Apparently my family can't even go to Target without getting into a fight.

[JanMichael]

Just got off the phone with mom and she told me about a trip to the store.

She and my dad went to Target, with my younger sister her husband and 5 year old son, to get some stuff for my sister's recent move to North Carolina. They, the sis and family, got there two days ago and needed the basics.

Anyway my mother and my nephew were in another area when this scene started, but they caught the end, so the first part was relayed to her by the rest of the family.

It seems that my sister, father (mine) and her husband, were near the front of the store when they saw a rather large man grab a two/three year old boy up violently by the arm and then screamed at the kid face to face. Then the big guy dropped (Literally DROPPED) the kid to the floor and proceeded to slap him all over there on the ground while screaming all sorts of obsenities.

My sister (All 120lbs of her) apparently lost it and went up to this guy (over 6ft and "large") and said something to the effect of, "Stop attacking that child!", he ignored her and kept hitting the boy and she then said, "STOP that's disgusting!". The guy kept hitting the kid. Then his wife came up, got in my sister's face, and they started screaming at each other, almost coming to blows but my father hjusmped in between them to separate them. While this went on the crazy child beater and his three kids then got on their knees and started PRAYING!

Right there in the front of Target!

What's even more bizarre is that, during the crazy prayer ritual, some stranger walked up to the praying child beater and SHOOK HIS HAND, I guess to express his admiration for sticking up to my "evil" liberal sis' while beating his child in public....

Welcome to NC.

[Libby2]

1. damn that's scary stuff

good for your sister......dynomite comes in small packages

Those poor kids.

[celestia671]

18. She did the right thing!

That whole prayer thing sounds too weird! True,sane, Christians would not beat their kids.

[JohnyCanuck]

2. Sounds like this guy might be related to Ned Flanders n/t

n/t

[BigMcLargehuge]

21. Whack-diddly-ack!

Flanders is so benign though... Maybe if she snapped I guess.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

3. holy crapola.....

:puke:

[KCDem]

4. Wow.

What a truly fucked-up world we live in. Those poor kids. Sounds like intervention is sorely needed.

And I thought that crap only happened at Walmart.

[whathappened]

5. wow

now my wife and i alway made our kids mind our rules when we took them shopping , if not they got a good slap on the butt to remind them who is boss , but this guy should be locked up for awhile , didnt they just put that one young women thru the mill for slapping her kid around when she got to her car , and it was on the parking lot camera , then this guy gets down and prays , i hope he was praying for forgiveness , for himself

[carpetbagger]

6. Wow.

Having lived in rural West Virginia, I can truly tell you I wouldn't last a month in most of North Carolina.

[JanMichael]

9. I didn't mean to slander NC, that's just where they are.

That said where they are sucks when it comes to crazy fundies.

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[JanMichael]

11. I didn't mean to slander any group.

That was just who they were <sigh>

[foxglove1]

17. Please, read your post and then read your sig line

Post ... sig line
Post ... sig line
Post ... sig line

Get it yet?

Sue

[classics]

22. Yes I get it.

Sorry, I should have made it more clear I was being facetious.

[foxglove1]

24. Thank you for clarifying

I'm too sensitive

Sue

[Name removed]

26. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[LWolf]

8. <sigh>

Big hugs to your sister for standing up for the kids.

Guess what kind of parents they will grow up to be?

How can we protect kids and stop this sort of generational cycle, and still protect reproductive rights?

:(

[JanMichael]

14. It's a sad situation....

I don't have the answers though.

[ForrestGump]

10. The family that prays together stays together

Until one of the kids has had about enough and takes an axe to daddy dearest.

Sickos.

Though it's possible that the freak who shook the big, brave childbeater's hand is the worst of the lot. Unless he was versed in some of the more esoteric of Chinese martial arts and was putting a delayed hurtin' on him.....

[philosophie_en_rose]

12. Your sister is amazing!

Target might have surveillance. It might be good to contact CPS and tell them about the situation, just in case. Imagine what happens to the poor kid at home.

