I first heard of this now-viral video when I saw it posted on a political blog (which did not give away the ending), and I started watching out of what was, admittedly, a morbid and unhealthy curiosity– you know, the kind that makes people watch reality TV. I couldn’t finish; I was just too embarrassed for this dad and his inarticulate rambling. I felt I really had no business looking in on what was essentially a private family matter.
When asked to post on it, however, I had to go back and watch the whole thing, which I did on Facebook, and by then, the ending had been divulged (since there were dozens of response videos posted, some of which read “dad shoots laptop”). So if you haven’t seen this video, allow me to save you from wasting eight minutes of your life: he rambles for seven minutes, and then puts half a dozen rounds of ammunition into his daughter’s laptop with his handgun.
As the intelligentsia would say in response to such things: “Boo-yah.” (If that doesn’t suit, insert your own victorious masculine grunting noise here.)
Good heavens, I don’t even know where to begin. As a mom of seven with twenty-three years of experience under her belt, I have known frustration and anger when it comes to parenting challenges, so this dad has a modicum of sympathy. But his response is so over the top, it’s a bit surreal.
Posting the scolding on Facebook was bad enough. Yes, the teenage daughter acted immaturely in posting a Facebook rant; how exactly does it teach her a lesson when her dad does the same thing—in fact sinks beneath her maturity level because he’s supposed to be able to handle situations with more tact and grace? Instead, he goes all Rambo on her computer. Did I say I felt embarrassed? Change that to horrified. Since when does anyone solve family problems by blowing things to bits?
One must ask: what’s the takeaway lesson? Will this action of dad’s bring the daughter to heel, or will it make her so humiliated and angry that she decides to up the ante?
Handgun Daddy makes Tiger Mom look rather a pussycat.
