Father puts daughter’s laptop out of its misery

Forget Texas. Don’t mess with this guy . . . at least not on Facebook. Warning: Language + firearms = awesome!

This post was last modified on February 15, 2012

Kip Hooker:

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  • Okay so Matt Lauer is bringing this guy in for an interview... why? aren't there more important things to talk about? Like I dont know, Obama not doing his job? This story was cool for a bit, but really Matt Lauer and NBC? Wow the media truly sucks.

  • Video Not Available due to copyright claim by Tommy Jordan...

    Seeing as there's absolutely nothing copyrighted there, I take it someone is butthurt...

  • I've been reading comment sections in various places about THE GUN for a week now. If he had used a sledge hammer to destroy the laptop, there would be anti-sledge hammer kooks out there crying about that. "Next he'll use the sledge hammer on his daughter!" BULLSHIT. You're missing the point, as explained above by others. Someday, his daughter's friends are going to be coming to his daughter begging for a job, assuming SHE got his point. He's a good dad.

  • Children need to learn respect, and gratitude for what they have, rather than moaning about what they DON'T have. Clearly this one hadn't. I'll bet she won't pull the same thing again! She wasn't injured, the point was made, and a Father stepped up and nipped some inappropriate behaviour in the bud before it could blossom into a real problem. Good job, Dad. Parenting involves some unpopular responses. Oh well.

  • I could use his example:

    "Sir, I'm afraid your hard drive has died. Now, we can replace the hard drive and TRY to retrieve the data from the old one, or if you'd like you could buy a new laptop and we'll put the old one out of its misery. Ever see that video of the dad from North Carolina?"

    I know my customers. They'd laugh.

  • There was a followup posted on his Facebook page a few days ago, some one at FOX posted the link.

    It made for interesting reading. Unfortunately, I did not copy the link, and I don't "social network"....but if one of you wizards could find and post it here, it would be a nice follow up.

    • I don't fb either -- way too many privacy issues.

      I heard that he found out because they had created a facebook account for the family dog, and she blocked daddy from seeing the post, but not Rover.

      I also heard that after she saw that 98% of the comments about it were supporting her dad, she agreed with the punishment.

      I guess there were a lot of hysterical rants like "now she'll run off and be a stripper" -- and she and her family are offended by them -- which is the correct way to take it. One grounding doth not a stripper make.

      • It was a rant that went out of control, but I think that she is a brat otherwise and he felt he had to cut it off now that he had the prove of her misbehavior.

        • That's the thing, KQ. Your kids will understand that when they get out of control, Mom will arrange a trip to 'Stompdown Town, Population: 1 brat". That's how they learn that excessive smart-mouthing (especially in public!) is taken as a sign of disrespect, and disrespect for a parent that takes their role seriously will generate consequences.

          You'll be a great mom someday.

          • Thanks I hope so! I have to remember that I was a child once and provide what the child needs even if it is not what they want. Children do need discipline, not abuse obviously but true and godly discipline. That is the only one a child can really make it in this world successfully.

  • He could have done this, he should have done that, I would have done this... blah blah blah... Of course any of those arguments may be valid or whatnots, however in the END this is how HE CHOSE to EXPRESS himself as he has the right to do under the First Amendment. Since that computer is not mine, I don't really care what he chose to do with it, even though I may have done something ELSE with it; I am not him and he is not me. He does have the right and responsibility to discipline his daughter if he believed she misbehaved and also to punctuate with words and actions his dissapointment and disaproval of her actions and words. He could have done it privately, he could have done it in church, he could have done it over the phone... whatever. The POINT is that he is indeed expressing his frustrations using the same methodology as his daughter in fact using his work experience and knowledge to get to the information that he acquired (she had hid her account).

    Now there is an argument here about lack of privacy, that is to say, he may have violated her privacy by getting into her account without her permission after she had taken the privacy route. Instead of focusing on the gun and what he could have done with the computer and whatever, perhaps the better discussion is the fact that he may have violated her privacy. She was ranting and raving, but all in all she did it in glorified online diary thinking it was private as she did not make it public (obviously). If she had written that down in an actual book/notebook that she considered her diary and he found it even if it was locked somewhere in her room, would that be a violation of her privacy?

    Are underage children allowed privacy? It is not a right protected by the Constitution (per se although of course there is the illegal search clause and such), however it is considered a right on a community sense. Would this be considered an illegal search? However this is a parent not a governmental authority. Was the Father wrong in getting into her online and private diary? Was he wrong in reading it and then posting her personal information and thoughts out for the whole world to see? Mind you her privately set information and thoughts.

