian without hitting.

Wordy.

Warballs.

To Protect And Sever

Grandpa's spinal column, that is.

Being called "wordy" by you, Crid, is like being called a decadent slut by Madonna.

Or has it not dawned on you that the whole reason Amy created these "Links" threads was because of your love of spamming all tweets stale and droll in every thread possible, whether they pertained to the topic or not?

Tell us about a TV show!

We love those.

The way you two bicker, folks'll think your married...

I doubt that Patrick would have him.

Do ideas drive violence, or do the violent appropriate ideas and warp them to fit their own needs?

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/398563/being-good-progressive-doesnt-make-you-incapable-hate-charles-c-w-cooke

"Peaceful men will always struggle to grasp exactly how their political beliefs could be co-opted by the violent. Indeed, had he lived to see it so appallingly cited, Nietzsche would have presumably spent the latter years of his life making it clear to all and sundry that his work had been wildly misappropriated. He would, no doubt, have had a point. But, really, this serves only to underscore the point: Because we never know which of our ideas evil men will pick up, pointing to the presumed virtues of those ideas is futile. ~ Charles C. W. Cooke"

"You can be an effective parent and disciplinarian without hitting."

And you are one of these? I mean, it appears you were an entitled tot at one time, judging by your outrage at being asked whether your posting a link meant you supported it. I had no idea you were an expert on child-rearing.

You missed this idea, I bet. Glands kick in long before brains do. Just how DO you propose to teach a tot that what you say goes, when the consequence could be permanent injury - not from Mom hitting you, but because that really is boiling water and she doesn't have the time to explain everything?

> And you are one of these?

Raddy likes to talk about slapping kids around.


> folks'll think your married

Folks'll wish you hadn't misspelled "you're."


> Because we never know which of
> our ideas evil men will pick up,
> pointing to the presumed virtues
> of those ideas is futile.

Then why even bother to say so? Why get out of bed in the morning? This is a whole new level of 'No, you shut up,' without even a topic for discussion.

Crid: Raddy likes to talk about slapping kids around.

I'm not surprised. What surprises me is you actually caring about what "Raddy" talks about. He's an intellectual bankrupt who talks over his own head. It's actually painful to read his garbage.

mpetrie: I doubt that Patrick would have him.

You're correct about that. I'd rather choke to death on my own puke.

> I'd rather choke to death on
> my own puke.

This is going to work out perfectly for everyone!

> the first episode in an 8-part
> series which aired last night
> on NBC.

_________.