I’m sure you’ve heard the story of NFL Vikings star Adrian Peterson and his admitted abuse of his four-year-old son. Most of the stories I have read begin from Peterson’s own childhood and how his parent’s chose to raise him. They also focus pretty heavily on what a “great guy” he is.
But let’s look at the facts shall we?
“He is a good guy,” they said when he was arrested in 2009 for driving 109 mph in a 55 mph zone. “But he does so much for the community,” the media cried when he spent a night in jail after resisting arrest after refusing to leave a club in 2012.
And when Peterson’s son was murdered by the child’s mother’s boyfriend last year, all of our thoughts and prayers were with him. Despite the fact that Peterson had never met his child, and did not even know he existed until a few weeks before his tragic murder. Still, Peterson was the good guy.
Sadly, Peterson’s latest foray into the criminal system once again involves a child and also, for reasons I can’t fully grasp, has people feeling sympathetic for him. Peterson has not been accused of beating his four-year-old son with a switch (a tree branch), he has admitted to it. The beating resulted in cuts and bruises to the child’s back, buttocks, ankles, legs and scrotum; most devastating of all were the reports of defensive wounds to the child’s hands.
But people, in the media and on social media, are trying to rationalize Peterson’s behaviour. Peterson was indicted by a grand jury on charges of reckless or negligent injury to a child on Friday September 12th, 2014. He released a statement on Monday apologizing for his behaviour while also maintaining that he is not a child abuser and that his actions stem from his upbringing:
” I am not a perfect parent, but I am, without a doubt, not a child abuser. I am someone that disciplined his child and did not intend to cause him any injury. No one can understand the hurt that I feel for my son and for the harm I caused him. My goal is always to teach my son right from wrong and that’s what I tried to do that day.
I have always believed that the way my parents disciplined me has a great deal to do with the success I have enjoyed as a man. I love my son and I will continue to become a better parent and learn from any mistakes I ever make.”
I am not a big football or NFL fan; I watch the Super Bowl but that is basically it. My knowledge of Peterson is contained to what I have read over the past few days online.
In my opinion, Adrian Peterson is not a nice guy, or a particularly good father, and he most certainly is a child abuser.
The idea that people are supporting Peterson and his right to play in the NFL boggles my mind. Fellow NFLer Reggie Bush has come out saying that Peterson should be allowed to play this weekend and representatives of Peterson’s hometown Palestine, Texas believe that he was just acting as a parent: “Each parent has their own way of disciplining. Some parents are still paddling and some don’t,” said Jerry Mayo, former Palestine ISD Superintendent.
“Many have come to Peterson’s defense, saying that this form of discipline is typical in African American homes, and that it is character building and acceptable. Perhaps that is why the witness in a previous accusation against Peterson for striking his other child said he didn’t do anything wrong,” writes Leslie Kennedy on BabyPost.com. And while I am a white female living in Canada and can only speak from my own life experiences, I just don’t buy this as an excuse.
I do agree with Mayo in that all parents have a right to raise their kids as they see fit, but I draw the line at any kind of “harsh discipline” that causes bodily harm to a child. A four-year-old has no hope when faced with a 217 pound NFL player armed with a piece of wood.
The NFL has flip-flopped between “deactivating” Peterson and reinstating him. As it currently stands, Peterson has been deactivated indefinitely. The NFL Players Association issued a statement Wednesday September 17th, stating that Peterson is taking “voluntary leave with pay to take care of his personal and legal issues”.
Good for Peterson, I guess. I hope he can figure his sh*t out, as long as it is not at the expense of his children’s safety.
I think anyone can snap and hit a child. It can happen to good guys just as easily as it can happen to bad guys. Furthermore if you had a privileged childhood and were never hit it’s easy to not understand someone who was hit as a kid and ends up hitting a child. I am neither for nor against him returning to the NFL. I am not calling him a good or a bad guy. There is a lot I don’t know. How outrageous was the kids behavior? How often does he strike his children? Does the NFL player have that concussion based head trauma that causes them to behave impulsively? Does he need therapy to deal with past trauma? I could go on with how much I don’t know, how much honestly none of us know. Humans get angry, they get lost, they have unresolved trauma, many football players have brain injuries and they might lost it. Imagine he was probably beat as a child and did not have the tools to resolve poor behavior otherwise. Furthermore he’s gotten mini concussions since he was age 14 and this results in brain trauma. He related to this has no impulse control. I am not calling him a good guy or a good dad. I’m not saying he should be around his children. Don’t mistake my post. I am just saying I don’t think any of us are in a position to judge him or know he hits children or gets women pregnant on purpose. We’ve all made mistakes. Maybe people around him can help him get the help he needs so he can be the best parent and person he can be.
agree with this post and love with this uber-crass person has to say:
“Adrian Peterson isn’t really a dad. He’s a football player who likes to stroke his ego by impregnating women so the world may know the power of his seed. He’s doing this shit intentionally. He didn’t even know he had one kid until that kid was beaten to death. He may have as many as seven kids around the country.Every summer Peterson hosts a Meet Dad Camp at his estate in Texas where his multitude of bastards get a couple weeks bowing down to the peacock before receiving some Vikings swag and Greyhound ticket back to their mom. Just because you pay the court ordered child support and you like to brag about your reproductive powers doesn’t make you dad. Charles Barkley says all the black dads in the South whoop their kids like this. Great. Fucking have at it. Make the Lorax weep with all the trees you fell just to make the perfect switch. But you can’t lacerate rent-a-kid the day before he’s packed in the FexEd box and delivered back to his real home. Get some perspective. Adrian Peterson isn’t a throwback disciplinarian. He’s just a pretend dad who likes to hit kids with real sticks.”
Source: http://www.wwtdd.com/2014/09/adrian-peterson-defenders-dont-get-it/
Discipline is one thing but when you are maliciously and viciously beating a child, or anyone for that matter there is something severely wrong with you and you most definitely are not a GOOD GUY. Wtf is wrong with people.
Abuse is abuse. He has admitted to hitting the poor child. He also seems to making himself look like the victim, when in fact it is his son that is the victim. Makes me sick that the media and public are defending him—what about the child/??? Who is standing up for the child??
Great post, Marianne. Puts a bitter taste in my mouth, but a great post nonetheless.
Fantastic post, Marianne. It’s disturbing to me not only that he did this in the first place, but that he publicly decries that what he did is not “child abuse.” That’s crazy.