A fathers right to be angry (a defence of Alec Baldwin)
April 23rd 2007 07:55
In recent times there has been a lot of talk regarding Alec Baldwins message he left for his 11 year old daughter on her phone. Some people were mortified that he should even think such things let alone say them. A minority of people have jumped to defend him which is sad in the least. He has well and truly been screwed over and his well known temper been exploited by not only the press but his own child through ex-wife.
I don't believe for a minute that Mr Baldwin is an angel far from it but he has been outplayed by people who were quite happy to see him fall flat on his face. Neither do I condone his insults to his daughter ("rude little pig" etc) but listening to his phone message it was coming from someone who had been putting up with quite a lot. It wasn't the first time that this had happened and he was getting tired of putting in and not getting anything back. It's not like a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship where he could break off and walk away permanently. This is his child where he has to either put up with her behaviour or he puts an end to her errant ways. He very wisely decided to try and put an end to it.
What this tells me about his daughter is that if she believes that she can get away with this with her father then in later years she'll also think that it's acceptable to treat a guy or anyone that way. But this wasn't anyone this is her father. Out of all of the people in the world she needs to respect more than anyone else it is her father. He had every right to be angry and disappointed with her and to tell her exactly how he felt. How else is he going to let her know how he feels? He could have sat her down yes and said with tears in his eyes "I think you treat me bad". However some kids just like to take advantage of a situation and roll over someone if they think they can get away with it. She now knows the limit to which she can push him and if she is smart she won't go there again. Don't be fooled just because she's 11 years old. Kids these days seem to be smarter, know more and grow up faster than you and I would ever believe.
I have never heard of him having laid his finger on his daughter because if he had done so it would have made news long before now so I don't know where people get the idea that he was going to fly out to where she lives the next week and physically assault her. I don't believe that he would have saved up all of the anger that he had one night to take out on his daughter the next week. It makes no sense. He didn't say that and if you listen to the message he says that he's coming out to "straighten her out on the issue". I have been straightened out quite a few times on issues that didn't involve physical violence. However in a credit to him he did apologize for what he said. I have never had a friend whose parents didn't yell at them or say something to them that wasn't said in anger.
This situation has been taken way out of proportion and skewed because a father tried to discipline his daughter privately and been branded publicly as a poor parent. If every parent who yelled at their child and said something in the heat of anger was to be seen as a bad parent then there may not be any good parents left. The day that that happens then society has more of a problem than we could ever imagine.
I don't believe for a minute that Mr Baldwin is an angel far from it but he has been outplayed by people who were quite happy to see him fall flat on his face. Neither do I condone his insults to his daughter ("rude little pig" etc) but listening to his phone message it was coming from someone who had been putting up with quite a lot. It wasn't the first time that this had happened and he was getting tired of putting in and not getting anything back. It's not like a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship where he could break off and walk away permanently. This is his child where he has to either put up with her behaviour or he puts an end to her errant ways. He very wisely decided to try and put an end to it.
What this tells me about his daughter is that if she believes that she can get away with this with her father then in later years she'll also think that it's acceptable to treat a guy or anyone that way. But this wasn't anyone this is her father. Out of all of the people in the world she needs to respect more than anyone else it is her father. He had every right to be angry and disappointed with her and to tell her exactly how he felt. How else is he going to let her know how he feels? He could have sat her down yes and said with tears in his eyes "I think you treat me bad". However some kids just like to take advantage of a situation and roll over someone if they think they can get away with it. She now knows the limit to which she can push him and if she is smart she won't go there again. Don't be fooled just because she's 11 years old. Kids these days seem to be smarter, know more and grow up faster than you and I would ever believe.
I have never heard of him having laid his finger on his daughter because if he had done so it would have made news long before now so I don't know where people get the idea that he was going to fly out to where she lives the next week and physically assault her. I don't believe that he would have saved up all of the anger that he had one night to take out on his daughter the next week. It makes no sense. He didn't say that and if you listen to the message he says that he's coming out to "straighten her out on the issue". I have been straightened out quite a few times on issues that didn't involve physical violence. However in a credit to him he did apologize for what he said. I have never had a friend whose parents didn't yell at them or say something to them that wasn't said in anger.
This situation has been taken way out of proportion and skewed because a father tried to discipline his daughter privately and been branded publicly as a poor parent. If every parent who yelled at their child and said something in the heat of anger was to be seen as a bad parent then there may not be any good parents left. The day that that happens then society has more of a problem than we could ever imagine.
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