mcwehrle: The_Sponge: stupid crap ...

wut?

that was one of the dumbest things I've ever read on FARK.


I was quoting a movie, homie.

ASSUMING that the letter wasn't a) a professionally written troll-letter for Dear Abby or b) someone trolling Dear Abby:

The kid not only needs therapy, but quite possibly needs Baker Acted and may need specialised therapy in a SECURE setting--in fact, IMHO the parents should be preparing themselves NOW for the likelihood the kid is going to end up in one institution or another:

a) At the very least, kidlet has a SERIOUS issue with anger management, and I'd be shocked if he's not gotten in trouble at school/other social functions in past in regards to this.

b) As many others have noted, harm to animals at a young age (especially beating and/or killing pets at a young age, especially before puberty) is one of the classic signs of sociopathy--what would probably be diagnosed at his age as some sort of Oppositional Defiant Disorder or the DSM V equivalent, and what in adulthood would be diagnosed as antisocial personality disorder (the DSM IV phrasing for "freaking sociopath with no farking conscience whatsoever").

c) The parents best HOPE it's just an anger management issue, because THAT is at least theoretically treatable; true sociopathic personality disorders have positively dismal treatment rates and true sociopaths--if they're dysfunctional enough to be to the puppy-beating and possibly puppy-killing stage before puberty--almost inevitably end up institutionalised either in the mental health system (in state mental hospital secure wards) or in the prison system (in maximum security if not supermax) when they decide to take out their aggressions on perceived-weaker sophonts rather than "dumb animals".

(Yes, treatment rates for actual violent sociopaths are so friggin' dismal that the death penalty can be legitimately argued to constitute a form of euthanasia--there is nothing to be done, the people responsible are intrinsically broken in a way that we don't know how to fix and may be as intrinsically unfixable as the state of your average feral child. (YOU try teaching a kid raised by wolves up to his teens how to be the inheritor of the legacy of Miss Manners, and you get the approximate level of difficulty of teaching a true sociopath conscience--and even THEN the wolf-child may have a leg up, and not just in the terms of territorial marking.))

mcwehrle: I eventually figured that out, then work got in the way. My apologies to you.

I do not have depth of movielore.

Again, my apologies.

*handshake*


No worries.

Get rid of the kid and keep the dog.

Dear concerned dad,


Your son has a promising career as a serial killer unless you get him therapy NOW.

Sincerely,

Society

Huh. I'm guessing the story is a Troll, but just in case it isn't... dear Gods, please let this be a Troll!... there is a simple solution to the problem, in addition to the therapy he clearly needs:

Child loses game. Child strikes dog in frustration and anger. Sit child down and explain to them that this is not acceptable. Place in the corner for an hour. If child does anything but stand quietly in the corner, add additional time. After the first hour, give the kid a chair to sit in, but they remain in the corner until they can spend an hour there without fussing or making a sound.

Next time child reacts badly and strikes the dog, back into the corner he goes, this time for two hours. Follow previous corner etiquette until child can be calm for appointed amount of time.

Third time child reacts badly, it's three hours in the corner, and so on. Then again, the dog should probably just be put up for adoption immediately, and you can just put the kid in the corner ANYTIME they act badly.

No violence necessary, just a firm will to show that there are consequences to one's actions. Even at eight years old, a child understands that being in the corner SUCKS, and they will do whatever it takes to stay out of there.

mr_a: 1. Borrow a big mean dog from somebody for a while. Next time the little monster's team loses a game, hopefully some half-rabid wolf-hybrid will take a bite out of his raised hand and fist. That will get your son the sensitivity training he desperately needs.

Guy I work with has a 1/4 Malamute 3/4 Timberwolf dog. Probably the sweetest damn dog I've even seen. 120 lbs, and it follows him around like a puppy.

I'd say give the kid a pitbull that was found wandering the ghetto with a heavy gauge steel chainlink collar and dragging a truck tire.

/Yes, I know, Pitbulls are generaly sweet dogs. Unless you find one in the ghetto with a chainlink collar.

ghostfacekillahrabbit: Smeggy Smurf: Weaver95: Smeggy Smurf: Weaver95: dosboot: Weaver95: Smeggy Smurf: Have the President over for dinner. I hear he likes dog. Problem solved.

you were beaten often as a child, weren't you?


Tough luck Weaver95, it's an Obama eat dog world.

well...no offense, but most GOP shills on fark don't seem very sane. it's almost like they were toilet trained at gunpoint or something.

You're sadly mistaken if you think I'm a Republitard. That party left me long ago.

so you're just a racist then?

You used to be cool. WTF happened? Nobody really gives a shiat about skin color except the left. It seems to be the only thing that matters to them anymore. The rest of us care more about not being a commie pinko.

If you honestly don't believe there's still a lot of straight up old-school racists running around this country then I have to imagine you just don't interact with a lot of people in real life. Heh, or maybe I just meet all of them.

The only racists I come across are the ones blaming whitey for their problems. It helps to surround yourself with good people and not trash.

900RR: You need a license to fish, but not to have kids.

This is why America is so screwed. Idiots like this have raised an entire generation of mindless, maladjusted sociopaths. Geezus, I lived in FEAR of my dad and this puss-bag is worried about hurting his snow flake's widdle-bitty feelings?!

I think he is worried because little diddie-kins is the only thing protecting him from the sorcerous little punk he has trapped under his stairs.