What the Laptop Shooting Man Really Taught His Daughter

By now millions of people have seen the infamous eight minute video.   A father states that his daughter disrespectfully complained on facebook to her friends about the chores her parents make her do.  As punishment, he takes out a gun and shoots her laptop.  The man spent six hours of time and $130 upgrading the laptop the day before, but he ruined it – rather than sell it or gave it away to a needy family – to punish his daughter for her facebook rant.  After the video went viral, he stated that local police and child protective services specialists came to his house and spoke with him and his family. At present, they do not appear to be taking any further action.  Many columnists and individuals have criticized the man’s anger management, use of a deadly weapon, and overreaction to a teenager’s typical silly behavior.  The father maintains that he would choose to shoot the girl's laptop again, and that he taught his daughter to be respectful.  He did not.  I hope that she can ignore the message he did send.  Here is what his video did teach:

Lesson:  Destroying a valuable object that someone loves is an appropriate way to get back at him or her.

Real world application:  If you overhear your husband complain to his friends that you nag him about cleaning out the garage, take his wedding ring and shred it in the garbage disposal.

Lesson:  People are never just venting frustration, always take everything personally. 

Real world application:  If you own a restaurant and overhear two servers talking about how hard it is to work on their feet all day, be sure to fire them and refuse to be a reference.

Lesson:  Do not wait to cool off.  Act while you are still angry. 

Real world application:  If you are at a party and a drunk or unstable person throws a drink in your face or calls you a nasty word, do not be the bigger person and walk away.  Get in a fight with this person.

Lesson:  Deadly weapons are appropriate parenting tools.

Real world application:  When your toddler refuses to eat his spinach, hold a gun to his teddy bear’s head and threaten to shoot.