My new political party We Hate Children Political Party or WHCPP was really doomed from the start. Mandatory abortions. Free daycare/workcamps. Student loans for kindergartners. And a new Youth Tax bracket. Our motto: Forcing kids these days to have respect for their elders.
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My first thought is shouldn’t he not be squatting where an inquisitive kid can easily grab that gun?
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Not the atlatl?
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What fallacious nonsense is this?
Yes, it’s just awful when other people erect strawmen forwarding false dichotomies. Just awful.
It is godwinesque.
Comedy Gold right there. Comedy Gold. Thank you for that.
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I’ve read this headline a few times, and have, each time, had to do a double take. My brain always parses it as “Tough guy Ross Kemp…”
I’m sure one of Mrs Mitchell’s boys would know better than to mishandle a “shoota”.
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The people on the news say those are the ones you have to watch out for. 
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But it isn’t his kids. He wouldn’t have made this joke about a son. There wouldn’t be a girl sitting across from him. This is a joke about owning his daughters, controlling their actions, AND being fucking stupid about how to handle a gun.
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While everyone is talking about the gun crap, I can’t help but be concerned about his regulatory stance. Our lawmakers (begrudgingly) enact regulation to protect the people from corporate and industrial activities that harm us all. This guy and his ilk are more concerned about profits and corporate interests than he is the people all the while pretending to be a “good ol boy”. It’s slimy, sick, and people fall for it every time mainly because no one in the press will talk about the duplicity of people like this.
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Well see the problem is some regulation is good, and some of it can be harmful or at least unnecessary and just adds unneeded bureaucracy. There are many laws needed for consumer protection. There are some that are not. One really have to get specific and make up at least a pro-con chart.
Taking a chain saw to regulations doesn’t sound like carefully considering which laws are which.
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Regulations might come from a desire to level things out (eg, antitrust), or as a response to some sh!t that just went down (eg, nine-eleven). The initial desire is usually good, but the devil is in the implementation. You get a bunch of robots chanting in an infinite loop that all regulation is bad, then get a bunch of morons (see the current administration at the federal level) who mishandle it (or more rightly, intentionally screw up the implementation), and it’s a self fulfilling prophecy.
Back to that dumb ass ad, what also struck me is that Pappy Kemp made the young 'un recite them things about what he’d focus on, like health respect, etc. Kinda smacks of paternalism too, in a way.
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Blackface is an old trope too. I’m sure conservatives will find this cute and quaint. But I have more issues with the subtext than just “not finding it funny” can cover. In fact I don’t find it all that unfunny, but it’s still an artifact that points to several things I find problematic.
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Perhaps you can share some regulation you see as unnecessary and some you see as harmful. I agree that all government activities should include a cost benefit analysis but that just isn’t where we are these days. Facts and science matter little to the current administration.
It’s an old and misogynistic one that needs to go the hell away. The implication with the trope is not the overtly stated “don’t hurt her”, it’s the implied “I’m going to hurt you if you touch my daughter.” This is misogynist crap that tries to take agency from young women, perpetuates the bullshit of “purity”, and it’s just wrong and gross.
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All the guy needed was overalls.
Someone my family knows in Tennessee did this, put on overalls and propped up what looked like an antique gun (i.e. came up to his shoulder), posing next to his granddaughter who was dressed up for prom. This was posted to Facebook with some threatening language to would-be suitors.
And the guy lives in Nashville. Not that it would make it any better if he was from out in the sticks, but he’s not. My dad came up in poorer, more rural surroundings than that guy and he sure as hell never acted that way. (But granted, he left.)
Previously, on BoingBoing:
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I get more of a “If you hurt my daughter, I will hurt you” vibe. I had a similar conversation with my wife’s dad, many years ago. It was not in a room full of guns, but the implication was there. Protecting your kids is not an attempt to deny them agency or independence.
All fathers also have the benefit of remembering what it was like to be a teenage boy.
Yes, and I had one with my female friend’s dad (and we weren’t even on a date, but I don’t know if he knew that.)
But the point is, did you have a similar conversation with any of your male friends’ dads?
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It doesn’t matter at this point if whoever is doing this bullshit is saying “if you hurt my daughter, I will hurt you”; and it’s problematic in several ways. For one it’s putting someone else’s idea of what hurts someone in front. In this case the father’s idea over what the daughter says. Second, this whole trope comes from a long history of “if you touch my daughter, I will hurt you”. So, no, it’s not acceptable to do and even if it’s fully intended as you’re idea of the warning, it’s got it’s roots in it and is a dogwhistle for misogyny, thinking of women as property, and removal of agency.
Secondly, while yes a parent should be protecting their children, it does not permit them to enact extrajudicial revenge on someone; and this extrajudicial revenge is going to be based around the father’s ideas and not not the daughters. Yet again removal of agency.
Sure. Let’s keep perpetuating the idea that teenage boys are all about hurting their girlfriends. Let’s keep this toxic masculinity alive! 
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I have never dated any young men, so that particular conversation did not happen. I was, however, warned strongly about drinking and driving by male friend’s parents.
I think it has roots in the reality that teenagers do not always exhibit the best judgement, and often need warnings or guidance.
Binge drinking and unprotected sex are fairly common at events like prom and spring break.
https://www.jsad.com/doi/abs/10.15288/jsad.2018.79.277
A wise person once told me “I will never be as smart as I thought I was when I was 19”.
Honestly, I would rather be seen as an overprotective parent than one who has attended their child’s funeral. And I will be thrilled to babysit my grandkids, but not anytime soon.
