Thursday, February 16, 2012

Tommy Jordan

As a blogging dad, I know that although I can take a day or week or month off blogging, I'm contractually obligated to have very strong opinions about certain topical subjects, or be escorted out of the prestigious Blogging Dads Club. In order to avoid having to blog about other topics, such as Existentialism in Nicki Minaj's Performances, I must come out with a blog post telling the world what I think about Tommy Jordan.

Tommy Jordan, in case you missed it, got angry at his 15-year-old daughter after she secretly wrote mean things about him on Facebook, so he put out a YouTube where he shot her laptop. If you haven't seen the video yet, here it is:


Good. Now you're part pf the 25 million people who have seen this video, and hopefully, like your fellow 25 millions, you either think this guy is a hero or you think he's a terrible dad. Because that's the nature of the Internet.

Well, two cents coming:

I'm not a fan of guns. I also don't have a 15-year-old daughter. Now, this guy is not a hero. He's also not the worst dad or the worst person in the world. Frankly, there are so many assholes in the world, that calling a normal guy who simply struggles with parenting a horrible person is as misguided as calling him a hero. We're all struggling here. The End.

I do want to add a couple of related points, though.

First, this hasn't gotten a lot of publicity, but the funniest thing about it all is that he didn't catch his daughter because he was an IT expert, but because his dog has a Facebook account:


HOW SHE GOT CAUGHT: The Dog Did It.. no, really.

I finally came out and told her this today, partly because it was too funny NOT to share.

When my daughter made her post, she used Facebook's privacy settings to block "Family" and "Church" friend's lists. All her other friends could see it. We, of course could not.

One of our dogs is always getting in photos and therefore has her own Facebook page. It's just a cute dumb thing we did for fun. Well, the dog's profile is rarely used except when funny pictures of her are posted. Since that's not too often, and she has very few friends on Facebook, her wall is kind of bare, with relatively few posts showing up on it.

The other night we gave the dog a bath and there was a funny photo we uploaded to Facebook and tagged her in. I logged in as the dog the next morning to comment on the photo. However when I logged into the dog's profile, my daughter had forgotten to add her to the "family" list.... so our family dog's profile showed her post right there on the front page.

It wasn't any parent-hacking, computer spying, or monitoring of any kind.. the dog actually ratted her out completely by accident. She hasn't petted that dog all day today...




And finally, here's the hilarious response/homage video made by Beta Dad. So far, 3,000 people saw this video. Maybe if you share it on your Twitters and your Facebooks and your Pinterests (but not really), we can get Beta Dad the 25 million views he deserves.

15 comments:

  1. Thanks for the share, buddy! The dog story is kind of endearing. Hope he doesn't shoot the dog too.

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  2. I bet you the dog will be more careful with his Facebook posts. But you should see his Google+ page.

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  3. cute, beta dad. :)

    anxious aunt

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  4. Really enjoyed the Beta Dad response. I think I'll blog about it on our blog at http://thefatherfactor.blogspot.com/

    I wrote an entry about Tommy Jordan and I'm possibly in the growing minority that thinks it was a little over the top although I appreciated the sentiment. You can see the entry here if you'd like: http://thefatherfactor.blogspot.com/2012/02/was-tommy-jordan-out-of-line-for.html

    Have a good weekend,

    D.L. Chandler
    http://www.fatherhood.org

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  5. I would just like to take the time as a 21 year old male with no children of my own, that although your method was a bit unorthodox your parenting is not to be called into question. You sir understand that it is not your parents job to be your friend, they have countless peers for that, your job is to raise a moral respectable individual in our society. Parents today have lost the ability to control their children, not control as in every aspect of their lives, but control as in if your son or daughter is doing something wrong, innapropriate, disrespectful, a parent should be the one to effectively stop this behavior. I dont believe you stepped over the line, that laptop was your property as I'm sure you paid for it, your child was using it in an innapropriate manner and you put a stop to it. I understand you get thousands of responses and post, but I sincerely hope you have the oppurtunity to read this, a response by a young man who was spanked growing up, never once thought I was beaten, and has complete and utter respect for not only my elders but my peers. Thank you for being a good father.

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  6. and to all you whining people, I cant wait till you have children of your own, once they reach their teens, and realize you have absolutely no control over them, no authoratative figure in their lives. Here comes sex, drugs, parties, with absolutely no regard for what you have to say. this isnt to say every teen will turn to a downward spiral upon teenhood, but undoubtedly your unguided spawns will be the percentage that do.

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  7. D.L. Chandler, I'm pretty much with you in looking at the man less as a hero or as a terrible father, and more as a normal dad struggling with raising a teenager. People on the Internet feel the need to label people, and then when these people become Internet gods (or villains), people feel the need to identify with them or to destroy them. I think his story is more about the power of social media than a story about heroism (or evil, for that matter).