    I dont think that the po po needed to go to his house, as he didn't threaten to kill his daughter, he just killed the computer which is inanimate and there are no laws against destroying your own property that you bought with your own money. That is too stupid, they had no place going to his house, I think we could assume that the man is not a moron and that he would have a license. We also can assume that the cops were NOT CALLED to his address as nothing happened. So going to the house days and weeks and perhaps who knows months after this video was posted, is moronic to me.

    • I respect his decision. Kids need have no expectation of privacy in my house. While they will be treated with respect, I have been, still am, and always will be parent first.

      A parent who backs off when a 14-year old girl shouts "I hate you forever" doesn't deserve kids. For me, those are exactly the words that will make me put the hammer down.

      Some of the comments on the blogs I read are absolutely hysterical. There clearly are a lot of immature people and people that are very poor parents (hint to those of you with a problem with what this guy did -- it is not possible to be your child's friend. They can get friends any day of the week. What they really need is a parent.

      Just like you, I figure "his kid, his gun, his laptop, no story here."

      It seems that most of the worst haters of this guy are people that think gun==bad. I see we've picked up one of them here -- with his awkwardly female elven barbarian avatar, he looks like a first class asshat complaining about firearms.

      • I own guns and I know how to responsibly use and care for them. Not post a youtube video of me raging at a laptop.

      • Agree w/everything you said, Perlcat. I've never had children, but a lot of the kids I've seen have been spoiled by their parents. New cell phones, laptops, new cars to drive when they turn 16. Trying way too hard to be their kids 'friend' instead of acting like a parent and saying"NO" once in awhile. Hell, I used to get a weeks restriction for forgetting to empty the garbage. Never got a car or many really nice things. My parents told me,'If you want some of these things, go out and earn it.' It made me a more responsible person in life. If I can't afford it, I don't buy it--simple. A lot of negative comments about what the father did w/his handgun. I would've loved to do the same exact thing, had I have been in the same situation. Extreme? Maybe a little. Did it get his point across? Very well I'd say.

        • When I graduated from COLLEGE, the first in my family, my parents bought me my scool pin (nurisng) about $75 at the time. I had friends that got cars, a downpayment on a house, really expensive jewelry. My dad didn't believe in that. Felt we would appreciate it more if we earned it!

          • It is sad when parents poison their kids with *things*. Parents have to think about more than just "give kid something nice so I can feel good about *myself*."

            The problem in so many situations is that the un-parents just don't understand that their excess is not for their kid's benefit, but for stroking their own ego. I have a quite rude term for that particular action. When you think of "what's best for the kid long term", the most important word keeps on coming up time and again: "No."

            You were lucky that your folks understood this. In the long run, you earned their respect, and that is what really counts.

      • That is the focus indeed... the gun. I, in my opinion, believe that is the wrong focus.

        I am not a Mother, yet, however I have been a child and I would have been pissed if my Mother would have taken a look at my diary. Now the only thing that differentiates me and this situation is that I really didn't give my Mom attitude and a hard time (much), definetly not to the point where she HAD to go searching for "evidence" of my misbehavior in order to rub it in my face. This girl MUST HAVE been a brat of the first caliber. Since I believe that is the case, he then had to do what he had to do. Like you said, since a parent is paying the bills and the child IS a child after all, there really isn't any true expectation of privacy. I do agree with that. The parent has to do what he or she has to do, of course nothing violent and disgusting, in order to have discipline in the home. The child has to know that the parent is there to provide discipline and to set limits, any good adult will say without question that having at least one parent in the home that provided discipline and limits was the way to go, even if during the process it was painful.

        If the child was not a brat, she behaved properly and did what she had to do, and every now and then her parents annoyed her and she had a diary where she vented from time to time (which is fine), I think that he probably wouldn't be looking for evidence of misconduct and this would not be an issue. I would have a problem with this if the child was exemplary or close to it, and was just venting which may not happen all the time and he insisted in getting into her private thing. Overall children are allowed to vent, just not to be stupid all the time.

  • The kid is lucky to be american because some goofy countries and religions its okay to murder children who dishonor family

  • Unless I overlooked it in the comments above, you all know that the cops paid him a visit this week. Its getting ridiculous out there folks. When are you going to be vocal in your community and resist tyranny?

    "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing"
    -Edmund Burke

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