This was not an attempted “life lesson”, it was an angry punishment that teaches the kid it’s ok to physically abuse those that can’t defend themselves.
The lesson that may be learned is if you can act the fool enough to make an employee lose their cool and get violent, you can cash in big time.

He was in no was showing respect. He was smacking a kid that made him mad. That’s the lesson he taught, resorting to violence is acceptable if you’re mad. A horrible life lesson that usually leads to prison.

It may be understandable, even cathartic, but it’s also wrong.

Such a ridiculous idiot, bob. Every time, on every subject.

Indeed a humanitarian, gesture. This is a life lesson.

Teaching respect for other peoples things is a philosophy,

*promote life lessons

Did he just sneak in a life lesson at the end?

As someone who doesn't know how to swim very well (my feet and hips sink and I basically make big splashes across the water in an huge effort to avoid sinking) I'd be super panicked in this situation.

Totally this. Ford is convincing, but not good enough for conviction. Polygraphs mean exactly nothing.

The most interesting part of this whole story is that it provoked Kavanaugh to come out as the shitbag that he is, to show his personality. So now Americans (or specifically the people of the USA) know that this low life-form will serve forever in the highest office that decides what is moral and lawful. Good for you, nice life-lesson.

Not surprising Trump likes him.

Science can be a harsh mistress, but damn ain't she beautiful when she wants to be.
*doublepromote some *quality science and life lessons.

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Quoting Sniper007:

" A child is put at a tremendous disadvantage when they are taught that they can not learn anything except through formal schooling."

-- I completely and 100% agree with this, except . . .

" This is the inevitable life lesson all children are taught in schools (public or private)."

-- Reeeeealllly? Can I get some kind of cite on this? FWIW, I attended public schools -- good and bad -- and never came away with this lesson at all. Nor do I know anyone else who has. In fact, I'd say my view is the polar opposite of your own: as a self-made man, the most valuable lessons I've learned have come from experience (better known as The School of Hard Knocks).

"But for those who do wish to so delegate the sacred honor of teaching one's own child to a third party government agent(...)"

-- So you can't do both? You can't have trained educators teaching your child important fundamentals like math, science, languages and arts while you teach them social skills and whatever form of ethics and mores you want to instill them? To do the first is the cede the second?

Here's a little anecdote on my experience with home schooling:

My sister, now 30, was home-schooled by my parents. Her entire work history, up until now, has been a disaster. Lost jobs, conflicts with managers and co-workers, absenteeism -- everything shy of stealing from her employer. Why? Because she expected the world to revolve around her once she had her GED. She thought she was smarter than everyone else because she never had the social experience of encountering different levels of competence. Because home schooling catered to her needs and wants, she figured employers should do the same. Because she never had to learn classroom structure, she never learned to play nice with authority and know her place and work within it.

This is an anecdote and therefor does not equal data. But I think had my parents decided to send my sister to a public school, she'd be a lot farther ahead in her work-life than she is now and she would have had an easier road getting there.

Your mileage may vary, and hopefully will.

The teacher herself brings up the controversy in the video.

I don't have a dog in the fight, as all our children are home-schooled. A child is put at a tremendous disadvantage when they are taught that they can not learn anything except through formal schooling. This is the inevitable life lesson all children are taught in schools (public or private).

But for those who do wish to so delegate the sacred honor of teaching one's own child to a third party government agent, she seems like a good spokesperson. I wish her all the best in her endeavors - it is a never ending battle to raise up children apart from their parents. Many parents in the US see this act of delegation as a cultural norm and their fundamental right, so her role is not likely to be dissolved any time soon. She needs all the help she can get.

It seems odd to suggest that people shouldn't take life lessons from someone that happened to end their own life.

That said, I don't disagree on the video. On top of that, he doesn't seem to be connecting much of what he's saying to Wallace in any direct way. Based off of one quote that I googled and am now drawing too many conclusions from (link below), Wallace seemed to think that irony was a very valuable backlash to the 50's and 60's but that it ran its course.

http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/165289-irony-and-cynicism-were-just-what-the-u-s-hypocrisy-of

It seems odd to suggest people take life lessons from a person that intentionally ended their life.

I totally disagree. Irony is a useful tool to force people to self examine their own thoughts and beliefs, find flaws, and hopefully work to improve. It seems the voiceover guy is conflating irony and cynicism.
Even cynicism has it's usefulness. We need cynics to critically examine our prejudices, debunk them when appropriate, and set us straight. If we didn't have people who were cynical, we would all just accept whatever we're told without anyone ever checking to see if it's true (a HUGE problem with people today).

He also compares being sincere with being cynical. They are not opposites by any means. One can be sincerely cynical.

I find the ending confusing. Again, he takes a life lesson from DFW about how to be "human", "be unavoidably sentimental and naïve and goo prone and generally pathetic"....since that mindset led to him commit suicide, it seems to be terrible advice to end on.

The message is morally unambiguous - life is tough, don't give up, all those other feel good messages. No one worth mentioning disagrees with that.

The context in which it is delivered is morally ambiguous because it deals with things like fighting, training through pain, stuff like that.

Some kids benefit a lot from tough love and painful life lessons. Believe me when i say some kids are ruined by it. I assume this gentleman understands that and probably doesn't treat every kid the same way.

Wisdoms like "to toughen him up", "make a man of him", "for his own good" and the like can remind people of how their own abusers or bullies would excuse their behaviour. Obviously this video has nothing to do with that kind of thing, but you can understand how it might be more obvious to some than others.

That all probably sounds strange if you've never been bullied or treated like that, but yeah, that's what the video brought to my mind.

Who is this "we" of whom you speak?

Because I have proudly called myself a feminist since at least 1976, if not before.

I started calling myself a Humanist also maybe in 1990? Somewhere around there? I am not giving up the term Feminist though. No matter who tries to co-opt it or suppress my use of it.

Or even "oppress" my use of it, if I might go that far. Why do I have to fight you to use a simple word to describe myself?

The scolding continues, by the way. Telling me that I am wrong to use a term I have proudly used for over 40 years. Because you and some of your friends don't like it and don't want to use it, for your own valid reasons.

Please stop telling Feminists that the word was never "descriptive of their goals" when in fact it is very descriptive.

Equality for women. Period.

I'm not telling you to stop labeling yourself only a Humanist. I was clear that I understood your point when I said that Humanist is an umbrella word that covers Feminist.

Is this going to be one of these long back-and-forths, where you try to talk me out of something? I really don't want to go there. It's exhausting.

Maybe the real question you might consider asking yourself is -- why is it so important to you that I hew to your definitions? Is it just an intellectual exercise, the fun of the argument? Well, it isn't fun to me. It feels lecturing and minimizing of my personal experience and knowledge and life lessons I have learned.

I know you don't intend that. However, I am telling you straight out, clearly, that is how it feels to me and I don't like it. I've been on the receiving end for FORTY FUCKING YEARS why it is inappropriate for some reason or other to call myself a feminist. The reasons change, but the goal always seems to be same: To stop me and others from overtly saying that we care about women and their place in society.

It's not going to happen. After 40 years, it just isn't going to happen.

I'm a feminist. I care about women and their place in society.