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  8. Stefan707, I appreciate the comment. I'm not him, though. I will add a short message on top of the blog, sending people to Jordan's Facebook profile and to his blog (even though the blog seems to be offline now). At least until Google realizes it's sending people to the wrong place...

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  9. Mr. Jordan ...

    I'm sure you've gotten this a bunch already .. but you did it right with the laptop / facebook situation.

    Like you, I got my ass whipped whenever or WHEREVER I acted up. And like you, there were plenty of ass whippings I should have gotten, but didn't. The way my mom raised me was the RIGHT WAY. My grandfather whippin my ass when needed, was correct. What was taught ... not to disrespect them, not to lie, not to cheat, not to steal. Those are good qualities. The teachings were enforced through their method of discipline. Without discipline ... there can be no learning.

    The problem in the country today, and why kids are so out of control, is b/c of double-talking, melee-mouthed, douche bags like Dr. Phil who continuously make excuses for kids acting up / acting out / disrespecting adults (including their parents) / and even breaking the law by claiming "they're only 15", or "they're just kids".

    This is why kids continue to get more and more out of control and why they're on TV shows like 15 and pregnant, or making "pregnancy pacts" with other 13, 14, and 15 year old girls. Parents are too afraid to "take charge" and hold their kids accountable for their actions.

    I don't doubt that parents don't enforce discipline on their children b/c on some level they're afraid of some type of backlash from friends, neighbors, other parents, or being judged on some level by society.

    I don't believe you overreacted at all. I thought what you did was 3-fold of what your daughter did and it was absolutely necessary. You let her know what time it was and who was in charge! I doubt she'll ever intentionally, openly disrespect you that way again. And if she does, you've set the bar ... so she'll know what to expect.

    Kudos to you partna. Parents in this country can learn a LOT from you. Good luck moving forward and here's hoping the best for you and your family.

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  10. Mitch, so again, I'm not him. Sorry.

    About your comment, though, while I agree that too many parents let too many kids get away with too much, I don't agree about the "ass whippings." Maybe you feel it helped make you better, but it has nothing to do with discipline.

    Tommy Jordan didn't say anything about whippings in the video, by the way.

    He did follow up on a threat because he tried to make his girl a better person (unfortunately, following up on threats seems to be a rare thing), and for that I believe he deserves respect, even from those (like me) who don't like his use of a gun to prove his point.

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  11. Children needs parents to watch over them and train them and teach them. As parents, we cannot always be our children's friend...we have to act as their parents too for their sakes...even if they won't like us for it.

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  12. RIGHT ON TOMMY JORDAN...AND AGAIN RIGHT THE HELL OONNN!!!! Yes what you did was radical but baby this is a RADICAL generation! These kids laugh at "time-out" and once they get a certain age you really can't "spank" them. I understand people think you should sit down and talk to your kids about each and every thing and sometimes you should talk to them to try to get them to understand why rules are in place but guess what most times they don't respond to a gentle "being talked too." They still do what the hell they want to do. The video caught your daughters attention-as it should have. So, next time she get in her feelings about something she may think first about how she expresses them! I too am from the generation that you COULD NEVER TALK TO OR ABOUT YOUR PARENTS AND ALL THAT CURSING!!! Even as mad as they would make me I wouldn't have even thought about disrespecting them like that! Mainly because I would have feared for my life! :) People don't understand that if your child gets in trouble the FIRST people they look at are the parents and then they will talk about how bad of a parent you are for NOT disciplining your child! Secondly, when kids don't respect their own parents the rest of the world can FORGET ABOUT IT! Meaning they will have a difficult time with authority in all walks of life at school and at the work place. In time that little video will be a fond memory like a visit to see Santa Claus when she gets out here in the real world and she see's for herself how horrible people will treat you and how hard she may really have to work for next to no pay with this economy! In time she will THANK YOU for trying to teach her about LIFE. Best of luck to you and I respect you!

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  13. Anonymous, I'm not him.

    Now that that's out, this post does mostly defend his actions, so I agree with some of what you say. However, I don't believe in spanking (or "spanking"), and I believe anything a parent achieves by spanking can be achieved without spanking. Thanks for the comment, though. Hope you stick around.

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  14. Tommy, you are her father and as her father you have the right to use whatever means you need to get her attention and follow through on your word. It is called TOUGH LOVE. Kids today feel entitled and are totally ill equipped to handle the real world and it is the duty of parents to set the correct example and do what is needed to set them straight. You were creative and thinking outside the box...you do not need to apologize or justify yourself. THE TEEN is in the WRONG and you are in the RIGHT by doing what you think is best for her. Not everyone agrees with your method but then no one has your daughter as their child. You know your child best. You beat her at her own game.

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  15. Thanks Been There, but I just wrote a post about Tommy Jordan, I'm not him.

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