[JanMichael]

16. I'll suggest that to them.

I shudder at what happens to those kids at home:sad:

[celestia671]

20. Target does have surveillance!

There has been a recent story on the news about a guy who molested a young girl at Target, and they show security tape of the guy leading her around the store. Maybe something can be done.

[sandnsea]

29. Yes call Target, call the police, SECURITY!!!

This is too much! I'm not totally opposed to a swat on the rear, but what you describe is over the top. She needs to call the store. And praying in the middle of Target!!! Holy criminy.

Would you guys let me know when they're all gone and I can leave my house again??? :scared:

[philosophie_en_rose]

47. Target also has a no solicitation/ proselytizing policy.

One of the reasons why I like it so much is that they urge people to ignore the occasional missionary outside of the store. I don't know if that is the case in North Carolina, but praying obnoxiously and beating children should never be tolerated.

[bahrbearian]

13. I look at the people that make up this Country

and it Scares the shit out of me

[JanMichael]

27. I'm sure it happens everywhere but my parents...

...have told me that since they've been in this place in NC they've seen more parents hit kids in public than in their entire 16 years in Florida.

[NightTrain]

15. Sounds like a Bush supporter to me!

I can only assume that this ddid not occur in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill Triangle--the only part of N.C. with which I'm familiar. And I have to say, that area of Jesse Helms Country struck me as rather educated and progressive!

[mkregel]

19. Remind me never to cross the Mason Dixon line

and I thought Orange County was bad.......

[BigMcLargehuge]

23. Props to your family!

Send my props to your family. It takes guts to intervene in any situation like that. Who knows if that guys packing a pistol or a bowie knife or something.

I hope I never end up in a similar situation, I'd probably end up in the slammer.

[JanMichael]

25. Same with me, I would have ended up in jail.

My sister means well but it was a dangerous action.

[Phatfish]

28. no, not at Target (tarj-"A")

this sounds like something that would happen at Wal-Mart. Kudos for your sister. Sometimes I wish there was a God so he could strike down that moron for beating his own child and excusing that action by alluding it was his right by God. STRIKE HIM DOWN!

[KG]

30. you sure you couldn't move farther away than FL?

:)

[JanMichael]

31. I suppose.

Perhaps France?

[DagmarK]

32. Your sister had to do what she did; I would have followed suit.....

But, you guys have to know that tonight.....that kid is catching all hell from both mom and dad........

The POLICE was the only answer.......

Oh, how sad........

[Frances]

33. If your sister had a cell phone,

could she have called the police to report child abuse?

I recently moved to Sunnyvale, California, and I was told that someone heard a baby crying in the apartment next door to them and called the police just in case the child was being abused. I was told that the children here know that the parents cannot hit them.

[JackSwift]

34. Next time try sarcasm

"Beat that little mother fucking punk to within an inch of his worthless life! That little pants crapper is undoubtedly the spawn of some redneck moron! Choke him! Choke him! Kick his little nut sack hard! That'll teach him! God wants that little shit crying! That little animal torturer deserves death! Do him! Do him! Do him!"

[JanMichael]

37. Unfortunately I think the sarcasm would be lost on most...

...troglodytes.

[leftist_rebel1569]

35. Damn.

I'm shocked. That's all I can say...

Other than the fact the pepper bugs me, but that's different...

[anti_shrub]

36. It's amazing how bold abusers can be

I went to the movies with my girlfriend, and while I was waiting for her in front of the ladies' room I saw a mother, father, and two kids that looked to be 13 and 10 approx. Now the 13 year old was being somewhat pesty, but nothing beyond the call of duty (IMO) for someone her age. All of a sudden the father pushes her shoulder first into the wall. There was a kind of expectant silence where I was sure he was going to hit her, and I was sure I was going to T-Bone the fucker into the next zip code if he did. Luckily she saw me standing there and made sure her dad knew people were watching. I guess I must have had my evil face on, cause dad backed off. Then again, maybe it was because the guy was a total pussy and he saw that a 280 pound guy with a beard, long hair, and tattooed was staring a hole into his forehead. Either way, I shudder to think what that poor girl got when they went home.

[Loonman]

38. People should have to apply for licenses to have kids

Obviously some adults are not up for the job.

More efforts on sterilization would work, too.

[LiberalLibra]

39. beating your kid is fine if you are a neo con and pray after?? That is....

...just plain f'ked up!!!

[JanMichael]

41. IIRC Operation Rescue has just moved to town.

The fundies will be crawling out of the woodwork...

[DemExpat]

40. That's one of the scariest stories I've heard in a long time.....

I'm afraid I would have put myself between the father and child.....I could not have just watched this horrible abuse!

:-( :-( :-(

But that they all started to pray afterwards.......:scared:

Creepy, sick stuff IMO.....

DemEx

[catpower2000]

42. It's like you need a passport to come down here, isn't it?

Greetings from Virginia! WHEN CAN I LEAVE????

Cat

[ok fine]

43. Now thats a story!

awesome read.

[TreasonousBastard]

44. It happens all over

Many years ago I knew a nurse who worked pediatrics in a teaching hospital in a rather icky neighborhood of NYC. She told me that 80-90% of the cases were obvious abuse, and most were from better neighborhoods where the parents didn't want to be seen at their own doctors, so brought the kids to the emergency room up there with some lame story. Heard similar stories from a NYC high school gym teacher.

It's interesting to note that medical and educational organizations actually lobbied for laws to force them to report any possible abuse cases, since they had been sued by parents when they reported them on their own.

The local polizei may or may not be interested in it as a child abuse case, but probably should be called. At least they'll have to make a report. I've done that a when I've seen what looked like abuse, although I did have a problem with what the poor kid kid might be getting when back home out of view. A bit of a moral dilemma there.

The religious angle makes me crazy. Praying after beating the kid senseless... it's insane. What are they praying for-- The kid's soul? Forgiveness for beating him? An Egyptian friend of mine is convinced that Allah has a place in hell reserved for child abusers, and he says that's a basic teaching where he comes from.

Besides the Christian fundies, one family court I know of sees a high percentage of ultra-Orthodox Jews in there for abuse, and another sees a lot of fundie Muslims. Nothing in any religion specifies beating the kid, though, and most Jews and Muslims I know love their kids and tend to spoil them more than anything else.

[ok fine]

45. of course,

we all know that only the people from "better neighborhoods" beat their kids...
and of course they're all white too, right?
:eyes:

[JanMichael]

46. The praying made this exceptionally crazy.

A unique turn for the worse.

[Art_from_Ark]

50. A bit confused about Jesus' admonition, perhaps?

This guy might be misinterpreting Jesus' command to "suffer the little children" as "make the little children suffer".

Or maybe this guy is still stuck in the Old Testament where it says "Spare the rod and spoil the child".

[Misinformed01]

51. No, the guy is stuck in a verse that was written

in 1664 by Samuel Butler.

The "rod and discipline" shit is in Proverbs.

[catpower2000]

49. "Spare the rod and spoil the child"?

Isn't that, or something like it, from the Bible? Or is it just a phrase?

Cat

[Art_from_Ark]

52. Check out Proverbs 22:15

"Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; The rod of correction will drive
it far from him."

Then there's Proverbs 29:15:
"The rod and reproof give wisdom, But a child left to himself brings shame to his mother"

Ol' Solomon must have had some serious problems with his kids

[catpower2000]

53. Thank you! I knew there was a direct quote in there somewhere...

Bible-illiterate here. :dunce:

Thanks for the help.

Cat

[LeftPeopleFinishFirst]

48. WOW

But good for your sister for standing up to that obviously pig-headed individual! To have the nerve to think they are good Christians, that just by praying it makes beating their child "OK". That is so horrible. Moreover, I can't believe somebody shook this crazy guy's hand afterward. :eyes: